By Samantha Buchholz June 3, 2009 – A condominium development in Wicker Park might soon be  Chicago’s first residential property to receive a top green ranking by the U.S. Green Building Council, a nonprofit that promotes green technology in building construction. According to USGBC,  110 commercial building’s in Illinois meet the energy efficiency criteria...
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Dec. 18, 2008 Story by John McCarron It was the red dots-scores of little red specks sprinkled across a map of just one neighborhood on Chicago’s southwest side-that spoke the loudest. Sen. Richard Durbin Several high-powered experts spoke Dec. 4 in Chicago at a field hearing of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services....
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Dec. 12, 2008 Story by Ebony L. McCline Maketh Bul Mabior walks into a downtown Starbucks ten minutes late. However, he does not appear to be in a rush. His six-foot frame turns as the revolving, see-through door twirls around. He stops. He looks around. He pulls out his cell phone, proceeds to dial...
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Dec. 10, 2008 – It is touted as being one of the hottest and fastest-growing residential neighborhoods in the city, but despite the rapid rise in development that has occurred in this trendy area, even the South Loop is not safe from the ill effects of the looming recession. It is perhaps most evident at night, when the myriad...
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Dec. 8, 2008 Story by Dionisia Koutsis BahJae Davis and her family members were evicted early one morning from their apartment on Chicago’s West Side. Davis says the officers told the family they had only 5-10 minutes to grab what they needed. “The sheriff came in and kicked us out and we couldn’t get...
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Dec. 1, 2008 – She was 10 years old chopping wood with her father, and vividly remembers how difficult it was to lift the axe with her tiny twig-like arms and crash down on the log, slicing it into pieces. "When I was small, I would follow my father everywhere: sawing logs, farming and gardening. It was hard work,...
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Nov. 24, 2008 Story by Jessica Rosenberg On a dark October night in 1992, six-year-old Bishnu Khatiwada and his family arrived at their new home: a Nepalese refugee camp. The lack of electricity at the newly established compound made the Himalayan night that much darker. He remembers the eight-hour bus ride through India and...
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Nov. 17, 2008 Story by Elizabeth Duffrin Pilsen resident Omar Vega expects to save thousands of dollars in property taxes over the next 12 years in exchange for renovating his historic four flat on West 17th Street. Thalia Hall’s pointed turret and Bohemian-style stone carvings set a fashionable trend in Pilsen after it was...
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Nov. 11, 2008 by LISC/Chicago To help combat the growing lending crisis and the rise of foreclosures in Chicago, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is investing $68 million in grants and low-interest loans in foreclosure prevention and mitigation efforts in local neighborhoods. The Foundation expects its investment to leverage more than...
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Nov. 6, 2008 Story by Zach Wilmes Gentrification affects different neighborhoods in different ways, and Uptown’s experience is certainly unique.  While many residents around Chicago watch their cost of living increase as public housing is demolished to make way for luxury developments, Uptown is embracing a different strategy. Wilson Yard, the large piece of...
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