The Sixth Ward

Does anyone know the story of this house?

2012-05-14T09:54:00.000-05:00

Located at the intersection of 90th & Prairie, it appears to be a large house that could be called a "McMansion". A case could be made for it to be a rental property with various floors to be rented out. It's close to being completed and has been sitting like this for approximately 3 to 5 years.

I'm posting this for one main reason. Some of my assumptions about this property could surely be challenged. Therefore, it would be curious to know some of the history of this home? Who built it and why is it in its current state?

Examiner: Replacing Chicago business not an easy task

2012-05-07T21:13:00.000-05:00

Here's some news on the site of the former Chatham Pancake House it was demolished within the past month and as you see above it is now a vacant lot! Now the plans for this lot by the developer of the nearby Chatham Village Square:

“If I could purchase the land behind the car wash occupied by a tennis field no one uses, I could combine that space with the pancake house and that would allow me to offer potential developers enough space to build,” [Musa Tadros] said. “But until then I needed to demolish the building to keep it from being taxed as an operating business. And besides, it was starting to deteriorate so there was also a liability issue.”

One business Chatham residents can rest assures will not be built on the site is another liquor store.

“I hate that there is a liquor store across the street now so I know I would not accept any proposals for a liquor store. There will be no pawnshop there either,” he explained. “And whatever goes up there the community will have a say.”

The Chatham Business Association already has a few ideas for the location.

“There are numerous fits in the community. I would love to see a WiFi coffee, breakfast type establishment to replace the pancake house,” said Melinda Kelly, executive director of the Chatham Business Association, a non-profit Chicago organization.. And Alderman Roderick Sawyer, whose sixth ward includes the pancake house site, said he supports redevelopment of the land and is excited about the possibilities for it.

“I am pleased there is a plan to redevelop the old Chatham Pancake location, while I regret the loss of that business I look forward to a new vibrant business on 87th Street,” Sawyer said. Local, black business owners are pushing for another Black business to move into the space.

“I hope that whatever is put there it is a black-owned business,” said Milton Moses, president and chief executive officer of Community Insurance Center, a 50 year-old, black-owned agency at 526 E. 87th St. “That’s what wrong with black neighborhoods now. As soon as a black business goes under or relocates a non-black business moves in.”

Tadros added he would not discriminate and is open to all proposals regardless of race.

Tadros had purchased the lot of the former pancake house pledged to only find a development that would make "good business sense". Also noted that the limited space on that lot could cause any attempt at development to take much longer. The article noted it could take as much as two years to develop the pancake house lot.

Also I'm sure taking away the tennis courts of Brown Park will raise some eyebrows even if they are rarely used!

The old Wendy's and the store next door...

2012-05-05T09:26:00.000-05:00

I took this shot near 95th & King Drive this past Thursday. Wendy's has been closed for about a month already the establishment boarded up and Wendy's sign removed. What would you like to see here to replace them?

BTW, this is old news that was noted on our FB page last month. A reader chimed in that the owners of this franchise sold the business and moved on.

ALSO at the time I took this picture a group of young people were loitering just outside of the store next door to the former Wendy's. The store formerly was home very briefly to a Quench Fresh Family Foods store. There was a big group no more than 10 young people standing outside. I know that a lot of people are at odds with this store, but to their credit someone came out to shoo the loiterers away from their door. They didn't move along right away but eventually they did.

I did attempt to get a shot of the loitering but hey can't always get the perfect shot. I took a shot of some young loiterers at a gas station near the 95th Street terminal on Tuesday. When it's dismissal time -with Harlan and Gillespie nearby - there is normally a police car present however on this day there wasn't.

It makes you wonder what's the appeal of just standing around near a place of business with no intention of doing any business?

Yard sale sign for Saturday...

2012-05-04T13:19:00.000-05:00

Took a snapshot of this sign advertising a yard sale at the corner of 89th Street and King Drive Thursday afternoon. It's coming May 5th from 6 AM to 6 PM. Does anyone plan to participate as either a seller or a buyer this weekend?

Troubled building in Park Manor demolished...

2012-04-25T13:14:00.000-05:00

These images were sent to us by Ald. Sawyer's Chief of Staff Brian Sleet with this message:

This is a before and after picture of the building on 439 E. 74th St. was torn down on April 25, 2012. It has been vacant for years and has often housed a lot of drug users and the like. The residents in that area had been trying to get something done with that building for years.

The picture above is of the 6-unit apartment building before it's demolition when it was boarded up. Click both pics for a larger resolution!

The picture below is of this building being torn down and with Ald. Sawyer himself at the site of the demolition.

It looks like it was a nice building once an now it will no longer be a nuisance to the community!

New activity at the squatter house...

2012-04-19T08:30:00.000-05:00

Surely someone who reads this blog either knows what the deal is at this house near the intersection of 95th & Michigan. They either know or they know someone who knows.

I took this pic on my cell phone and immediately posted it to the FB page on Wednesday afternoon. The plywood that covered the door has been removed and the house was wide open. I also saw a child go into the house through the side door.

The link below was the last update on this house and that posting has some other links regarding this house.

The "squatter" house is back!

The end of the old Chatham Pancake House...

2012-04-16T18:06:00.001-05:00

Worlee called it in one of his recent postings at Concerned Citizens of Chatham:

Finally, the residents of Chatham will not have to worry about anything being EZ or EZ Pawn as the former Chatham Pancake House (700 E 87th) will be torn down by the new owner. The new owner Crown Properties is actively marketing the property to several national restaurant chains.

So the old Chatham Pancake House is to be torn down and that's what the set up is in the above photograph taken Monday afternoon.

What would you like to see come to this lot on 87th Street?

PHOTO: Jim's Original

2012-04-05T08:30:00.006-05:00

This picture was posted to flickr by Curtis Locke found via our Blotter. Nicely composed and certainly is a snapshot of what you might find on any given day near 95th & State Street (or the east side of the Dan Ryan). One should see the lines out of this place when Jim's offer polish sausages at a discount as they had during Black History Month during given times during the week. It could rival in some respect the whole 99 cent chicken dinners offered by Church's Chicken that Worlee wrote about last year. In fact you can see an example in this photograph on Monday's a Polish sausage for $1.50 from 3PM to 5PM.

Off-market home listing on Trulia

2012-04-04T23:39:00.000-05:00

I had to Google "off-market" so feel free to correct this characterization. This home has either been sold, held in escrow, or the owner changed their mind on selling. Thus it has been taken off the market for whatever reason.

Of course that doesn't mean that we can't talk about this house located in the Roseland Heights neighborhood. This description is provided by Trulia which was found via the Blotter:

This is a Single-Family Home located at 9750 South Calumet Avenue, Chicago IL. 9750 S Calumet Ave has 2 baths and approximately 960 square feet. The property was built in 1954. The average list price for similar homes for sale is $84,286 and the average sales price for similar recently sold homes is $74,588. 9750 S Calumet Ave is in the Roseland neighborhood in Chicago, IL. The average list price for Roseland is $81,647.

Also noted is that this property has two parking spaces, a finished improved basement, lot size is .09 acres, and a detached garage. Furthermore it's also about one story with a basement.

Photo of the day

2012-03-27T08:36:00.000-05:00

A pictured posted to flickr by Cragin Spring that shows the interior damage to the King Bowl - located at 8010 S. King Drive - after severe storms last year. It was uploaded on March 10, 2012.

Does anyone know if there are any plans with this place? As we all know the Park Manor Bowl was demolished as it was also damaged by severe storms last year.

What's this at 95th Street?

2012-03-23T11:11:00.001-05:00

Posted onto our FB page yesterday and it was simultaneously posted to twitter and got a response from CTA

Two-tiered bike racks, part of CTA's Bike & Ride initiatives: http://bit.ly/GNWHTw

Here is a direct link to parking your bike at CTA stations at racks such as those at 95th.

Cameraphone activism....

2012-03-03T12:22:00.001-06:00

The other day I was on my way downtown and I saw the sign for the 79th stop on the Red Line heavily marked on with graffiti. Immediately my cell phone came out for the purposes of sending a photograph to my own personal twitter account and then made sure my tweet mentioned CTA (@cta). I got response back from CTA saying that they will get this to the sign people hopefully to clean it up.

When I tweet most the time I complain about people who are all on the cell phone and they're just loud. They have no sense of where they are and little sense of their own privacy.

But then cell phones are useful too. Perhaps you have an emergency and not just to touch bases with your friends every 5 seconds.

In my case I often use my cellphone to take picture although it was never replace a regular everyday camera. If we see something we don't like then all one has to do is snap a shot. That's my thing often enough on our FB page. A boarded up building, a tipped over bench, a pothole, standing water near a curb, etc.

If you all have a cellphone that has the ability to take pictures, you should use it. There are things that need fixing in our communities. Then be sure you send it to the authorities. For example see a station in disrepair such as the example I provided use that phone and either tweet CTA about it or post it on their FB page.

Also of course you can also send photos to the Alderman's office. Ald. Sawyer's office already encourages it in addition to reporting the issue to 311. They must know there's an issue that must be addressed in our neighborhoods. This doesn't just go for the Alderman of the 6th Ward but other wards especially our general area where I'm pretty sure most of us have cameraphones and the ability to transmit pictures.

Of course as always you can send your pics of issues that should be addressed to our blog. Send them to our email blog @ thesixthward . us, post them on our FB page, or even send us a tweet with a photo attachment @thesixthward

Armed robbery at a local Metra station

2012-01-28T10:32:00.000-06:00

[VIDEO]This long neglected Metra Electric (or IC for you old timers) station was the scene of an armed robbery recently. The video above shows some screencaps of what was seen on surveillance cameras there from NBC Chicago. The quote I will share with you is from CBS Chicago:

At 1:38 p.m. on Jan. 19, the men entered the Metra station in the 800 block of East 95th Street with handguns out, ordered everyone to the floor and demanded all of their money and valuables, an alert from Calumet Area detectives said.

The suspects were described as black males between 18 and 25, 5-foot-7 to 5-foot-9, and 155 to 165 pounds. One was wearing a black puffy winter vest, light brown sweatshirt and light brown baseball cap. The other had on beige pants and a black hooded sweat jacket.

Anyone with information should call detectives at (312) 747-8273 or send tips to area2tip@Chicagopolice.org.

Alderman Sawyer was shown in the video above as well as Chicago State University Police Chief Ronnie Watson. The 95th Metra station is right on the edge of Chicago State's campus. Here's an excerpt from the write-up at NBC Chicago:

The police chief of Chicago State University said Friday he's had ongoing safety concerns about a marginally-lit Metra train station at the northeast edge of the campus.

"I dont want to get into a pissing match with Metra. This is about keeping our students safe," said Chief Ronnie Watson. "Look at it. Have you ever seen another Metra station [that] looks like that?"

The station, at East 95th Street and South Cottage Grove Avenue, is little more than a large shack. There's no attendant, and the only connections to the world around it are a single security camera and a telephone. Metra said security personnel monitors the station 24 hours a day.

But that did nothing to stop two men from walking in, flashing guns and ordering three CSU students to the floor during a daytime robbery on Jan. 19.

The picture below I took over 5 or 6 years ago. It was about to be dark when I took the pic I got a pic of the stairwell also. I'll post a pic of the railroad viaduct where you will enter to board the train. I will refer you to a set of pictures I posted onto this blog back in December 2007 which included information on the future plans for this Metra stop.

New aldermanic wards for one-third of Chicagoans - Chicago Sun-Times

2012-01-19T11:11:00.000-06:00

New aldermanic wards for one-third of Chicagoans - Chicago Sun-Times

As early as Thursday or next week probably at the latest, an estimated one-third or more of Chicago residents will be living in a new ward.

They’ll be in two wards, actually, one old and one new, thanks to a ward redistricting plan that an alliance of aldermen will try to push through the City Council today.

The new boundaries don’t really go into effect until after the city election in 2015, but the practical effect is more complicated.

As in the past, some aldermen will want to start serving new constituents right away to build goodwill for the next election. Others may prefer to dance with the voters who brought them. The result is some residents may find themselves with two aldermen vying for their affection while others will have trouble finding anyone to pay attention to their concerns.

You say you’d like to know which ward will now be claiming you as a resident?

That's what I'm sure the residents of West Chesterfield, Roseland Heights, and Chesterfield are wanting to know.

There was supposed to be a city council meeting at 10 AM today, however, so far as I type this post it has yet to commence. Perhaps they're still working on getting those 41 votes and continuing to move lines around. We shall see!

Future ward remap hearings

2012-01-15T23:13:00.000-06:00

Well three more two of them to be held during the course of the day at the City Hall Chambers. Found this courtesy of Don't Remap the 19th Ward fb page.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012
City Hall Council Chambers, 2nd Floor
121 N LaSalle Street
Chicago, IL 60602
1:30 p.m.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012
North - Grand High School Auditorium
4338 West Wabansia
Chicago, IL 60639
6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Thursday, January 19, 2012
City Hall Council Chambers, 2nd Floor
121 N LaSalle Street
Chicago, IL 60602
10:00 a.m.

Information via chicagoredistricting.com

ALSO the city council is expected to meet on January 18th although since remap hearings are clustered around that date it's unclear if they're even going to vote on a new ward map next Wednesday!

The Chicago Neighborhoods: Chatham

2012-01-01T11:52:00.002-06:00

You thought we've forgotten about them? Well anyway on December 30th they unveiled their neighborhood logo for Chatham with a picture of a block of bungalows. The lettering almost evokes Pride Cleaners near 79th & St. Lawrence. I like it because it shows the neat character of that neighborhood and of course with this description:

Chatham has the "distinction of being the only neighborhood in Chicago that developed from a European American middle-class community into one composed of middle-class African Americans." The shift happened in the 1950s when these middle-class African Americans were drawn to the area because of the strict zoning codes and property standards, high levels of community organization, and good schools. African American residency of Chatham was less than 1 percent in 1950, but by 1960 it jumped to over 63 percent.

The racial transition, while rapid, was smooth compared to other parts of the city undergoing the same type of demographic change. For example, "several area churches welcomed blacks into their congregations, and the Chatham–Avalon Park Community Council began to include African American residents in their organization" in 1955. When the changeover was completed, African American residents worked "diligently to maintain the middle-class character of their community." Because of this, Chatham continues to thrive, and the neighborhood has served as a home base for numerous successful black-owned businesses, including Johnson Products Company, the Independence Bank of Chicago, Seaway National Bank of Chicago, and a branch of the Illinois Service Federal Savings and Loan Association.

There were comments that didn't like their logo for Englewood as it notes the serial killer H.H. Holmes and his building where he committed his crimes. Hopefully in the New Year many of you will like this entry for another one of our communities.

BTW, I will again make a call for those of you with graphic design or artistic experience to create your own neighborhood logos. Hopefully your visions will show the positive aspects of our communities!

Happy New Year!!!

2012-01-01T00:02:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas from The Sixth Ward

2011-12-25T00:01:00.000-06:00

May you have a happy and safe Christmas! :)

Did you go to the opening of Garrett's yesterday?

2011-12-23T14:53:00.002-06:00

[VIDEO] Zack Isaacs of 2CN reports from the opening of Chatham's Garrett Popcorn store near 87th & Cottage Grove. Unbelieveable a 1 hour wait for service. Also note that I've seen pictures and this video here shows a line wrapped around this entire building. People were definitely excited for this welcome addition to the retail near that intersection.

OH, I had to wait for JP Paulus of this very blog to be interviewed in this video at about 45 seconds in!

BTW, Worlee was there to take some pictures and made sure to note that Seaway Bank financed the refurbishment of this building. Believe it or not this used to be a KFC for many years, it does not look the same any longer.

In addition, on their FB page Garrett's have their own photo album. Alderman Sawyer is in the album shaking hands with artist Rahman Statik who created the mural on the side of the store.

And then check out their blog. The first customer at 11 AM yesterday was noted and their rewards for being the absolute first in line! Be sure to offer your first impressions of the newest business in Chatham.

Garrett Popcorn: It's coming to 87th Street December 22nd...

2011-12-19T10:53:00.000-06:00

Worlee posted the pic at left and an accompanying press release this morning on our FB page wall. You can also read a posting from the Garrett Popcorn blog as well announcing the opening!

For Immediate Release

Garrett Popcorn Shops®: A Chicago Tradition Since 1949

Opens its First Stand-Alone Shop at 87th Street and Cottage Grove

CHICAGO (December 2011)— Garrett Popcorn announces with excitement it will open its first stand-alone Shop located at 737 E. 87th Street and Cottage Grove in the Chatham neighborhood on Thursday, December 22 at 11 a.m.

To celebrate this historic occasion Garrett will offer loyal fans complimentary treat-size bags of the famous Chicago Mix popcorn from 11 a.m. when the doors open until 1 p.m. The lucky first customer will receive a special Garrett gift. To all customers who make a purchase, Garrett will also give their Signature Holiday Tin Ornament all day while supplies last. Beginning at 4 p.m. until closing customers can enjoy samples of the Garrett CaramelCrisp® Apple Cider that is being sold to benefit The Boys and Girls Club. Also, fans on Facebook will be rewarded with an opening day special not available to the general public.

“So many Garrett consumers have shared in our excitement about our new Chatham home. We wanted to express our appreciation and recognize these loyal and committed Garrett fans with some opening cheer,” says Melissa Mikolajczak, Executive Vice President of Marketing for Garrett Popcorn Shops®.

An enthusiastic on-line fan shared the following, “This is within walking distance. I love Garrett’s Chicago mix! Finally something exciting to eat in Chatham!”

"I'm excited to welcome Garrett Popcorn to Chatham just in time for the holiday season. Investments like this, by major brands, reinforce the viability of Chatham and the South side as a whole as a place where you can do business and be very successful," says Alderman Roderick T. Sawyer, 6th Ward Chicago. "I am convinced that this location will do very well in Chatham. There has been a great amount of excitement about this store's arrival ever since it was first announced. I have told Garrett executives that I fully expect this to be one of the best performing stores very quickly."

The new free-standing Shop at 87th will provide the same delicious Garrett Popcorn everyone loves in a stylish, yet familiar setting. It will feature a colorful mural painted by Chicago native Rahmaan Statik, entitled Global Intellect. The mural commissioned by Garrett captures the spirit of the Chatham community and the important role of education. “We are especially excited, in this economy, to support the growth of the Chatham community,” says Melissa Mikolajczak, Executive Vice President of Marketing for Garrett Popcorn Shops®.

87th Street hours are 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. Monday - Sunday;
December 24: Open 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
December 25: Closed for the Holiday
December 31: Open 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
January 1: Closed for the Holiday

The official grand opening celebration is planned for early February. At that time, community leaders and neighbors will gather for a ribbon-cutting ceremony and Garrett will announce a special community partnership with Chicago Public Schools.

About Garrett Popcorn Shops

Garrett Popcorn Shops®, a Chicago tradition for more than 60 years, handcrafts its gourmet popcorn using only the highest quality ingredients. Every batch is handmade daily in old-fashioned copper kettles. It begins with a privately grown blend of hot-air popped kernels that are then mixed into a secret, family recipe passed down through three generations. Since its very first days in Chicago, Garrett Popcorn Shops attracts lines of historic proportions outside of all its Shops.

Garrett Popcorn Shops offers these signature flavors: CaramelCrisp® (which can be selected with almonds, pecans or cashews), CheeseCorn™, Buttery, Plain and the famous The Chicago Mix - a blend of savory CheeseCorn™ and rich, sweet CaramelCrisp®.

Vocal fans include Halle Berry, Bill Cosby, Neil Patrick Harris, Salma Hayek, Jane Lynch, Sherri Shepherd and countless others.

In Chicago, Garrett Shops are located at 625 North Michigan Ave., Navy Pier food court, Merchandise Mart (2nd floor), 26 West Randolph St., 4 East Madison St., 27 West Jackson Blvd., 737 E. 87th Street; two at O’Hare International Airport, in Terminals 1 and 3, and in the Northwestern Station/Ogilvie Transportation Center at 500 West Madison St. Garrett also brings a taste of Chicago to its Shops in New York City (at Penn Plaza between 7th & 8th), Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia.

For more information and to share Garrett around the country visit www.GarrettPopcorn.com. Join other Garrett fans on Twitter @GarrettPopcorn and on Facebook.

I would like to know what Garrett Popcorn has in store for the Chicago Public Schools. Does this mean that they may do something for some of our area schools?

Welcome to the neighborhood guys. And that store with the mural and the insides looks GREAT!

JP Paulus on The Chicago Neighborhoods project logo for Englewood...

2011-12-12T15:23:00.001-06:00

JP Paulus edited my post from yesterday about The Chicago Neighborhoods project logo for Englewood so his edit has become its own separate post. Some contact information was posted below, but if any of you reading this blog have some graphic design skills perhaps you can come up with logos for your particular neighborhood. All the same JP & I would invite you to offer your own input because as stated earlier the contact info for The Chicago Neighborhoods are posted at the end of this post. JP's words are below!

JP edit: Here's what they did with Englewood.

While this looks historic and nice, here's what the descriptrion of the photo is

The hotel at the corner of 63rd and Wallace in Englewood, designed by, built for, and owned by Dr. Henry Howard Holmes, was much more than just a place to lay your head during the years around the World's Columbian Exposition. Holmes' hotel, which later became known as the "Murder Castle," was also the final resting place for handfuls of unsuspecting victims.

Holmes, who was constantly hiring and firing work crews, was the only person to fully understand the design of the hotel. The first floor contained his drug store, while the second and third floors "contained his personal office and a maze of over one hundred windowless rooms with doorways opening to brick walls, oddly angled hallways, stairways to nowhere, doors that could only be opened from the outside, and a host of other strange and labyrinthine constructions," all put into place with murder in mind.

Holmes, who mainly preyed on females, tortured and killed his victims in various ways. He would lock them "in soundproof bedrooms fitted with gas lines that let him asphyxiate them at any time," or he would lock them "in a huge soundproof bank vault near his office where they were left to suffocate," among other horrific methods. Holmes would then drop dead the bodies down a secret chute to the basement where they "were meticulously dissected, stripped of flesh, crafted into skeleton models, and then sold to medical schools."

While the total number of his victims has never been confirmed (it could be more than 200), Holmes confessed to 27 murders during his time in Englewood.

R.A.G.E. (Resident Association of Englewood) would probably strongly disagree with the notion that "My vision might not match yours, but I hope that we can agree that a neighborhood with a logo is better than a neighborhood without." (RAGE is trying to change the image of Englewood as being a neighborhood of murders.)

Other neighborhoods also had much of at least the current character of the neighborhood missing, such as Uptown and Rogers Park, which showed no hint of the diversity of these neighborhoods.

Let's contact the artist so that we can get a more accurate view of Chatham, Greater Grand Crossing and Burnside.

Here's his contact info:

Concerned Citizens of Chatham: Transit Chicago: Sawyer Vs Claypool- Who Will Win

2011-11-19T22:04:00.000-06:00

Pic taken in 2009

Concerned Citizens of Chatham: Transit Chicago: Sawyer Vs Claypool- Who Will Win

First and foremost I also want to offer my condolences to the family of the construction worker who was killed during the demolition of this building.

Looks like 11 E. 79th Street is going down for sure according to Worlee:

I called the Alderman's office to inquire what was going to be built on the site, they stated the church was ordered to tear down the building and there were no immediate plans to build anything but the church was interested in working with the community to brig in businesses that would compliment the community. This is a departure from the arrogant stance Carter Temple CME Church and their leadership took several years ago.

The drama over this site:

This was the second building on this corner that was demolished. The 7900 S State building on the corner was torn down several years ago. The building contained a liquor store and other stores on the ground level. Carter Temple led a group to have the have the liquor license revoked. Subsequently the church purchased the building with the intent to rehab but had internal disputes and ran afoul with the city. Also, an apartment building to the south was torn down because it was designated a public nuisance. The last time I checked the church was $400,000 plus in the hole on this project. They had come up with a plan to build a seniors building but were being urged to sell by members who had stayed after this project collapsed. The church will argue that they community and former Alderman Lyle interfered with them completing this project because she would not release a demolition lien against the project. She was asked by the community not to release the lien because there was no solid plan and financing in place at that time. It is unfortunate because the Alderman worked very hard to get Starbucks interested in the site before the building was demolished and after the church indicated that they did not want Starbucks CAPCC indicated they wanted to open a coffee shop/convenience store but members of the church who made up the committee overseeing the building indicated they were not interested The church and the community got the short end on this because of a small group of greedy church members. The building could have been rehab as an experienced developer attempted to purchase the building but refused to get into a bidding war against the church. Also, the church never had the necessary financing to complete a project and they brought in experienced urban planning and development personnel only to alienate them.

Where does the CTA fit into this property? Worlee hopes that this corner could be developed as part of a stated goal for Ald. Roderick Sawyer - transit based economy. A place near the L stations in the 6th ward to buy coffee, donuts, newspapers, etc. Other than maybe 87th Street this type of shopping before boarding the L is generally not available within this ward. At that it's not just about generating revenue for the city, but jobs as well.

I've written about this building on several occasions. It seems like a waste that it's being demolished. I hoped it could be part of any transit-based economy plan. I hope this corner will get the attention it should get being a high traffic area.

The "squatter" house is back!

2011-10-25T08:35:00.001-05:00

This boarded-up house near 95th & Michigan is being used again as a place to put up posters. Picture taken on Monday afternoon

You've seen this house here before!

Harlan Community Invite Night & LSC meeting...

2011-10-13T13:34:00.000-05:00

NOTE: I learned just last Thursday that Harlan High School will now hold their Local School Council meetings on the first Thursday of every month. Didn't think to ask for the time, but feel free to clarify with an e-mail or a comment in this post. For the purposes of establishing a time, I just set the time at 6 PM.

Anyway, I was at Harlan last Thursday for their Community Invite Night. According to LSC Community Representative Sharon Banks one of the events to take place was a tour of the school. This didn't pass unfortunately basically in the beginning turnout wasn't that great and eventually other parents started to trickle into Harlan's social room.

There was a very talkative gentleman talking shop with Harlan's principal Reginald Evans. His name was James Patrick and he's a retired assistant principal who once worked at South Shore High School. Also he's a member of the Harlan High School Alumni Association. In talking about the issues high schools face these days he backed up Principal Evans close to 100%.

Alderman Roderick Sawyer came to Harlan on that particular evening. Spent the better part of roughly half an hour talking to the LSC about the issues facing the school. Especially the issues of crime against Harlan students. Specifically mentioned by them was the gas stations nears the corner of 95th & State which have been of concerned and allegations of illicit dealings thrown about. Also directed at Ald. Sawyer ways to continue to market the school and continuing to create positive programming for the students.

Principal Evans has been serious about wanting to find ways to market Harlan High School in the way that Urban Prep, Whitney Young Magnet High School, and others have done to recruit students. In fact before the end of this evening I took a picture of this banner that was pulled out of the closet by Harlan's Assistant Principal. It almost struck me as something that you would see on a college campus.

In any event the LSC meeting was called to order at 5:33 PM. It was scheduled to start at 6 PM, but it appears some moments had been decided on the fly.

During the course of this meeting, I learned for the first time that the area south of 95th Street is the testing ground for the new CPS reorganization scheme. Harlan is part of the Far South Side (Area 24) network.

It was noted that the network chief made an appearance at Harlan, however, it was not long after a shooting had taken place that had involved some Harlan students. In spite of that setback the network chief found that the school continued to function accordingly and he felt better about Harlan. I especially understand that the network chief is from Miami so he would have a lot to learn about our fair city.

Now back to Ald. Sawyer. Evans noted that he wanted to find ways to get parents to attend school events. It was noted that Back to School night held in September had a disappointing parental turnout. The next thing discussed might bring parents out to see what's going on at Harlan, a parental report card.

This report card would only provide a checklist for the parents as to what the parents are doing to ensure the success of their children at school. The only thing the parents would in fact would be graded on is student attendance.

Also noted was coursestandards.org, at the time I write this post I have yet to do enough research on what this is supposed to mean. However it's connected to the eventual phase out of No Child Left Behind and this is expected to be a different set of standards for school achievement.

For an interesting change I wasn't the only person in the audience for this LSC meeting. There were other parents in attendance one had a question about how to insure that parents will know how to utilize the Parent Portal. This will enable parents to check on the progress of their children online. It was even noted that for report card pick up there were plenty of parents with questions about this program and parents were lining up to learn about it.

Finally it was noted that there are students at Harlan who are homeless. The lady - who is a Harlan parent - who asked a question about Parent Portal also wanted to note that her organization is hosting a fundraiser in Chicago Heights so that she can help to serve homeless youth. In the near future I will be sure to post information on that in the near future.

Quad-level home for sale...

2011-09-07T11:56:00.001-05:00

Found this listing for this home at 9825 S. Prairie on Trulia and was posted just last week at EveryBlock:

Split Level w/ Sub, Quad Level - CHICAGO, IL

move right into this cozy quad level home. this meticulous home offers two generous bedrooms, eat in kitchen, family room, rec room with built in bar area, fenced yard and two car garage. new garage roof and siding in 2011. walk to chicago state university. minutes to red line and expressway.

This lot is right across the street from Shedd School and just two blocks to the west is Harlan High School. You should check out the pics of the interior at the dreamtown listing as well.