Block Club Chicago

Plan To Turn Jefferson Park Firehouse Into Brewery And Apartments Gets Key City Approval

Thu, 21 Jan 2021 15:15:00 GMT

Get more in-depth, daily coverage of Chicago politics at The Daily Line.

JEFFERSON PARK — A proposal to convert a vacant Jefferson Park firehouse into a brewery and taproom with upstairs apartments cleared one of its final hurdles Wednesday.

Members of the City Council Committee on Housing and Real Estate unanimously voted during their Wednesday meeting to approve the sale of the property at 4841 N. Lipps Ave. to Ambrosia Homes for $208,000, which would be put in an escrow account to fund environmental remediation of the property.

Selling and redeveloping the firehouse has been years in the making and hasn’t been without consternation, as the nearby Copernicus Center filed a lawsuit against the city last year “alleging the process was unfair and biased.” Copernicus Center’s lawsuit sought an injunction that would stop the city’s plans to sell the firehouse to Ambrosia Homes while other proposals are considered.

Ald. Harry Osterman (48th), chair of the housing committee, told aldermen the active lawsuit will “not take any impact or effect on action that we would take today or at City Council” if approved.

Maggie Daly Skogsbakken, President of Jefferson Park Forward, supported the sale to Ambrosia Homes.

“We are pleased to see development that reuses and adapts existing buildings, particularly one such as this with historic value to our community,” Daly Skogsbakken said, adding the proposal incorporated years of community feedback.

Some members of the Jefferson Park Neighborhood Association and the Copernicus Foundation on Wednesday urged aldermen to table the proposal so the center could submit another plan.

A historic photo shows what the firehouse at 4841 N. Lipps Ave. used to look like.

“As a valued member of the community, the development of the firehouse would allow the foundation to further strengthen its roots as a cultural community in the neighborhood,” said Brian Wardman, vice president of the Jefferson Park Neighborhood Association, adding the neighborhood association is “pleased” that an initial proposal from Copernicus would remain a two-story structure with a restaurant in the ground floor with residential above.

Others took a cue from the lawsuit and argued the Copernicus Center did not have a fair shot at submitting a proposal.

Department of Housing Commissioner Marisa Novara clarified that Copernicus Center did not have only 30 days to draw up a proposal for the property, as some people who oppose the Ambrosia Homes development have insinuated.

“In fact, they had 30 days plus eight years, which is how long the property has sat vacant and available for application for negotiated sale,” Novara said. “This property was available for over eight years, and 4841 North Lipps LLC spent three of those eight years developing a strong proposal.”

Jim Wheaton, program manager for the city’s Department of Housing, detailed to aldermen why the proposal from Copernicus was not chosen.

Wheaton said Copernicus did not demonstrate financial qualifications, submitted an incomplete project budget and has limited demonstrated experience in development with no residential development experience.

When it comes to the sale of the city-owned property that will be sold to the developer for $208,000, the amount will be put into an escrow account to fund remediation on the property. During the meeting’s public comment period, some people likened the $208,000 property sale to the city selling the property for $1.

Additionally, Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th) said that “to say we’re selling it for $208,000 and making it sound like we’re making $208,000 on this parcel isn’t necessarily being fully honest with the situation.”

Lopez said he wanted to make clear “we are selling for costs of remediation which the developer will get back.”

Wheaton said the remediation cost is at least $208,000, “if not more.”

And Chenin Kilduff Kienzler, general counsel for the Department of Planning and Development and the housing department, disputed that the city was selling the parcel for $1 and said finding money to clean up “dirty land or dirty buildings” is something the city “needs to go through on these land sales.”

Now that the sale of the firehouse has a positive recommendation from the housing committee, it is set to be considered by the City Council at its meeting next week.

“This is sort of the final step,” Tim Pomaville, president of Ambrosia Homes, told The Daily Line on Tuesday prior to the committee meeting. “Assuming it would be passed by the committee, it would go back to the entire City Council.”

The total construction budget for the project is over $2 million, according to Pomaville.

The City Council approved a zoning change for the project in September.

Plans for the development went before the City Council’s Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building standards and the full City Council last year.

Former Ald. Bob Fioretti, a lawyer for the Copernicus Center, speaking at a press conference last year outside the firehouse at 4841 N. Lipps Ave.

Additional Housing proposals approved :

Aldermen also approved an amendment of redevelopment agreements for the Third Ward Parade of Homes Program, adding a requirement that a deposit from the sale of the properties be placed into environmental escrow accounts.

The Parade of Homes program gives a limited group of residential developers the opportunity to construct market-rate homes on discounted city-owned property.

Ald. Pat Dowell

Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd) said the Parade of Homes is an “important 3rd Ward initiative to bring new market-rate single-family homes to our community, a community where over 30 percent of our housing stock is subsidized.”

The housing committee also unanimously approved a proposal (O2020-6211) for acquisition authority related to an INVEST South/West Request for Proposals for properties at 8840, 8844, 8850 and 8854 S. Commercial Ave. in the 10th Ward as part of a larger commercial project funded by tax-increment financing.

All other proposals outlined in The Daily Line’s preview of the housing committee meeting were approved.

Committee on Transportation and Public Way

The City Council Committee on Transportation and Public Way also met Wednesday and approved a proposal (O2020-6018) to fill city freight tunnels under a property in the 15th ward.

The proposal to fill the existing freight tunnels beneath the 6.25-acre property at Harrison Street and the South Branch of the Chicago River and add access points to the city’s tunnel system on the northern property line was approved unanimously.

Arthur Dolinsky, senior counsel in the Real Estate Division of the city’s law department, said the Chicago Department of Transportation determined the tunnels below the property “are not necessary for the city’s tunnel system” and the new access points [developer] plans to build will allow the city to access other sections of the tunnel system.

Aldermen also gave unanimous support to the vacation of an 826-square-foot dead-end alley stub in the block bounded by Wilson Avenue, North Broadway and Leland Avenue. A portion of the vacated alley will be used for loading and accessory uses for the new mixed-use building adjacent to the alley, according to Dolinsky.

During the meeting’s public comment period, four people urged aldermen to vote on renaming Outer Lake Shore Drive after Jean Baptiste Point DuSable sooner than an April date the committee’s chair Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) had previously set forth.

Ephraim Martin, a persistent advocate for the name change, told aldermen that April is “too late” for the committee to vote on renaming the non-residential outer drive after Du Sable, Chicago’s first non-Indigenous settler.

“However, next month, Black History Month, is a significant month for the African American community,” Martin said.

Three other commenters followed Martin’s lead.

“I stand before you today to petition this committee to move forward post haste with the recognition of the city’s founding father Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable,” said Paul Pearson before urging Brookins to “rally your counterparts, your colleagues to come together to unify unanimously to rename Lake Shore Drive after the founding father, father of our great city, Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable.”

A Free Arts Center Is Coming To The West Side, Along With Therapeutic Art Programs For Youth

Thu, 21 Jan 2021 13:47:00 GMT

GARFIELD PARK — Chicago’s only free art center plans to open a location that will bring therapeutic art programs to young people on the West Side.

SkyART has started its first dedicated program cohort for West Side students. The West Side center is still recruiting, and families can sign up or request more information by texting “SkyWAY,” “P3S” or “Project Impact” to 708-414-0732.

The teen art program will run virtually until the summer, when the art nonprofit plans to rent a facility in the area and create additional programs, organizers said.

The center has been a South Side staple for two decades, providing a safe, accessible outlet for youth to express their creativity in areas that lack art opportunities in 91st Street.

But SkyART has heard more and more requests from individuals and from local schools to establish a center out west, said Director of Program Devon VanHouten-Maldonado.

“Their schools are under-resourced. There’s not a lot of opportunities for free art programs for youth. So, over time, it became apparent that there was sort of a need and a desire for a program like ours on the West Side,” VanHouten-Maldonado said.

SkyART’s flagship teen program is Project 3rd Space, which embodies the group’s mission to be a haven for students. Without a West Side location, it was impossible to give local participants the same level of immersion in the arts as South Side students, Maldonado said.

The group initially planned to develop a West Side center in 2020. Due to the pandemic, organizers pushed back their plans for a year, VanHouten-Maldonado said. In the meantime, SkyART used the shift to virtual programs as an opportunity to build participation among West Side youth, he said.

West Side youth in Project 3rd Space receive a small stipend as they cultivate their creative talents under the guidance of a resident teaching artist. The program is for young people who are serious about finding pathways into creative careers.

Teens in Project 3rd Space are given open studio time to find their creative style and develop their process for making art. The program has a focus on professionalism, and it gives participants opportunities to exhibit their work and connect with internships, VanHouten-Maldonado said.

“All of our programs are process-based and experimental, but this … [provides] just a much deeper dive into what it means to be an artist, so they’re really exploring their own creativity,” he said.

The arts organization is working to find a spot for the West Side location, but organizers plan to open by summer. Programs there will start small, but over the next two to three years it will grow into a center that parallels the South Side headquarters, VanHouten-Maldonado said.

As SkyART plans to make a bigger footprint on the West Side, the organization will partner with neighborhood groups and local artists to bring art opportunities to existing youth programs. The art center already has a partnership with Nash Elementary School in Austin to supply students with art materials.

Principal Marcie Byrd said the partnership has been beneficial for students’ social-emotional learning.

“One of the things that arts does is it alleviates that stress. They can be more creative, and it’s just a different way of expression,” Byrd said.

Art is inherently therapeutic, VanHouten-Maldonado said, and it can be an excellent way for young people to navigate trauma in their lives.

“The kind of process or process-based art that we do … we’re asking them to experiment with us. And that’s a way to learn more about yourself, explore creativity and really think about creativity as a tool,” VanHouten-Maldonado said.

Art is especially beneficial for young people who have experienced trauma since kids and teens often don’t have the language to talk through difficult emotional experiences, he said.

“They don’t have the vocabulary of mental health. And art therapy can be a great tool for working through some of those issues that are difficult to talk about … using materials and colors and shapes to work through those issues,” VanHouten-Maldonado said.

Pascal Sabino is a Report for America corps member covering Austin, North Lawndale and Garfield Park for Block Club Chicago.

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Logan Square Artist Creates ‘Absurdist’ Outdoor Dining Experience On The Boulevard — And ...

Thu, 21 Jan 2021 13:33:00 GMT

LOGAN SQUARE — There’s a new outdoor dining spot in Logan Square, but the only food and booze is a box of donated cookies and beer found atop a trash can in a nearby alley.

There’s no privacy, either — the old chairs face busy Logan Boulevard.

About eight weeks ago, a Logan Square artist and restaurant worker created an “absurdist” outdoor dining experience on Logan Boulevard between Mozart Street and Francisco Avenue. Somewhat amazingly, the art installation has remained intact.

Even more shocking, the artist said, is the installation has been drawing curious neighbors almost every day, some of whom are plunking down in the chairs and using it as if it were an actual restaurant patio.

“Every day I see people take pictures of it, I see people sitting out there … . It’s taken on a life of its own,” the artist said. “It’s been really cool.”

The artist, who asked not to be named, created the installation to shine a light on the disconnect between restaurant workers and restaurant patrons during the pandemic. People have been so desperate to get back to real life and dine at restaurants, unconcerned that they’re putting restaurant workers at risk in doing so, the artist said.

“Throughout all of COVID, I’ve been just going about my daily life and seeing this push and pull between people wanting to go about their normal lives and not really giving a s— about the people who have been working this whole time,” he said.

One of the signs up at the Logan Square art installation.

People say, “I just want to live a normal life and go out to eat again,” he said. “But actually, I want to go to work and have an income and not die or get really sick.”

The outdoor dining setup, which is really just a collection of old chairs, tables and goofy signs, is a way for people to get their outdoor dining fix — without putting any workers in harm’s way.

“If you want to eat outside, here. Here’s a place. Here’s some outdoor dining for you,” he said.

The whole thing started several weeks ago, on the last nice day of the year, the artist said. He said he came up with the idea for a makeshift restaurant patio while he was going through his unwanted furniture.

At first, he wanted to set it up in the middle of the street, but he quickly changed course, realizing, “That’s dumb as hell. That’s going to ruin somebody’s day.”

He dragged the old chairs and tables to Logan Boulevard and eventually made signs and put up cheap decorations.

The installation at night.

One sign reads, “OUTDOOR DINING PERMITTED” and another is a list of “Today’s specials,” which include mRNA (used to make the coronavirus vaccine), MDMA (a drug more commonly referred to as ecstasy) and MRSA (a bacteria that causes serious infection). The soup is “EXISTENTIAL DREAD — w/ rice!”

“It’s supposed to be absurd. That’s kinda always been my MO,” the artist said. “When you look at this, you’re like, ‘Why does this exist? Why do I think this is kind of ridiculous and cool? I don’t know why I like this thing.'”

The artist has watched people from his apartment window as they stop to take photos of the setup or sit in the chairs. At one point, two people who appeared to be on a first date sat in the ratty chairs, chatting while clutching their Starbucks coffee, he said.

A package of cookies sat on one of the tables Wednesday afternoon. The artist said it was donated by a neighbor. A few weeks ago, he found unopened beer on top of a trash can in a nearby alley and brought it to the installation for people to enjoy.

An opened package of cookies at the Logan Square art installation.

In the coming weeks, he plans to continue to add found objects to the installation and keep an eye on it “so it doesn’t turn into a nuisance.” He’s also hoping to connect with someone who can donate airport-sized bottles of Malört to the project.

“I will do my best to keep the outdoor dining alive for those people should they be willing to commute to their favorite restaurant in the middle of the boulevard,” he said.

“If you want restaurants to survive, keep patronizing them and maybe they’ll be around to eat inside them one day. For now, have some patience and, for the love of God, some empathy for those people who you want to be around to feed you.”

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Loyola Creates Rule Of Law Institute Thanks To $6 Million Gift

Thu, 21 Jan 2021 13:22:00 GMT

ROGERS PARK — A $6 million gift from a Loyola University trustee will allow the university to form the Rule of Law Institute, which will study and advocate for issues of equal rights and good governance.

The Rule of Law Institute will boost Loyola Law School’s efforts to tackle issues of social justice and political equality, university officials said. The institute will partner with non-governmental organizations, other schools and governments to advance solutions on topics like human rights, violence and environmental destruction, Loyola said in a news release.

The Institute is made possible by Trustee Barry McCabe’s $6 million donation, which is the largest donation for a non-school alumnus in Loyola Law School’s history.

McCabe is is the co-founder of Hometown America, a Chicago-based company that is the largest owner and operator of trailer home properties in the country. A graduate of University of Southern California School of Law, McCabe retired in 2008 and traveled the world visiting places like Syria, where the rule of law is challenged, according to Loyola.

Loyola University Trustee Barry McCabe

McCabe became a university trustee in 2011.

“Human welfare and development depend on equal rights and responsibilities under the law regardless of race, religion, gender, wealth or status,” McCabe said in a statement. “The rule of law desperately requires the humanistic, Jesuit focus that Loyola University Chicago is equipped to offer.”

Loyola’s Rule of Law Institute expands the work of the university’s Rule of Law for Development program. The program, introduced in 2011, trains lawyers in advocating for human rights and other social justice issues locally and abroad. So far, 200 Loyola Law School students have graduated from the program, according to the university.

“Our reach has been effective but limited to 25 students a year,” McCabe said of the program in a statement. “With the institute, we’re going to have a much wider impact on the world.”

Paul Kantwill, a Loyola Law School professor and former assistant director of the federal government’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, will become the Rule of Law Institute’s founding executive director.

Loyola recently announced two other academic endeavors: the School of Environmental Sustainability and the Institute for Racial Justice.

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Vegan Grab-And-Go Eatery Uncooked Opens In Bucktown

Thu, 21 Jan 2021 13:22:00 GMT

BUCKTOWN — A fast-casual vegan restaurant that opened last year in Fulton Market has added another location in Bucktown.

Uncooked, 1616 N. Damen Ave., opened this month. The shop features prepackaged vegan breakfast, lunch and dinner entrees, including overnight oats, acai bowls, salads, juices, smoothies, sushi and cacio e pepe made with kelp noodles.

The aim of the restaurant is to “demystify what being plant-based is” and be “accessible … judgement-free,” co-owner Jeremy Jones said.

A plant-based diet is good for you, but it’s also good for the environment, Jones said. Eating a vegan diet decreases the amount of food truck miles, water and land use associated with the livestock industry, he said.

Photo owned by Alec Ozawa

Uncooked comes from Chicago Raw co-founder and chef Carole Jones; her son, Jeremy Jones; and her daughter-in-law, Kaitlyn Jones.

Everything the Joneses cook is plant-based, gluten-free and sustainably sourced using whole ingredients.

Offerings include salads such as the Goddess, a kale salad with macadamia nuts, watermelon radish, cucumbers, broccoli, scallions, raspberries and creamy goddess dressing; and entrees such as the Sesame Noodle with kelp noodles, carrots, pickled Fresno chilis, red cabbage, black sesame seeds and a creamy almond sauce.

The cacio e pepe — kelp noodles, mushrooms, parsley, broccoli, dressed in creamy black truffle alfredo sauce served with a side of vegan parmesan cheese — is a best seller, Jones said. Cakes — gluten-free, dairy-free and less than 300 calories — are also popular.

The cacio e pepe: kelp noodles, mushrooms, parsley, broccoli, dressed in creamy black truffle alfredo sauce served with a side of parmesan cheese

Uncooked’s first location, 210 N. Carpenter St., opened in Fulton Market in July. In addition to operating his restaurants, Jones works with Chicagos Next, a youth mentorship program.

Outside of promoting a healthy diet and lifestyle, Jones said he thinks a lot about how neighbors must help each other heal from the traumas associated with 2020.

“If this year has taught us anything, it’s that we’ve been dealt blow after blow of stress we haven’t chosen,” he said. “There’s a lot of healing to a lot of trauma that needs to happen. … If we all band together.”

Uncooked is one of the Wicker Park/Bucktown area’s few Black-owned restaurants. While neighbors may celebrate Uncooked’s arrival because of this, Jones said he hopes Bucktowners are thinking about racial equity on a citywide level and not just in their own backyards.

“It’d be cooler if a white-owned business opened in Englewood,” he said. “That’s how we break down barriers.”

Uncooked’s hours of operation are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday.

Place an order for pickup or carryout online or by downloading the restaurant’s app via Apple or Android. Call 312-330-7134 or email hello@eatuncooked.com for more information.

Jeremy Jones is the co-founder of Uncooked, a vegan restaurant with locations in Bucktown and Fulton Market.

The Dragon Fruit: dragon fruit, raspberries, protein powder, banana, ice topped with vanilla un·cooked-nola and seasonal fruit

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Andersonville’s Raven Theatre Cancels 2021 Season As Pandemic’s Impact On Performing Arts ...

Thu, 21 Jan 2021 13:14:00 GMT

ANDERSONVILLE — The Raven Theatre has canceled most of its 2021 season due to the coronavirus pandemic, but management hope to make a return to in-person performances in the fall.

The theater at 6157 N. Clark St. said last week three production runs it had scheduled for this year will be canceled. Those productions include “Beautiful Thing” by Nathan Harvey (set for February-March), “Eden Prairie, 1971” by Mat Smart (May-June) and “The Luckiest” by Melissa Ross (June-August).

Canceling the majority of Raven Theatre’s 2021 plans will help it remain viable when patrons are more willing to return to in-person shows, theater management said in a statement.

“We continue to miss having artists and patrons in our” theater, Raven Theatre’s Artistic Director Cody Estle and Managing Director Markie Gray said in a joint statement. “Please know that this is simply a pause, one that will ensure another show will play on our stages. We are hopeful we can safely return to programming this fall.”

The cancellations come despite the $15 billion Save Our Stages bill that is sending stimulus funds to community theaters and concert venues, and the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine.

Those developments might lead to a quicker end to the pandemic. But because of its reliance on in-person business, the live entertainment industry has said it was the first to close and will be the last to reopen after the pandemic.

Even when restrictions on theaters and concert halls were eased in the summer, most venues remained closed.

Most theater companies in Chicago are staying dark or sticking with virtual programing to start 2021. Another Andersonville company, The Neo-Futurists, is sticking with a virtual-only lineup for the majority of this year, said Managing Director Jorge Silva.

Remaining on Raven’s schedule is Joshua Allen’s “The Last Pair of Earlies,” which tells the story of a South Side couple chasing a “sweet Southern dream,” according to a press release. The production does not have a scheduled date, but Raven is hopeful it will take place in the fall.

The pandemic has been extremely hard on Chicago’s performing arts industry, which cannot easily pivot to takeout or virtual services. And reopening will not be as easy as just turning on the lights, industry experts told Block Club. Producing shows and booking acts takes time and resources — and many business won’t take on that expense until they know people will return to venues.

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Chicago Park District Programs Returning After Being Suspended Due To Coronavirus

Thu, 21 Jan 2021 12:44:22 GMT

CHICAGO — The Park District is bringing back its in-person programs for the winter — but with safety restrictions.

The Park District’s cultural, sport and nature programs had been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the state is now allowing those to come back. Programs will restart Monday and run through March 28, according to a Chicago Park District news release.

People will be required to take safety precautions, though, like wearing masks and staying socially distant. Programs will have strict capacity limits, and everyone who wishes to participate will have to register in advance.

People can learn more about winter programs and register here.

Park field houses remain open to the public during regular hours.

Block Club Chicago’s coronavirus coverage is free for all readers. Block Club is an independent, 501(c)(3), journalist-run newsroom.

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Chicago Teachers Union Asking All Teachers To Work Remotely Starting Monday

Thu, 21 Jan 2021 01:11:23 GMT

CHICAGO — Thousands of Chicago Public Schools teachers are slated to report to the classroom Monday — but the Chicago Teachers Union is asking its members to work remotely instead, escalating the battle over the district’s reopening plan and moving teachers closer to a potential strike.

The teachers union’s 600-member House of Delegates voted Wednesday to present a plan for collective action where teachers will refuse to work at schools but continue to teach online, union leaders said in a statement. The work-from-home action would come on the first day kindergarten through eighth-grade teachers are scheduled to go back to classrooms in advance of their students’ return Feb. 1.

A majority of rank-and-file teachers will have to vote to approve the plan for it to go into effect. Teachers will vote Thursday, Friday and Saturday, according to the union.

Some preschool and special needs students returned to classrooms last week after 300 days of learning from home because of the coronavirus pandemic. If the union leadership’s plan is approved, teachers who have returned to the classroom already would go back to teaching remotely, too.

Dozens of teachers who have refused district mandates to teach in person since last week have been locked out of their CPS emails and Google Classroom accounts, preventing them from teaching at all.

What union leaders are asking their members to do doesn’t fit the definition of a traditional strike. But if CPS officials lock the teachers out of the system Monday, making it impossible to teach remotely, the teachers union will strike Tuesday.

CPS Spokeswoman Emily Bolton said in a statement district officials remain committed to working with CTU leaders on a reopening plan and criticized the union’s move to refuse in-person teaching.

“CTU leadership wants to close schools that are already safely open to students, and cancel in-person learning for the tens of thousands of students who are relying on their dedicated educators to provide in-person learning in the coming weeks,” Bolton said. “Stripping tens of thousands of students of the opportunity for safe, in-person learning is not an option or a viable solution for families who have been planning to return since December.”

The union has vigorously fought CPS’ reopening plan, saying it harms school staff and families in communities already ravaged by the pandemic. District leaders and Mayor Lori Lightfoot have said the school reopening plan — which requires teachers to return but not students, who can still learn virtually — helps disadvantaged families and students who are falling behind due to remote learning.

District officials haven’t released figures on how many students are attending schools in person.

Many teachers have said CPS’ reopening plan puts their health at risk. During the first few days of in-person learning, two employees at McCutcheon Elementary School tested positive for coronavirus, putting eight school employees in quarantine. CTU leaders, teachers and their supporters routinely have called on the district to halt in-person learning until conditions improve in the coronavirus pandemic.

District leaders have pushed forward, however. On Tuesday, schools chief Janice Jackson said at a roundtable with parents who support reopening that the ongoing negotiations with the union must center around “how to reopen schools safely, not a debate around whether or not schools should reopen.”

In total, 77,000 of the district’s 355,000 students are expected to return to in-person learning this year.

“In the absence of an actual commitment on safety from CPS leadership, the best assurance we have for the safety of our students and school staff right now is to continue remote learning,” CTU President Jesse Sharkey said in a statement following Wednesday’s vote. “Our members are resolved to continue working, teaching their students and doing so safely. Only the mayor can force a strike, and if it comes to that, that’s her choice. We choose safety.”

The Chicago Teachers Union waged an 11-day strike in October 2019, pushing for better pay, smaller class sizes and more special education teachers, among other issues. It was the longest strike in three decades.

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In Chicago, Teachers With Children Less Likely To Get Permission To Work From Home

Wed, 20 Jan 2021 20:24:04 GMT

NORTH LAWNDALE — Three of the four educators on Catherine Dalber’s preschool team at Lawndale Community Academy are mothers to school-age children. Through a formal request process established by Chicago Public Schools late last fall, each woman asked to continue working from home when school buildings reopened.

The district denied all three requests, Dalber said.

Those teachers weren’t isolated situations. In Chicago, only 1 in 10 teachers who asked for a child-care accommodation that would allow them to continue working remotely received such permission, according to Dec. 29 data provided by Chicago Public Schools.

In the Chicago Teachers Union’s high-pitched labor dispute with the district, the denial of remote-work requests, and failure to respond to some, have become a flash point.

“Chicago Public Schools leaves no wiggle room for people to be human beings,” said Dalber, who has a National Board certification and is a mother of three. “When we were surveyed (late last fall on work accommodations) by CPS, it seemed that we had a choice — that they were going to take into account our family needs. Then they turned around and denied the vast majority of us.”

As districts reopen school buildings and while the pandemic continues, officials have grappled with when to grant teacher requests to work from home.

Chicago allowed teachers to submit requests based on their own medical needs, the medical issues of someone in their home, or child care needs. Of the 7,000 teachers and paraprofessionals the district called back to classrooms to teach prekindergarten and special education, officials originally said 2,000, or about 33%, asked for accommodations.

Although the district acknowledged the numbers have shifted as it allowed more teachers to work at home and schools changed their plans, Chicago still expected 54% of pre-kindergarten and special education teachers to show up on campus this week. Because hundreds failed to swipe in or failed health screening, the actually percentage is likely to be lower.

When it came to exemptions, teachers seeking medical accommodations were more likely to see them granted. In fact, teachers who themselves have medical conditions and applied for accommodations had them granted 100% of the time, in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the district said.

Only 21% of those requesting an exemption because they live with someone who has a complex medical issue won permission to work from home, according to the December data.

Some teachers who were denied exemptions reluctantly reported to buildings. Others took unpaid leave. A small group continued to work remotely, defying requests to report to buildings, and last week, the school district remotely locked out approximately 100 of them from their classes.

Among them were several teacher parents, some of whom said they were still waiting on a formal determination from school officials on their request.

Speaking last week at a union event, Marina Ruiz, a special education classroom assistant at Jorge Prieto Math and Science Academy, said she was locked out while waiting for her accommodation request to be approved. She found it doubly frustrating because all of her students had chosen to remain remote, but the district still demanded that she return to the campus. Ruiz also is caring for a mother in hospice.

“All of my students have continued with remote learning. There’s no reason for me to be in the building,” said Ruiz.

One speech pathologist, who did not want to be named for fear of retaliation, also is still waiting for the district to respond to her request. Her first request was denied, but then the district reached out and asked her to sign an affidavit. She has not heard anything since. The parent of a toddler and a 4-month-old baby, she has taken unpaid leave for now, which offers her no job protection.

“I want to continue working through telework,” she said, describing her options. “If there is a vaccine, I’d go back to work immediately.” (Chicago’s chief public health official, Dr. Allison Arwady, said Tuesday that the city will enter the next vaccination phase starting Monday, and that that phase will prioritize teachers likely starting sometime in February.)

Although tens of thousands more teachers are expected to report on Monday, the district has not yet released accommodation data for that next wave.

Asked Tuesday at a press conference about the child care accommodations, schools chief Janice Jackson said that the school district gave teachers with school-age children the option of sending their own children to campuses four days a week, instead of the two-day in-person week offered to K-8 families.

“We are providing an alternative, in that our schools are providing in-person learning throughout the week,” she said. “There are some individuals with extenuating situations, and the district has been flexible. But where we have a solution, teachers should avail themselves of it.”

For some teachers, that option causes other complications.

Dalber believes sending her two elementary-age children to school four days a week appears to double her family’s risk, by exposing them to two different groups of children. She also has a younger child to consider and a caregiver for that youngster who is high risk.

Adding to her ire: In the under-enrolled school where she teaches, Dalber has only three preschoolers on her roster — all continuing to learn remotely.

“I’m not against there being a plan,” said Dalber, who reported to her campus this week. “I don’t trust this plan.”

Diane Castro, a pre-kindergarten teacher at Lorca Elementary with 14 years of classroom experience, said last week that despite teaching being “all she ever wanted to do,” she was starting to think otherwise. She has two children.

“Who is supposed to care for them,” she asked, “while I’m at work?”

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

Coronavirus Kill 107 In Illinois As 4,822 New Cases Reported

Wed, 20 Jan 2021 18:38:33 GMT

CHICAGO — Another 107 Illinoisans were reported dead from coronavirus during the past day.

The most recent victims included 24 people from Cook County, including a man in his 40s and four people in their 50s.

At least 18,398 people have died from COVID-19 in Illinois, and another 1,887 deaths are probably related to the virus, according to the state.

The state also reported 4,822 confirmed cases during the past day. That brings the total number of confirmed cases in Illinois up to 1,081,354.

Chicago and Illinois are weeks into vaccinating people, and new cases, hospitalizations and deaths have dropped in the city and statewide since a mid-November peak.

The state is administering an average of 21,869 vaccine doses per day, based on a seven-day rolling average. So far, Illinois has administered at least 451,560 vaccine doses out of the 864,150 it’s been allocated directly. More than 105,000 doses of vaccine have been administered to Chicagoans.

Another 524,050 doses have been provided for long-term care facilities in Illinois, and 86,180 vaccines have been administered in those settings. Those vaccinations are done through a federal partnership with pharmacy chains.

All together, at least 537,740 vaccines have been administered in Illinois.

Illinois will start vaccinating people 65 and older and frontline workers when it moves into Phase 1B of vaccinations Monday. Illinoisans will be able to make appointments to get vaccinated at pharmacies, state-run mass vaccination sites and other places, Gov. JB Pritzker announced last week. The state will soon put up a website with information about how people can sign up to be vaccinated.

Chicago — which has a separate vaccination campaign — will also move into Phase 1B on Monday, said Dr. Allison Arwady, head of the Chicago Department of Public Health. She said the city will release more information this week about how people can make appointments.

The state is peeling back some of its coronavirus safety restrictions as regions get their outbreaks more under control. Chicago has been moved into Tier 2, allowing museums and sports to reopen.

The city has a stay at home advisory that recommends everyone stay at home as much as possible, only leaving for essential activities such as work and to get groceries. Arwady has also said people should not travel to other states since COVID-19 is surging across the United States.

At the same time, a more contagious variant of the virus from the United Kingdom has been found in Chicago.

And officials have cautioned it will be months before vaccines are widely available to the public. Chicago’s plan tentatively predicts vaccines will be available to everyone 16 and older by late May.

That means people are still at risk and will have to continue taking precautions for much of 2021, officials have said. People should keep wearing a mask, staying socially distant, washing their hands frequently, not gathering, not traveling and not having people into their home, experts have said.

Illinois’ seven-day positivity rate fell to 5.5 percent Wednesday with 86,121 tests reported. It was at 5.7 percent Tuesday. The figure represents the percentage of people testing positive among recent tests.

Illinois’ seven-day test positivity, which measures the percentage of tests that were positive, fell to 6.8 percent Wednesday. It was at 6.9 percent Tuesday.

As of Tuesday night, 3,284 people were hospitalized with coronavirus in Illinois, including 722 people in the ICU and 379 people using ventilators.

In Chicago, 17 deaths and 672 confirmed cases were reported since Tuesday. There have been at least 4,476 deaths from COVID-19 in Chicago and 226,856 confirmed cases, according to state data.

The city is seeing an average of 12 deaths per day, down from an average of 14 deaths per day the week prior.

An average of 902 confirmed cases are being reported per day, a 17 percent decrease from the previous week. At the same time, testing has fallen by 5 percent.

The city’s seven-day positivity rate is at 7.7 percent, down from 10.3 percent the week before.

Block Club Chicago’s coronavirus coverage is free for all readers. Block Club is an independent, 501(c)(3), journalist-run newsroom.

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West Side Hospital Offers Free Screenings Throughout Cervical Cancer Awareness Month

Wed, 20 Jan 2021 17:58:45 GMT

AUSTIN — In recognition of Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, West Side residents can get a free screening for the disease.

West Side residents who are uninsured or underinsured can visit Loretto Hospital at 645 S. Central Ave. 9 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday for a free screening. Screenings are free through the end of January, and appointments are not needed.

“Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable types of cancer and, if detected early, is one of the most successfully treatable cancers,” said Heather Bergdahl, chief transformation officer at The Loretto Hospital.

Cervical cancer is also one of the most preventable forms of the disease, since the HPV vaccine can greatly reduce the risk of developing cervical cancer. Still, about 12,000 new cases of HPV-related cervical cancer are diagnosed in the country each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Cancer related to HPV infections disproportionately affect Black and Latina women, according to CDC data. That disparity may be due to barriers that prevent many Black and Latina women from getting screening and follow-up care, Bergdahl said. This higher prevelence makes it essential that every woman in the community, “regardless of race or insurance status, has access to potentially life-saving cervical cancer screenings this year,” she said.

Loretto Hospital will close Cervical Cancer Awareness Month by inviting community members to join a panel of experts of an in-depth discussion about the disease. Participants will learn about what cervical cancer is, what causes the disease, how cervical cancer can be prevented, and why it is so important to get screened.

The panel will be streamed live on Loretto Hospital’s Facebook page at 4:40 p.m. Jan 27.

Pascal Sabino is a Report for America corps member covering Austin, North Lawndale and Garfield Park for Block Club Chicago.

Block Club Chicago’s coronavirus coverage is free for all readers. Block Club is an independent, 501(c)(3), journalist-run newsroom.

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City’s Carjacking Surge Shows No Sign Of Slowing, So Residents Are Buying Guns

Wed, 20 Jan 2021 15:48:00 GMT

HYDE PARK — Carjackings have been on the rise in Chicago for more than a year. After a 135 percent jump in 2020, the trend is continuing with 61 carjackings reported in the first 10 days of 2021.

As city officials and police scramble to address the issue with meetings, City Council hearings and community alerts, some Chicagoans are taking matters into their own hands against the advice of law enforcement: They’re applying for concealed carry permits.

Kelly Milan, a Northwestern graduate student, was carjacked Friday morning in Hyde Park in front of William H. Ray Elementary School.

About 8 a.m., the budding journalist drove her 2014 Jeep Cherokee to the school, 5631 S. Kimbark Ave., to interview students for the Hyde Park Herald.

“I got out of my car and locked my car and was in the middle of the street when I saw a running car in the middle of the street,” Milan said. “Immediately, I thought something bad was going to happen. Then, two guys got out of the car. One guy made eye contact with me and started running towards me. I just started saying ’No, no, no, no, no’ and I winced because he was running towards me and I thought he was going to take me down.

“Then I started saying, ‘Please don’t hurt me, please don’t hurt me.’ He said, ‘Where are your keys?’ and forcibly went through all my pockets. He grabbed my keys and my phone. The other guy was just leaning by the car, watching it.

“I was begging for my life. It was really, really terrifying. You never think you’re going to be a victim of a carjacking, let alone one outside an elementary school at 8 a.m., but here we are and it’s happening.”

Milan’s story is not unique. Carjackings shot up 135 percent in 2020, with 1,415 reported that year compared to 603 in 2019, according to the Chicago Police Department. So far in 2021, carjackings are on a pace to break last year’s record with 61 happening over the first 10 days of the year, up from 22 during the same period in 2020.

Since Jan. 10, there have been at least two community alerts issued for police districts in vastly different parts of the city. From Jan. 14 to Jan. 19 in the 2nd Police District at 51st and Wentworth in Bronzeville, there were five carjackings. In the 14th Police District, at 2150 N. California Ave. in Logan Square, there were also five, taking place between Jan. 9 and Jan. 17.

The carjacking of Milan was typical of the brazen ways some culprits have staged their crimes — without regard for their surroundings, on a block with many homes and right in front of an elementary school.

Milan estimated the ages of her carjackers as 16-20 and said one of the attackers drove off with her car while the other one got back in the car that they rode up in, driven by a third boy or man. The carjacker also took her phone and wallet.

Retired probation officer Javondlynn Dunagan owns JMD Defense, a self-defense company in Beverly that offers gun safety and conceal carry classes. She said her business has boomed as South Side residents increasingly feel ignored by the police and reporters.

Dunagan said carjackings — combined with the riot at the Capitol and unrest this summer — have resulted in large numbers of residents signing up for concealed carry classes. Along with getting a Firearm Owner’s Identification Car from the Illinois State Police to own a gun, gun owners who wish to get concealed carry privileges must complete a 16-hour class.

“It’s a feeling that [the police] can’t handle it and on the South Side, they are feeling neglected,” Dunagan said.

‘We Need Both A Long-Term And Short-Term Solution’

The feeling of fear isn’t exclusive to the South Side.

“I’ve had customers who were victims of carjackings then suddenly conceal carry became their No. 1 priority because they never want to experience that again, and if they do, they want to have a chance,” said the owner of Illinois Protect and Conceal at 6938 W. Higgins Road, who said he his known as IPAC Instructor Paul.

FOID applications in 2020 boomed in Illinois, with 341,153 applications. For concealed carry permits, 93,893 applications were received.

The day after Milan was carjacked in Hyde Park, Chicagoan Erin Groble was the victim of a carjacking in a Wicker Park parking lot at 1:30 p.m. Groble, who was visiting a friend, was getting in her boyfriend’s car near Division Street and Ashland Avenue when another car pulled up with three boys or men inside. Two got out the car and rushed toward her, she said.

Sam Royko, Groble’s boyfriend, said the thieves stole Groble’s purse, phone and some packages that were in the car — along with his 2016 Audi GTS.

“They got out and grabbed her door and started yelling at her and pulled her out of the car,” Royko said.

Groble’s friend got the license plate of the car that pulled up, but police discovered that car had also been stolen.

Police found Groble’s purse later that day in yet another stolen car and found Royko’s car, which had body damage to it, on Monday.

Both carjackings, a day apart, seemed to show how emboldened the thieves have become and how they are happening on sleepy streets and busy thoroughfares, from early morning to late at night, from Hegewisch to Rogers Park and Streeterville to Portage Park.

Along with the time and locations, the methods seem to vary. Most carjackers seem to work in teams of two or three. Some pull up in another car and lightly hit the victim’s car to get them to exit before stealing their vehicle. Some run up when a victim is parked or near their car and force them to turn over their keys. Some target ride-hail drivers. Some have a gun. Most take the victim’s cellphones and other items along with their car. And many of the offenders are young teenagers and are charged as juveniles if caught.

“They know when they commit these crimes they are going to go to jail for a moment and then get right back out … . It’s a revolving door,” Dunagan said.

Residents received emails from aldermen across the city about the carjacking sprees this week. Ald. Jason Ervin (28th) said council members will discuss the issue Friday at a City Council Public Safety Committee hearing.

“There are a lot of things going on. I know the pandemic is part of it, you can’t say that it isn’t,” Ervin said. “But there are also some challenges with the juveniles being released so quickly. There are a myriad of issues that went into creating what we have, and there is no one cure or specific answer. It’s going to take a larger approach to help solve this.”

Royko and Groble said they talked to neighbors, many of whom are afraid to drive at this point. He plans to attend the City Council hearing Friday.

“We need both a long term and short-term solution,” he said. “This is an opportunity for the aldermen and the mayor to come together to try and think of what we can do to fix this.”

Ald. Brian Hopkins represents the 2nd Ward where Groble was carjacked. On Tuesday, he issued a vehicular hijacking alert in his newsletter to constituents, pledging to add additional cameras and plate readers in his ward that can aid in tracking stolen cars and tracking criminal suspects.

“Like many of you, I am shocked by this recent surge in vehicular hijackings,” Hopkins wrote. “Residents have reached out to my office in concern over these incidents, which have been widespread and occurring in many of the bordering wards and police districts. I have personally talked with some of the victims, and I genuinely understand how traumatizing these crimes can be.”

The Friday hearing is just the latest city effort to address the issue. In December, 1,400 residents of two South Side wards signed a petition calling on Alds. Greg Mitchell (7th) and Michelle Harris (8th) city leaders to do something about carjackings.

Despite a meeting on the topic over Zoom, residents expressed frustration and exasperation on social media.

The ‘Good Guy’ Does Not Always Win In A Gunfight

To address the issue, the Police Department relaunched its Vehicular Hijacking Task Force in February. It had been on hiatus since 2018, said police spokesperson Maggie Huynh.

Additionally, in July, the U.S. Department of Justice launched Operation Legend, a coordinated effort in which federal agencies work in conjunction with state and local law enforcement to fight violent crime.

It was that effort that led to federal carjacking and firearm charges against Elias Quinones-Figueroa after he allegedly stole an SUV at gunpoint and hit a cyclist as he sped away in West Town in May. The carjacking charge is punishable by up to 25 years in federal prison, while the gun charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years, which must run consecutively to the carjacking sentence.

Armed citizens are not the answer to the crisis, Ervin said.

“I’ve been robbed before and if I had a gun on me at the time, it would have done me no good and may have gotten me killed,” Ervin said.

Research shows carrying a gun may actually increase a victim’s risk of injury and people successfully defend themselves with guns in less than 1 percent of crimes.

Some gun proponents point to the story of the owner of a BMW who shot and killed a would-be carjacker on Ida B. Wells Drive.

However, those types of stories are rare, and they do not mention the possible psychological hurdles the BMW owner faced afterwards.

More common are stories of people who lost gunfights, such as retired firefighter Dwain Williams, who was killed in a carjacking Dec. 3. Williams had a gun, but it did not save him. He was shot and killed during an exchange of gunfire with four carjackers who stole his car as he was leaving a Morgan Park popcorn shop.

In Jefferson Park, Instructor Paul said he tries to remind his students it’s always better to give up the car and get away if you can.

“It’s a last-ditch effort,” Paul said. “Imagine how mortifying it would be to shoot and kill another person. It would be something that no normal person wants to experience. And let’s face it, there are very serious legal and financial ramifications that follow thereafter, including retaliation in some cases.

“So, a strong emphasis is put on, ‘Get away if you’re able.’

Milan said the fact she wasn’t armed and stayed calm likely saved her last week, adding the only thing she’d consider carrying in the future might be pepper spray, and even that wouldn’t have helped her last week.

“If I did have pepper spray, I wouldn’t have sprayed it because when you’re in that situation you give up everything you own and you make sure you’re safe. It happened in a matter of seconds and I don’t think people realize how fast it happened,” Milan said.

Dunagan agreed and said the “good guy” does not always win in a gunfight.

“We teach and talk about temperament a lot. We try to redirect people from thinking that they should come in here to get a gun and stop a carjacking,” Dunagan said. “Just like the firefighter. He shot maybe one of them, but they wanted his car and he pulled his firearm and unfortunately lost his life. You’re not always going to win those gunfights.”

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Chicago’s Black Activists Aren’t Putting Their Faith In Biden: ‘We’re Going To Continue ...

Wed, 20 Jan 2021 15:30:00 GMT

ENGLEWOOD — President-elect Joe Biden will take office Wednesday — but local activists are skeptical the new administration will means big changes for Chicago’s Black and Latino neighborhoods.

Locally and nationally, activists have organized to help people as governments fumbled their responses to the coronavirus pandemic, the related economic crisis, social unrest over police shooting people and spiking gun violence. Time and again this year, they were stymied by officials near and far.

Will a Biden-Harris administration improve the outlook on these critical issues for communities of color? Organizers like Tatyana Chante of Brave Space Alliance aren’t so sure.

“I’m afraid that Biden and Harris won’t be held accountable,” said Chante, the mutual aid program coordinator for the Black- and trans-led group on Chicago’s South Side. “I don’t think they’ll cause as much damage as Trump would’ve done if he had been elected for another four years, but I am worried about what they won’t get done.”

A #CopsOutSchools march in Logan Square.

Aislinn Pulley, who serves as executive director of the Chicago Torture Justice Center, questioned how the Biden administration will work to enforce a federal consent decree designed to overhaul Chicago Police policies and practices — reforms the department and city have been slow to implement.

“I don’t envision a significant change. I would love for Biden and Harris’s [Department of Justice to] come down to actively enforce it and hold the city and the CPD to task,” Pulley said. “It could happen, but I’m not holding my breath.”

Instead of putting their faith in Biden, organizers said they’ll continue to put their faith in their own activism.

The activism around police in schools forced votes on the issue. Organizers have brought renewed public scrutiny to environmental injustice, from the botched Hilco demolition that covered Little Village in dust to the owner of General Iron in East Side.

The work of LGBTQ activists helped push a reckoning around racism and discrimination in Boystown, now officially renamed Northalsted. And where government has failed to support people struggling in the pandemic, community organizations are filling those gaps.

Here’s more on what local activists have to say about the new presidential administration — and what it will — and won’t — mean for Chicago:

David Moran (left) and Caullen Hudson, multimedia director and the founder of Soapbox Productions.

Caullen Hudson And David Moran

Caullen Hudson and David Moran are the founder and multimedia director of Soapbox Productions. Their team has spent years chronicling the city’s drill and activism scene for their film, “Chi DNA.”

They’ve also partnered with local activists on rapid response video projects for activist work, including the #NoCopAcademy campaign.

The activists are concerned about the Biden administration’s messaging on police reform, but they think their energy is better spent trying to move the needle locally.

More people are recognizing their own power and realizing they can use that influence to vote out problematic politicians, Moran said.

#NoCopAcademy protesters stage a die-in at city hall in March 2018 demanding the mayor invest in education rather than the police and fire training facility.

“The silver lining from Trump winning is that we know now that anyone can hold office, and if people believe that the official isn’t doing a good job — even if that official is from the same party — they can primary them and get them out of there,” Hudson said.

“Seeing what 2020 has presented, it’s opened up a lot of people’s eyes. It’s politicized people to the point where they’re realizing the power of organizing within communities,” Moran said. “We saw that with mutual aid and, on a larger scale, what Stacey Abrams did in Georgia. The real wins are in these places we’re seeing.”

In the meantime, they said residents should stay vigilant and prepare to hold the incoming administration accountable.

“Fortunately, facts matter a little more to Biden and Harris than they did to Trump, so we can hold their feet to the fire,” Hudson said.

Tatyana Chante, mutual aid program coordinator for Brave Space Alliance.

Tatyana Chante

Tatyana Chante, the Mutual Aid Program coordinator for the Brave Space Alliance, has been involved in campaigns pushing for police and education reform while pursuing a degree at Roosevelt University.

The Seattle native joined the Brave Space Alliance in August and has helped numerous residents who found themselves out of a job due to the coronavirus pandemic. The organization launched its crisis pantry in March and has continued expanding services in recent months.

“The need is wide. And you have people experiencing this for the first time on one end, and, on the other, those whose needs have worsened. It’s become so much more polarizing,” Chante said.

Members of the Brave Space Alliance are organizing food pantries and other services for LGBTQ people in need on the South and West sides.

Housing, food insecurity and wage inequality are among the primary concerns for Chante, and they aren’t sure the incoming administration can address them properly in the next four years.

On top of that, the last four years have been an assault on trans rights: Trump’s White House worked to dismantle existing laws created to protect trans people, and 2020 saw a record number of anti-trans-rights bills in state legislatures, according to the ACLU.

Chante doesn’t see that changing with a new administration, especially since Harris as a prosecutor opposed measures to decriminalize sex work, they said.

“Sex workers are still in danger whether Trump or Biden is in office,” Chante said.

Like Hudson and Moran, Chante hopes people on the ground will continue to focus on meeting immediate needs that persist regardless of who occupies the White House.

In addition to its food pantry, Brave Space Alliance recently opened a makeup room for Black and Indigenous trans folk and sex workers, recognizing that something as simple as affirmation can be lifesaving.

“Whatever happens, we’re going to continue to take care of ourselves. We have to,” Chante said.

Aislinn Pulley, executive director of the Chicago Torture Justice Project.

Aislinn Pulley

Aislinn Pulley, executive director of the Chicago Torture Justice Project, has spent most of her life on the front lines of social justice movements, organizing against police violence.

The Hyde Parker was recently recognized as one of Chicago Magazine’s 2020 Chicagoans of the Year for her work with the local Black Lives Matter chapter.

As the leader of a group dedicated to making victims of police violence whole, Pulley said the incoming administration’s stance on police reform is troubling.

Protesters blocked off the intersection of Columbus Drive and Roosevelt Road in July 2020.

Neither Biden nor Harris have supported defunding police departments. It doesn’t appear the sweeping changes Black Americans have been demanding will happen anytime soon, Pulley said.

Pulley predicted Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the Police Department will remain “reluctant participants” in the consent decree process — meaning police reform will continue to stall.

“Trump’s Department of Justice declined to pursue any of the consent decrees made under the Obama administration. What will the relationship be between the feds and the consent decree now?” Pulley said.

Pulley is also concerned with the Biden administration’s stance on detaining and deporting undocumented citizens. Biden was vice president of an administration whose policies on removing immigrants earned then-President Barack Obama the nickname “deporter in chief.”

Pulley said she hopes the energy she saw from residents and organizers this year will inspire others to act, as well. People interested in the Defund CPD movement can start learning more about it locally, Pulley said.

“That’s a concrete thing people can do, particularly throughout the rest of December: visit the site, learn how to talk to your alderperson, participate in trainings if they can,” Pulley said. “Participate in mutual aid efforts, and support on-the-ground work during this time, because it’s very important.”

Alycia Kamil of GoodKids MadCity speaks at a press conference outside Chicago Police Headquarters on Dec. 17, criticizing the city’s handling of the botched raid of Anjanette Young’s home in 2019.

Alycia Kamil

At just 21 years old, Alycia Kamil is already a veteran in activist spaces, joining GoodKids MadCity in its infancy and quickly becoming a leader by developing programs to engage Chicago-area youth.

The group led peace marches through the South and West sides this summer, demanding fewer police in Black and Latino neighborhoods and an end to gun violence, especially against children. The group also made headlines when one member, 18-year-old Miracle Boyd, was hit by a police officer at a protest over the Christopher Columbus statue in Grant Park.

That incident, coupled with the uptick in young victims of city violence, has galvanized the group to call on Lightfoot to pass their “Peacebook” ordinance initiative. Reallocating just 2 percent of the Chicago Police Department’s budget could help Black and Brown neighborhoods reduce gun violence, activists argued this summer.

That money would instead help support violence interrupters and other residents doing ground-level work to keep communities safe through direct action with gang members. Peace treaties, accountability, trauma-healing and a restorative justice process are all part of the plan, Boyd said.

Communities would improve if the city redistributed some police funding toward violence prevention, robust mental health services, schools and grocery stores, GoodKids MadCity activists have said.

The day Biden’s projected win was confirmed, Kamil was invited to come to a celebration in front of Trump Tower, she said. She declined. While Kamil understands the collective relief her compatriots feel, she’s worried the issues that have been plaguing the country will persist.

Though Harris has been praised for her efforts to hold police more accountable, her reluctance to embrace more drastic changes to policing has frustrated progressives.

Miracle Boyd dances as she walks east on Lake Street during The Love March with GoodKids Mad City in the Austin neighborhood on Saturday, July 25, 2020. |

And in the end, getting the president and vice president on board with defunding police isn’t Kamil’s more immediate goal.

“If we can get these people who are supposed to be working for us and taking care of us to defund the police and invest in Black and Brown communities, I’m all for it,” Kamil said. “I’m just more focused on making sure that people in the community know what ‘defund the police’ means and what it looks like.”

Kamil said Chicagoans should continue supporting mutual aid efforts and checking in on friends and family. Recently, she organized a grocery delivery initiative — as part of GoodKids’ mutual aid program — that fed more than 30 South Side families.

“I believe in the power of people coming together as a collective, but then I also try not to invest hope in a system where I know there’s always a loophole,” Kamil said.

“People who were quite literally elected to support financial relief [weren’t] doing it,” she said. ” … [This] reinforces the idea that we’re really all we need. Mutual aid shows us how important community is.”

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City Hall Closed Wednesday As ‘Precautionary Measure’ For Biden’s Inauguration

Wed, 20 Jan 2021 13:56:54 GMT

CHICAGO — City Hall is closed Wednesday as officials try to take extra safety steps for President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.

The closure is a “purely precautionary measure” and officials expect the city and suburbs to remain peaceful, according to a news release. The city and county are not aware of any activities being planned in the area.

Still, the city will activate its Emergency Operations Center on Wednesday so emergency departments can better coordinate if any issue arises, according to Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications.

The center is used to coordinate public safety responses between the police, fire and city departments so they “are prepared to take protective action,” according to the office.

Residents can sign up online to receive emergency alerts from the city. Businesses can text 67283 to CHIBIZ to receive emergency alerts that could affect their businesses.

Many are concerned about possible violence Wednesday in major cities and at state capitals after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in a violent riot earlier this month. At least five died as a result.

The Office of Emergency Management and Communications said its officials aren’t “aware of any actionable activity being planned in Chicago.”

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Horner Park Coil Mound Could Break Ground In Spring After Army Corps Of Engineers Approval

Wed, 20 Jan 2021 13:45:00 GMT

IRVING PARK — The American Indian Center and Chicago Public Art Group could break ground this spring on an earthwork mound at Horner Park to celebrate Native American people.

The mound, designed by indigenous artist Santiago X, will be part of a trail connecting the North Branch of the Chicago River at Horner Park to the Des Plaines River at Schiller Woods west of Harlem Avenue. The trail has been in the works since 2016.

Once built, the earthwork coil mound at Horner Park is expected to have a diameter of 90 feet and be 12 feet tall. This earthwork will be covered with plants such as nodding onion, Virginia strawberry and buffalo grass.

A fundraiser for the Horner Park mound went live Monday. Its organizers plan to start construction as soon as they’re able to raise $75,000, with the groundbreaking possible as soon as this spring.

These funds would be in addition to $75,000 awarded to the project by the Searle Funds at the Chicago Community Trust and previous fundraising efforts that included $10,000 from the Illinois Arts Council and $7,500 from an anonymous donor.

“We finally received permission from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build the mound in Horner Park,” said Maryrose Pavkovic, the public art group’s managing director. “That was the biggest hurdle we were waiting to get approval on before we moved forward with fundraising.”

In February 2014, engineers began a $5.6 million ecosystem restoration project at Horner Park.

This required fencing off about 14 acres of the park and 2,600 feet of riverbank so crews could restore the park’s oak savanna habitat, remove invasive species and perform landscaping improvements to restore the area’s natural features.

“We have to be very careful in how we build this new mound and how we replant natural native plants there while also making sure that anything that is harmed is replaced,” Pavkovic said.

The trail connecting the two rivers was originally named the Northwest Portage Walking Museum. Pavkovic said the trail was renamed to 4000N after organizers spoke to experts on how people actually traveled between the two rivers. The new name comes from the segment of Irving Park Road near Horner Park, she said.

“There was a bit of a debate on the fact that factually, historically, that route was not used as a portage for Native Americans,” Pavkovic said. “So we decided that we should probably not use that word.”

A western earthwork mound called Pokto Cinto, which means “serpent twin” in Koasati, a Native American language spoken by Santiago X’s people, has been installed at Schiller Woods.

Fawn Pochel, education coordinator with the American Indian Center, said the mounds and trail connecting them honor the city’s past and Indigenous people who still live in Chicago. Native Americans are often overlooked by the city because they make up less than 2 percent of its population, Pochel said.

“It’s very important that we are uplifting the visibility of Native peoples here in Chicago,” Pochel said. “We want to help people to understand that the Chicago area had mounds across the region, and that’s a part of history that has been lost, unfortunately.”

Horner Park Could Become Home To Mound Celebrating Area’s Native American History

Mound Project To Celebrate Area’s Native American History At Horner Park Could Break Ground in September

Walking Museum To Honor City’s Native American History With Serpent Mound And More — But Organizers Need Your Help

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Win $100 For Supporting Lakeview Restaurants Through Takeout Thursdays Initiative

Wed, 20 Jan 2021 13:40:00 GMT

LAKEVIEW — Neighbors can support East Lakeview restaurants through a new Takeout Thursdays initiative by the local business chamber.

Every Thursday, the Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce will encourage neighbors to order takeout from a restaurant within the chamber’s boundaries. But people can participate in the program any day of the week.

Anyone who participates at least five times Jan. 14-Feb. 25 can submit their receipts to info@lakevieweast.com for a chance to win a $100 Lakeview East gift card.

The program is meant to generate support of small-business restaurants, which are struggling because of the coronavirus pandemic.

People participating in the takeout program are encouraged to promote it online by tagging @LakeviewEast, #LovinLakeview or #TaekoutThursdays in their post.

A map of the Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce’s boundaries.

Jake Wittich is a Report for America corps member covering Lakeview, Lincoln Park and LGBTQ communities across the city for Block Club Chicago.

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Field Museum Reopening Thursday After Being Closed For Months Due To Coronavirus

Wed, 20 Jan 2021 13:40:00 GMT

CHICAGO — The Field Museum will reopen this week after being closed for months due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The museum will open to members starting Thursday and to the general public Saturday, according to a Field news release. Admission will be free Monday and Jan. 28.

The museum closed Nov. 20, when the state imposed Tier 3 mitigations on Chicago — and all other parts of Illinois — as a second wave of coronavirus swept through the city. The mitigations meant museums and cultural institutions weren’t allowed to have visitors.

But the state moved Chicago into Tier 2 mitigations Monday, allowing the Field to reopen.

Tickets and memberships for the museum can be bought online starting Wednesday.

The museum will have safety rules, like requiring staff and visitors to wear masks, reducing how many people can visit at once and asking people to practice social distancing.

The museum’s hours will be 9 a.m.-5 p.m. The museum will temporarily be closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but the Field plans to eventually return to being open seven days a week.

The Shedd Aquarium reopens next week.

Block Club Chicago’s coronavirus coverage is free for all readers. Block Club is an independent, 501(c)(3), journalist-run newsroom.

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Logan Square’s Cellar Door Provisions Reopening For Dinner Only After Long Hiatus

Wed, 20 Jan 2021 13:35:00 GMT

LOGAN SQUARE — Popular Logan Square cafe Cellar Door Provisions is reopening this week after a months-long hiatus, but the restaurant will only serve dinner for the time being.

Cellar Door, 3025 W. Diversey Ave., is taking online orders for curbside pickup. Patrons can pick up orders starting 5 p.m. Wednesday.

The Cellar Door reopening Wednesday is a much leaner operation than it was before it closed in late October. To make it through the coronavirus pandemic, owners Ethan Pikas and Tony Bezsylko had to lay off most of their staff and shrink their menu.

The restaurant had a dozen people on staff and now it only has four, Pikas and Bezsylko included. Pikas said the decision to lay off most of their staff was a “very difficult” and “very sad” one to make.

“Our original intention was to retain all of our staff as it existed prior to the pandemic, and that didn’t end up being a possibility financially for us,” Pikas said. “As much as we tried to deny it, the pandemic has really changed what’s feasible for us, at least right now.”

Another big change: Instead of serving pastries during the day and an a la carte menu, the restaurant will only serve fixed meals for dinner 5-7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday

Pikas said they’ve had to simplify their menu because some of their intricately designed seasonal dishes weren’t translating well to takeout.

“It just wasn’t feasible for us. It was confusing,” Pikas said. “I’m hoping that by using the coursed-out, single dinner approach … there [are] less things to be confused by.”

Restaurants across Chicago have had to make painful cuts and pivot their business models to survive the pandemic, all while working to keep employees and customers safe.

While other restaurants ramped up pickup and delivery this fall, Pikas and Bezsylko shut down Cellar Door in hopes of reopening in the future.

The shutdown came after the owners learned an employee of theirs had been potentially exposed to COVID-19. Cellar Door was among several Logan Square spots forced to shut down because of coronavirus.

It was the second time Cellar Door went dark in a matter of months. The owners also closed the restaurant in late March before reopening it in the middle of the summer.

With this week’s reopening, the owners are starting fresh with meals that cost $30-$45. The menu will rotate weekly and, in typical Cellar Door fashion, what’s served will depend on what vegetables and farm products are in season.

The Cellar Door team has worked closely with local farms since opening in 2014 and those relationships will continue to guide the owners and their two staffers.

They’ve also always been focused on using fermentation and other techniques to create unique flavors, and that won’t change, Pikas said.

“It wouldn’t feel like Cellar Door if we didn’t approach it in that matter,” he said.

On the menu this week is pork collar pot roast with peach leaves and fermented napa cabbage; white beans with mushroom sugo, rosemary and garlic; steamed turnips with crushed juniper and preserved lemon; and a whole wheat cannele for dessert. The meals can be paired with bottles of wine selected by neighbor Diversey Wine.

Folks can also bring home Cellar Door’s homemade bread — either just a few slices as it’s typically served at the restaurant, or by the loaf.

Pikas said they plan to stick with this model for the foreseeable future and hope for another Paycheck Protection Program loan from the federal government. They received a loan in the first round and a grant from The LEE Initiative.

“I’m just glad to be back, and I know Tony is, too,” Pikas said. “We hope that folks can find some comfort in some of this food we’re preparing, and I hope to find some comfort in it, too. I feel very fortunate that we even have the ability to reopen, even though it’s under such a challenging circumstances.”

To learn more about Cellar Door’s reopening, and to place an order, visit the restaurant’s website.

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On Trump’s Last Day In Office, Chicago Aldermen Move To Strengthen Sanctuary City Ordinance

Wed, 20 Jan 2021 00:15:00 GMT

CHICAGO — A push to update Chicago’s sanctuary city ordinance is one step closer to becoming law, and proponents say it would close the loopholes allowing Chicago police to assist federal immigration enforcement.

City Council’s new Immigrant and Refugee Rights committee unanimously approved the changes to the Welcoming City ordinance at a meeting Tuesday.

First created by former Mayor Harold Washington through an executive order in 1985, the order became law in 2006. It prevents city departments and officials from providing information on or assisting investigations into the immigration status of Chicago residents.

But the law has four exceptions. Police can support U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents when the subject of an investigation:

has an outstanding criminal warrant;
has a felony conviction;
is a defendant in a pending criminal case involving felony charges;
has been identified as a known gang member in a law enforcement database or by their own admission.

Changes to the ordinance eliminate those exceptions, require police to work with victims and witnesses who report crimes regardless of immigration status and mandate that crime survivors who help police investigations are provided paperwork to obtain a federal U Visa.

The refashioned ordinance also eliminates the word “citizen” in several places in the municipal code to “make it clear those provisions of the city code include all Chicago residents,” Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th) said.

The changes were co-sponsored by Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Ramirez-Rosa.

Nubia Willman, director of the city’s Office of New Americans, said the changes more emphatically establish Chicago police will not cooperate with ICE. The ordinance better protects the city’s nearly 500,000 immigrants, almost one-third of whom are undocumented.

“Having a clear line that CPD does not cooperate with ICE will allow for real trust building with police and community,” Willman said.

The full City Council could approve the measure during its Jan. 27 meeting, fulfilling a campaign promise Lightfoot made nearly two years after she took office.

Ramirez Rosa, who proposed the changes alongside the majority of aldermen in 2017, said it was fitting the committee advanced the measure on President Donald Trump’s last full day in office. Trump “waged war” on immigrant communities, Ramirez Rosa said.

“We are sending a message that Trump’s assault on sanctuary cities have failed, and rather than undoing our sanctuary status, we are strengthening them,” he said. “No one should be afraid to call 911 and everyone should in the United States of America, regardless of their immigration status, is afforded their due process rights guaranteed by our constitution.”

Last year, the City Council passed an ordinance that limited the assistance and data sharing between city departments and ICE, and terminated the agency’s access to the Chicago police’s controversial gang database.

That ordinance also required police officers to document requests for assistance it received from federal immigration authorities, but it failed to eliminate the exemptions in the Welcoming City ordinance.

In fall, Lightfoot faced blowback from the City Council’s Latino Caucus for attaching the elimination of the exemptions in the Welcoming City ordinance to the budget, essentially daring those who opposed her spending plan to also vote against a measure meant to protect immigrants from ICE.

Ramirez Rosa told WTTW protections for immigrants should not be “held hostage” in negotiations over the controversial budget.

Lightfoot removed the measure from budget negotiations and introduced a new ordinance in December, co-sponsored by Ramirez Rosa. But Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th) sent it to the rules committee, a maneuver meant to delay or kill unwanted legislation.

By directly introducing a new version of the ordinance into committee Tuesday, Lightfoot and Ramirez Rosa sidestepped Lopez’s tactic. No aldermen spoke against the measure during the virtual meeting Tuesday.

Ald. Michael Rodriguez (22nd), who represents Little Village said, said immigrants are the “lifeblood” of the city and the amendments pushes the city closer to being a true “sanctuary city.”

“Getting rid of these carve outs makes folks much more likely to call police in the event of a crime. Supporting victims of violence, again, keeps our communities safer, and finally, more inclusive language in our city code matters,” he said.

Ald. Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez (33rd) said the passage of the measures come at a time of “emergency” for immigrants because “we are seeing so many white supremacist, right-wing violence in our country,” and the measure makes sure “our undocumented people feel safe.”

Ald. Byron Sigcho Lopez (25th), himself an immigrant from Ecuador, said the amendments were a positive step forward and hopefully the “beginning of a great conversation in this community, from Chinatown to Pilsen and many other immigrant communities that I represent.”

The committee also approved a symbolic resolution calling on President-elect Joe Biden and the United States Congress to “immediately enact immigration reform.”

Co-sponsoring Ald. Maria Hadden (49th) said the Trump administration’s immigration policies “totally destroyed the…tenuous relationship that we already had with our immigrant and refugee community.”

“We need our residents to know that we serve them as well,” she said. “So I look forward to this new administration and being able to work with our colleagues here to continue to voice the needs of Chicagoans,” she said.

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Chicago Teachers Might Vote To Strike This Week, Sources Say

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 22:30:14 GMT

CHICAGO — The Chicago Teachers Union could vote this week to go on strike because because many teachers think Chicago Public Schools’ controversial reopening plan puts their health at risk, sources confirmed to Block Club Tuesday.

The teachers union will call a meeting of its 700 House of Delegates members Wednesday to discuss whether to strike or take other action. The district’s teachers could vote on an action Thursday and Friday, sources said.

The vote would be the first of several steps the union would need to take to move towards a strike. Thousands of teachers are slated to report to the classroom Monday to prepare for 70,000 students expected to return to schools for in-person learning Feb. 1.

Union leaders plan to discuss Wednesday whether teachers might refuse to work in schools but continue working online, which doesn’t fit the definition of a traditional strike, according to Chalkbeat Chicago.

At least 75 percent of teachers union members would need to vote to authorize a strike under state law.

In a virtual town hall Monday, Union President Jesse Sharkey urged members to vote for a unified action, Chalkbeat Chicago reports.

Some preschool and special needs students returned to classrooms last week after 300 days of learning from home because of coronavirus. Despite repeated requests for attendance numbers, the district has not said how many of the 6,000 expected children actually showed up.

During the first few days of in-person learning, two employees at McCutcheon Elementary School tested positive for coronavirus, putting eight school employees in quarantine.

In total, 77,000 of the district’s 355,000 students are expected to return to in-person learning this year.

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