There isn’t a flower Jim Harney hasn’t seen. Harney says he’s made floral arrangements using every flower on earth. Harney, 70, opened his flower business when he was only 19. This year his shop, Aberdeen‘s Wedding Flowers, celebrated its 50th anniversary making it one of the oldest floral businesses in Chicago.

In the late 1950′s, Harney worked for Sydney Dell Florists, a florist company that focused mainly on funerals. “I hated funerals — seeing people crying,” he said.

Harney opened his first store at 5802 W. Montrose Ave. in Chicago and within the first year he delivered bouquets to more than 500 weddings.  He eventually moved to a larger store at 3829 N. Harlem Ave. and after a few years, Harney opened  shops in Arlington Heights, Vernon Hills, Villa Park and Oak Park, but he didn’t stop there.

When he learned that President Richard Nixon’s daughter Tricia was getting married,  he contacted the country’s largest rose farmer in California and convinced the owners to name a new hybrid rose “The Tricia Rose.” Along with his family he was invited to the White House to present the rose to the president’s daughter.

“She naturally loved [the ivory rose with a pink outlining of the petals] and she wanted to use them at her wedding,” said Harney.

In 1969 he did the flowers for the wedding of singer Tiny Tim and Miss Vickie. Because the wedding took place in winter, Harney purchased 10,000 tulips from Holland.

Through his friendship with Chicago radio personality Wally Phillips, he got in touch with the “Tonight Show,” which was broadcasting the wedding live. He offered to provide tulips. The show’s production staff was reluctant at first and then got back in touch with him when their florist couldn’t find tulips, he said.

Harney said he was proud when Tiny Tim said, “I would like to thank Aberdeen’s Florist in Chicago for providing all the tulips for our wedding.”

Some of his other notable weddings include Gov. Jim Thompson’s daughter, as well as the daughter of Malcolm X and a dance school teacher who had 134 students as her attendants. However, Harney said his favorite weddings were for his own daughters, Shelly, Anita and Amy.

Looking back over his career, Harney said one of his most memorable weddings occurred during Chicago’s big snow storm in 1967 when many brides-to-be canceled their wedding flowers except one woman who made sure her wedding took place despite the weather.

As the traditions for weddings have changed, so has the business. More people marry on a smaller scale, he said. Aberdeen’s stays busy all year with about 1,000 weddings a year.

Flowers are delivered to his store from all over the world including Hawaii, Ecuador, Columbia and Holland. The shipping takes only two days.

“I’ve been working for this business for 30 years and I can’t imagine doing something else,” said Tina Mangione, a designer at Aberdeen’s. Her mother, Vilge D’Avanzo, an Italian immigrant has worked with the company for 36 years.

Rita Mancini started her job as a stemmer 15 years ago. She remembers when the florist had to hire more than 100 people because they were not able to handle all the work with the regular crew.

The florist business is not the only thing that keeps Aberdeen’s busy. Inspired by Phillips’ Neediest Children’s Fund, Harney started his own fund five years ago before Christmas to deliver toys to needy children. The 100 Percent Foundation collects toys and organizing trips to the circus and zoo.

Last year, Harney’s staff collected more than 10,000 toys for kids in Cook, DuPage and Lake County hospitals, Harney said.

“When I see these poor children, I start to question God and at the same time I’m very thankful that my family is healthy,” said Harney. “This is what I want to do after I retire. This is what makes me happy.”

With violence surging on Chicago streets, a hundred young people from the South Side are travelling to Springfield this week to press for funding for summer jobs for youth.

Youth unemployment has also surged — 90 percent of Chicago black males aged 16 to 19 are unemployed, according to Jack Wuest of the Alternative Schools Network — reaching “historically unprecedented” levels since federal funding for youth employment was eliminated in 2000, according to a study just released by ASN.

On Wednesday, participants in youth leadership development programs at the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization and area high schools will lobby for funding for the Community Youth Employment Act. HR 4553 was approved last week but still requires an appropriation for funding. It aims at creating 2500 jobs for youth in low-income communities this summer, and more in the future.

KOCO’s Jitu Brown hopes the program takes advantage of the ability of community-based organizations to connect young people with community resources.

In the early 1990s KOCO had federal funding through the city for nearly 100 summer jobs for youth, Brown said; in 2005 there were five slots, and he scrambled to find support for a few more positions. The group integrates a range of life skills and leadership development trainings for teens who work at its summer camp.

The additional programming makes a big difference, Brown said. “A lot of our young people improved their job performance, and some who had left school returned to school,” he said. The group helped find year-round jobs for the most successful summer workers.

A handful of youth joined scores of Southwest Organizing Project members for a recent lobby day in Springfield, and neighborhood safety activists decided to focus on the youth employment measure, said Sandra del Toro. “We want to be less reactive, to do more than just responding to shootings,” she said.

SWOP works in an area with one of the highest concentrations of youth in the city.

“Summer jobs are a great asset for young people,” said Torres. “They need an opportunity to achieve and excel, and summer jobs give them that — and it keeps them off the streets, expecially with the rise of violence we’re seeing.”

Mayor Daley has coordinated a range of public and private resources to provide nearly 20,000 youth jobs this summer. In 1984, when federal funding was in place, the city provided 40,000 such jobs, Brown said.

With the elimination of federal funding, youth employment has been left behind in the recent economic recovery.

Between 2003 and 2007, for the first time ever, youth employment rates continued to fall during a period of general employment expansion, according to a national study released at an ASN rally last week.

Youth employment rates have declined by nearly a third since 2000, according to the study; if the nation’s teens were employed at the rate seen in the year 2000, there would be 2 million more teenagers working.

The problem requires action on the federal level, Wuest said.

“Whatever the state or city or county can do is great — but they just don’t have the money” to address the scope of the problem, he said. He’s supporting a bill providing a $1 billion supplemental appropriation for youth employment that was introduced in February.

Some members of Chicago’s congressional delegation including U.S. Reps. Danny Davis, Luis Gutierrez, Jesse Jackson Jr., Bobby Rush and Jan Schakowsky co-sponsored the bill.

Chicago’s share of total federal employment funds have dropped from $220 million in 1980 to $26 million this year, he said.

Restoring funding to 1980s level “would significantly reduce the violence in the streets,” Wuest said.

Youth employment is also a major factor in subsequent success – most jobs require previous experience, and it is work experience that puts people on a path of improved earnings.

Wuest points out that low-income kids are three times more likely to be unemployed than middle- and upper-class youth.

From Newstips.org reports

The City Council’s Committee on Police and Fire is holding a hearing April 2 at 11 a.m. at City Hall on negotiations for a new contract with the Fraternal Order of Police. The Chicago Coalition for Police Accountability will present testimony along with participants in the negotiations, said Gerald Frazier of Citizens Alert.

Among the coalition’s concerns are provisions in the now-expired police contract mandating removal of civilian complaints against officers from their files, restricting the use of existing civilian complaints in investigations of new complaints, restricting the investigation of anonymous complaints and restricting the release of names of officers who are subject to investigation, said Wendy Park of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois.

Frazier said the coalition wants “more transparency.”

Park said the ACLU is “following very closely” the implementation of last summer’s ordinance establishing the Independent Police Review Authority, and is monitoring complaints from civilians who have contacted the ACLU and been referred to the IPRA.

“The ordinance is a good step in the right direction, but we’re very concerned the FOP contract could be a significant barrier to effective police reform,” she said.

“If the new contract does undermine police accountability we would advocate that the City Council vote against it,” she said.

The cuts in services are due, in part, to a shrinking budget and protesters demanded that the county find new sources of revenue. Last year, there were more than $100 million in service cuts.

Dr. Janice Benson, president of the medical staff at Stroger Hospital, said she has witnessed service cuts firsthand. She said a lack of health care is an injustice, and told of patients who frequently wait hours in the publicly-funded clinics to be seen by a doctor – often having to return the following day due to lack of physicians and resources.

Carrie Gathright, 76, from Chicago’s South Side, said she has been waiting five years to get what is supposed to be an annual mammogram. Gathright also suffers from asthma, and said she has waited weeks to get her inhaler refilled because there were no doctors available to call it in to the hospital pharmacy.

“They have good doctors at Stroger, but they just have too many patients,” Gathright said.

Dr. Enrique Martinez, a physician at Stroger Hospital, said 244 women with abnormal Pap smears and 733 women with pain, unusual bleeding or other symptoms were waiting for gynecological appointments at Stroger Hospital’s outpatient clinics at the end of January. Martinez is chief medical officer for the county’s ambulatory and community health network and watched the number of outpatients drop by 100,000 from 2006 to 2007.

Cook County Board President Todd Stroger has proposed a 2008 budget that would provide $96.8 million to the Bureau of Health Services, fill 270 open positions and hire 420 new employees to alleviate long waits for appointments. He is also seeking to increase the county’s share of the sales tax from .75 percent to 2 percent, but has met opposition from county commissioners.

The commissioners have yet to approve his tax increase, which would give Chicago the largest sales tax in the nation.

“The real solution to the problem of quality health care and the budget is putting professionals in charge of the health-care system,” said Commissioner Forrest Claypool (D-Chicago), in a Feb. 8 Chicago Tribune story. Claypool also argued in favor of collecting more than $250 million in back bills from patients instead of raising taxes.

Benson said the county provides care to more than 27 percent of all diagnosed tuberculosis patients, 24 percent of all patients with HIV and 10 percent of emergency room visits. Most of the county’s patients are uninsured or covered under Medicare or Medicaid, according to Benson.

Homeowners and contractors come to the 3-year-old Albany Park Worker’s Center to find temporary workers. The workers continue to use the space to look for work, but jobs are becoming scarce.

Funded by government grants and private donations, the worker’s center was founded in 2004 to give day laborers a place to connect with potential employers and work on resumes and other job search material. According to staffers, about 40 workers a day use the center, a significant increase over the 10-15 people per day when the center first opened.

“Maybe it’ll pick up, and maybe it won’t. If not, I’ll have to go someplace else to look for work,” said Michael Carmen, 29, a day laborer who uses the center once or twice a week. “I take all kinds of work, and I usually find some way to earn a little money by the end of the day. But people aren’t coming around as much.”

Patricio Ordonez, the center’s coordinator, agreed that things are slow these days.

“We are starting to see the market slowing down a little, but so far it hasn’t been too bad,” Ordonez said. “In this area in particular, people are just starting to develop property, so there’s still a lot of local work.”

Ordonez remains optimistic that business will pick up.

“I think part of it is that we’re drawing more workers here,” she said. “People are starting to figure out we’re here to give them a place to find work, and they prefer this to standing in parking lots and waiting for contractors to drive up and offer them jobs.”

Before the center opened at 3416 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., day laborers in Albany Park would stand on street corners or in the parking lot of the local Home Depot, waiting for jobs. Business owners and residents often complained that they blocked traffic and harassed pedestrians.

In 2004, the Latino Union of Chicago, an organization based in the Pilsen, neighborhood, opened the center. Equipped with a dozen computers and resume materials and staffed by a rotating staff of three to five counselors trained to educate workers about wage theft, the center provides a comfortable alternative to standing outside.

Still, not everyone knows about it or prefers it to waiting on the corner. Though the number of users has increased, the center still struggles to inform workers and potential hirers about the center.

“I’m afraid we’re not familiar with that particular work center,” said Danielle Hagen, an assistant to Ald. Margaret Laurino (39th), in whose ward the center is located. “There used to be something like that on Elston, but it closed.”

For 46-year-old Howard Touch, a 20-year resident of Chicago’s South Side, the job market has been nothing but a source of stress and disappointment the past five years.

“The employment agencies I’ve worked with always told me the same thing: ‘Don’t worry, with your certifications and experience, we’ll find you a stable job in no time.’ I’m still waiting,” said Touch, who has been searching for a steady, full-time job in construction labor or warehouse supervision since 2002.

Touch is one of 363,800 unemployed Illinoisans among a labor force of 6,719,500, which is an unemployment rate of 5.4 percent, according to August 2007 data from the Illinois Workforce Information Center.

The unemployment rates for both Illinois and Chicago have increased since last year. Information from the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) shows Illinois’ rate has jumped nearly a percentage point since August 2006, when it was 4.5 percent.

And Chicago has experienced a larger increase, to a 6.3 percent unemployment rate in August 2007 compared to 5.2 percent in August 2006.

But while a rising unemployment rate is often the sign of a distressed economy, experts say Illinois is different.

“Data clearly shows the number of jobs available in many Illinois industries continues to grow,” said Richard Kaye, a labor market economist with IDES.

Indeed, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 29,500 new jobs were created last year in Chicago, more than any other major U.S. city in that time frame.

And data from IDES shows 12 to 78 percent increases in job availability for 15 major occupation titles in Illinois between 2000 and 2007. These occupations include customer service representatives, office clerks, construction laborers, waiters and waitresses, truck drivers and security guards.

Why, then, has unemployment increased?

The unemployment rate has grown this past year due to an increase in job availability, Kaye said, as more people entered the labor force looking for work. Many of these people, however, have not yet found work and are therefore still unemployed.

“The problem is not the number of jobs open, it’s the inability of the individuals that make up the current labor force to fill them,” Kaye said.

“Sometimes, the skills offered by potential employees are irrelevant to employers, or are simply not in demand. This seems to be the case in Illinois and in Chicago,” he said.

Touch, who earned 13 certifications from Joliet Junior College between 1999 and 2000 and has over 15 years of work experience in construction and warehouse supervision, has grown increasingly frustrated as he continues to deal with rejection from employers.

“I devoted eleven years of my life to Imaging Science of America (ISA),” said Touch, describing his loyalty to a past employer.

“I worked in their warehouse from 1983 to 1994, committing myself completely and waiting patiently to be promoted. But in ten years, I watched four different employees with much less experience than me become supervisors because they ‘knew people.’”

Shortly after he was finally made a supervisor, Touch said, ISA went under. Since then, Touch has worked as a supervisor for Copley Newspapers and has done construction labor full-time for three different companies.

All three companies he worked for downsized and he was laid off, most recently from BRK Concrete in 2002.

Among the more than sixty companies Touch has contacted for employment in the past five years are John Deere & Co., Illinois Tool Works, W.E. O’Neill, J.L. Masonry and Home Depot.

“Employers tell me I have the wrong type of experience; that they can’t pay me more than, say, seven dollars an hour due to my level of training,” Touch said. “That was the case at John Deere.”

“And the guy at Illinois Tool Works said I needed to update my computer proficiency skills,” he said. “I told him, ‘I just got certified in five areas of computer applications seven years ago! That’s not good enough?’”

Apparently, it’s not.

Tom Krolik, a research specialist with the BLS, said major gains in productivity coupled with the shifting of less skilled jobs overseas has translated to the need for a workforce with advanced technical skills.

“Diplomas and outdated expertise just don’t cut it anymore,” Krolik said.

But some employers disagree.

Zoran Perna, who owns a brick cleaning company in Carol Stream, Ill. called Brick Masters Inc., says all he looks for when he hires is dependability and good work ethic.

“I don’t care if the guy’s never touched a tool in his life; if he’s dependable, honest, willing to learn and ready to work hard, I’ll hire him and train him myself,” said Perna, who pays employees $15 an hour and provides insurance and retirement benefits.

“To me, it’s not what you know, but what you’re willing to learn,” he said.

Touch recently contacted Brick Masters Inc. and applied for a job. He is waiting to hear back from Perna.

S.E.I.U. Local 880 is working with aldermen Ed Smith (28th), Joe Moore (49th) and Sharon Dixon (24th) to increase pay and improve working conditions for home care providers employed at Family Home Service, Inc.

Ald. Smith introduced a resolution Oct. 31 that called for the city to stop funding for Family Home Service, Inc. for failing to meet state regulations and “engaging in a pattern of worker mistreatment.”

“I reported neglect and unsafe conditions, but Home Service never investigated,” said Family Service employee Deloris Williams at a press conference outside council chambers. Williams is one of 300 company employees, according to Local 880 spokeswoman Brynn Seibert.

Calls to verify any official complaints of neglect filed with the Chicago Department of Aging and Illinois Department of Aging were not returned in time for publication. Williams said some of her clients reported gaps in visits, and some mistreatment.

“Home Service never investigated my complaints,” said Williams.

Ald. Joe Moore (49th) said there needs to be more oversight of home care providers that hold city contracts.

“Every contractor must obey the law. Contractors are not being properly monitored,” said Moore, referencing this case and other contract abuses made public over the past several years.

Family Home Service faces several legal and state administrative challenges. The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission has opened an investigation of the company.

Susan Piha, a commission spokeswoman, said the company faces a possible fine of up to $500 a day and a minimum of $10,000 if the company is found in violation of state law.

A class-action lawsuit was filed by current and past employees on April 18, 2007.

The plaintiffs claim Family Home Service violated the state’s minimum wage law because it didn’t pay employees for travel time between clients. When that time is included, the lawsuit claims the pay falls below the current state minimum of $7.50 an hour.

Family Home Service filed a motion to dismiss the class-action suit saying its workers are exempt under the state’s domestic worker exclusion.

The company employs non-union workers but some have tried to organize a union in the past. S.E.I.U. spokeswoman Brynn Seibert said the company used intimidation to squash any attempts at unionizing. Seibert said workers brought their complaint to the National Labor Relations Board.

Seibert said Family Home Service had a home care agreement in 2006 for $12,000. When asked about the small dollar figure and whether S.E.I.U.’s efforts were more about unionizing than any gross city spending abuse, Seibert said, “I don’t think taxpayer dollars should be going to a company with this record.”

Deloris Williams said, “We want better working conditions and respect for our seniors. The company is treating us like slaves.” Calls to Family Home Service were not returned.

Story by Dara Belic

Some of the 500 job seekers who attended a recent employment fair in the 2nd Ward said finding work is harder than it used to be. While a wide variety of job seekers visited the Oct. job fair, what many had in common was the experience of being laid off.

Recent layoffs have affected workers in Chicago, said Sam Johnson, a research and intelligence specialist with the Illinois National Guard, one of 48 employers at the fair.

“A lot of people here are victims of recent company downsizing and plant closures,” said Johnson.

Greenpoint Mortgage Funding, Inc. is one of seven Illinois companies currently laying off workers as the company prepares to close its doors for good.

“Some had college degrees while others had no degrees; some were fresh out of jail,” Johnson said. “Most had been laid off at some point in their employment histories, many more than once.”

Regardless of their pasts, Ald. Robert Fioretti (2nd) said, unemployed Chicagoans should come to this fair expecting to find secure, stable employment opportunities.

Although the number of job seekers able to attain jobs from the fair is still unknown, Fioretti said he was “overwhelmed with joy” at the effort that went into the event.

“I look forward to hosting it again next year,” said Fioretti, whose ward is in Chicago’s Loop and Near South Side neighborhoods.

Many employers, such as the Hilton Hotel Chicago and FedEx Ground, didn’t hire on the spot, which is “normal procedure,” said Hilton Hotel Employment Manager Elvisa Gacic.

When large employers attend job fairs, “we do so to refer eligible job seekers to our open house sessions.” That’s where companies take applications, Gacic said.

Gacic said she can’t recall a time when the Hilton Hotel had to downsize and she considers a job with the hotel chain “secure employment.”

Erin Johnson, a recruiter for FedEx Ground, said FedEx doesn’t downsize, “it consistently expands.”

But when it comes to layoffs, job seekers have reason to worry.

Enrique Torres, 43, who lives on the Southeast Side of Chicago, said he’s been laid off five times in the past 15 months, most recently from Bosch Dye Casting, which downsized in August.

With no high-school diploma plus a history of incarceration, Torres said he’s scrutinized more than others.

“It’s very discouraging,” said Torres, a married father of four. “All you can do is keep selling yourself and hope the next job will stick.”

Roberto Duran, 21, was also laid off in August by Aramark, an international services company. Duran said he plans to attend Coyne American Institute , a technical school that offers training and certification in the electronic and medical fields.

Duran learned about Coyne through the job fair and will enroll in the Electronic Systems Technician program. But first he must secure a job, he said, which has been hard.

“I’ve filled out 40 to 50 applications for every kind of job imaginable in the past few weeks with no response at all,” he said.

And 20-year-old Jennifer White, of Chicago’s South Side, was laid off from both her first job at Ready Ribs in 2005 and in 2006 at her second job at Chicago Park Plastic, where she assembled component parts.

“I’ve only had three jobs; two of them downsized on me,” said White, who is currently attending Robert Morris College for graphic arts.

“When large, Illinois-based plants shut down and companies in the state downsize, you can bet a lot of people in Chicago are affected,” said Johnson.

And how often does this happen?

For the month of September 2007, 31 separate layoffs occurred in Illinois, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the first six months of this year, 183 Illinois companies laid off a combined 37,251 workers.

“Just knowing you can lose your job for reasons out of your control is scary,” said Torres, as he picked up an information pamphlet from the Manufacturing Works, Inc. booth. “But life goes on. You’ve got to keep waking up in the morning, right?”

Story by Tom Smith

Mayor Richard Daley’s attempt to amend the liquor license law for after-hours clubs received a mixed reaction Sept. 19 from the City Council’s Committee on License and Consumer Protection.

Of particular concern: the provision requiring late-hour liquor businesses to install surveillance cameras at building exits. This would amend the city’s existing liquor license process.

Besides cameras, the revised ordinance would require 220 after-hours businesses to have proper exterior lighting, staff training on unruly patrons and an overall safety plan.

Scott Bruner, director of the Department of Business Affairs and Licensing, told the committee Mayor Daley wants existing licensees to be in compliance by Jan. 1, 2008.

Committee members expressed concerns about the amendment’s economic burden on businesses, who would have to buy and set up equipment, and the potential loss of money from customers scared away by the cameras.

“Businessmen in my ward are concerned about the negative impact of cameras. It could be a deterrent” to business, said Ald. Ray Suarez (31st).

Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) said gays and lesbians in his North Side ward have privacy concerns about surveillance cameras. He pointed to the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and the potential for surveillance videos to be used as evidence to end someone’s military career.

The amendment is about “quality of life” issue for homes and businesses near after-hours clubs, Bruner said. Excessive noise, fights and more serious acts of violence including shootings have occurred at some after-hours clubs and businesses that currently hold city liquor licenses.

Under the current law, late-hour clubs and stores can stay open until 4 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and until 5 a.m. Sunday.

Bruner said after-hours clubs are an added expense – in money and time – for the police department due to the additional patrols sometimes needed to control people leaving the night spots.

If the amendment passes, businesses would be required to have cameras working between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. on days the business is open. Owners would have to keep all recordings for 72 hours in case they’re needed in a criminal case.

“That’s not enough time,” said Ald. Willie Cochran (20th).

The former Chicago police officer said some criminal cases do not even start until after that 72-hour period. Bruner said his office arrived at that length of time after consulting with police and prosecutors.

Chairman Gene Schulter (47th) said the committee would continue to work with Bruner’s office to address the alderman’s concerns before Mayor Daley’s Jan. 1 deadline.