The Pacific Garden Mission: A Place of Refuge
Image by Louis Kreusel via Flickr In years past, Gerald Casey was a “shepherd of the devil,” he said, moving 15 kilos of cocaine a day to the streets of Chicago in a large drug cartel. After distributing cocaine for years, Casey found himself a victim of his own enterprise. His business had turned him [...]
Building Resident Files Discrimination Complaint Against Condominium Association
Allison Kessler, a 25-year-old medical student who uses a wheelchair, filed a complaint against a condominium association in Chicago’s Streeterville Neighborhood. The complaint alleges that the 401 East Ontario Condominium Association refused to provide reasonable accommodations.
Greenbuild 2010 Brings Construction Pros to Town
Greenbuild is a conference for the construction industry, but its arrival in Chicago suggests some positive news for the city at large — and for neighborhoods where people care about the environment and the future of our economy, too. The focus this year is on residential housing. The Residential Summit Master Series is designed for [...]
Cook County Foreclosure Program Criticized
A Cook County-funded foreclosure program designed to keep people in their homes is being criticized from a county board member. Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica said the “Foreclosure Mediation Program” targets the wrong demographic. “What disturbs me in particular is that the majority of the people receiving assistance are unable to afford to live in [...]
CHA Rehab Goes Green for Senior Community
The Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) has announced a rehab project involving a historic Edgewater building that will create 104 units for seniors and provide about 214 jobs in Chicago. Funds for this project are expected to come from an $18.3 million competitive grant from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, aimed at providing energy efficient, green affordable [...]
Neighborhood Stabilization Program Home Hits the Market
By: Bill Healy, New Communities Program There’s the smell of fresh paint on the walls in the entryway of 6405 S. Rockwell. But Karry Young, the developer who’s been remodeling the single-family home in Chicago Lawn, is pointing past the paint job and the wooden molding. “That oak, and it puts so much personality in [...]
Gerard Staniszewski: Working for Portage Park
Gerard Staniszewski doesn’t like rice in his burritos, a fact that comes back to haunt him from time to time. That’s because he is blamed for Chipotle not being allowed to set up shop in Portage Park‘s Klee Plaza. “I wish I had that much power in the community, where my not liking rice on [...]
Lakeview Hotel Disrupts Local Businesses
When Mary Anne Barfield opens her business, B&K Office and Art, in Lakeview, strangers usually greet her outside the door. But instead of stamps or stationery, they want food or her spare change. When she leaves for the night, they are still outside roaming the block, which is why Barfield closes her store at 7 [...]
Dearborn Homes are Here to Stay
For decades, public housing has been an issue across America. “Projects” have been designed under one format: high rise, brown, and cheap looking. This way of thinking and designing is one of the many reasons why these cheap buildings have deteriorated and vanished. But it seems that the Dearborn Homes have finally got the fair [...]
Biking for Homes and for Fun
Necessity is the mother of invention – so it may not be surprising, but it is welcome and interesting to find realtors and the Active Transportation Alliance joining together to create a unique collaboration — Home-Hunting by Bike events. The currently scheduled events are outside Chicago in Homewood and Oak Park. Both suburbs offer good public [...]
Ex-Offenders Face Trying Times Returning Home
Soldiers who return home from war are often haunted by graphic images of mutilated bodies, wake up in sweats and are paranoid of their surroundings. Quincy Lavell Anthony, who now goes by Q.L. Anthony, is not a soldier, but faces similar trauma — as a former prisoner of a maximum security prison. “My mom tried [...]
Controversial Hate Crime Bill Would Protect Homeless, Veterans
Facing dire economic times and dwindling resources, more people are not only becoming homeless – they’re then at risk of facing physical assault. State Rep. Thomas Holbrook (D-Bellville) introduced a bill, HB5114, that would create stiffer penalties for offenders who target the homeless, veterans, active duty members and reservists of the Armed Forces. Instead of [...]
New Regulations on Home Repairs Target Dangerous Lead Paint
When Elaine Mohamed took her son, Zachary Vanderslice, for his regularly scheduled check-up, doctors found high levels of lead in the then 9-month-old child’s system. Mohamed, who lives in a 1920s property in East Rogers Park, hadn’t noticed any unusual symptoms in Zachary, now 8. She soon learned, however, that her apartment was filled with [...]
Listening to the People, Officially
Access Living, governed and staffed by people with disabilities, is Chicago’s only center for independent living that focuses on full equality, inclusion and empowerment of all people with disabilities. On Thursday, Feb. 11, Access Living will host a Historic Six-City Listening Tour organized by the U.S. Dept. of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP). [...]
Residents Rally to Save Lathrop Homes
Residents of the Lathrop Homes public housing project ramped up their campaign to save the development on Wednesday, with leaders announcing that talks between a residents’ committee and the Chicago Housing Authority have come to a standstill. Robert Davidson, president of the Lathrop Homes Local Advisory Council, said the CHA wants to move forward with [...]
“Blood Alley” Still a Problem in Uptown
Police and business owners in Uptown recently joined forces to develop a strategy to clean up a two-block stretch of puddles of urine, empty beer bottles and unsavory characters on Clifton Avenue, more commonly known as “Blood Alley.” The focus of last week’s meeting at Harry S. Truman College was the ongoing problems of safety [...]
“Virtual Volunteers” Can Make a Million Dollar Difference for Homeless Youth in Chicago
Teen Living Programs, a Chicago non-profit that provides housing and services to youth who are homeless, is looking for a few good “friends” to volunteer this holiday season. But unlike most charities that ask volunteers to spend a few hours at a shelter wrapping gifts or serving turkey and stuffing, Teen Living is asking its [...]
Controversial Development Resurfaces in Ravenswood
A barren Ravenswood parking lot may soon be home to a grocery store, parking garage, condo complex and more — if the developer’s “plan B” manages to appease the community that gave a cold shoulder to his first attempt earlier this year. The “Ravenswood Station” mixed-use development would be built on a now-vacant Sears parking lot [...]
