Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Deadline Passes For Objections In Mayor’s Race

From CBS 2, of course this also goes for objections to petitions for Aldermanic candidates:
As CBS 2’s Vince Gerasole reports, campaign volunteers and some candidates themselves have been working for the past week to comb through nominating petitions to make sure every signature is legitimate.

To run for mayor, a candidate must file the signatures of 12,500 registered voters in Chicago. Candidates typically file many more than that, in case of problems with any signatures.

It is up to a candidate’s opponents, not the Board of Elections, to challenge the legitimacy of nominating petitions.
...
The deadline passed at 5 p.m. Tuesday to challenge the nominating paperwork for any of the candidates for mayor.
I've been wanting to post this article from Progress Illinois since well yesterday:
WBEZ's Steve Edwards runs down the rules that campaigns are using to try and boot opponents out of contention or play defense against someone else's ballot challenge. There are plenty of places for campaigns to allege wrongdoing or incorrect procedure: Nominating petitions must be notarized, bound, and in numerical order; signers must be registered to vote, live in the appropriate district for non-citywide races, and only sign one petition; and those circulating petitions must be at least 18 years of age and appear before a notary, among other requirements.

While the first day of hearings won't take place until December 6, all challenges are due in by [November 30]. "That means campaigns are in engaged in a frenzied review of petitions ... The whole enterprise is a bit reminiscent of water polo or synchronized swimming:  the real action happens underwater, out of view," Edwards writes. Check out the full piece here.
BTW, checking out this Board of Elections master list last updated yesterday no objections were filed against aldermanic candidates in the 6th Ward. Who knows if that has changed by 5 PM today?

Monday, November 29, 2010

Are these the issues what we should be concerned about...

During the coming aldermanic campaign here in the 6th? I'm stealing this least from the 19th Ward Chicago blog. The issues the blogger there has listed also affect us minus the final item which I am striking out for our purposes.
  1. Protection of people and property.
  2. Quality of the local public schools.
  3. Economic development.
  4. Parks and recreation.
  5. Public pensions.
  6. Taxes.
  7. Ward remap.
  8. The return of the South Side Irish parade.
Basically, I doubt there are enough Irish in this community to even consider a St. Patrick's Day parade. Not that one has to be Irish to consider it, if there are even the Irish amongst us they probably would want a parade here anyway. Who says that you can only do one in Beverly or in the Loop.

My main issues are numbers 1, 2, and 3. Are there any issues you could add to this list?

If you're running for Alderman next year please do offer your positions on these issues. You can always sent an e-mail to thesixthward [at] 1chicago.net (replace [at] with @ and then eliminate the spaces).

Sunday, November 28, 2010

What's next from ChathamNOW, that we're turning into Detroit?

Looking at this recent ChathamNow blog question I'm sure it'll be said. It has been said before:
Do you think with all of the shootings in and around Chatham that the National Guard will finally come in along 79Th Street (the police chase involving the shooting of Michael Flisk included more than 20 blue and white squad cars)? 
If you want to know my thoughts on this subject look no further than this post I wrote over at Gaper's Block. Let's do what we can without the assistance of the National Guard.

Also, I believe that while crime may well be at an uptick in Chatham. It would be an exaggeration to say that Chatham is turning into Detroit.

Related posts

Saturday, November 27, 2010

South Side fire that killed 7-year-old under investigation


Investigators were on the scene of a residential fire that killed a 7-year-old boy in the South Side Park Manor neighborhood early this morning, officials said. Three other children and two women were also injured in the blaze which officials initially suspected was caused by arson.

About 11:30 p.m., a fire broke out in a two-and-a-half story brick building in the 6900 block of South Wabash Avenue, according to police and fire officials. The blaze was raised to a still-and-box alarm but struck out as of 12:20 a.m., according to Fire Media Affairs spokesman Chief Joe Roccasalva.

The victims all inhabited the first floor of the building, police said. The second floor had recently been vacated by another family.

Investigators from the Office of Fire Investigation determined the fire was due to arson and originated from gasoline poured at the back door, police said preliminarily.

A detective with the Bomb and Arson Unit said as of 5 a.m., the fire did not appear to be intentional but did not immediately offer any further details.

A 7-year-old boy was taken in critical condition to Advocate Hope Children's Hospital in Oak Lawn, but later died, Roccasalva said.

A boy and girl--both between the ages of 2 and 4 years old--were taken in critical condition to Comer Children's Hospital, he said. Additionally, a girl who appeared to be 7 years old was taken in serious condition to Saint Bernard Hospital and Health Care Center.

Complete story at http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/11/police-kids-among-injured-in-south-side-fire.html

Friday, November 26, 2010

Bobby Joe Johnson filed on Nov. 22nd


So I decided to go down memory lane and found this video by Syron Smith who also filed petitions to run in the 15th Ward. Johnson and Smith were seeking to challenge state Rep. Andre Thapedi in the 2010 Democratic primary and objections were filed ultimately neither man was on the primary ballot in February 2010. As a matter of fact, Smith withdrew in the face of challenging these objections.

Johnson was seen in this video with Syron at about the 2 minute mark. They talk about the process of defending petitions against any objections. He also made comments barely audible in another video.

The story here is that Syron Smith & company are in state House Speaker Michael Madigan's neighborhood to protest his involvement in knocking Smith and Johnson off the ballot at around this time last year. Though since both are running in aldermanic elections next year, perhaps they'll have learned something from this episode to keep themselves on the ballot in 2011.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Free Pancakes at Mather's More than A Cafe

Print out the following coupon for free pancakes (until Dec. 10) at Mather's More than a Cafe

Your neighborhood place for fresh, made-to-order, delicious meals priced


right for your pocket book. We offer a full menu including breakfast, lunch,

and daily specials. Stop in today!

HOURS: Monday–Friday: 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. • Kitchen Hours: 8:30 a.m.–2:45 p.m.

Saturday: 8:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m. • Kitchen Hours: 8:00 a.m.–1:15 p.m.





33 E. 83rd Street

Chicago, IL • (773) 488.2801

Click to see our full menu

Monday, November 22, 2010

Waiting For Superman: A Film, A Public Forum, An Action Agenda-Setting

Will you make it to the ICE Theaters on 87th Wednesday morning starting at 10 AM for this documentary about education reform. We not only can't wait for Superman, but we also can't wait for a new Mayor or a CPS superintendent to tell us what we can do about education in our city.

New Grass for Abbott Park

Got this e-mail recently from Clevan Tucker of Roseland Heights about artificial turf for Abbott Park:
The sense of connection to nature is hugely important for almost anyone who goes to a park. The Chicago Park District has plans to renovate the track behind Harlan High School by replacing the center area of mud holes with artificial turf.

According to the design for Chicago's green movement aren't we suppose to be adding more real greenery to the hard-surface ? Now, especially in Daley's Chicago, every thing is suppose to be blooming.

On Nov. 30 at 6:00pm in Abbott Park, CPD officials will be meeting with the Park Advisory panel and the community talking up the need for fake grass..

Currently, the greenery largely consists of grass, trees and ugly mud holes where cars jump the crub and drive into the park. So now the big question is with who's money do we pay for the turf CPS or CPD or both? These are the same people who faced real constraints and had no budget for popular park programs and cut them. An even bigger question mark is who will this benifit? How will this fake greenery be integrated into an overall design.

Beyond the proposed artifical turf, how much of the existing park will be improved? There remains plenty of room for park re-configuration. At least Park officials seem serious about bringing the community to the table. But will proposal need community vote for approval or like the zone change be done whether the community likes it or not?? Get ready for "Artificial Turf" or "The Rezone Sequel."

A.J.

If only there was room to turn Abbott into a campus park for Harlan. Why not have a football stadium or a baseball stadium in addition to having fields for baseball and softball? Of course I also recognize that this isn't likely and the community should be able to use such facilities for their own purposes if they wish.

I wish the Park District could figure out what to do about that old playlot near 98th & Michigan. It's been years since they removed the playset. I wish it could find a new use in the future. Of course that in addition to getting that track in better shape.

RELATED

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Squatter house Sunday morning near 95th & Michigan

I posted this pic on the FB page, however, the Alderman posted a comment about this pic to an unrelated posting there. So to make the connection for those of you who follow both the blog and the FB page her comment is posted here for context.
Referred to the Dep. Commissioner of Buildings 2 mins. ago with yr pic. We reported it to the 6th Dist. and Buildings at least 5 times over the last 2 years and each time we empty them, they move back in. Asking Law to go after the Mortgage Companies this time, because its costing the taxpayers money. Also because we don't want any fires from them trying to heat the homes with propane. Thanks for the pic.
Last month three young men just walked up to the door and kicked the door in and I posted about that on the FB page as well. It has also been seen by my eyes that the people who live here like to sit on the porch at times. Also I'm not sure if who ever is taking up residence here are somehow connected to who lives in that grayish looking house you see to the right of the boarded up squatter home. I'm sure I will be corrected in making that assumption.

Oh yeah I wanted to take a picture of this Tupperware/Rubbermaid container top that was covering up the windows at various points. It was out within the past month but I first saw it over the summer written with gang markings such as pitchforks or six-point stars. The message almost dared someone to start trouble. It appears that it was recently replaced by a piece of plywood.

Below is a link to the first time I mentioned this house. The issues that I had found out about it at a neighborhood meeting. It was implied that an aggressive panhandler had taken up residence here. Usually sitting in a wheelchair. Well the wheelchair is present in the above pic alongside the house near the side porch.

RELATED: Roseland Heights and the house with plywood

Saturday, November 20, 2010

ChathamNOW: Blog question on the next building project

Today's blog question from ChathamNOW about the old site of the Rhodes Theater:
Do you think the next new building project for Chatham should be a L.A. Fitness on the site of the former Rhodes Theater vacant lot at 79Th and Rhodes Avenue? Leave your comments on the comment line. 
LA Fitness??? Whatever happened to the idea of bringing Bosse Sports to this vacant lot????

To be honest I could either support the construction of a fitness center or a community center here on this site. Of course that's not to say there isn't room for both in Chatham if possible. Although a pet idea would be to rebuild the theater even if it's not even feasible.

Previous posts on the former Rhodes Theater site:

Kennedy-King inspires 63rd St. retail dreams

Team Englewood on Kennedy-King College and the expected business it could bring to the former historic shopping center that was largely razed to develop the new campus:

El-Amin said the community college has an enrollment of 7,000 including online students.

“We easily have 5,000 students come into this area on any given day,” said Clyde El-Amin, adding that the campus also offers a solid complement of classes on Saturday and some on Sunday. At the time, El-Amin was president of Kennedy-King College. He now serves in a similar capacity at Olive Harvey College. 

“Our students buy food, groceries and clothes,” El-Amin said. “They need services.”

He also noted that the Kennedy-King has a staff of 6,700 personnel – faculty, staff, administration and engineers – working on campus at any given time.

“Businesses like to locate where there is a lot of activity,” he said. “Improving (the) foot traffic improves the climate for retail business.”
Now the next step is to turn 63rd & Halsted into an area that isn't that much busier than the Loop. When I learned of KKC coming to that intersection I could imagine this area being about as busy as State/Lake where Harold Washington College is located. Perhaps of course I'm being overly optimistic as the Loop is a vast area and State/Lake is served by several rail lines.

This whole article is worth your time. Via Curbed Chicago!

Friday, November 19, 2010

CTA Holiday Train 2010

UPDATE 3:17 PM - Got a message via Tracey Swartz on Twitter with regards to the Holiday Train:
hi sixth ward, santa will be taking fotos with riders at 95th red line stop on saturday between 1:50 p.m.-2:20 p.m.: http://bit.ly/cGPk65
Will you be there on Saturday? - Levois

The Chicago Transit Authority should be setting up their schedule for the Holiday Train, featuring a special car for Santa Claus, very soon.

I took my daughter last year to the Holiday Train, and it was fun. Just the cost of an El Ride, we were able to get to Belmont & took some photos.

The Holiday schedule will be posted here.


This Saturday, families can take photos from 1:45pm - 2:15pm at the 95th street station.



Some suggestions for those considering doing it this year:
  1. Go to the beginning of the trip (whether it's Howard or 95th). Even just 2 stops into the "tour", at 79th, the train was quite crowded already.
  2. Plan to be there at least 15 minutes ahead of schedule. It will be a lot less stressful.
  3. There is a time to get a photo taken next to Santa & in front of the trains. This ride, it was at Belmont. But note-- it's only about 4 minutes to do so. So take your photos & hop back on! (we wound up missing it after the photos)
The dates, times and directions for the 69th, 79th, 87th and 95th el stops:

(Nov 20-21 Sat-Sun- Northbound)
  • 95th = 2:42pm   and   7:08pm
  • 87th = 2:44pm   and   7:10pm
  • 79th = 2:46pm   and   and 7:12pm
  • 69th = 2:48pm   and   7:14pm

(Dec 15 Wed - Northbound)
  • 95th = pm
  • 87th = pm
  • 79th = pm
  • 69th = pm
(Dec 17 and 20,  Fri and Mon- Northbound)

  • 95th = pm
  • 87th = pm
  • 79th = pm
  • 69th = pm
Any families want to meet up this year?



In farewell, Burris laments lack of blacks in Senate

UPDATE 11:09 AM - Below is a video from ABC7 of Sen. Burris' remarks to the US Senate. You can also read this Sun-Times article on Burri's remarks Via CapFax morning shorts.


Chicago Breaking News:
As his controversial tenure nears its end, Sen. Roland Burris gave a farewell address Thursday lamenting there will be no blacks at all in the next Senate.

"This is simply unacceptable," he said. "We can and we will and we must - do better."

He also noted that only six blacks have served in the Senate in the body's 221-year history.
Senator, we've had three blacks who sought US Senate seats around the nation that I know of in this past election cycle. One was a joke (Alvin Greene from SC), the other in our state (Cheryle Jackson) didn't make it out of the primary, and the last one lost (US Rep. Kendrick Meek - Florida) on Nov. 2nd.

To be sure, I wrote here on this blog and other venues that I really didn't agree with Burris' appointment to the US Senate. Especially since it was Rod Blagojevich who appointed him not long after his arrest on attempting to "auction" the US Senate seat that was held by our current President. As we found out later, if the Senator had actually attempted to run to hold his seat he would've had some problems.

Even my Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. found that out later. He aspired to succeed President Obama and it came out that he planned to raise money for Blagojevich in order to be considered. As a result of that scandal while Congressman Jackson may still continue to be a US Congressman in the foreseeable future, he may not advance beyond the 2nd Congressional District.

Also if I may focus on Illinois for a minute, I remember Ald. Lyle lamented herself the fact that the odds of a Black US Senator went down around the time of Blago's arrest. This year Illinois had the opportunity to send a Black woman to the US Senate and as I've stated she didn't make it out of the primary.

Hopefully in the future, there will be a Black person who can win a primary and be able to conduct a winning campaign for a US Senate seat or any other office such as Governor, Lt. Governor, Treasurer, Comptroller or Attorney General (there were Black candidates for Treasurer and Comptroller this past election as well). In addition to their hard work the backing of those who seek to place a Black in a top office as those.

Let's also hope we can call any other aspiring candidate for higher office a neighbor of this 6th Ward.

BTW, I would like to offer a hat-tip to ChathamNOW for this article although I do hope they refrain from copying and pasting news articles without proper attribution.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

ChathamNOW: Blog Question

Check out this blog question from the new Chatham neighborhood blog, ChathamNOW:
Do you think with the influx of Mexican-Americans into Chatham as the newest residents that St. Dorothy's School may have a majority Hispanic student body by 2016? Leave your comments on the comment line.
The blogmaster there may well have been a writer for the CAPCC blog, so this question may seem similar to many you have seen there.

BTW, if you're working on a neighborhood blog or otherwise is a blogger who live in the 6th Ward or surrounding areas we will be very happy to link to you.

Monday, November 15, 2010

2011 Petition filings: Ald. Lyle and Roderick Sawyer

Yeah we do have Early & Often but we could also go directly to the source at the official website of the Chicago Board of Elections. You can check here for the link petition filings which are in PDF format so you will need Adobe Reader to access them.

While Ald. Lyle is on the board as far as running in the 2011 municipal elections also on the board is Roderick Sawyer to challenge her in the coming elections. This is reflected on our 2011 page and hopefully we'll know more as petition filing continues until Nov. 22nd at 5PM. Of course petition objections and candidate withdrawals will end on Nov. 30th.

Consider this an update to JP's earlier post.

Filing begins for Aldermnaic & Mayoral candidates

The website Early and often is tracking the filing for candiates of Aldermanic & Mayoral offices.

So far, only Fredrenna Lyle has filed. Her campiagn was 66th in line, and claimed 4800 signatures.

According to the Chicago Board of Elections pamphlet (page 13), 261 valid signatures are required.

As of 1pm, no one else has filed. (As of 2pm, there were 139 who had filed for city Alderman, Mayor, Clerk and Treasurer).


Other potential candidates listed (with no other data)


  1. Burton, Cassandra
  2. Davis, Burundi
  3. Wooten, Richard
  4. Walker, Sekum
  5. Sleet, Brian
  6. Washington, Sean
  7. Sawyer, Roderick  
  8. Cunningham, Sidney
  9. Sistrunk Sr., Ronald
 If you have any information, please post a comment.

It will be interesting to see how many signatures were obtained, and how many are valid.

Thanks!

Friday, November 12, 2010

The New Park Manor Inc


This business license info was on our Blotter page yesterday. I wasn't sure what this was exactly so I decided to drive by and the approximate location for this place (it was located at the intersection of Michigan and 75th) contained a bowling alley. So that "public place of amusment" is a long time business and has been seen on EveryBlock before almost every year for a license renewal.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Happy Veteran's Day

We would like to mark this federal holiday in honor of those who have served or are currently serving our nation in the armed services. We would like to thank all for their service!

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Kankakee has a lesson for Chicago

Rich Miller makes a comparison between the parking meter privatization in our city and the day Kankakee installed parking meters on their mainstreet over 40 years ago. It didn't work out so well.

Let's hope that Ald. Lyle or any of the other Aldermanic aspirants doesn't make the comment that elder Alderman Bernard Stone said about the merchants in his ward about parking meters installed on one commercial strip:
As for the businesses along Touhy, Alderman Stone says they’ve been lucky until now to have no meters. Now, their luck has run out.
Well come on, your business owners have a concern you have to address Ald. Stone. Are you trying to drive them out of your ward?

Issues at Ruggles?

I had only posted a tweet about this as soon as I got this. And I didn't recognize that this meeting was to take place on Tuesday Nov. 9th at 4:30. Either way I wanted to share some comments at Ruggles School per the man who was responsible for those photographs of wayward signs on 75th Street.
I am chairing this committee and would like to invite all stakeholders interested in the Education of our children to get involved. Minutes of the meeting will be available, via email, seven days after the date of this meeting. Make your request by email.
I made my request and hopefully Mr. Julius Stanley, will allow me to share the minutes of this meeting on the blog.

Also I asked if I could post about this on the blog he not only gave permission, he also offered more comments. My main objective was to post this flyer he attached to his original e-mail. I had already saved that to my scribd account.
There is a problem at Ruggles. Children are not being educated and there seems to be no accountability from the Chicago Public Schools. There will be more coming. My home number is *redacted*. There will be a Principal Evaluation process taking place; a meeting is scheduled for today, at 4:30pm. You need to report--- see the problem for yourself. I'll let you know of future dates in advance.
Also I'm choosing not to share his number, not sure if he'd appreciate that being posted online. ;) I also hope we will have further updates as well.

Deborah Movement Night at the Movies- For Colored Girls


Women are invited to view For Colored Girls and join The Deborah Movement to improve their communities


Join The Deborah Movement

for a special showing of the movie
For Colored Girls


See the Movie!

Reflect on the Message!

Discuss the Movement!



on
Thursday, Veteran's Day
November 11, 2010
10:00 am at Chatham ICE Cinema
210 West 87th Street (Near the Dan Ryan Expressway)

Admission $7.00

Men and women are invited

Tickets are limited. People will be seated on a first come/first served basis. Please call 773.285.9600 to RSVP or to prepurchase a seat at the theatre. Please click here to see a trailer of the movie. Film is not yet rated but content is for mature and appropriate audiences.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

How does Economic Development Work in Chatham?

This was a question that our reader Che' menju posted on another blog. This is a serious and highly debated question.
"So what ever happen to the economic plan for Chatham. I mean bringing in businesses representative of maintaining the status of the community. There is so much talk about WalMart. What's wrong with Meijer? Did anyone try to get them? How would the community know? What happened to Barnes&Noble?

What is the process for approaching these businesses? Is there a committee headed by the alderman and reps of community organizations?

It appears as though we just wait for whomever to come into the community and then we react by saying there is nothing we can do about it and they didn't have to tell us. Is that how Beverly, HydePark, north side and other communities political and community organizations react? Seriously, tell me how this process is suppose to work."
What is "economic development"? Who is responsible, residents, community organizations, politicians, etc?

Are the businesses coming into our community bringing a criminal element with them? Why are convenience stores, greasy spoons, dollar stores, etc flocking to our community?

What is your take on the situation?

Salad bars & vegetables in our public schools

I never wrote that recap of the Harlan LSC meeting, but one of the issues that came up that night in October was the food the students are eating. They wanted on the menu more brain foods and in discussing bringing vegetables to the school cafeteria there was a concern that the students may not want to consume any vegetables. It does make sense why have it if it will barely be touched?

On the FB page, I posted a blog post from Whole Foods Market about their attempts to bring salad bars to the nation's public schools. I've been knowing about it for a while, but I never found the opportunity to post it until now. Even then the application deadline for grants in this salad bar program is approaching. Anyone from our neighborhoods schools are you reading this?

Either way we was alerted by April Branch to an article from last month's Chicago Tribune about CPS not allowing vegetables grown from their own facilities to be served in the schools.
But in a district that touts its use of some local produce in the lunchroom, the most local of all remains forbidden fruit.

Kathleen Merrigan, deputy secretary of agriculture at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, recently toured a CPS school garden at the Academy for Global Citizenship on the Southwest Side. There, two second-grade girls showed her the eggplant, squash and tomatoes they grew, along with the chickens they kept for eggs.

"Ideally, all of those products would make it from the garden to the lunchroom," Merrigan said.

But rules created by CPS and its meals supplier, Chartwells-Thompson, prevent that from happening.

"In order to use food in the school food program, it would need to meet specific/certified growing practices," CPS spokeswoman Monique Bond said.

These requirements would include eliminating all "pesticides and insecticide" applications and using only "commercially prepared organic compost and fertilizers," said Bob Bloomer, regional vice president of Chartwells-Thompson.

Commercial vendors, though, don't have to abide by these rules. They can sell the district produce treated with several pesticides and grown in nonorganic fertilizer.

But produce grown by the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences on its 25-acre farm wouldn't make the grade because, for example, it treats its corn with a single pesticide.
Wow! Thanks makes a lot of sense doesn't it? So it appears that a contractor is attempting to protect their contract to ensure that only their own foods are served in our public school cafeteria.

BTW, the company representative from Chartwell offered an editorial early this month about their policies also in the Tribune:
Several months ago, we initiated discussions with the city of Chicago Planning Department and community organizations in Austin, Englewood and Washington Park to explore how produce grown in school and community gardens can be incorporated into the CPS meal program. A student-grown food program would build on our existing commitment to purchase $2.3 million of locally grown produce from mid-size family-owned farms this school year.

However, introducing student-grown food into the meal program isn't as easy as it may appear. Our meals program for CPS follows district and government-mandated guidelines that are designed to safeguard students from contracting diseases or from getting sick as a result of food that has not been grown according to proper and safe growing guidelines.

Well sometimes well meaning regulations can cause more of a problem that they seek to solve. Although we all want the food to be safe to eat. What we do need to do is ensure that our students are eating healthy when they are at school and hopefully good eating will ensure that our students do well in school.

Monday, November 8, 2010

You may have noticed some tweaks around here...

I changed templates. Let me know how this page works for you on your eyes or even if loading is an issue. Things will always be tweaked around here as it has to be determined what is necessary to keep and what isn't on this blog.

The footer now has three columns and now residing there are all the followers of this blog, our two site meters, the Accuweather widget, and our like box.

As far as the like box go, feel free to let your friends and neighbor know about our FB page. I want to make 100 by the end of the year. I just know that we can do it!

Anyway, there is also a new add this widget in the footer of everypost. If you use Twitter or Facebook to share links from our blog feel free to use them liberally as they are there for entirely that purpose. In addition there is share button that will allow you to have your pic of social sharing sites from around the world wide web.

Also there is now an activity feed in the sidebar from Facebook. All that does is show how often our posts are shared on that website. Like I said I want to encourage sharing using social networking websites.

Other than that, not much different going on at this place. I just hope this blog looks good to you. Besides you've had close to three days to experience this new template as I had done it on Saturday. And as always feedback is welcomed. Thanks.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

6th Ward election results...

According to the Chicgao Board of elections, 19,018 in our ward voted, which is excellent!

Our voting rate (ballots cast over registered voters) was 55.68%,  above the city rate of 51.94%. We ranked #13 out of 50 wards percentage wise , but # 10 in terms of numbers.

However, looking at the results, some interesting findings...
St. Representative Connie Howard (34th) only received 11394 votes.

That means less than 60% who did vote in our ward actually voted for her. Does that mean that 40% of this year's voters not happy with her?


Bill Beavers received 11585 (more than Connie Howard!), winning 91%, with Green Party Candidate Joseph Barton picking up only 728 votes Did most of our ward REALLY think Bill Beavers is doing his job for us on the County Board?

18131 votes were cast for Cook County Assesor. Joe Berrios received 15416 votes of 85% of them.  Do we REALLY trust him more than Forrest Claypool?

For Cook County President , 17746 , or 96% of us voted for Toni Preckwinkle. In her own ward, she only received 15,150 votes or 92% of her own ward's vote!

Why did 94% of our vote go to Democrats, even though they rejected our very own Kari Steele, who was just as qualified as any other candidate?

One last question to ask -- why did less than 1% of us (175) vote for Rich Whitney of the green party but more than 4% (752) voted for Scott Lee Cohen, whose past was exposed AFTER he was elected for the Democratic nominee for Lt. Governor?


Some interesting political results...

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Yet another candidate for 6th Ward Alderman, part 2

Ronald Sistrunk has a website and a Twitter account that I have found via Early & Often. Also to be added to the 2011 page. What I found interesting at his website is his reasons for wanting to be Alderman:
I want to be the next Alderman for the following reasons:
  • To get rid of those Over priced parking meters and the Denver boot in the 6th Ward
  • 79th Street is Drug Heaven from State to Stony
  • 79th Street is the Murder Capital of 6th Ward
  • Seniors are afraid to leave their home
  • Children can’t play in Cole Park because of Crime
  • Average Citizens are afraid to allow their children outside to play for fear
  • 6th Ward violence is out of control
  • There is a lack of economics development, a lack of employment and a lack of a vision for the 6th Ward driving the crime
  • There is a lack of fairness in the distribution of resources throughout the 6th ward
  • Violence at Hirsh HS is out of control
  • Crime prevails in the 6th Ward because the Current Alderman has turned a BLINDED eye to it (ex: open drug selling on 79th Cottage Gr. Sex for sale all up and down Cottage Gr,seems like a killing per day in the ward) 
  • A Lack of LEADERSHIP!
  • Leaks is the only one with an on going employment program in the Ward
  • Ban the Red Light Cameras from of the 6th Ward
  • Why don’t we have a Wal-Mart because there is no VISION!!
OK, where do I begin? This bullet point list of issues are to be verified. We need a vision for economic development in this ward. How do we want to see our commercial thoroughfares to look in this ward? I'm referring specifically to 75th, 79th, and Cottage Grove for example.

The issue of crime is certainly one we have covered during this past year. Especially with high profile shootings in our ward two of them involving police officers. Although 79th & Cottage Grove strikes me as a rough corner anyway, but can't verify what exactly goes on there.

Worlee has commented on the very unsafe streetscape, especially at night along 79th Street. He wants to see better lighting along that street. I would like to know more about why Sistrunk thinks 79th Street is the murder capital of this ward and that it's an open air drug market.

Also I believe Hirsch High School is outside of our ward. Not sure how much any Alderman who doesn't directly represent a school can affect that school. Even then that might require working with the neighboring Alderman.

Since education is an issue we do like to follow here at "The Sixth", he should focus his attention on the schools we do have in this ward. Whether or not they're problem schools as he may describe Hirsch. For example what would he do about Deneen Elementary which was the subject of a takeover this past winter? What would he do about a resurgent Harlan High School to make sure they continue to progress.

Some issues that might make him the darling of the Chicago media may well be the red light cameras and the parking meter issues. They have been the focus of our local media the last few years. And making sure the resources are distributed throughout the 6th is another important issue. Perhaps he can take on the issue of TIFs to ensure that.

Other than that, what do you think?

Pastor John Warner of Crerar Presbyterian goes home to be with the Lord

Pastor John Warner was the longtime Pastor of Crerar Memorial Presbyterian Church . According to the son of a recent guest preacher (and who worked at Crerar himself), Pasotr Warner had broken his neck, and had been out for some time (explaining the number of guest preachers in recent weeks), but finally went home to be with the Lord a few days ago.

The Chatham Avalon Park Community Council blog had a brief entry on Thursday

Condolences to the family of Pastor John Warner the longtime Pastor of Crerar Presbyterian Church 8100 S. Calumet.Pastor Warner was an active Pastor at a progressive Church, Crerar. When ever the pastor would say " The doors of the church are open" it was truly meant. Numerous block clubs, community organization, accepted his hospitality, beyond that, Pastor Warner was a quite storm that provided both inspiration and direction to his church and our community, he will be greatly missed.

What's next for Crerar? I live literally down the block, and am interested in not just the history of Crerar (which added to the building as recently as 1989) , but also the future.

As a side note, Natalie Moore, reporter for WBEZ (Chicago Public Radio) was a part of Crerar and knew Pastor Warner well. (She honored him in her latets Facebook status).

Friday, November 5, 2010

Where am I?


Thanks to Toure Muhammed for the picture
This is the original Salaam restaurant. Where am I?

Daring to spend during the downturn

This person in a column from the Tribune's Melissa Harris talks about a person who owns real estate in Chatham:
Al Goldstein, 29, has built a successful career by predicting who will pay their bills on time.

At age 25, he became a multimillionaire when he sold CashNetUSA, a Web site he co-founded that provides short-term, high-interest-rate loans to people who earn $35,000 a year on average. The industry is known as payday lending and it has faced tighter regulation in some states and is banned in others.

Goldstein has since entered an equally unglamorous field: affordable housing. Pangea Real Estate, which Goldstein launched last year to take advantage of the surge in renters following the mortgage crisis, has bought (and now manages) nearly 3,000 rental units in Chicago.

"We're focused on neighborhoods that are struggling now, but have the potential to become stable over time," such as South Shore, Chatham and Austin, he said.

Tapping a $56 million private equity fund he raised, Goldstein buys distressed properties with cash, rehabs them, rents them, then secures a mortgage, which frees capital that is returned to investors. Goldstein was in Hong Kong on Wednesday raising money for a second fund.

Goldstein has received a warm reception for improving deteriorating buildings. The challenge, he acknowledged, will be to find and retain tenants who'll take care of their apartments — and enough of them to cover the mortgage.

Much of his team, including his partners (his brother, Alex, and Steven Joung), worked with him at CashNet, where they gained experience mining data that would help them determine which consumers are most likely to pay on time.

"We're going into this with open eyes," Goldstein said. "Our last business was far more intense. When I sold it, we had 550 employees; 425 of them worked in various call center capacities."
 Pay attention to what I placed in bold. Surely many of you think that Chatham is already stable, yes?

Family Dollar on Cottage Grove closed

A story from yesterday courtesy of Breaking News, via the Blotter. Does anyone know if this Family Dollar is open this morning?
Family Dollar, 8341 S. Cottage Grove Ave., was inspected today after complaints about the East Chatham store, according to a news release from the city.

Inspectors found between two and four feet of water in the basement near the sump pump and garbage bins overflowing outside the store, according to the release.

The store "will have to correct all these problems, clean the place from top to bottom, and pass a full reinspection before they can get back to business," Josie Cruz, Deputy Commissioner of Streets & Sanitation's Bureau of Rodent Control, said in the release.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Yet another candidate for Alderman of the 6th Ward

Just got wind of it via Early & Often. His name is Sidney L. Cunningham IV. Not much is known about him other than the fact that he has a Facebook group for his candidacy. He is also using FB to get 500 petition signatures to be on the ballot in February.

If anyone knows anything else about him feel free to share. Thanks!

And he will be added onto the 2011 page as well.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

VIDEO: Ald. Howard Brookins talks with Marc Sims


Our neighboring 21st Ward Alderman talks about a variety of issues that I imagine would be very important here in the 6th. Mainly economic development and education. Ald. Brookins advertises the fact that he has the top elementary school in his ward currently at Lenart. In addition to bringing in charter schools to his ward.

Also there is a reference to the Wal-Mart that's coming to 83rd & Stewart in the near future. Groundbreaking is expected in March of next year. I would like to be there.

Alderman Brookins if you read this e-mail us. Well that or we need to call you!

Also he wants to note that his ward hasn't seen a lot of the crime that has been seen in other parts of the city. Although we may want to verify that, I largely only pay attention to crime here in the 6th. That doesn't leave a lot of room for the other wards surrounding our own.

This video is roughly 7 minutes and is right across the street from Woodson Library near 95th & Halsted. That's where his office is currently located well really on that next block from that McDonald's that you see in the vid. Surely Sims caught Brookins during his running around on Election Day as this video was uploaded on Nov. 2nd and Sims made reference to this video being uploaded to YouTube that afternoon.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

No Endorsement from RHCA

Got an e-mail response from Clevan Tucker of the Roseland Heights association regarding Worlee's statements at Concerned Citizens of Chatham and our Facebook page where he believed that RHCA had effectively endorsed 6th Ward Aldermanic candidate Richard Wooten. It was advertised with a flyer announcing the meeting stapled to a Wooten campaign flyer:
No Endorsement from RHCA

The RHCA meeting Oct. 26, 2010. As you may or may not know Richard Wooten (candidate for 6th Ward Alderman) was the guess speaker, along with appearances from Alderman Lyle and campaign Workers from Rod Sawyer also running for 6th Ward Alderman. *Note: Alderman Lyle , currently serving as elected official, came to speak solely in a capacity other than as a candidate.

Facts:

6th Ward Facebook posting

It seems that a 6th Ward Blog stated that RHCA might loss their 501c status for endorsement of a political candidate. The blog implied that RHCA was jeopardizing city services, for Roseland Heights, by doing so.

No Endorsement from RHCA

Among many other restrictions, Section 501(c)(3) prohibits tax-exempt non-profits from explicitly or implicitly endorsing or opposing any candidate or political party. This means neither the organization nor someone (that would be officers) in a capacity of representing the organization may do so. RHCA nor any officers have endorsed or made implicit endorsements of any candidates. Nor have we trained volunteers to work on a particular campaigns, accepted financing from campaigns or political parties, sponsored events or allowed our facility to be used for a campaign event.

NO sponsored events for any Candidate

Candidate Wooten appeared at RHCA regular monthly meeting. Just as Alderman Lyle appeared last month! There was a statement in the newsletter saying he would be there and there would have been a statement in last months news letter for Alderman Lyle had we known she was coming! Any flyers (flyer shown in blog was NOT printed by RHCA) or post cards telling members of his appearance were paid for and delivered by Wooten's campaign.

RHCA did not invite candidate Wooten to our meeting. He asked if he could come and was approved for this month's agenda. He found us. Just as any other candidate could have found us and asked! It is reported that there are 7 candidates for 6th Ward Alderman. The only ones we knew of was Sean Washington and Rod Sawyer. That was the only criteria for an appearance at a meeting.

*Note: When Rod Sawyer's "Circulate Petition" worker appeared at RHCA Vice Presisent's door Oct. 23, she was told of Oct. 26 meeting and told to contact us if he would like to come. How's that for impartial treatment of candidates?

This was NOT an endorsment, forum or debate. It was a monthly meeting!

Any and "all legally-qualified candidates" may ask to participate. However, such all-inclusive participation is not an absolute requirement. Under certain circumstances, a 501(c)(3) may exclude particular candidates from a meeting if they fail to meet reasonable, objective criteria established by the 501(c)(3) organization for participation in the event.

This message is not affiliated with RHCA or from a person representing that organization in a capacity there of. ** This is my answer!

Clevan Tucker Jr.
Feel free to get in touch with the blog at anytime thesixthward @ 1chicago.net. Just remember to remove the spaces around the @ before you send your message.

Election Day items Twitter and palm card

I got this reply at Twitter about what's going on at the Precincts this morning from
Someone should check on whether touch screens are up at Burnside Elementary. They weren't early this A.M.
Feel free to let us know what's going on at your precincts on both Twitter here on the blog or even at our Facebook page @ facebook.com/thesixthward.

The palm card someone passed around outside of Harlan today when I voted. Picks for races US Senate, Governor all the way to all the county judgeships.

Election Report from Harlan

It was around 8:30 AM by the time I submitted by ballot before I put in my ballot 80 people had already voted. It looked like school was in session as students were still filing into the school. It was quite cold outside and there were workers outside working on resurfacing Michigan Avenue.

Before I got in a volunteer was handing out leaflets with a palm card with a list of candidates to consider from Ald. Lyle who's also our Democratic committeewoman.

It was almost empty in Harlan's small gym there were only two others who already had the booth and two others had come in before I left.

When I left there was another volunteer seeking petition signatures for the Alderman.

Monday, November 1, 2010

About a documentary on the practice of "gerrymandering"


Courtesy of Reason.tv. Bill Mundell is the executive producer for a documentary filmed called appropriately enough Gerrymandering. It's about the practice of drawing political districts with the intent of assuring a desired result, mainly for instance to insure that an incumbent will remain in office. Or to explain further to create a district that will allow the incument to remain in office.

Of course this also involves racial gerrymandering. For example there were several lawsuits in the 90s - Shaw v. Reno (1993), Miller v. Johnson (1995), & Bush v. Vera (1996) - about creating these "majority-minority" Congressional districts mainly to insure that racial/ethnic minorities will have representation in the US House of Representatives. Or to ensure that the US House will have members of different racial or ethnic backgrounds representing districts that have a majority population of a racial or ethnic group.

Here in our state this issue will affect us. Soon the political districts from the city wards, to the county districts, to the state legislative districts, to the congressional districts will be redrawn. Remember that the US Census was conducted this year. When it's time for redistricting a lot of boundaries are going to change and there will be a consideration of many factors in drawing a district. The consideration might be of race/ethnicity, income, partisan affiliation to name a few factors that come to mind right now.

Also remember that back during the height of the historic "council wars" in the mid 1980s, city wards were redrawn after a lawsuit to allow for more wards drawn to insure representation for Blacks and Hispanics in Chicago.

Also I believe when many were advocating for constitutional convention during the 2008 Presidential election there were those who were talking about how redistricting was done in this state. I'm sure many of them are still talking about that as it's again time to redraw the various political maps of this state. However there are proposals to have computers redraw the political maps.

Either way, just know this issue is coming in the near future. Not only are we voting for legislators and Congressman on Tuesday, but for Alderman in February. When things settle down from those elections many may well represent vastly different districts in the future.

Crossposted @ Mechanics!