Happy Memorial Day

On this occassion we'll honor the Buffalo Soldiers who are members of the US Army's 9th & 10th Cavalries. This unit was active from roughly the end of the Civil War all the way through the second World War. They were given the names by the various Native American tribes of the west as a term of respect comparing their courage with the fighting spirit of the buffalo.

Some of this information and the above painting was retrieved from the Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club of Delaware.

DNA Info: Roseland Teens Help Fix Up Abandoned Homes To Rent

Something you may have seen on our ig

I think this is what we'd all like to see more of in our communities. No more stories about the youth causing trouble in our neighborhoods more about them deciding to help build it back up. That's what the young men in this story are doing.

Simeon Career Academy senior Hakeem Day would rather be working with his hands than in the streets.

“I’ve been interested in construction since I was a little kid and this gives me the opportunity to practice for the future because I plan on doing this in the future,” said the 18-year-old Roseland resident.

He is getting that opportunity through a new youth and trades After School Matters program.

Aaron Mallory, 28, of Roseland started the program through his nonprofit God Restoring Order, or G.R.O. He’s working with a group of high school teens from schools including Simeon, Morgan Park and the Noble charter schools

The goal is to improve the community one block at a time by rehabbing the abandoned homes, and Mallory is doing just that with the help of local teens. They’re finishing up work on their first home near 109th Street and Wentworth Avenue.

The reporter for this story Andrea Watson has a poll up asking "Should our teens learn the trades?" My answer would be yes, we need carpenters, mechanics, pipe fitters, plumbers, etc. Trades in addition to helping our young people get into college. Different programs and different options.

At that learn a trade and be a value to our community and earn some community service credits. I forgot about getting valuable job experience.

Read the whole thing.

Roseland Theater and the future of the neighborhood

11331 S. Michigan Avenue

Crossposted from "Shedd School" blog

For the past month I've went to the Pullman neighborhood to document that part of the city. And I've allowed myself the opportunity to also document the nearby communities as well. Most of what you see documented is photographed on my cameraphone often utilizing an olloclip lens.

So last week I took a quick stroll one late afternoon in Roseland and stopped in front of the Roseland Theater Building. This old building appears to be going through some remodeling and changing tenants in the storefronts as they appear to be vacant currently.

This former neighborhood movie house is looking for new use having long since stopped showing movies. According to Cinema Treasures - link above - it is being converted into retail use. Though this news hasn't changed for years so perhaps a number of things happened and I don't see a lot of progress.

However, I have one potential idea and it would involve doing something similar to what was done with the Logan Theater. It was rehabbed in 2011 and is a second run movie house and is a story you can read here - unfortunately that story is behind a paywall in spite of being published in 2012. Perhaps when the time is right that story of a deep pocketed developer who comes in to redevelop this building could happen here at the Roseland Theater.

In the meanwhile as I document Pullman as it is in 2016 a year after it was designated a national monument and other development activities there my hope is that this spreads across Cottage Grove. Roseland and the business district that sits on Michigan Ave from between 103rd & 115th Street can see some of the effects of being so close to a very successful tourist destination.

And furthermore I hope that in the near future we can see further progress on bringing the red line from 95th through Roseland. Thus the Roseland can certainly have a future similar to the Logan Theater which also isn't that far from a CTA L station.

ALSO you can see some of the photos of Pullman and Roseland over at The Sixth Ward's ig account. Here's the post below of the Roseland Theater.

CTA service to improve on south side

Announced at the 95th Red Line terminal on Thursday these are the changes expected to start this summer:

• The 95th Street bus, which will combine separate east and west segments to create a continuous route.
• The No. 4 Cottage Grove bus, which will extend service south from 95th Street to 115th Street.
• The No. 71 71st Street bus, which will extend all trips from 73rd to 112th and Torrence, and see increased frequency.
• The No. 26 South Shore Express, which will add earlier and later service.
• The No. 34 Michigan and No. 119 Michigan/119th bus routes, which will add increased frequency during midday and evening hours.
• The Cottage Grove and Ashland/63rd branches of the Green Line will have increased frequency during the a.m. and p.m. rush hours.

Also:

The improvements will cost an extra $5.7 million a year and are planned to be implemented in September, but some could be seen as soon as the beginning of the summer, said CTA spokesman Jeff Tolman.

“These improvements are related to CTA President Dorval R. Carter's goal of looking at service from a holistic perspective and providing the most effective service possible,” Tolman said. “These improvements will further improve the quality and reliability of service for riders."

Words from the Mayor himself:

“With this expansion, the CTA is continuing the important work of connecting more residents to jobs and economic opportunities,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “This announcement builds on the strides we have made to improve connections to and from downtown. These types of investments help our economy to grow, our neighborhoods to prosper, and our city to thrive – and we will continue to make them to ensure that every resident has an opportunity to succeed.”

Hinz: Preckwinkle's County Hospital rehab plan draws last-minute fire

Found this via CapFax with the comment: "If you want to see a prime example of a Chicago politician who doesn’t understand that new jobs and development on the West Side are vitally important, click here"

Now what is Rich Miller talking about? Off to the article itself:

Declaring that kids are more important than developers, Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin today moved to at least temporarily block plans to rebuild the old Cook County Hospital until the county finds more money to prevent gang violence.

But County President Toni Preckwinkle immediately vowed to press ahead with the massive, $500-million-plus proposal to bring a hotel, apartments, shops and more to the Near West Side, a top priority for her administration. And Boykin hinted that he's not interested in obstructing the project as much as using it as leverage to fund things like summer jobs for unemployed youth in his West Side District.

In a news conference attended by several dozen chanting protestors, Boykin said if Preckwinkle can find the time and energy to get the hospital plan under way, she also can get the money needed to help keep young people out of trouble.

"I don't have any problems with redevelopment. But we had 50 people shot and eight killed this last weekend" Boykin said. "Our house is on fire. . . .It's a question of priorities."

So is Boykin an example of a grandstanding politician? Or is he doing the right thing here?

Washington Post: The divided American dream

This story surely happens everywhere. An area that mostly contains Black residents are devalued.

When the new subdivisions were rising everywhere here in the 1990s and early 2000s, with hundreds and hundreds of fine homes on one-acre lots carved out of the Georgia forest, the price divide between this part of De­Kalb County and the northern part wasn’t so vast.

Now, a house that looks otherwise identical in South DeKalb, on the edge of Atlanta, might sell for half what it would in North DeKalb. The difference has widened over the years of the housing boom, bust and recovery, and Wayne Early can’t explain it.

The people here make good money, he says. They have good jobs. Their homes are built of the same sturdy brick. Early, an economic development consultant and real estate agent, can identify only one obvious difference that makes property here worth so much less.

“This can’t happen by accident,” he says. “It’s too tightly correlated with race for it to be based on something else.”

The communities in South DeKalb are almost entirely African American, and they reflect a housing disparity that emerges across the Atlanta metropolitan area and the nation. According to a new Washington Post analysis, the higher a Zip code’s share of black residents in the Atlanta region, the worse its housing values have fared over the past turbulent housing cycle.

Furthermore:

Nationwide, home values in predominantly African American neighborhoods have been the least likely to recover. Across the 300 largest U.S. metropolitan areas, homes in 4 out of 10 Zip codes where blacks are the largest population group are worth less than they were in 2004. That’s twice the rate for mostly white Zip codes across the country. Across metropolitan Atlanta, nearly 9 in 10 largely black Zip codes still have home values below that point 12 years ago.

And in South DeKalb, the collapse has been even worse. In some Zip codes, home values are still 25 percent below what they were then. Families here, who’ve lost their wealth and had their life plans scrambled, see neighborhoods in the very same county — mostly white neighborhoods — thriving.

“I don’t think it’s anything local residents did that caused that to happen,” Early says. “I think it’s all outside forces that did this.”

I think this is definitely worth a read. Is this happening in the city?

The quiet desperation of the middle class

Read this article from The Atlantic. Rich Miller of the Capitol Fax blog shared it today.

Over the years on this blog I have written about middle-class issues. Especially important since I created this blog to discuss neighborhoods such as Chatham.


I've learned over the years that the position of the Black middle-class is often precarious. It often seems being middle-class in this nation is just as precarious.


If you read this article feel free to offer your thoughts.

Marathon Pundit: Abandoned homes in Chicago's violent Auburn Gresham neighborhood

7711 S. Lowe St. - John Ruberry

On a Thursday, the Marathon Pundit did some urban exploring in Auburn Gresham. Ruberry notes:

The notoriously-violent Englewood neighborhood sits on Auburn Gresham's northern border.
...
According to the Chicago Tribune Auburn Gresham is tied for eighth in violence of Chicago's 77 official neighborhoods over the last 30 days.
...
During the 1960s Auburn Gresham went from being predominately white to being majority black. The Encyclopedia of Chicago says blockbusting and panic peddling were less of a problem than in other Chicago neighborhoods at the time. At the start of the decade my grandparents moved to the more prosperous Beverly neighborhood on the Southwest Side. Ironically, the South Side Irish Parade, which originated in A-G, followed my grandparents to Beverly.

Blacks were barred from most white neighborhoods by covenants that prohibited home owners from selling to them. Click here to read a 1929 letter from the ominously named Auburn Park Property Restriction Association, Inc. which explains an Anti-colored Restriction Agreement to John Wagner of Englewood. Covenants were ruled unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court in 1948.

In taking pictures of the many abandoned houses, two-flats, and vacant lots he also has nice things to say about Father Michael Pfleger's St. Sabina parish:

When Auburn Gresham is in the news, particularly nationally, it's usually has something to do with St. Sabina Church, where committed leftist Father Michael Pfleger has served as pastor for an unheard of, at least in the Archdiocese of Chicago, 35 years. Pfleger. who is white, has worked on projects with radicals such as the Nation of Islam's Louis Farrakhan and Barack Obama's former minister, Jeremiah Wright.

However Pfleger, despite allowing a personality cult to envelope him, has his merits. The church compound also includes a large senior residential complex and a grade school, as well as social service, job training, and technology centers. That brings a whole bunch of people to the St. Sabina complex, which is near the intersection of 79th and Racine, and that corner has noticeably more retail activity than the rest of Auburn Gresham. The church, in a way, boosts 79th and Racine in a way that monasteries did to nearby towns in the Middle Ages.

And here's a shot of it!

St. Sabina - John Ruberry

 So basically we see some family history from Ruberry as his family once resided in this community. However, what we see are abandoned homes, homes being rehabbed, and The Final Call hq.

I sometimes think of Auburn Gresham as a community with great potential especially with that corridor along 79th between Halsted and Ashland.
 

Bennett School has a new website

http://bennettes.org/

I'm ecstatic that somehow I found a new website for Bennett School after a Google search. Over six years ago I found a different iteration of this website which has long since went offline.

This website has a lot more information about the staff of Bennett School and hopefully they will continue to add more information regarding the neighborhood elementary school in the future. So far I like and especially emphasized some of the architectural details of Bennett.

If they need any help with content I would be happy to volunteer. They'll probably never ask though. :P

BTW, I will say sometimes I wish the many public schools in Chicago utilize the many tools available to alert the public about their activities. Bennett now has a website but they could also use a Twitter, Instagram or a Facebook page. The surrounding neighborhood should know what's going on there even if they don't have any children going to school their. The local school is a neighbor after all.

ALSO another school neighbor has also updated their website, Harlan High School which is reflective of a new principal change as well. Harlan - GO FALCONS - also developed more of a social networking presence and then mysteriously stopped. This is definitely an example where they should use these various tools to let the community know what's going on there, especially some of the good news involving students.

DISCLOSURE: I'm an alum of both Bennett School and Harlan High School

9th ward community meeting

Alderman Anthony Beale

• Please Join Us!
  9th Ward Alderman Anthony A. Beale and City Department Representatives present a 9th Ward Community Meeting
  
  Tuesday, April 26, 2016
  6:30 - 7:30 p.m.
  
  Pullman Presbyterian Church
  550 East 103rd Street
  Chicago, Illinois 60628
  
  For more info
  9th Ward Alderman Anthony A. Beale
  34 East 112th Place
  Chicago, Illinois 60628
  773.785.1100

Took these shots of the Shedd School property

On my walk to Pullman a few days ago. It was a wet rainy day as depicted in these photos. The first two pics are of the front one is similar to the shot you see in the Shedd School blog's header.

200 E. 99th Street

200 E. 99th Street

Here's the backlot a field that I used to play around in during recess and of course before school started the kids would play in this field also. Fun days and sadly no longer common. I'll explain after this pic.

Looking from 98th & Indiana

Shedd School has been closed since about 2013 and the local community organization Roseland Heights Community Association has been concerned about a zoning change for this property. It has been zoned for industrial use and therefore a concern is now seen over this greenspace just a block away from Michigan Avenue.

As a former student there, it's unfortunate that classes are no longer held here. However, my hope is that the greenspace remains for the community. If the building remains then it shall be used for the benefit of the community.

Sidenote - I've been using this accessory on my smartphone called an olliclip. Basically this is something you can slip onto your iPhone, iPad or Android devices and take shots with various lenses to enhance your mobile photography. That's why one of the pics above seem unusual.

Concerned Citizens of Chatham: How Do We Expect Others To Respect Our Community

82nd/King Drive by Worlee Glover

Worlee on his FB page writes about the issues with the lots owned by the Chatham Avalon Park Community Council over the years. Many starts and stops as far as an potential plans for this site including a garden or a greenhouse or even a community center. He further asks: "So how long do we let this stay an eyesore. What would we do if another entity owned these lots?"

BTW, I understand there has been a "changing of the guard" for the CAPCC perhaps there will be further discussions on what to do with these lots on King Drive.

Capitol Fax: Today's number 63%

Go Falcons!

Rich Miller of the Capitol Fax talks about the increase of students in our high schools and increase the number of high schools. In addition he makes these comments as far as the policy over neighborhood schools and retaining the middle class in our city:

Neighborhood schools weren’t working in many neighborhoods at the bottom of the economic ladder. So, Chicago embraced public school choice. But that isn’t working either for kids on the lowest economic rungs. Charters can kick kids out for low performance, behavioral problems, etc. and they do that a lot.

I happen to think charters can be a great thing. But, man, the costs sure are high to run all those new schools. And innovators like Kansas City are also having some very real problems.

I wonder if some of these issues involved with the neighborhood schools include Harlan. I'm very sure that they might and it also have some undeserved reputation for violence. I say it's undeserved because over the years they attempt to emphasize the students who got something going for themselves with college and the scholarships for example.

BTW, I would suggest you read the full post at Capitol Fax and read The Atlantic article he quotes from. It deserves a read from me regardless.

Hope Dealers documentary

Hope Dealer Trailer from Lawrence Trapp on Vimeo.

[VIDEO] I've written about this group from time to time and I got wind of a future documentary of which you see a preview here. This is what's posted to the video page:

Hope Dealers, a non-profit organization that aims to help areas through community service. The group was created by Corey Hardiman, a Morehouse graduate and native of Southside Chicago. Although looking to eventually expand, the group for the past three years has primarily performed service in Southside Chicago, Ill.

Now to find out when this documentary is coming and if it will be shown exclusively on the internet or shown at a movie house near you.

Community press conference regarding Eddie Johnson

A press conference was called today by Richard Wooten, former police officer and current leader of the Gathering Point Community Council and Grater Chatham Alliance, meeting at Josephine’s (formerly Captain’s Hard Time dining

Eddie Johnson was scheduled to appear (after meeting with Wooten and several ministers a few days ago). Unfortunately, Johnson was called into a meeting with Mayor Emanuel as well as having the President come to University of Chicago that day, so he was not in attendance.

Wooten instead used the press conference as an opportunity to express support for Eddie Johnson as permanent Police Superintendent. Wooten was joined by representatives of community organizations from West Chesterfield, Chesterfield, Chatham, Englewood, Greater Grand Crossing and Park Manor as well as 6^th Ward Alderman Rod Sawyer and Victor Love & Josephine Wade of the restaurant.

 

Wooten and others noted that “We are not pleased with the process, but we are pleased with the person.”

Praises for Johnson included how he boosted morale for officers in the 6^th district, reduced crime, and instituted “Peace in the Park” program at Cole Park, immediately following the death of Thomas Wortham IV.

Wooten also talked about plans for a Justice Town Hall meeting, especially for the residents of the greater area, in which Eddie Johnson will be invited. Specifics will be determined, pending Johnson’s schedule.

Andrea Watson of DNAinfo was in attendance, so expect a story very soon. Channel 2,5,7 and 32 (local CBS, NBC, ABC, & Fox stations, respectively) were also in attendance, so expect stories today as well, perhaps as early as noon or 4pm .

Reporters asked tough questions such as “How can Eddie Johnson change the culture of ‘Code of Silence’ which has been around for generations”

What do we do about the 50 Yard Line?

The 50 Yard Line is a lounge on 75th Street and it was in the news at the end of last month that a fatal shooting occurred there. It has started a community discussion which occurred at a recent Park Manor neighborhood meeting. Over at the Concerned Citizen's of Chatham FB page Worlee Glover writes a report on this meeting.

My two cents is that as a person who generally doesn't visit bars, it would be sad to see such an institution goes. My belief is that better a bar that's dedicated to protecting people either keeping them from getting into their vehicles and driving while intoxicated or keeping a patron from drinking too much be in a community. I also figure there are those elements who believe alcohol is bad regardless sees this as one more excuse to close down another lounge.

Fact is there aren't too many places in our communities where we could have a good time with friends or family. If not a lounge there aren't many sit down restaurants. I'm hoping that the 50 Yard Line owners and the community are able to get together in the hopes that we won't have many violent and deadly incidents such as this one recently.

Tribune: Millionaires are leaving Chicago, report says

I found this most interesting:

Millionaires are leaving Chicago more than any other city in the United States on a net basis, according to a new report.

About 3,000 individuals with net assets of $1 million or more, not including their primary residence, moved from the city last year, with many citing rising racial tensions and worries about crime as factors in the decision, according to research firm New World Wealth. That represented about 2 percent of the city's high net worth individuals....
Chicago was among four cities worldwide with the biggest flight of millionaires.

And then it got more interesting:

Most of the millionaires who left Paris and Rome fled their countries, while Chicagoans moved elsewhere in the United States, said New World Wealth, whose data is used by luxury-goods companies, private banks and real estate professionals, among others.
...
Findings of the New World Wealth report are consistent with a Nielsen study released late last year that showed Chicago is losing large numbers of affluent African-Americans.

The Nielsen report found that the Chicago area has fallen out of the top echelon of U.S. cities when it comes to the percentage of black households earning more than $100,000. In 2000, Chicago ranked seventh among the cities with the largest percentage of black households with income at that level or higher, but in 2015, Chicago had dropped out of the top 10.

The question is now what's going on in our fair city. Why are there fears of racial tension? Why are the more wealthier Blacks leaving the area entirely and taking their resources with them?

Last year on "Political Forum" #Aldertrack

[VIDEO] Recently over at the "Shedd School" blog, I posted a year old video from 9th Ward Alderman Anthony Beale who made his case for another term on Chicago's City Council. Today this year old video shows 6th Ward Alderman Roderick Sawyer - who had been successful in his bid for re-election in 2015 - on CAN-TV's political forum.

Topics of interest discussed on this program the large lot program in Englewood, the re-entry center on the east side of Cottage Grove, helping ex-cons return to work, more locally owned businesses that will not only add to tax base also hire from the community, an elected school board, development of the State Street corridor in the 6th Ward, snow removal, and concerns over standardized testing for CPS students. Whew...a lot of issues are discussed on these shows I know.

Ald. Sawyer noted how in his second term as 6th Ward Alderman he wanted to really work on further developing 6th Ward communities such as Chatham, Park Manor and Englewood. When he got elected in 2011 those communities were stagnating. He stated that he started his first term planning his areas and then start his second term implenting the plan. I hope he's successful.

Let's see what else I have missed from Political Form for the past year.

Education protests today

A messge forwarded to us from Leslie Honore of Greater Chtrham Alliance. This ws originlly sent by Sharon Banks-Pincham Harlan High School LSC Member

Let us know of your own story or opinion about the state of education in our community.
---

Subject: ASKING FOR YOUR SUPPORT FOR CITYWIDE DAY OF ACTION: FRIDAY APRIL 1, 2016

Below is the plan of action for Harlan. 

This plan is being conducted in concert with many other unions who are
being effected by the political onslaught of Governor Rauner and Mayor
Emanuel to dismantle the union structure in the name of "balancing the budgets"

Over the next few days, you may be hearing about the actions on April 1st taking place across the City that emphasize the disrespect and disregard for;

Students from Pre-K to PhD by not providing a  fair funding formula for all students in Illinois to the withholding of MAP grant monies to state run university students. 

Fair wages for the workers at McDonalds, 

Moving of jobs from the United States to Mexico (Nabisco)

The building and expansion of prisons instead of schools in Illinois as well selling off public education to the private sector.

The lack of pension funding because City and State governments did not pay their portion and used the taxes  to fund those pensions with the promise to pay it back......over more than 20 years.........and never did. 

WE NEED EVERYONE TO COME OUT AND SUPPORT THIS DAY OF ACTION.  IT EFFECTS EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US AND WE NEED TO STAND UP NOW!!!!!

The current plan for Friday April 1, 2016 is: teachers meet at 8 a.m.
at Harlan to picket for an hour; at about 9 a.m. teachers who are
physically able will walk to Chicago State; teachers who are unable to
make the walk will drive to Chicago State at 9:30; we will converge at
the Student Union Building at 10:00 a.m. for a rally at CSU; a teach
in will be conducted from 10:00 a.m. until just after 12 noon; CTU,
CSU faculty and community organizations (West Chesterfield, Rosemoor, etc.,)will rally at noon and march back to Harlan; Harlan teachers can get their cars and drive downtown (actually) the lot near Cermak and Wentworth is recommended with a Red Line ride to State and Lake;

others may elect to catch the 95th Street Red Line with CSU faculty to
go downtown; CTU and other unions will gather at the State of Illinois
(Thompson) building located at Randolph and Clark.

By the way, the Thompson building is a public building. There is a
food court on the lower level offering a variety of foods.

If you arrive a little early, grab something to eat. The food court
starts shutting down around 3p.m. The downtown "Shut Down Chicago-Fund Our Schools" rally at the Thompson building will run from about 3 or 4 until around 6.

All are welcome to call or email (sherry8750@yahoo.com) if there are questions or concerns.

Sharon Banks-Pincham
Harlen LSC Member

Mather's More than a Cafe is Undergoing Renovations

No, this particular post is not an April Fool's joke. Beedie Jones, director of Chatham's Mather's More than a Café, sent a robocall with important news.

The center will be undergoing renovations ("renovating our space and updating our décor") during much of April, and into May, and will be closed.


The Café will stop serving food on Saturday, April 2, but re-open on Tuesday, May 3. So tomorrow (Friday) might be a good time to stop by!

The center itself, with its many activities, will remain open until Wednesday April 20 until Monday, May 2.

The official grand re-opening will be Tuesday, May 3.

Call 773-488-2801 for any questions. Contact Mather's to be put on their e-mail. list, so you may receive renovation updates.

Note there has been no update of this renovation on the Mather's website.