Rev. Randall Harris of Chicago's Faith Community Church speaks about the loss of Park National Bank during a meeting at the Oak Park Light of Liberty Church of God and Christ on Saturday. (Andrew A. Nelles / Photo for ChicagoTalks.org)

No matter what the outcome in the Park National Bank seizure, the situation has broken down barriers between the Austin community and Oak Park residents.

It’s the silver lining in the cloud that has hung over those two communities since  October. That’s when the popular neighborhood bank, located in Oak Park, was seized by federal regulators, said Rev. Marshall Hatch, a member of the Coalition to Save Community Banking, a grassroots organization formed in response to the takeover and forced sale.

“There’s much less of a barrier between Austin and Oak Park,” said Hatch, representing the New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church in West Garfield Park. “This has brought people together. It’s a grassroots response to what communities all over the country are feeling as they’re gobbled up by bankers who got bailout money.”

Hatch was one of several speakers at a community meeting Saturday held by the coalition. About 100 people attended the at times sermon-like event, held at the Light of Liberty Church of God and Christ in Oak Park, not far from Park National’s former branch at the corner of Austin and Madison.

The purpose of the meeting was to update attendees on a situation that has caused outcry throughout Oak Park and Chicago’s West Side since federal regulators seized Park National Bank and its parent company and turned operations over to U.S. Bank.

Oak Park business owner Beth Harvey speaks about how the loss of Park National Bank has affected her business. (Andrew A. Nelles / Photo for ChicagoTalks.org)

Park National’s community philanthropy made it unique in the banking world, and many in the area worry about whether U.S. Bank will perform those same community functions. That’s one question Beth Harvey, owner of Harvey House Bed & Breakfast in Oak Park, says she already knows the answer to.

Yet when Harvey recently asked U.S. Bank for a loan, “I was turned down,” she said. “They offered me a credit card.”

Praise on Saturday ran high for River Forest resident Kelly, who was known for lending to customers in Austin and West Garfield Park. After the 2007 closing of Austin High School, Kelly extended a $22 million, no-interest loan to build Christ the King Jesuit College Preparatory School; students began attending class in the new building Jan. 4.

The bank was known for giving zero-percent loans to neighborhood organizations and schools and giving money to community organizations through grants, as well as doing things like cleaning up houses that had been subject to foreclosure.

To ensure that U.S. Bank treats the community the same way, the coalition is trying to negotiate a Community Benefit Agreement with the bank, said Quiwana Reed-Bell, community development director at the Westside Health Authority.

The coalition has several requests for the bank: to honor commitments made by Park National, ensure local hiring and fair lending practices, ensure that foreclosures are not done on a whim and provide grants and funding support, with a community advisory committee directing where monies should go.

Rev. Marshall Hatch speaks to a crowd of about 100 residents Saturday about the October seizure of Park National Bank by federal regulators. (Andrew A. Nelles / Photo for ChicagoTalks.org)

“They’re gonna have a set of standards to live by,” said Reed-Bell. “We’re moving forward with specific expectations.”

“It’s going on three-and-a-half months and we’ve increased in size as well as militancy,’ Redmond said.

The coalition is calling on the bank regulator’s inspector general to investigate the actions against Park National by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), which regulates and supervises all national banks.

Sen. Don Harmon (D-Oak Park), assistant majority leader of the Illinois Senate, said he wants the appropriate committee to continue an investigation of the seizure.

“This is not done yet,” Harmon said.

Meanwhile, Hatch and the coalition’s “rag-tag band of disciples” are holding two events. The debut of “Too Good To Fail,” a documentary about their trip to Washington, D.C., will play at 7 p.m. March 25 at the New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church, 4301 W. Washington Blvd. in Chicago. A demonstration at the FDIC and U.S. Bank will be held at 9 a.m. March 31, beginning at the Westside Health Authority, 4800 W. Chicago Ave. in Chicago.

“We lost a lot, and we’re not going to take it sitting down,” said Hatch.

Nicholas Myers contributed to this report.

And the fight is not over.

On Saturday, March 13 at 10 a.m., the Coalition to Save Community Banking will meet at the Light of Liberty Church of God and Christ at 2 W. Washington Blvd. in Oak Park. The group will then march to Park National’s former headquarters at the corner of Austin Boulevard and Madison Street where it will stage a protest over the loss of the community bank that had invested heavily on the West Side. The coalition plans to assemble 300 to 500 people for the march.

“We’re gearing up a campaign around a Community Benefits Agreement that targets US Bank to continue the kind of community lending that Park National had,” coalition member and South Austin Coalition organizer Elce Redmond said.

The agreement “is a set of criteria [centered] around local hiring, around lending, around supporting community organizations,” said Redmond. “It’s about a seven- or eight-page document that we’ve had. And we’ve been trying to have negotiations with US Bank on this document.”

E-mails and calls to US Bank have not been returned. A receptionist told a reporter on Feb. 24 that no one could comment as things were still “floating.”

Mike Kelly, chairman of Park National and its parent company, First Bank of Oak Park, was known for lending to customers in Chicago’s impoverished West Side neighborhoods in Austin and West Garfield Park. After the 2007 closing of Austin High School, Park National extended a $22 million, no-interest loan to build Christ the King Jesuit College Preparatory School; students began attending class in the new building Jan. 4.

“This bank epitomized what community banking was; they loaned money to small businesses, community organizations, nonprofits,” said Redmond.

Attorney Kelli Dudley, a professor and program assistant in the Predatory Lending Program at John Marshall Law School, said Park National was well known in the community for giving “zero-percent loans to community organizations and schools, giving money to community organizations through grants” and did “things like cleaning up houses that had been subject to foreclosure and making them nice and livable and resalable and yet absorbing a little bit of that cost each time.”

Redmond also said he heard Kelly, a longtime River Forest resident, was considering filing suit against the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. over how it handled the takeover.

“I don’t know what his specific intentions are,” said Dudley, who educates Austin residents on predatory lending and avoiding foreclosures. “There might just be some legal technical issues that would make it hard to sue the FDIC, but it does seem like that the community bank and the people affiliated with it and the people who relied on it should have some kind of legal recourse, because here a big decision takes place under cover of the night and they’re not given any opportunity to have any input into it.”

Kelly recently took legal action against JP Morgan Chase, which sued the FBOP last June over a loan Chase called in and which may have contributed to the worsening financial state and eventual government seizure of Kelly’s company.

“They [Chase] sued him and he filed a motion with that lawsuit,” said Dudley. “JP Morgan Chase, it is alleged, unfairly accelerated and called in a loan, and it was a huge amount percentage-wise of their [Park National's] portfolio, which caused them to look temporarily weak.”

The protest planned for March will come less than two months after dozens of Park National supporters traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend a congressional hearing on last year’s seizure and selling of Park National and its other banks. Kelly testified as members of the Coalition to Save Community Banking looked on.

Redmond, who made the round-trip bus trip with other coalition members, said several congressional members at the Jan. 21 hearing “put the FDIC on the hot seat.”

“The FDIC sort of admitted, ‘Well, it didn’t really need to happen,’” Redmond said, “But how do you reverse it? That becomes the big issue.”

There is also the issue of big bank versus small bank in the government’s eyes, as Dudley said: “There is a difference in the standards that are applied in evaluating whether the FDIC should come in and close down a Park National versus whether they should come in and close down one of the six largest banks in the country, and it’s just frankly not fair at all,” said Dudley.

Camille Lilly, the volunteer executive director for the Austin Chamber of Commerce, said the loss of First National still ripples through the community.

“They [Park National] were community banking,” she said. “We had the leadership, we had the commitment – we had all of that at Park National for the community to develop themselves, and when we remove that opportunity, the community struggles with developing themselves.”

Park National’s community philanthropy made it unique in the banking world, Dudley said. “Rather than making all of their decisions based on what will flow the most money to shareholders and what will flow the most money into the corporation, they made some decisions that were based on doing good in the community.”

Lilly and others worry about whether US Bank will perform some of these same community bank functions. “From what I’ve heard and read, it is not their philosophy to be community banking sensitive. That is not what they built their model on, so it’s a void in our community because we once had it.”

For more information about Saturday’s march, contact the South Austin Coalition at (773) 287-4570.

With Illinois’ unemployment rate at a staggering 11 percent, employers can afford to be more selective in whom they hire. But a new bill could give job seekers with bad credit a fighting chance in landing a position.

Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock) has introduced a bill, HB4658, creating the Employee Credit Privacy Act, which would protect applicants who believe they were discriminated against because of their poor credit. Washington and Hawaii have passed similar laws restricting credit checks by employers; a credit check ban approved Monday by the Oregon legislature will go into effect July 1.

While employers say credit information is vital because it is an important part of the screening process, opponents say such information is private and irrelevant to job performance.

Franks said business associations are fighting the bill, but the measure is a necessary step to help job seekers in this failing economy. The need for the bill struck him on a family road trip, he said, when he saw a former growth area littered with foreclosure signs hit hard by the recession.

“I want to protect individuals who through no fault of their own have lost their jobs,” said Franks. “Their credit goes into the tank, and they can’t get another job. It’s a perpetual cycle.”

Franks said that the rights of the business owner should be weighed against the public benefit. As a business owner, Franks said he understands both sides of the issue but doesn’t want to create a permanent underclass.

“Let people have a second chance,” Franks said.

Historically, 28 percent of companies have used credit checks on selected applicants, but over the past year that number has spiked to 47 percent, according to a 2010 survey from the Society for Human Resource Management.

Mike Walters, executive director of the Southwest Illinois Employers Association, said the bill restricts business owners and employers. Employers need to have as much information as they can get in hiring, he said, and the proposed legislation severely limits that ability.

“If an individual contracts someone for a job, they have a right to see if the person they hire has defaulted on payments,” said Walters. “If it’s good for the individual, it should be good for employers.”

Walters questioned how the bill would be enforced and whether employers would take their business out of the state if the bill passed.

“If you have any common business sense, you’d understand this is a bad bill,” said Walters.

University of California-Los Angeles Public Policy Department Chair Michael Stoll said while employers should not discriminate against people with lower credit scores, there are instances when accessing a person’s credit information can be a valuable instrument.

Stoll said employers might try to find ways around the restriction by discriminating against low-income applicants. The bill could have unintended consequences and should be limited in order to be effective, he said.

Mark Denzler, spokesman for the Illinois Manufacturers Association, said he opposes the bill because it restricts the use of an important tool employers use when evaluating job applicants. The law already protects certain individuals who have bad history, said Denzler. Under current law, credit reports can’t disclose bankruptcy cases more than 10 years old, or civil suits and tax liens older than seven years.

Denzler said employers only check a small percentage of applicants because of the credit checks’ cost — $15 per applicant.

“Employers don’t do credit checks on everyone,” Denzler said. “From the time a person applies to a final stage of interviews, there is an opportunity for employees to explain they’ve gone through a rough patch.”

Credit checks serve a more important purpose than simply providing an applicant’s credit history; they verify previous employment and former addresses, Denzler said. Credit checks also protect employers from lawsuits if they fail to properly check an applicant.

“I understand the man or woman who has fallen on hard times, but the employers have a right to vet their applicants,” Denzler said.

On a snowy afternoon on Feb. 9 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Chicago’s Neighborhood Development Awards hosted a “Back to the Future” panel in which experts discussed the opportunities and challenges that Chicago must meet head-on to achieve economic development.

Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th), the newly nominated Democratic candidate for Cook County Board president, joined Scott Myers of World Sport Chicago, Raul Raymundo of the Resurrection Project, and Robert Weissbourd of RW Ventures in a discussion about what Chicago will look like in 2016 and what needs to be done to address job development and neighborhood restructuring.

It didn’t take long for education to rise to the forefront of the discussion. Preckwinkle, a former high school teacher, made it very clear that education needs to become a top priority in Chicago.

“It reflects very badly on the adults and the city that we have let the problem come to this,” she said. “Less than half of our young people graduate high school, and not having a diploma makes their future very difficult.”

Raymundo agreed. He said the graduation rate for the Hispanic population is significantly worse.

“Education is critical for our young people,” he said. “Education is critical to economic growth and development. We need to take a serious look at our education system. Reform and real action are necessary.”

Greg Hinz, the moderator for the event, noted quickly that everyone used the word “education” in their opening addresses. He then asked the panel if that was an indication of what Chicago’s most fundamental problem is: Are our young people not prepared for the workforce? Are they not educated?

Preckwinkle quickly took the question. She said she didn’t mean to “be a broken record,” but all children should receive a quality education and it is this education that is critical for all business growth.

“One of the complaints I hear from local businesses is that it is hard to find good employees,” she said. “The implication being that kids who come looking for jobs couldn’t read very well and didn’t have basic math skills. The most important factor to business growth is education.”

Weissbourd said education is vital to the success of any economy. His example: a half-percent increase in the college education rate of an area’s population would mean a 1 percent increase in regional profit.

“The single biggest impact on economic growth is human capital, and that is expressed in education,” he said. “If you have one investment in your economy, education is it.”

Raymundo said the Hispanic high school drop out rate is near 75 percent and less than 10 percent attend post-secondary school. But he said the Hispanic population is doing more in terms of opening their own businesses.

“Not everyone’s life path is to college,” he said. “We need to do more with workforce training; we need to prepare our young people for the workforce.”

Midway through the panel discussion, Hinz said, “We need money to survive.” He then said Chicago is not keeping up with the nation and asked if there was indeed a positive legacy to 2016.

Preckwinkle, a self-proclaimed “avid supporter” of the 2016 bid, said she, like the rest of Chicagoans, was disappointed when Chicago lost the Olympic bid, but she said the focus needs to shift to what’s next.

“We need to focus on the aftermath of the 2016 bid,” she said. “We need to figure out what our own 2016 should be. We have to find some consensus around this effort to have our own plan as a city, as a business community, as neighborhoods, as economic development organizations to transform the communities that we live in.”

Raymundo stressed that the key factor in real economic development has been the growth of the immigrant population in Chicago. He said comprehensive immigration reform, which, he noted, President Barack Obama supported during his campaign, is necessary.

“We need to unleash some of the talent that is out there, but so many people are unable because of their immigration status,” he said. “In Illinois in 2008, the Hispanic population generated $40 billion; $370 million of that was in Chicago. This is important information to understand how to build a strong economy.”

In the late ’80s and early ’90s, Chicago turned into a global economy and did well, Weissbourd said. But in the past 10 years, Chicago has become “stagnant” and is trailing behind most other cities.

“It is very important to get more strategic about what we are going to do with our metropolitan economy,” Weissbourd said. “Until the crash, our neighborhoods were by and large coming back, but the crash really knocked the neighborhoods out. Regional development is dependent on neighborhoods. You have to understand that these key components work together.”

Myers, who was a part of the the city’s Olympic bid team, said there are alternative routes to building the economy in Chicago. He said sports is one of the tools that Chicago can use to bring people and business into the city.

“By expanding on some of the strengths and capabilities here in the city, we can develop innovative programs that are not only good for our kids, but can also help be a foundation to strengthen our neighborhoods and attract further business into our neighborhoods,” Myers said.

There was no clear solution to the stalling economic development in Chicago, but Weissbourd said there is no reason for every neighborhood to reinvent the wheel.

“A lot of the same problems apply in every neighborhood,” he said. “It is time we start planning for both the short term and long term. We are headed in the right direction, but we still have a long way to go.”

Kelsey.Duckett@loop.colum.edu

Located on the city’s West Side, Austin’s population is nearing 130,000, and as the population rises in what community activists call Chicago’s “forgotten child,” so do the number of fast food restaurants in a neighborhood that already lacks grocery stores and healthy sit-down options.

Elce Redmond, assistant director of the South Austin Coalition, said business owners, specifically fast food restaurant owners, decided Austin wasn’t a community that wanted or would support anything but fast food.

“For some reason, people have this idea that Austin can only sustain fast food restaurants,” he said. “I mean, no matter where you are in Austin, all you see are fast food joints. In this community, all we have are horrible fast food restaurants with their greasy, fried and deeper fried foods.”

Redmond estimates that there are well over 100 fast food restaurants in Austin and less than five family dining options.

Lavern Herron, co-owner of Caramel Café, a sandwich shop that opened at 5941 W. Madison St. just over a year ago, said Austin can sustain restaurants with healthy options and hers is one of them.

“We don’t offer the standard deep fried everything and fries,” she said. “Instead, we offer healthy options like soup and salad and sandwiches. We offer a sit-down restaurant in a warm, clean environment, and that’s something the community really needs more of.”

Woodrow Taylor, a 35-year resident of Austin, said the number of fast food restaurants has grown every year and the number of grocery stores has decreased.

“One of the biggest problems in Austin is we have no grocery stores and that is the main reason for all the fast food restaurants,” he said. “The owners of the fast food restaurants have taken advantage of the fact that it is easier for people to walk over and grab a burger and fries than it is to travel and try to find a grocery store.”

It’s not just Austin, as journalist Eric Schlosser points out in his 2001 best-seller, “Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal.” He wrote that every city across the United States is being taken over by fast food chains.

“A generation ago, three-quarters of the money used to buy food in the U.S. was spent to prepare meals at home,” Schlosser said in his book. “Today, about half of that same money is spent in restaurants – mainly fast food restaurants. In 1968, McDonald’s had 1,000 restaurants – today it has about 30,000, and 2,000 new ones are opening each year. The number of fast food restaurants that are taking over cities everywhere is alarming.”

Camille Lilly, president of the Austin Chamber of Commerce, said Austin has more than 900 businesses, but it’s been difficult to bring in family-style dining and chain restaurants like Applebee’s and TGIF.

“It is difficult to change the culture of a community,” she said. “Austin is landlocked, so it is difficult to build in Austin. That, coupled with the idea or stereotype that family dining options won’t succeed in Austin, are the biggest problems.”

One family-style option, open since 1997, MacArthur’s, located at 5412 W. Madison St., has done very well with the concept of homestyle cooking and a sit-down, family environment.

“This is a family-style restaurant that has reasonable prices and offers the food that people in the community want,” MacArthur’s Manager Sharon McKennie said. “Austin has a lot of fast food restaurants, and we offer the alternative. We offer good, everyday, full-course meals at a reasonable price.”

Malcolm Crawford, president of the Austin African American Business Networking Association, said there is a strong need for healthy options in the community, but with all the other problems, it is difficult to force the issue.

“There has been some discussion about focusing on bringing in more family restaurants,” he said. “But let’s face it, there are so many other serious issues in Austin that I don’t really think people see the lack of sit-down restaurants, and the overabundance of fast food restaurants, as a pressing issue.”

Kelsey.Duckett@loop.colum.edu

Lee remembers her first day of work last September, being nervous as she took the elevator to the 22nd floor of a Chicago high-rise. Her nerves soon settled, and now she completes daily office tasks with ease and confidence.

This is her second year participating in the corporate work-study program at Christ the King College Preparatory High School, which just moved classes to a new $28 million facility in Austin.

“I think it’s a great experience. It’s teaching me what my mom and other adults go through. I’m working to pay a part of my tuition, and I’m learning a lot of new things,” Lee said.

Lee, who — like many of the students attending Christ the King — lives in Austin, hopes to become a lawyer.

All of the 162 students at Christ the King participate in the work-study program once a week at over 160 participating employers around the city. Lee, along with the three other students in her “work-team,” alternates workdays throughout the week to provide the manpower for one full-time, entry-level position at Community Investment Corp. located in the Near West Side community.

“We saw that it was a great opportunity for students who are just coming out of grade school to know what it is to work. Even though the kids are young, they’ve done a great job,” said Monica Kirby, office manager at Community Investment Corp.

Fran Thompson, communications director for Christ the King, said the program creates an opportunity that students wouldn’t normally get from a traditional classroom setting.

“For some students, working these jobs gives them their first visit to the Loop, and there they are going up an elevator in a skyscraper to work in a financial office,” Thompson said.

Christ the King is part of a national group of 24 Jesuit schools operated by the Cristo Rey Network. Although this is the school’s second year in Austin, it moved into the new 100,000-square-foot, three story building earlier this month. The school is located at 5088 W. Jackson Blvd., on the site of the former Resurrection Parish.

Each one of the 24 Cristo Rey Network nationwide schools, including one in Pilsen, employs the work-study program.

“The premise began as a solution,” said Preston Kendall, vice-president of the corporate work-study program. “We wanted to open a college prep high school what would serve families with limited resources, and we wanted a model where we wouldn’t need to raise tuition.”

The work done by students in local businesses funds 65 percent of each student’s tuition, said Kendall. The other 35 percent is made up of family contribution and scholarships.

“It started out as a solution to a financial problem, but we soon discovered very quickly that this is a multi-faceted program. It gives students ownership of earning their education,” said Kendall.

Studies done by the Cristo Rey Network showed a need for schools in Austin, a community of more than 100,000 with high unemployment and no neighborhood public high school, said Thompson, communication director for Christ the King. It found that Austin needs 14,000 seats for students, yet only offers 7,000.

“There is a humongous shortage in this area,” Thompson said.

When at full capacity, the new school should hold around 600 students. The school, which currently has 162 students, will add a new class each year, Thompson said. It is currently running with only a freshman and sophomore class.

“We are not trying to only pull the cream of the crop students here, we are also looking for the average and above-average, hard-working students who otherwise may have fallen through the crack,” she said.

Kendall said the admissions office at Christ the King looks at academic and financial history, yet concentrates mostly on past behavior and attendance reports.

Currently, the majority of Christ the King students are coming from a few key areas, said Kendall, including: East and West Garfield Park, Lawndale, Humboldt Park and Austin.

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The Community Arts Assistance Program (CAAP) was created in 1987 through funding provided by the Illinois Arts Council Access Program. The goals of CAAP are to discover, nurture and expand Chicago’s multi-ethnic artists and nonprofit arts organizations, and to foster new and emerging individual artists and arts groups by providing grants for professional, artistic and organizational development to those who have had limited access to funding in both public and private grants programs. CAAP grants provide financial assistance to individual artists and to nonprofit arts organizations with incomes under $150,000. The maximum grant request is $1,000. Funding priority is intended for applicants who have not been previously funded through the CAAP Program or have not had access to traditional funding programs such as grants, fellowships and art commissions from the National Endowment for the Arts, Illinois Arts Council, corporations or foundations.

From the City of Chicago website:

WHAT WE FUND

Individual Artists

Professional development in the areas of Artistic, Management and Technical/Artistic Services including:

• Creation of high quality artistic projects (e.g. development or completion of a work of art)
• High quality training programs (non-credit master classes, workshops, etc.) which develop professional artistic skills
• Technical assistance in the form of a consultant to help with publicity, proposal writing, marketing, financial management, etc.
• Portfolio development: slides, resumes and audio and video presentations for funders and galleries, etc.
• Exhibition expenses which may include mounting, framing and installation (may not include gallery rental or reception costs)
• Nonprofit Arts Organizations

Organizational Development including:

• High quality training programs aimed at developing administrative and organizational skills
• Technical assistance in the form of a consultant to help in publicity, fundraising, board development, planning, marketing, audience development and bookkeeping
• Documentation of cultural activity through photography, slides, brochures, annual reports, audio and video which will assist the organization in presentations to funders or promotion to attract new and broader audiences
• Assistance for seeking 501(c)(3) status (must contact Cultural Grants staff for separate application instructions)

REQUIREMENTS

Individual applicants

• Must be 21 years of age
• Must be practicing artists with demonstrated ability in their artistic discipline
• Must be a City of Chicago resident with a Chicago street address (no P.O. boxes accepted)
• Must be Chicago resident for at least six (6) months prior to the application deadline
• Must have a social security number

Nonprofit arts organizations

• Must be incorporated and located in the city of Chicago
• Must have acquired, or be in the process of applying for, or seeking funds to apply for Federal 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status
• Must have a valid Federal Employer Identification Number

APPLICATION ASSISTANCE WORKSHOPS

All applicants are strongly encouraged to attend one of the Application Assistance Workshops. Pertinent information regarding the application process and helpful grant writing information will be discussed.

DEADLINE: The 2010 Community Arts Assistance Program grants are currently being accepted. Applications are due on Monday, January 25, 2010 at 5:00 p.m.

For more information, check out the City of Chicago/CAAP website:

Teen Talk Radio on Youtube.com

Instructors-Producers, Ms. Masequa Myers and Mr. Pemon Rami, invite you to join Teen Talk Radio Theater and learn to produce your own radio show. The program begins Feb. 1 and continues until April 14, 2010. It meets on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

The auditions and interviews will be held on Sat., Jan. 16, 2010 from 10:00 am to 1:00 p.m. at:
P & M STUDIO
(Located inside Kennicott Park)
4434 S. Lake Park Ave. Room 105
Chicago, Il 60653

What do you need to do to qualify? You must attend all sessions, be on time and work enthusiastically. They are looking for independent, responsible teens who have a genuine interest in writing, acting, public speaking, rapping, producing (beats & songs). Experience is a plus, but if you can talk about issues and have the drive to be part of this unique experience, you can register online at the afterschoolmatters.org site. Use the keyword: “Teen Talk Radio Theatre” to find the application form.

Contact Pemon Rami, CTO, for Masequa Myers & Associates for more information at:  http://www.masequa.com

With little tax training, low-income families are among the most likely to leave money on the table at tax time. They’re also those who can least afford to do so. Many are simply unaware of credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) or Child Tax Credit (CTC), which can be equal to more than two months pay for a low-income family.

“After the year we’ve just had, we want to make sure that all eligible families claim their tax refund quickly and completely,” said David Marzahl, Executive Director at the Center for Economic Progress. “We also want to make sure that they have the opportunity to start saving for a rainy day with sound financial products at our tax sites.”

In 2009, more than 1,200 volunteers joined the Center in helping low-income workers get the max from tax time. Thanks to these volunteers and partners, the Center provided free tax and financial services to 33,000 individuals and families in Illinois, returning $52 million to some of the most cash-strapped communities in Illinois.

No prior tax experience is necessary. Free, flexible training is available to volunteers willing to spend just a few hours a week providing this vital service to low-income families while building their skills and networking at one of many Illinois tax sites. In Chicago, volunteers are needed at tax sites in Albany Park, Auburn Gresham, Bronzeville, Chicago Lawn, Lawndale, the Loop, Pilsen, Rogers Park, Uptown and West Garfield Park. In the Chicago suburbs and northern Illinois, volunteers are needed in Aurora, Crystal Lake, Elgin, Harvey, Joliet, Rockford and Waukegan. In central and southern Illinois, volunteers are needed in Alton, Bloomington, Decatur, East St. Louis, Marion, Normal, Peoria, Rock Island and Springfield. Volunteers are supported at all times by experienced tax preparers and accountants. Certified Public Accountants who volunteer can also receive free Continuing Professional Education Credits.

The Center will provide free tax preparation from Jan. 23 through April 15 at over 30 Illinois locations. For more information or to register to volunteer, visit www.economicprogress.org, or call (312) 630-0244.

How Much Stimulus Funding is Going to Your County? UPDATED Dec. 2009 | ProPublica Recovery Tracker.

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The Queen Anne-style property in Lincoln Park, which is adjacent to the Armitage station’s east side, was partially demolished in 2006 as part of the CTA’s Brown Line expansion to make way for a wider platform. The center part of the property – which is also listed on the National Register for Historic Places – was demolished and renovated, said CTA spokeswoman Noelle Gaffney.

The 5,100-square-foot property was originally put on the market in March, and a local restaurant and bar owner, Bobby Burleson, presented the CTA with the highest bid of $850,000, which it accepted in August. However, after plunking down $10,000 in earnest money, Burleson still needed to come up with a 10 percent deposit. Instead, he didn’t execute the contract and forfeited his $10,000, Gaffney said, leading to the CTA board’s Dec. 9th vote to put the property back on the market. Burleson could not be reached for comment.

“We’re just interested in selling the property,” said Gaffney, adding that the money from the sale will go back into the Brown Line.

The expansion work at the historic Armitage station began in 2006, and early construction included partially demolishing the property at 939 W. Armitage, a masonry building with an ornamental, pressed-metal front façade and zinc panels. Because it is a contributing structure in the Armitage-Halsted Landmark District, the building was required to be at least partially preserved, so its west half was demolished and its east half saved.

Jonathan Fine, executive director of Preservation Chicago, said the CTA “kept the essence of the building,” and that it would “make a good anything.”

“There is always a need for modest, perfectly-scaled building in that kind of a district,” Fine said.

The Armitage station re-opened in June 2008, and the building has sat vacant even though the work was completed.

Paul Dawson, project manager for Jones Lang LaSalle, which is marketing the property, said at this point, it will be up to the CTA to decide how long a second bidding process will stay open. Meanwhile, neighborhood businesses say with many stores already closing on the tony Armitage Avenue, a restaurant or café would be a welcome sight.

“There are not a lot of great places to eat in the neighborhood,” said Sibyle Gander, manager of Art Effect, 934 W. Armitage Ave. “Something that opens up to the street would be great.”

Chuck Eastwood, chief of staff for Ald. Vi Daley (43rd), whose ward the property lies in, said he’d like to also see a restaurant, but “active retail” would work, too.

“Anything but a bank,” said Eastwood. “A bona fide restaurant, not a restaurant posing as a bar. I don’t think anybody wants a bar there.”

Jeff Price, president of the RANCH Triangle Association, said assuming that the building will not be torn down, it could be used for a multitude of purposes.

“I’d like to see a successful retail store on the first floor and perhaps some offices or apartments upstairs,” Price said.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

With neighborhood economic development groups objecting to a major reduction in city funding at a time of growing job loss, 22 aldermen have submitted a resolution ordering the Mayor’s Office of Budget and Management to restore the funds in the city’s proposed 2010 budget.

The resolution is on the agenda for the City Council’s budget committee hearing on Monday. If approved, it could be considered at Wednesday’s council meeting.

The proposed budget for the Department of Community Development cuts spending by 21.5 percent for delegate agencies – about 120 neighborhood chambers of commerce and other groups that support commercial and industrial districts.

It’s a huge cut for a small budget item – a $1.5 million reduction from last year’s appropriation of $6.4 million. It’s a far greater reduction than other programs in the department. And it comes on top of cuts ranging from 3 to 7.5 percent each of the past six years, while the city’s budget has steadily grown.

With pressure on neighborhood businesses ratcheting up, other funding sources for the groups – especially local banks and real estate agencies, who know the value of a thriving business district — have been squeezed particularly hard, said Kimberly Bares of the Rogers Park Business Alliance.

Because the city provides only partial funding, its spending on delegate agencies seeds a tremendous amount of economic development effort, she said.

“We’re providing tremendous value to the city’s efforts, for minimal funding,” said Roger Romanelli of the Randolph Fulton Market Assocation. “We’re out on the streets every day, working directly with hundreds of businesses” in ways that would be impossible for the city.

“Most delegate agencies have staffs of one or two people doing the work of ten,” said Luis Alva of the Little Village Chamber of Commerce. LVCC’s activities include workshops for businesses on a range of topics as well as a highly successful 13-session workshop on starting a business. “These are people who go on to open businesses, invest in the community, and hire people,” he said.

The group also features festivals and sales to attract shoppers from outside the community to the 26th Street retail district, which is second only the Michigan Avenue in business activity and sales tax revenue. Local dress shops are clamoring for a repeat of LVCC’s recent bridal expo, Alva said.

Delegate agencies include groups funded under the Local Industrial Retention Initiative (LIRI), which are also facing 21.5 percent cuts, said Mike Holzer of the Local Economic and Employment Development Council. LIRI is the city’s primary delivery vehicle for direct economic development services to small manufacturers, and LEED Council manages the North River Industrial Corridor.

LEED Council has leveraged over half a billion dollars in private investment for the corridor, which includes four planned manufacturing districts, Holzer said. The Goose Island district, which was a marginal industrial area in the early 1990s, when 25 firms employed fewer than 1,000 workers, is thriving today, with over 65 firms and a workforce of 5,000, he said.

Those are jobs that allow workers to buy homes and send children to college. And they’ve been attracted during a period when the U.S. has lost millions of manufacturing jobs; Chicago lost over 100,000 manufacturing jobs from 1995 to 2005, according to the Brookings Institute.

Small and mid-size firms generate the vast majority of new jobs, said Ellen Shepard of the Andersonville Chamber of Commerce, and since local businesses use local suppliers and support charities in their own communities, they generate far more local economic activity.

“With national and international markets faltering, and many residents being laid off…we are more reliant than ever on our neighborhood businesses,” she said. The city should be “significantly” boosting funding for neighborhood development groups, not cutting it, she said.

Bares said the cuts are likely to force some neighborhood groups to close down – and adds that there are local business support groups on the South and West Sides that have yet to be included in the city’s delegate agency program.

With major corporations getting city subsidies of tens of millions of dollars, while over a hundred local groups – which serve thousands of small businesses — must share a $5 million program, it’s clear the city could focus more on locally-owned businesses. The other program supporting neighborhood businesses, the Small Business Improvement Funds provided by selected TIF districts, is being cut this year from $3 million to $2.25 million.

That means less than half of 1 percent of TIF funds go to support small business, Shepard said. Romanelli said he had 38 applicants for small SBIF grants in the Kinzie Industrial TIF last year; funds were only available for eight grantees.

With aldermen now responding, cuts may be headed off this year – but it’s a bit of a fluke. Bares learned of the cuts ahead of time only because she serves on the city’s Community Development Advisory Committee; she went on to alert her colleagues. In previous years, delegate agencies learned their allocations were being cut only after the budget had been approved.

“This has certainly illustrated to us the difficulties everyday citizens have negotiating the city’s budget labyrinth,” she said.

The Kenwood Academy High School graduate and current DeVry University student applied for 16 positions over a two-day span, only to hear “no” from potential employers due to what she believed to be a lack of job experience.

Now, Lamon is worried about paying back the mounting costs of her student loans, about $10,000 for her first year at college.

“I’m gonna have to pay all that stuff back after I get out in three years,” said Lamon. “And by me being so young and not having experience, I really can’t get [a job].”

What has been helping Lamon so far has been her position with Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization (KOCO) performing community outreach and organizing events.

She was one of several hundred youth and parents in attendance at a South Side youth town hall at Walter H. Dyett High School on Sunday rallying to reduce teen violence and push for an increase in employment opportunities.

The Life Campaign, an umbrella organization for ten Chicago youth groups with the Roosevelt Institute at Northwestern University, hosted the event.

The rally began on a somber tone as Dyett principal Robert M. McMiller shared having to attend two funerals of Dyett students since becoming Dyett’s principal in February.

“This is an important day for all of you,” said McMiller. “So I just want all of you to make the best of it.”

Over the course of two hours, high school and college youth spoke about how the impact of Illinois’ current budget crisis and the recession has affected their future educational goals.

However, many offered words of encouragement for their pursuits.

“For those of you who are in high school, look for scholarships,” said Corkey, a student at De Paul University, who said she was stressing over the pending eviction of her mother and younger sister as she worried about paying back $9,500 in loans.

“Just keep pushing through. It’s going to work out in the end. I promise,” she said.

In a speech that was part campaign pitch, Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, who is running for the U.S. Senate, said the only way for youth to have work opportunities is if they are “engaged in the process.”

“The decisions that are going to be made over the next few years in Washington, D.C. are going to determine the course this country takes for generations,” said Giannoulias.

But students pressed Giannoulias for a meeting to discuss creating 20,000 jobs each year though state funding. Giannoulias said he would work with the student organizations to make sure that funding is created.

Earlier this year, KOCO worked with state Rep. Esther Golar (D-Chicago) to introduce the Community Youth Employment Act, HB 3631, a grant to fund six weeks of summer mentoring and employment. Currently, the bill is in the House Rules Committee.

Golar was unavailable for comment.

In September, unemployment in Illinois was at 10.5 percent according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security. In 2008, nearly 26,000 jobs were projected to be created for the 14 to 18 age group, according to the website.

Rally host, Angie Rollins, a student at Columbia College Chicago, said she wanted to hear more details from Giannoulias rather than “you can do it” talk. She wants legislators to discuss what actions they will take to increase youth employment.

“I want to see them voting on the bills we’ve presented,” said Rollins. “They’ve got money. Contrary to popular belief they got money sitting there. They can do it.”

Check out a related story from WBEZ, Chicago Public Radio.

Listen to audio clips on the WBEZ/Vocalo blog.

The “Ravenswood Station” mixed-use development would be built on a now-vacant Sears parking lot at the corner of Lawrence and Ravenswood Avenues, between the department store and the Metra commuter rail line.

Wilmette-based Crossroads Development Partners is revising its plans for the project, and the new layout will be made public in “late 2009 or early 2010,” said Robert Rawls, communications director for Ald. Gene Schulter (47th).

Original plans called for a supermarket, fitness center and a parking garage to be shared with Metra passengers, as well as a series of townhouses and an 11-story condominium building, said Dan Luna, Schulter’s chief of staff.

That large residential component drew the ire of 150 neighbors who showed up to view the proposal at a community meeting last June. While the community did not vote at that meeting, Luna said, residents’ opinions were clear.

“The temperature of that meeting sent the developers and the property owner back to the drawing board,” he said.

Ravenswood resident and realtor Eric Rojas attended that meeting at McPherson Elementary School. While he supports transit-oriented development and approves of the stores and parking garage, he worries that the condo building is too large for today’s market.

“I think six or seven (stories) may be fine, but 11 is going to be weird,” Rojas said. “If they’re all market rate condos, they’re not going to sell unless they’re priced absurdly low… Some would have to be rentals.”

Rojas and other residents may get a second crack on the proposal at a meeting scheduled for Dec. 1, according to a Vivian King, a spokesperson for Roundy’s Supermarkets, which will likely lease a spot in the development.

Representatives of Crossroads Development referred questions to their partner, Chicago-based Sierra Realty Advisors, who did not return phone calls by press time. Planners in the Chicago Community Development Department said they had no new information on the project.

Luna declined to comment on how the alderman felt about the original proposal or how the plans may have changed, but said he “would hope” that the condominium complex has been scaled back.

Most important to the alderman is the presence of a grocery store and parking facility in this spot, Luna said.

“That’s really the driving force behind this,” he said.

Roundy’s Supermarkets, the Milwaukee-based owner of Pick ‘n Save, Copps, Rainbow Foods and Metro Market stores, is “moving forward toward getting approval” for a spot in Ravenswood Station, King said.

Planners are still considering several possible fitness centers, Luna said.

Metra spokesman Michael Gillis said the rail corporation will continue talks about sharing the cost of the proposed parking garage.

“We’re always interested in cooperating with the community and developers to help out on the parking situation near our station,” Gillis said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Adolph Parker opened his furniture store on South Cottage Grove Avenue in 1934, at the height of the Great Depression.

Despite record unemployment, Parker’s business grew because he established good relationships with his customers, offering payment plans and credit, said Loron Kaplan, Parker’s great grandson and a member of the fourth generation to run New Age Chicago Furniture Co. at 4238 S. Cottage Grove.

“My great-grandfather laid a foundation based on trust and nothing else,” said Kaplan. “We would trust customers and help them get credit established. We were able to build relationships early on with our customers. The relationships continue with their kids and grandkids.”

While today’s economy isn’t as bad as it was during the 1930s, the economic issues Kaplan sees – high unemployment, foreclosures, limited discretionary spending – are similar to what his great grandfather faced when he started the family-owned business 75 years ago.

New Age Chicago Furniture, photo by Juan Francisco Hernandez

But Kaplan and other business owners on Cottage Grove, between 43rd and 47th streets on Chicago’s South Side, aren’t confronting the current recession alone. Many are members of CG43, a business association designed to develop marketing strategies that help local retailers spotlight high-quality products available in the community. (To read about a complementary effort to conduct retail tours in Bronzeville, please click here.)

The business association, which serves North Kenwood, Oakland and portions of Douglas and Grand Boulevard, is a program of NCP lead agency Quad Communities Development Corp. (QCDC).

“CG43 creates a sense of density and allows the participating businesses to co-brand and co-market,” said Bernita Johnson-Gabriel, QCDC’s executive director. “The key for a lot of businesses is to give them the tools to move forward, to be a little more prepared.”

One of those tools is Chicago Community Ventures, a consulting firm that develops, manages and provides coordinated business assistance to residents and business owners in underserved neighborhoods. Johnson-Gabriel said that CCV helps businesses “make forecasts properly in this downturn and make sure everything is O.K.”

Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics also focused attention on the Cottage Grove corridor with nearby Washington Park as the proposed site for the Olympic Stadium.

Despite the poor economy, economic diversity in the area has improved. Since 1990 households making more than $50,000 have increased by 88 percent.

But along with this increase in income diversity, the area has experienced a modest population decrease and a modest decline in family size, as has been true for the rest of the region. Age diversity, however, is continuing to grow. In addition, rates of homeownership have increased since the early 1990s. These factors all imply that the Quad Communities area has a stable residential base for neighborhood-oriented retail.

$2 out of $3 spent elsewhere
The corridor, a prime area for commercial and residential development, has an annual buying power estimated at $675 million, according to a recent analysis by LISC/MetroEdge. Currently $2 out of every $3 is spent outside of the neighborhood – revenue that could be coming directly to local businesses. In particular, the area lacks dining opportunities and has unmet demand for general merchandise stores.

QCDC and the CG43 members want to keep those dollars close to home. The agency, said Johnson-Gabriel, worked with the city to get sidewalks repaired and bicycle racks installed on Cottage Grove, making the street more pedestrian friendly.

Planters in front of Sensual Steps, photo by Juan Francisco Hernandez

Distinctive acorn lighting fixtures were added, as were 16 planters and four murals between 43rd and 46th streets. The effect, said Johnson-Gabriel, was to “create a sense of place and beauty; to tell people something is different here.”

Those amenities alone, however, haven’t been enough to stop business from falling at Kaplan’s furniture store. But were it not for rebuilding in the area during the last five years, Kaplan said the impact on his business could have been worse. Construction and rehabbing in the Cottage Grove corridor “helped quite a bit,” he said.

In general, other CG43 business members also reported a decline in foot traffic earlier this year. As a result, many of them are taking innovative steps – such as renting out their space for other events – to promote their businesses.

Sales at Sensual Steps, a shoe store at 4518 S. Cottage Grove, are down 20 percent this year, said owner Nicole Jones, former NCP director at Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corp.

“Business was a little tough and it took a strong effort to sell,” she said, “but I’m not waiting for foot traffic.” She’s using Facebook and MySpace pages to promote her store.

“It allows products and services to be seen across the board – not just locally,” she said. “It‘s a way to be proactive, retain business and reach out via the Internet.”

The store, which opened in April 2005, is also the site for special events when Jones rents out the space. “It’s a way to bring in revenues during this economy and partner with other CG43 businesses,” she said.

Jones also offers Heels on Wheels, where she brings her shoes and accessories to customers through private parties. “I’m very hopeful that everything will work out,” she said. “It’s not easy right now. Customer service is everything to me.”

Margo Strotter and Ed Singleton, owners of Ain’t She Sweet Café at 4532 S. Cottage Grove Ave., said business earlier in the year was “decent, but it could be better.” Like Jones, Strotter also rents out the café for meetings and workshops during off hours.

Toughing it out
And so it goes for businesses throughout the neighborhood; for Chris Brack and Milton Latrell, owners of Agriculture, an upscale men’s clothing, shoe and accessories store at 532 E. 43rd St.; for Trez Pugh and Richard Chalmers, of the Bronzeville Coffee and Tea, 528 E. 43rd St., who recently opened a second store, Regents Cup, at Regent Park at 5020-5050 S. Lake Park Ave.; for Adama Ba and his brother, Djibi Ba, who opened Goree Shop five years ago at 1122 E. 47th St., selling authentic African clothing, jewelry and accessories; for Tim Schau’s Zaleski & Horvath Market Café at 1126 E. 47th St., which he describes as a neighborhood store; for Faye Edwards, owner of Faie African Art at 4317 S. Cottage Grove Ave. They’re all toughing it out.

Bronzeville Coffee and Tea, photo by Juan Francisco Hernandez

Edwards participates with other CG43 members in events to promote the Cottage Grove corridor and rents out gallery space for special events. “This year feels better,” she said. “More people are coming in. Some of the fears about what is happening in the economy have dissipated a little.”

Despite the slow economy, the business climate in the Cottage Grove corridor is looking up, said QCDC’s Johnson-Gabriel. “We try to attract retail to the community. People are interested, despite the downturn. It’s not doom and gloom.”

Johnson-Gabriel acknowledged that the neighborhood isn’t without challenges, particularly considering that for so long there was “so much disinterest in the area. It takes a while to get things done. It’s important for people to see something tangible. The planters, the acorn lighting, the murals and the businesses – there’s an investment in this community,” she said.

And there’s the example of Adolph Parker, whose business started in the hardest of times 75 years ago and is still going strong.

CG43 Business Members:
•    Faie African Art, 4317 S. Cottage Grove Ave. Gallery specializing in quality African art and education.
•    New Age Chicago Furniture, 4238 S. Cottage Grove Ave. Furniture, appliances and electronics.
•    Goree Shop, 1122 E. 47th St. Hand-crafted, authentic African wear for men and women.
•    Agriculture, 532 E. 43rd St. Upscale men’s clothing, shoes and accessories.
•    Sensual Steps, 4518 S. Cottage Grove Ave. Women’s designer shoes, handbags and accessories.
•    Bronzeville Coffee and Tea, 528 E. 43rd St. Community coffeehouse with high quality coffee roasts, teas and pastries.
•    Ain’t She Sweet Café, 4532 S. Cottage Grove Ave. Healthy sandwiches, smoothies and desserts.
•    Zaleski & Horvath Market Café, 1126 E. 47th St. Specialty grocery and café offering sandwiches, coffee and catering.
•    Little Black Pearl Café, 1060 E. 47th St. Art café offering a variety of beverages and pastries.

For an article about retail tours being conducted in Bronzeville, please click here.

Because of one lecture at GreenTown, you may see changes to your neighborhood’s recycling program, or even the start of composting sponsored by your local government. City engineers from Chicago and at least seven suburbs attended a lecture by the man behind Toronto’s program for diverting refuse from landfills. GreenTown planners consider it one of the best in the world.

Geoff Rathbone, General Manager of Solid Waste Management with the City of Toronto, told the room of waste professionals and curious people that Toronto’s single-family homes and apartments now divert 65 percent of their household waste from landfills.

By comparison, Chicago diverts about 12 percent of its waste—via actions like recycling, reuse and composting—according to representatives of the Chicago Climate Action Plan. Enacted by city government a year ago, the plan’s goal is to reduce the city’s contribution to global climate change and brace for its impacts. It hopes to divert 90 percent of Chicago’s waste from landfills by 2020.

Lofty goals are achievable, Rathbone said, because his city’s residents started diverting that much waste “almost overnight.”

How did the word spread so quickly in Toronto? The city hired about 40 students to pair up and knock on doors. The students visited all 500,000 residential units in the city in a couple months’ time, and the rest is history.

The city’s composting operation is done in several stages, Rathbone said, and some steps have to be done outside the city because of the strong smell they release.

“Eighty percent of our efforts are directed at odor management,” Rathbone said.

But because the finished compost can be sold to generate additional revenue for the city, the operation only costs about $45 per household per year. The city had been spending $75 per household per year to put the same material—food and yard waste—into a landfill.

Toronto is on the verge of tapping even greater potential from its compost.

Rathbone said tests have shown that if the natural gas released during the composting process were put to use, it could power the entire fleet of more than 300 waste removal trucks. The plan may soon be implemented, he said.

In a question-and-answer session following the lecture, one woman said she had worked at a Chicago restaurant and witnessed recyclable waste continually being thrown in the garbage.

“The majority of restaurants and bars in Chicago do not recycle at all,” she said. “It’s frustrating.”

Rathbone appeared to sympathize, saying that restaurants under 5,000 square feet are eligible for the Toronto’s free recycling program.

The GreenTown conference was hosted by Columbia College Chicago as an outgrowth of its campus-wide Critical Encounters theme last year, entitled Human / Nature.

—

Toronto’s three big secrets to a successful waste-diversion program:

• Creating logical economic incentives, such as charging people by the volume of garbage they can throw away and providing composting and recycling removal for free.

• Providing free bins to families who subscribe to the city’s waste diversion/garbage removal service. (A set of bins cost the city $25, while a garbage subscription is $200-$400 a year, depending on the size of garbage removal requested.)

• Allowing people to use regular plastic shopping bags as liners for compost bins.

• Limiting garbage pickup to every other week. (Compost is picked up weekly.)

-Credit: Geoff Rathbone, Solid Waste Management Services, City of Toronto

The Chicago Institute of Neurosurgery and Neuroresearch Medical Group pleaded its case for closing the hospital it has operated in Ravenswood since 2003 in a public hearing before state health officials at the Sulzer Library last week.

CINN announced plans in August to join forces with the NorthShore University Health System in Evanston and close the Neurologic and Orthopedic Hospital at 4501 N. Winchester. CINN’s agreement with NorthShore is conditioned on obtaining the governmental approvals from the state. The hospital treats a wide range of complex neurosurgical, neuromedical and orthopedic cases.

In his testimony before the Illinois Facilities Service and Review Board, CINN Chief Operating Officer Peter Breen blamed low occupancy levels and the changing healthcare environment, coupled with multi-million dollar loans for the hospital’s poor financial performance. While clinically successful, the hospital has suffered losses of $30 million over the past two years.

“While regrettable, the only option available is to discontinue operations,” Breen said.

CINN leases the 8-story building adjacent to the former Ravenswood Hospital Pavilion from Health Care REIT, a Toledo, Ohio-based trust that invests in senior housing and health care properties. Breen said that REIT worked with the medical group to consolidate its outstanding debt.

“Despite this unusually high level of cooperation between the property owner and the hospital,” Breen explained, “the stark reality is that Neurologic and Orthopedic Hospital cannot even pay debt service on the loans, let alone pay down principal.”

Dr. Leonard Cerullo, founder and medical director of CINN, stated that the hospital falls below the state hospital occupancy standards. He added that other hospitals in the surrounding community–Weiss, Aurora Chicago Lakeshore, Thorek, Methodist and Swedish Covenant Hospitals–have already said they would take patients normally accepted by Neurologic and Orthopedic Hospital.

Jeffrey Miller, vice president of operations and general counsel for Health Care REIT, said his firm was already at work on a comprehensive leasing or re-use plan.

“Let me assure you that Health Care REIT will aggressively pursue alternative users who will occupy the facility and build the economic bases of the community,” Miller said.

Ald. Gene Schulter (47th) called the impending sale of the medical group and the hospital “disastrous” for the community. In addition to a loss of 300 jobs, Ravenswood Hospital’s former owners, Advocate Health Care, enacted a “non-compete” clause prohibiting specific medical uses from being conducted on the site when they sold the property.

“This means that there will be a technologically-equipped hospital sitting vacant and unusable in the middle of the 47th Ward,” Schulter said. “I am very disappointed in our suburban neighbors. While they rely on the stability and access to clients brought to them by their proximity to the city of Chicago, they are actively undermining my community’s quality of life.”

Schulter further cited the ongoing vacancy’s negative impact on surrounding businesses, crime rates and property values in the Ravenswood neighborhood.

“I oppose this application,” Schulter said.

State Sen. Heather Steans (D-7th District) and state Rep. Greg Harris (D-13th District) supported Schulter’s opposition to the sale of CINN and the closing of the hospital.

“The abrupt nature of the closing of this facility, in my opinion, is not being carried out in an orderly or timely manner and will decrease rather than guarantee the availability of quality health care… to the surrounding community and to existing patients,” Harris said. “I speak for my constituents to oppose this application for closure to benefit a suburban hospital and small handful of investors.”

Harris also urged the Illinois Director of Public Health and the planning board to examine the legality of the anti-compete covenant implemented by Advocate “to see if its existence threatens the general public health of this community by denying access to adequate healthcare facilities.”

At Schulter’s urging, neighborhood residents, many of them employed by CINN, testified at the hearing, supported closing the hospital.

“I don’t know anyone who lives in the neighborhood who uses this hospital and don’t think it will be a problem,” Ravenwsood resident Patty Tillman said. “I support the application.”

After the public hearing, Schulter lambasted CINN for putting up its own employees or their family members to testify in favor of CINN’s application, stating that it was an insult to the community and to themselves. He also chastised officials from nearby Weiss and Thorek Hospitals for their favorable testimony.

“Their only concerns are the bottom line; it means more money for them,” Schulter said. “They haven’t come to the table to say how we’re going to solve these empty buildings in the Ravenswood area. They’re greedy people.”

The state review board’s rules that public hearings be held during the day precluded many working residents from attending the hearing, Harris said.

“Had this meeting been held at night, you would have had a roomful of angry people here,” he said.

The Illinois Health Facilities and Review Board is scheduled to meet in December to review and vote on CINN’s application to close the hospital. Pending the review board’s approval, CINN could pull up stakes and relocate to Skokie by the end of the year.

The review board will continue to accept public comments up to 9 a.m. Nov. 12. Comments should reference Project 09-045 and be sent to Mike Constantino, Supervisor, Project Review Section, Health Facilities Service and Review Board, 525 W. Jefferson, 2nd Floor, Springfield, IL 62761, or by fax at 217-785-4111.

Last month the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University released a study, which found a significant increase in Chicago rental vacancies, from 5 to 5.7 percent in the last year.

Such findings seem intuitive.

As the Chicago region’s unemployment rate rose to double digits throughout the recession, most recently nearing 10.6 percent, many renters were forced to leave their apartments, either doubling up with friends or moving back home.

But perhaps less intuitive is that the internal deficiencies within the pre-recession rental market may have directly caused our economic meltdown.

“The genesis of the subprime mortgage crisis is the lack of affordable housing,” says James Shilling, professor of finance at DePaul University and director of the Institute of Housing Studies.

While discussing his department’s recent study last month with Lake Effect News, Shilling dropped a policy bombshell, one that may change the way cities like Chicago approach the problem of affordable housing.

To comfortably afford the median rent of a two-bedroom apartment, $1,004 according to 2009 HUD guidelines, a family must earn more than $39,000 annually.

Currently, an estimated 550,000 Chicagoans demand affordable housing, according to Shilling, while the market bears but 350,000 such units, leaving at least 200,000 residents without a viable renting option.

The picture grows bleaker.

“Not only is it a big gap,” Shilling said, “but the gap is increasing over time.” In the next 15 years, Shilling estimates that 75,000 more residents will be in need of affordable housing, housing that costs 30 percent or less of a tenant’s income. And in that time the existing stock of affordable housing will continue to drop, Shilling said.

This stock has already been deeply compromised by the economic boom of the last decade.

“Because credit was flowing, people were buying and converting,” said Shilling, of affordable rental apartments. In an unfortunately ironic twist, this created a housing economy that allowed the seedlings of the subprime mortgage crisis to fester.

“People were finding that their monthly mortgage payment was at the same level of their rents, or maybe lower,” Shilling said.

And the ethically-questionable banks seized the day.

“The financial institutions responded by offering subprime mortgages,” added Shilling.

What ensued is old news. From 2007 to 2008, the United States lost an estimated $10 trillion in household wealth.

But the crisis is not over. A second wave of foreclosures is upon us.

In the next two years, “there is $1.3 trillion worth of commercial mortgages are that are coming due, a large part of which are multifamily loans,” Shilling said.

And as rental vacancies rise, Shilling contends, “we’re likely to have another round of defaults.” Building owners won’t have the necessary rents to pay their mortgages.

For a neighborhood like Uptown, in which an estimated 25 to 50 percent of residents are not finding affordable housing, the country’s response to the economic sequel of 2008 is critical.

“In Uptown and other places the consequences are huge,” Shilling said. “We really need a stabilizing force.”

But contrary to the aldermanic wisdom, which has invested more than $100 million to create 178 new affordable housing units, Shilling hopes both the state and federal governments step in to preserve existing buildings for affordable housing, not finance new ones.

“There are various government programs that encourage the construction of multifamily affordable housing,” said Shilling.

“In this current [economic] environment, that’s not what you want.”

The meeting will feature a panel of local experts who will discuss the challenges of dealing with condo construction defects, irresponsible or unresponsive developers and general contractors and the resulting excessive assessments. This issue faces many homeowners in today’s real estate market. Fioretti will use the meeting and the discussion there as a guide to development of legislation to help diminish future opportunities for shortchanging or penalizing owners and associations. The meeting will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at Merit School of Music, 38 S. Peoria St., Chicago, IL.

The 2nd Ward newsletter suggests these websites if you are having trouble with burgeoning mortgage payments: President Obama’s Making Home Affordable Program, and the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago encourages homeowners to apply for loan modifications through the President’s program when they face difficulty paying for their home in the current economic downturn. Additional information is available by calling the HAMP Support Center, at 866-939-4469.

Residential Parking Bulletin

Parking in the City is a perennial problem and since the City leased its parking meters, many residents of the 2nd Ward are calling for residential parking in their immediate area, particularly in Printer’s Row, the South Loop and the West Loop. The South and West Loop parking and traffic studies set up by the 2nd Ward office are nearing completion. In tandem with those studies, Ald. Fioretti expects to discuss the expansion of some residential parking zones in areas of the ward where parking is challenging.

If you live on a block where street parking is scarce and there are few or no garages and feel residential parking is warranted, you can contact Pasquale Neri at at (312) 263-9273. Mr. Neri is handling these requests and can provide all the necessary information, including what is necessary to start the process and the requirements of the Department of Revenue to create a residential parking zone.

2nd Ward Infrastructure Improvements Include Lighting and Trees

• New lighting is being installed on Wabash Avenue, from Roosevelt Road to Cermak Road. The date for the installation of this lighting is not yet set, but it will be coming around the time the Wabash reconstruction north of Roosevelt is completed in mid-November. These lights feature decorative poles and higher wattage bulbs.
• New trees were planted on 1400 block of West Van Buren Street. These trees were planted as a small part of a program to make West Side sidewalks and streets greener. Look for more trees to be growing soon!

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• IVI-IPO to File Suit Against the City Today (chicagoist.com)
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Restaurants inviting diners to bring their own bottle, or BYOB, are gaining in appeal and growing in number. There are close to 500 restaurants listed as BYOB on various online restaurant directories; the city’s BYOB options are astounding.

Molecular gastronomy and foie gras may have garnered headlines and dining dollars in recent years, but trends are relative; they can only predict so far out into the future. After all, there were few who saw the current housing/credit/job market crash coming. So when it comes to eating out now, as with almost every other aspect of life, it’s the economy that’s influencing dining decisions. For that reason, it’s BYOB’s moment to shine.

“Obviously, the cost-saving is the main appeal,” says Sue Tomko of Chicago, who dined recently at Pizza Rustica, a favorite Wrigleyville BYOB.

Opting for BYOB isn’t just about money. It also suits Tomko’s taste. “It’s the fact that you aren’t limited to what’s on the menu – you can bring your favorite [bottle] with you. The fact that it’s now also legal to also take home whatever you don’t finish [without scoffing open container laws] makes it especially cost-effective because you’re not leaving any behind. But we never seem to have any left to take home.”

Chicago has a BYOB for just about every ethnic cuisine. Search Yelp! and similar restaurant listing pages, and you’ll find everything from Korean bbq to Moroccan to Mexican. But Asian-focused restaurants appear to be the most popular BYOB addresses.

“I don’t know what it is about Thai restaurants, in particular, but there are a lot of them that are BYOB,” says wine educator Christine Blumer. “Thai, Vietnamese and places in Chinatown. These are the restaurants that seem to dominate BYOB.”

Blumer, who runs WineDiva Enterprises in Chicago, thinks the city’s geography may play a role in making BYOBs a winning concept for restaurants. “Chicago is stereotypically a city of neighborhoods, so there certainly are a lot more neighborhood ‘joints’ that might opt for BYOB. They’re the tiny places that can afford to stay open without a liquor license.”

But BYOB is not just for the tiny curry house on the corner. It’s a feature at several local restaurants that serve more typical upscale cuisines.

Devotees of Schwa, the tiny, cultish BYOB storefront on Western Avenue, liken chef-owner Michael Carlson’s compelling, thoughtful prix fixe menus to creations served at nearby Alinea and Spain’s El Bulli.

Processco sommelier Victoria Vanourek favors a Logan Square BYOB precisely because it isn’t your average BYOB night out. “Sweets & Savories has beautiful stemware and people who know how to serve wine,” she says. “You’re going to drop a lot [for the food], so bringing favorite bottles of wine to pair with the food is an advantage.”

The Illinois Restaurant Association doesn’t keep a detailed record on the history of the BYOB concept in Chicago. It does acknowledge, however, that the city’s notoriously difficult-to-obtain liquor license has probably spurned the unprecedented number of BYOB’s that continue to open and operate in seemingly greater numbers than in New York or Los Angeles.

New York’s higher retail space rents might work against BYOBs in ways that haven’t yet affected the Chicago scene. As the WineDiva points out, “Most restaurants make their margin on booze, so a lot of places in New York or L.A. may need to keep liquor [on the menu] in order to meet those costs.”

Vanourek sees Chicago’s BYOB scene as a step in the evolution of a young or breakout chef-owner. “There are many of new restaurant owners that worked under famous chefs here in the city or were line cooks at big restaurants that can’t afford the liability, the dram shop insurance when they open a place of their own.”

Both Vanourek and Blumer note the BYOB trend growing at places that have liquor licenses.

“I was just at Socca for their BYOB night last Monday, and I appreciated the fact that I could bring my own bottle and not have to pay the corkage fee,” says Vanourek.

“That [BYOB] option can really drive business on typically ‘off’ nights for restaurants,” adds Blumer.

Restaurants carrying liquor licenses would normally charge a corkage fee for the privilege of opening your favorite bottle – so long as that bottle isn’t featured on their own wine list. In that case, you’ll most likely be asked to purchase it from their menu.

BYOBs, on the other hand, are – by law – not allowed to charge you for opening your bottle, although this practice does happen, even to sommeliers.

“There’s a favorite BYOB of mine – that I won’t name – that has charged me a corkage fee several times,” says Vanourek. She’s let it slide, but, “I’m thinking about bringing in a copy of the law the next time it happens.”

BYOBs may be slow to catch on outside of Chicago as various open container laws prohibit the practice. But trends start somewhere, and Chicago’s BYOBs haven’t gone unnoticed by top-rated publications like Zagat Guides and Food & Wine magazine.

“It’s just a great benefit all the way around – in price and choice,” says Sue Tomko.

If the city’s BYOB scene is any indication, the trend will thrive nationally even after housing prices rebound.

For the picketers in the longest strike of the Congress Plaza Hotel’s history, this ordinance could give the workers a strong advantage in their six-year battle. The strike began on June 15, 2003 as a result of wage freezes and employee health insurance cuts.

“Every time the city contract comes up, the city council comes up with bills to support the union,” said Mark Souder, Director of Human Resources at the Congress Plaza Hotel.

Souder would not comment on whether he supports or opposes the proposed ordinance, but he says he does not think anyone from the hotel wants the strike to continue. The hotel met in negotiations with the union, Unite Here Local 1, on Sept. 8, but Souder would not comment on the outcome of the negotiations or whether they see an end in sight.

Peter Andjelkovich, attorney and spokesperson for the Michigan Avenue hotel since the strike began, opposes the proposed legislation and says it is unconstitutional. “When (aldermen) tried to pass the ordinance in 2006, they were advised it was illegal,” Andjelkovich said.

Souder said that the hotel decided to voluntarily notify guests of the on-going strike when it initially began.

“Reservations people were instructed to tell (prospective hotel guests) about it a while ago to save them from complaints and surprises later,” Souder said. “To what degree they follow it, I don’t know.”

On the website for the Congress Plaza Hotel, there is a notice of the strike, but if prospective guests are making hotel reservations through online reservation sites, such as expedia.com and hotels.com, they may be unaware of the strike until they arrive.

Andjelkovich says that the hotel’s initiative to notify guests is clearly within their discretion, but government involvement is a completely different matter.

“This is a government action that is against federal law for a municipality to interfere with a business,” said Andjelkovich.

Andjelkovich says that the proposal is a political move more than anything.

“The aldermen are supporting the unions,” Andjelkovich said.

The effect that the ordinance might have on the hotel’s business may be difficult to predict. Souder said he could not measure how the strike has impacted business considering the economic climate.

“We lost some business initially,” Souder said. “I don’t know to what degree it has hurt it.”

Darren Theriault, a guest at the hotel traveling from Nashville, Tennessee, said that he did not know that there was an ongoing strike when he arrived but would return if his rock band had another show in town.

“When we came, there were picketers outside. They didn’t saying anything to us,” said Theriault. “The room was clean. I would stay here again. It’s a beautiful hotel.”

The Chicago City Council is scheduled to vote on the ordinance at next month’s meeting on Oct. 7. If passed, Andjelkovich said he very well might be the one to challenge the measure in court.

More than two dozen people waited in line in the county building, some for as long as two hours, to enter the Sept. 1 board meeting where the county commissioners, in a surprise decision, failed by one vote to override Board President Todd Stroger’s veto.

The 13-4 decision upholds the tax at its current rate of 1.75 percent instead of reducing it to 1.25 percent.  It’s estimated the county would have lost more than $2 million by dropping the rate .5 percent.

Cynthia Schilsky, president of the Cook County League of  Women Voters, traveled from southwest suburban La Grange to attend the meeting  and didn’t like being stuck on the sidelines.

“I’m aggravated. I think people should be able to get in. I understand it is not a big room, but they should make it available to those who are here to be seen,” Schilsky said.

State Rep. John Fritchey, (D-Chicago), who moments before Tuesday’s meeing officially announced his plans to replace retiring Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool, said it is important for the public to be included in meetings.

“I’m sure there are a lot of elected officials that would prefer the public not seeing what they do,” Fritchey said. “I feel that being open to the public is a pretty fundamental notion of being a public body, especially given that we’ve got the cost efficient technology these days to do this instantly.”

Schilsky said the Cook County League of Women Voters made suggestions to the board about preparing overflow rooms and streaming video for those who cannot get in.

“When we have suggested it, it’s always the money issue,” said Schilsky.

The public can watch the meetings if they have access to Comcast cable channel 900.

Dick Simpson, head of the political science department at University of Illinois at Chicago and a former Chicago alderman, said it is important to open up the county board to better cable and Web castings along with making overflow rooms available.

“There ought to be a separate room set up for overflow crowds, or they could have asked to move to the larger city council chambers,” Simpson said.

The Chicago Board of Education uses overflow rooms and streaming video for its meetings.

Chicago Public Schools Spokesman Malon Edwards said when people come to the board meetings, they are given a seating pass. When there are no more passes available, overflow rooms are opened with streaming video of the board meeting.

The board of eduction meeting room holds about 115 people, while the overflow room can seat an additional 85.

Edwards said it also use a rotation that keeps a constant flow of people between the board and overflow rooms.

“We get people in and out as quickly as we can. Looking at the logistics of it, it looks to be a very smooth process,” Edwards said. “It looks to be a good alternative to sitting in the chamber.”

Commissioner Deborah Sims (D-5th), who was the crucial 14th vote needed to override Board President Todd Stroger’s veto of the tax rollback,  flipped before the board’s Sept. 1 vote and upheld Stroger’s veto.

Cook County Commissioner Deborah Sims (D-5th)

“It’s too bad we didn’t have the people that gave us their word,” said Commissioner Larry Suffredin (D-13th).

Sims said she walked into the meeting in support of a veto, but after much debate and discussion among her fellow commissioners, she had to do what she thought was best.

“I gave my word to the president in the very beginning,” she said. “If anyone should feel sold-out it should be him. But I had a change of heart today – I had to do what was best for the people I represent.”

As a line of more than 20 people stretched down the hallway waiting to get into the meeting, Sims sat in the board chambers scribbling notes and listening to the tax debate.

She said she met with the three clinics in her far South Side district, and couldn’t get a clear answer on whether they would have to shut their doors if the tax rollback won approval.

“When I came in here this morning I was on board with the override,” Sims said after the vote was final. “It was a combination of me sitting here and listening to what everyone said, and really just figuring out what my district needs.”

Suffredin said keeping the sales tax at its current level would drive consumers into the suburbs and harm the local economy.

Commissioner William Beavers (D-4th) countered Suffredin’s arguments and said an overwhelming majority of his constituents supported the sales tax hike.

“The sales tax is not for food, it’s not for medicine,” he said. “People are willing to pay that one penny.”

Today’s outcome surprised Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th), who has announced she will challenge Stroger for Cook County Board President. Preckwinkle said she would support a change in lowering the number of votes needed to override a president’s veto, stating, “it’s simply good government.”

“My expectations were that the veto would be overridden,” she said. “There were 14 commissioners today that voted to repeal a half-cent of the tax increase, which is a pretty significant number – a super majority.”

The failure to override the veto means the county portion of the state sales tax will sit at 1.75 percent. Commissioner Forrest Claypool (D-12th) said this is a sign that real work still needs to be done.

“Change doesn’t come easy,” said Claypool, who has been a thorn in the side of  Stroger since Claypool lost his 2006 bid for County Board President.

Claypool, who has decided not to seek re-election for another term, endorsed state Rep. John Fritchey (D-Chicago) earlier in the day. Fritchey is looking to take over Claypool’s seat on the Cook County Board.

“It is important for there to be a strong, experienced and effective voice in the county,” Claypool said.

“This is about access to the lakefront, which is an asset that’s owned by all the citizens of Chicago,” said Ald. Tom Allen (38^th), who along with Ald. Richard Mell (33^rd) called for a special meeting Aug. 18 of the Chicago City Council’s Committee on Parks and Recreation.

The aldermen said the parking fee, set to begin within four to six weeks, contradicts Daniel Burnham’s 1909 Chicago Plan of open access to parks and will strain the budgets of low-income families hungry for recreation during hard times.

“I do think that we’re nickel and diming people in the city of Chicago, and we need to stop,” said Ald. Pat Dowell (3^rd).

But Chicago Park District Superintendent Timothy Mitchell, facing a $12 million deficit this year, defended the plan. He argued that charging for lakefront parking is a better solution than raising property taxes.

“There are seniors who don’t go down to the beach at all, and I’m not going to raise their property taxes,” Mitchell said. “I believe people who are using the beaches and creating those expenses should pay $1 an hour.”

An estimated 4,425 parking spaces along the lake will be subject to the new pay-and-display boxes, in which drivers must pre-pay for parking and leave a receipt visible in their windows. The boxes will likely be installed in the next four to six weeks, said Park District spokeswoman Jessica Maxey-Faulkner.

Money collected at the boxes will feed $700,000 into parks coffers in the last quarter of this year; revenue is expected to jump to $2 million per year after that, according to Park District estimates. Chicago-based Standard Parking will maintain the boxes for roughly $85,000 per year, under a three-year contract that is expected to be signed in six weeks, Maxey-Faulkner said.

The park district spends about $400 million per year on its 570 parks, Mitchell said. Sixty-five percent of that money comes from property taxes.

Tuesday’s committee meeting gave aldermen a chance to vent over the done deal; the Park District Board of Commissioners approved the parking plan as part of its budget process last December, and the city council has no jurisdiction over the decision.

Several aldermen on Tuesday did suggest other funding sources, such as charging $1 admission to the city’s Air and Water show, eliminating the park district’s public relations department and approaching the Chicago Blackhawks for sponsorship.

Parks advocate Charlotte Newfeld, one of four speakers to address the committee, said she hopes the fee will reduce the number of cars parked near the lakefront, but Newfeld added that she would prefer a system of parking lots and shuttle buses to transport beach goers.

“We need every inch of green space for people, just to feel like they’re not all surrounded by concrete,” Newfeld said.

Additional stories:

The Independent Voters of Illinios-Indpendent Precinct Organization has filed a lawsuit to void the city of Chicago’s parking meter contract with Chicago Parking Meters LLC claiming the deal violates state law.  You can read the lawsuit at IVIIPO.org.

For more reporting on the parking meter lawsuit, you can listen and read WBEZ’s report at chicagopublicradio.org.

Getting ready for the Aug. 9 Chicago Carrotmob, a larger-than-life carrot is carried into Fox & Obel by volunteers Alana Clark (left) and artist/carrot-creator Jenny Tiner. Photo by Mark Campbell.

To help make those improvements a reality, Carrotmob stages what they call “reverse boycotts.” In one-day events, Carrotmob participants descend on a business of choice to purchase stuff. Although there is no contract, the business verbally commits to dedicating a portion of the money made during the “mobbing” toward energy upgrades.

Carrotmob Chicago is scheduled to descend on the Fox & Obel Market at 401 E. Illinois, near Navy Pier, this Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. The store has committed to set aside 50 percent of the business the mob brings in for efficiency upgrades. The Greater Chicago Food Depository will also be accepting donations from mobbers throughout the afternoon.

Laura Flanigan, co-vice president of action projects for the Net Impact’s Chicago Professional Chapter, is one of this Carrotmob event’s lead organizers. She answered a few questions about mobbing, consumer activism and what’s going on this Sunday.

Q: What process does Carrotmob use to select a business? And how was Fox & Obel chosen to be mobbed?

Flanigan: The idea came to us in conjunction with the Academy of Management Conference. The conference has the theme of green management this year. Doing a Carrotmob was a natural fit.

The process is, a volunteer Carrotmob team will identify an area of the community and then canvass a specific type of business within that area. It has to be an independent business, locally-owned, with enough capacity to get 100 people in and out of the store within an hour. It also has to be a store where you can spend a little bit of money or a lot of money, as to not exclude anyone from participating.

It’s difficult to dedicate money [to energy-efficient upgrades] when you’re a small business, so the focus is really on bringing the tools to smaller, independently-owned businesses to make it happen.

Businesses then compete with each other, so the one selected would have committed the largest percentage of funds from the mob to go towards improvements. The business does not pay any fee to Carrotmob to participate. The San Francisco group is actually having the neighborhood vote, so the community chooses the mobbed business.

Fox & Obel here in Chicago was willing to dedicate a portion (50 percent) of the proceeds from the event to make improvements. They also have a variety of price points and space so a large group of people can come in and support mob. That’s how they were chosen.

Q: What kind of improvements do businesses make with the dedicated funds?

Flanigan: It’s generally energy efficiency upgrades to reduce their carbon footprint. We just did an energy audit on Fox & Obel with the Illinois Smart Energy Design Assistance Center, which is affiliated with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and assisted by the state. That audit is being processed and will show which improvements should be made, such as lighting and refrigeration.

Q: How will you follow-up with the store once the event is over and people move on?

Flanigan: Our team will stay connected to the store and we’re going to be working with an energy contractor to do the work. We will actually see the work as it happens. We are in a position to stay connected and we’re hoping that relationship drives the accountability once the mob is over.

Q. What kind of turnout are you expecting this Sunday?

Flanigan: We’re hoping we get at least 500 folks into the mob. We want to send a clear message that Chicagoans care about and reward the companies that go above and beyond on their environmental commitment. We hope there will be lines out the front door all day.

Q. Are there any requirements for participating in the Carrotmob?

Flanigan: No, definitely not. For citizens to participate, it’s just showing up the day-of.

Q: What sets Carrotmob apart in terms of its activism?

Flanigan: It’s the closest thing to a win-win situation when it comes to environmental activism. Individuals don’t have to sacrifice in order to demonstrate their commitment and their values. There’s a lot of ways we can send market signals about our values, but we’re not necessarily sure if they’re being interpreted correctly. Doing something like this as a mob is always more effective. It’s an easy way to send a loud message. It just so happens that the company is being rewarded with a “carrot” rather than getting the stick. There’s a reason a business would want to participate and seek out participation in Carrotmob. If there’s only a way we can do this for the types of things we buy, not just from where we buy them. Maybe that’s the next phase of Carrotmob.

Q: A lot of environmentalists point to consumerism as being one of the root causes of our environmental problems today. How can Carrotmob reconcile that in its efforts?

Flanigan: One of the reasons Carrotmob has worked is because they’re supporting stores that offer things people need. We’re not talking about large chain stores. We’re talking about food and other necessities – about healthier food – Fox & Obel does try to support local and organic produce providers. That’s one way it’s reconcilable. But that question certainly isn’t lost on Carrotmob – the kinds of stores that work well with the Carrotmob model sell things people need everyday.

Q: Are there any other ways Chicagoans can get involved?

Flanigan: They can start their own mob. Anyone can do it. You don’t have to be affiliated with anybody to do a successful Carrotmob, you just have to get the word out and find a business that’s willing to commit.

This idea that Chicago seeks to be the greenest city in the world can only be supported by actual Chicagoans getting off their butts on a Sunday and demonstrating their commitment.

There’s a price war going among the hair salons and barber shops on Clark Street in Rogers Park, and that’s bad news for Alicia, the woman who’s been cutting my hair for the last 10 years.

When I stopped in at La Bella Unisex today, she got right to the point. Business is bad. It’s not just that people have lost jobs and are pinching pennies; it’s the price competition. The place right next door has a big sign in the window: Hair Cut $5. And there’s another down the street charging the same amount.

I asked how anyone can make money charging only $5. They can’t. With storefronts renting for $1,200 a month, she said, even if you could fill the chairs all day long it would be hard to make it. And the chairs are rarely full.

Alicia asked when I thought the economy would turn around. I told her I’ve been working on a foreclosure-response project and the experts aren’t optimistic; they are worried, in fact, that things could get much worse in some areas as the hundreds of boarded and abandoned buildings trigger a free-fall in what’s left of the market.

Why a free fall? Alicia’s husband had good work for years doing construction on condominium conversions. But no work lately. Her son, just out of high school, is an apprentice at an auto repair shop on Jarvis. It’s a good opportunity but the pay isn’t there. And her own business is way down. She’s nervous about the family scraping together enough money to pay the mortgage on their own condominium . . . and it’s a good bet that the people working next door, at $5 a cut, are having similar troubles.

As Alicia finished up with the razor, trimming the wild hairs off my ears, a man walked in and asked “How much for a haircut?”

“Ten dollars for a normal haircut,” Alicia replied, sizing up the potential client. She hesitated a split second, then added, “and if you need just a simple cut, five dollars.”

“Yes, just a simple cut,” he replied.

So that’s the view from Clark Street, where people are hurting.