The Cat’s Meow Purrs Despite ‘Rough Neighborhood’
It may seem like the prefix to a joke, but it isn’t. Two black women, sisters at that, own a sex store in Chicago. But don’t call it a “sex store.” “We are the Cat’s Meow, a ‘Pamper Me’ boutique,” said Rame—who describes herself as office operations and decorator and goes by a single name—half of the [...]
Woodlawn community, city officials work on strategy for neighborhood
City officials, community leaders and impatient Woodlawn residents are brainstorming and sharing strategies to help the struggling neighborhood, including plans for a 125- room hotel in the heart of the struggling community. Wesley Walker, executive director of Network of Woodlawn, joined a panel of six community leaders and business people at a meeting Dec. 8 to [...]
Roseland sees uptick in retail theft
Roseland community stores are suffering a new blight of panhandlers who have turned into thieves, drastically hurting the far South Side, say local business owners. According to the crime statistics provided on ClearPath.com– the Chicago Police Department’s website providing statistics on crime in Chicago neighborhoods– there were 23 complaints of robberies within the last week [...]
Project Outreach Links High School and College Students
Benito Juarez High School, a South Side public high school, launched a new program in September 2011 in hopes of increasing college attendance of its students. Araceli Diaz, a college advisor who founded the program, said she hopes this program would help answer many questions not specifically addressed in college prep pamphlets. Diaz called it [...]
Exposing Urban Kids to the Arts
When Blair Holt, a 16-year-old South Side teen, was fatally wounded after shielding a classmate from gunshots on a CTA bus in 2006, news media from all over the world reported his death. A few Chicago residents were inspired to take action. Maurice Willis, 31, joined with others to create Lucid Life Works. Willis, who [...]
Daddy-O’s: A Taste of Jamaica
For a change, get a taste of the islands with this story about Daddy-O’s bringing a taste of Jamaica to the South Side. You can get an eye-full with the slideshow.
South Side Residents Want Loiterers to Leave
South Side residents are concerned about excessive loitering outside the Calumet Food and Liquor, located at 315 E. 43rd St. Local businesses and community organizers in Bronzeville are worried that the liquor store is attracting the wrong kind of company. Stephanie Roberts catches the Green Line at the 43rd El station weekdays to her job [...]
Police Misconduct Needs to be Addressed
Image via Wikipedia Law enforcement officers are people who serve and protect our country. But if you walk down the streets of the South Side of Chicago, some residents there will tell a different story. “They took my little brother and put him against the wall and roughed him up,” said Quentin Batteast. Batteast, now [...]
Principal Says Community is Key to Saving South Side School
Image via Wikipedia Just before Terrance Little took over as principal of Wendell Phillips High School on July 1, he took a quick tour of the school and one word came to mind: “Chaos.” “It looked like a zoo,” Little said. “If a school doesn’t look like a school, then it’s not a school.” With the [...]
With a Little Polish, Bronzeville Can Still Shine
Image via Wikipedia Bronzeville residents and business owners are concerned that there is not enough development in their South Side neighborhood and, as a result, not enough traffic to sustain businesses trying to make a home in the area. Residents said they would like to see the neighborhood go back to how it was in the 1960s [...]
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 [...]
El Solazo: Authentic Mexican Cooking on the Southwest Side
Wedged in among other Mexican restaurants on a busy Southwest Side street, El Solazo stands out because, as one patron says, the food is just like “grandmother’s food — really good.” Owner Jose Barajas said his business has survived the recession because he knows what he has to do to be successful. “If you have [...]
A ‘South Side vs. North Side’ Thing: LGBT Youth In Chicago
In response to the number of gay teen suicides across the United States, efforts like the “It Gets Better Project” have sprung up online. Locally there are several resources available to young lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered (LGBT) Chicagoans. A minor who lives on Chicago’s North Side and decides to come out can find support and [...]
‘Hoops In The Hood’ About More than Just Basketball
A news report from Ivan Villafuerte, Neighborhood Sports Chicago/LISC Chicago’s New Communities Program As the jubilant members of the East Garfield Park basketball team celebrated, straining to touch the trophy they had just claimed, it was clear they had won more than a basketball game and a gold statue. The 2010 Hoops in the Hood [...]
Hyde Park Development Project Aims to Attract Retail, Provide Jobs
A new retail/residential development project in Hyde Park won approval Thursday, Aug. 19, from the Chicago Plan Commission. The mixed-use property along South Harper Avenue and East Hyde Park Boulevard will contain 179 condominium units in two buildings, a two-level retail center and a 400-spot parking garage. City officials hope developing the area will draw [...]
One South Side Church Offers More than Just Worship
There’s a place where sinners go to confess their sins; a sanctuary of sorts for those seeking guidance or forgiveness, and once they’re done they expect absolution. Nevertheless, not all confessions are worthy of such forgiveness. Churches can be the landscape for many events, they provide a setting for anxious couples on their wedding day, [...]
South Side Residents Toured the ‘Greener’ Parts of Their Neighborhood
A news report from Ed Finkel, New Communities Program Residents of South Chicago and surrounding neighborhoods visited eco-friendly buildings and other environmentally significant sites in their communities during the Green Summit Tour on May 29. Coordinated by NCP lead agency Claretian Associates and narrated by Ald. John Pope (10th), the three-hour-long meandering journey on a bus decked [...]
6th District Residents Attempt to ‘Take Back the Streets’
Violence in Chicago is nothing new, and as the hot summer months are upon us crime has escalated and the Far South Side is the “hot spot” of illegal activity. The Chicago Police Department has said that they cannot alleviate the situation alone, and are looking for assistance from the community. This summer, much like others [...]
