By: Bill Healy, New Communities Program There’s the smell of fresh paint on the walls in the entryway of 6405 S. Rockwell. But Karry Young, the developer who’s been remodeling the single-family home in Chicago Lawn, is pointing past the paint job and the wooden molding. “That oak, and it puts so much personality...
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Gerard Staniszewski doesn’t like rice in his burritos, a fact that comes back to haunt him from time to time. That’s because he is blamed for Chipotle not being allowed to set up shop in Portage Park‘s Klee Plaza. “I wish I had that much power in the community, where my not liking rice...
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When Mary Anne Barfield opens her business, B&K Office and Art, in Lakeview, strangers usually greet her outside the door. But instead of stamps or stationery, they want food or her spare change. When she leaves for the night, they are still outside roaming the block, which is why Barfield closes her store at...
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For decades, public housing has been an issue across America. “Projects” have been designed under one format: high rise, brown, and cheap looking. This way of thinking and designing is one of the many reasons why these cheap buildings have deteriorated and vanished. But it seems that the Dearborn Homes have finally got the...
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Necessity is the mother of invention – so it may not be surprising, but it is welcome and interesting to find realtors and the Active Transportation Alliance joining together to create a unique collaboration — Home-Hunting by Bike events.   The currently scheduled events are outside Chicago in Homewood and Oak Park.  Both suburbs offer good...
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Soldiers who return home from war are often haunted by graphic images of mutilated bodies, wake up in sweats and are paranoid of their surroundings. Quincy Lavell Anthony, who now goes by Q.L. Anthony, is not a soldier, but faces similar trauma — as a former prisoner of a maximum security prison. “My mom...
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Facing dire economic times and dwindling resources, more people are not only becoming homeless – they’re then at risk of facing physical assault. State Rep. Thomas Holbrook (D-Bellville) introduced a bill, HB5114, that would create stiffer penalties for offenders who target the homeless, veterans, active duty members and reservists of the Armed Forces. Instead...
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When Elaine Mohamed took her son, Zachary Vanderslice, for his regularly scheduled check-up, doctors found high levels of lead in the then 9-month-old child’s system. Mohamed, who lives in a 1920s property in East Rogers Park, hadn’t noticed any unusual symptoms in Zachary, now 8. She soon learned, however, that her apartment was filled...
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Access Living, governed and staffed by people with disabilities, is Chicago’s only center for independent living that focuses on full equality, inclusion and empowerment of all people with disabilities. On Thursday, Feb. 11, Access Living will host a Historic Six-City Listening Tour organized by the U.S. Dept. of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy...
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Residents of the Lathrop Homes public housing project ramped up their campaign to save the development on Wednesday, with leaders announcing that talks between a residents’ committee and the Chicago Housing Authority have come to a standstill. Robert Davidson, president of the Lathrop Homes Local Advisory Council, said the CHA wants to move forward...
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