Black leaders debate President Barack Obama's public policy plans for African–Americans at a forum at Chicago State University on Saturday. (Photo by Sean Evans)

On the eve of the U.S. House of Representatives’ historic vote on health care reform, thousands of black Chicagoans attended a symposium to urge President Barack Obama to form public policy with African-Americans in mind.

The president has highlighted his administration’s efforts to overhaul the health care system, reform mortgage lending practices, improve the economy and improve education as policies that will impact the nation as a whole, not just blacks.

But some noted black leaders at Saturday’s forum, “We Count! The Black Agenda is the American Agenda,” argued the president needs to focus on blacks, who disproportionately lag behind in all these areas. They urged Obama to reach out to their community, which gave him 97 percent of their votes in the last presidential election.

The forum resembled a church session from the start as attendees stood and Father Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina opened with a prayer. Moderator and talk show host Tavis Smiley introduced the panelists to the audience and emphasized that the debate would remain positive by displaying a cube with the word “love” written on all sides.

“I want to make sure that love is so central to this dialogue.” said Smiley.

Panelists used the word “love” to indicate that they were not dismissing the president’s domestic policies, and they referenced times in history when other leaders used the word as the basis for their public policy agendas for blacks.

“When Herald Washington was mayor of Chicago, he said, ‘Because I love black people doesn’t mean that I don’t love anybody else,’” said former Chicago Ald. Dorothy Wright Tillman, one of 12 panelists at the event.

Other panelists, including Rev. Jesse Jackson, Minister Louis Farrakhan and professor Michael Eric Dyson, said blacks should not compare Obama to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Instead, Dyson compared Obama to African-American baseball great Jackie Robinson and said he may have to wait for “the Willie Mays of politics” to see the “black agenda” executed. Robinson is known as the athlete who broke the “color barrier” in baseball, but Mays is often credited as the greatest player of all time.

The panelists agreed that in order for blacks to see action from Obama’s administration, they would have to approach the situation the same way that blacks approached John F. Kennedy.

“If [blacks] get something, it is because we organized and forced the government to speak to our needs,” said Farrakhan, whose Nation of Islam followers provided stringent security for the event at Chicago State University.

Outside the event, Philip Jackson, founder of Black Star Project, a grassroots program that mentors young black boys, passed out fliers to recruit mentors for young black males in Chicago, but he said no one took them.

He added that the forum about the president’s efforts needed to be followed by actions. He urged leaders at the event not to just talk but to walk away from the conversation and work with those organizations trying to affect change in Chicago.

“They’re talking there and not essentially doing anything,” said Jackson. ”If they’re saying you can only talk so much, at that point they should have all gotten up and walked off the stage.”

Last week, the debate over the “black agenda” resulted in a public discourse between some black leaders. Rev. Al Sharpton, president of the National Action Network, and Smiley, who hosts the “State of the Black Union” event, expressed their varied opinions about Obama on the radio.

To view the forum, click here.

Over 12,000 people this winter visited the ice rink, which was located for the first time this winter on the northwest parking lot of Wrigley Field, according to Chicago Park District spokeswoman Monique Lehman.

“Compared to last winter’s 10,623 patrons (who visited) Midway Plaisance Ice Rink on 59th Street and Woodlawn Avenue, the Wrigley ice rink was competitive,” Lehman said.

But, Lehman said, the Wrigley rink did not produce as much money as hoped for the park district, returning only about $72,000 of a $300,000 investment by funders. This leaves organizers unsure whether the rink will return next winter.

If the rink had generated excess revenue , it would be used to fund its reopening. But the rink did not meet that mark, said Max Bever, community outreach director for Ald. Tom Tunney (44th), who is also a funder for the rink.

“The rink was an experiment,” said Bever. “It’s possible that it may open up next year, but its depends on funds.”

Using outside funders is not unusual for the park district; most district projects rely on state funds, aldermen’s menu money and/or private sponsors, Lehman said.

Other rink sponsors included the Ricketts family, the Chicago Cubs, the city of Chicago, Westrec Marinas, the Blackhawks, McDonald’s, Harey Carey’s and the Central Lakeview Merchants Association.

Sponsors and organizers met on Nov. 9 to lay out plans for the rink. Their money, along with funds from the park district, covered the expenses. Westrec Marinas built the rink, which opened Dec. 19.

Kevin Jericho’s family of three visited the rink around five times this winter, but he thought it was pricey.

“I thought it was expensive.” said the Lakeview resident. “So we brought our own skates and season passes.”

Admission to the rink was $10 for adults and $6 for children, plus an additional fee for skate rentals. All proceeds helped offset the city’s costs — about $100,000, said Lehman.

Whether the rink will reopen next winter depends largely on the community’s response and support. To voice your opinion, contact Ald. Tunney’s office at 773-525-6034 or via email at [email protected], Bever said.

“The park (district’s) efforts alone wouldn’t make it happen again, ” said Lehman. “It would require community effort.”

Gibson, 33, said he asked a number of “passers and mouth flappers” for a cigarette as he waited for a bus in front of a gas station on the corner of 35th Street and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

After negotiating with a fellow smoker, Gibson finished a “bummed” Newport cigarette before he boarded the bus.

“If I ask enough people, it will help me avoid paying for cigarettes at the gas station and on the streets,” said Gibson.

Scenes like this are becoming increasingly common as high taxes on cigarettes are changing buying habits in Chicago.

A pack of cigarettes is worth 98 cents per pack to the state of Illinois and $1.01 per pack to the U.S. federal government. After state, local and federal taxes — the city of Chicago adds 68 cents while Cook County adds $2 in taxes —  a pack of cigarettes in Chicago is one of the most expensive in the Midwest, according to a yet to be published report by David Merriman, a professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago.

While neighboring states have increasingly higher tobacco taxes in Iowa–$1.36, Minnesota–$1.50 and Wisconsin–$2.52, Illinois’ residents in Chicago may be decreasing the city’s tobacco tax revenue by buying elsewhere, according to data received from Chicago’s Department of Revenue.

Buying habits have changed. Instead of buying cigarettes in Chicago, now consumers buy cigarettes outside the city, or even outside the state to avoid paying taxes, according to an emailed statement from Ed Walsh, spokesman for Chicago Department of Revenue.

Sales tax revenue on cigarettes in Chicago has decreased 67.78 percent since 2001, Walsh said.

On the South Side of Chicago, neighbors have witnessed last spring’s federal tax increase lead the distribution of cigarettes from stores to street corners where they are cheaper.

One local resident said he sees cigarettes sold on the corner of 47th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue when he heads to work at 6 a.m. and when he returns home at 7 p.m.

“From the moment I go to work until the moment I get off of work, I see them guys out there selling cigarettes,” said Tony, 52, who asked that his last name not be disclosed. He also said people can usually buy a single cigarette or a pack of cigarettes from men on the street because they are “cheaper.”

Experts believe that the increase in taxes could decrease Illinois’ tobacco tax revenue and increase illegal sales. Peddlers on the street are making a $2 to $3 profit on each pack sold.

“The proximity of Chicago to other cities could lead to an increase in smuggling in Chicago if taxes are raised,” said Michael LaFaive, executive director of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

Professor Merriman’s report says a ratio of 3 out of 4 packs of cigarettes smoked in Chicago are purchased in neighboring states to avoid Illinois’ tobacco tax laws.

Since the tobacco tax increase in 2006, 289 businesses were cited for violating the tobacco tax law, according to Efrat Stein, spokeswoman for Chicago’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection.

And in 2008, 473 businesses in Chicago were cited for violating tobacco tax laws, Stein said. In the last two years, the city produced $600,000 in revenue from fines, she added.

The department has over 65 business inspectors, and 26 of them covertly and overtly enforce and investigate the sales of cigarettes at over 70,000 businesses in Chicago, Stein said.

Stein could not give numbers on the fines given to street peddlers, but said the department does investigate and fine them, too.

“We have a responsibility to even investigate and fine street peddlers that sell cigarettes without a license, not just businesses,” said Stein.