CITIZEN / Chicago Weekend / Week of June 1, 2016 / 3
2 / CITIZEN / Chicago Weekend / Week of June 1, 2016
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Travis Kalanick, co-founder and CEO of Uber, in 2013 Photo by: Heisenberg Media
Locals Decry Lack of Taxi Service in Chicago in New TV Ad
Chicagoans are speaking out about their love of Uber in a new TV and digital campaign. The new TV ad, which recently went up on Chicago broadcast and cable stations, highlights new data from the City of Chicago that shows Uber and Lyft providing 10 times the number of rides to and from underserved neighborhoods as taxi over the last six months. “I remember the days… Even if a cab stopped for me…he’d say, get out of my cab. I’m not going to the South Side,” said one Chicago resident in the spot. According to Uber, more than 100,000 Chicagoans have signed a petition against Ald. Anthony Beale’s (9th) ordinance to greatly restrict ridesharing. Beale’s ordinance would make it nearly twice as expensive to get a ride, and put up new, unnecessary barriers for ridesharing drivers, Uber said in the release.
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ICC Approves $18.5 million in Settlements with Peoples Gas
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he Illinois Commerce Peoples admits the omitted Commission (ICC) has information was material to approved two landmark the Commission’s oversight and settlements under which regulation of Peoples and the $18.5 million will be AMRP, pursuant to the Public paid to customers of Peoples Gas Utilities Act. The ICC approved (Peoples) and the State of Illinois the Integrys/WEC merger on June by Peoples and its parent company, 24, 2015 and company officials Integrys Energy apprised the ICC of Group (Integrys), the revised estimate on which is owned by July 27, 2015. WEC Energy Group A $7.5 million Inc. (WEC). settlement resolves the The settlements ICC’s investigation. total $18.5 million In this agreement, the and resolve companies will pay investigations into $4 million into the statements made Public Utilities Fund “Obviously, by representatives and $500,000 into of Peoples, Integrys the General Revenue the conduct and WEC before Fund. $3 million the Commission will be dedicated to of utility concerning the Peoples’ “Share the employees who Warmth” fund, a estimated longterm cost of the program that provides were involved Accelerated Main heating grants to Replacement in this matter is limited and fixedProgram (AMRP). income households. deplorable.” As part of the A related $11 settlement, officials million settlement with Peoples and resolves the Illinois Integrys admit Attorney General’s information was investigation. The omitted, namely the preliminary company will pay $10 million in cost estimate indicating the AMRP rebates to all of Peoples’ customers would cost more than $8 billion, and $1 million to reconnect and from their discussion of the AMRP forgive outstanding debt to lowat the ICC’s May 20, 2015 open income customers who have had meeting. their gas disconnected.
ICC Chairman Brien Sheahan condemned the company employees responsible for omitting the information from the Commission. “Obviously, the conduct of utility employees who were involved in this matter is deplorable,” Sheahan said. “The Commission always expects that employees of entities who appear before the Commission will do so with honesty and integrity. When they fail to do so, there will be significant consequences.” ICC Executive Director Cholly Smith said the settlement serves as a deterrent.“This settlement is unprecedented in its scope as this law has not been enforced by the Commission or a court since it was first enacted in 2003,” said ICC Executive Director Cholly Smith, citing Section 5-202.1 of the Public Utilities Act, 220 ILCS 5/5-202.1, regarding misrepresentations to the Commission. “It sends a strong message that the ICC will not tolerate attempts to impede the regulatory process. This action protects the integrity of that process.” The Commission vote was 4-1. Commissioner Miguel del Valle cast the dissenting vote. Consumer refunds will begin within 90 days of today’s Commission approval. The company’s payments to the State of Illinois are to be made within 10 days of this action.
Operation Help-A-Hero Calls for a City-Wide Collection Effort to... Continued from page 1
Recently Mayor Rahm Emmanuel and 19th Ward Alderman Matthew O’Shea announced they are launching a program called Operation Help-A-Hero that calls for a city wide collection effort of household goods for formerly homeless city veterans who are transitioning into permanent housing. “Mayor Emmanuel said, “Operation Help-A-Hero gives each of us an opportunity to give back to our brave veterans and ensure they have the support they need and a safe place to call home. Our work to end homelessness among veterans has been successful, and it is a testament to the hard work of our residents and city partners who have come together to help those who are struggling to get back on their feet.” The effort is being led by Alderman Matthew O’Shea of the 19th Ward in collaboration with the Chicago Park District. “Our community has a long history of protecting
those who protect us. My colleagues and I want to do our part to welcome veterans into their new homes and we encourage our residents to do the same,” said O’Shea. “Operation Help-A-Hero will not only provide veterans with the support they need to set up a home again, but will allow our city to demonstrate our appreciation for them and their service to our country.” Marine Core Veteran, Stephen Brooks says things weren’t always this bad for veterans. “Back when I was in the service, things were better for veterans when they came home.” Brooks who resides in the Washington Heights neighborhood with his wife, Doris Brooks, former 21st Ward Aldermanic candidate, says the increase in homeless veterans boils down economics and corporate greed. “Veterans didn’t use to have to pay to go to the VA Hospital, now you have to pay, that along with the fact that more vets are suffering from PTSD means there’s money
to be made by hospitals and pharmaceutical companies.” He goes on to say the fact that wars have produced more wounded vets and people are living longer which strains what used to be plentiful resources for returning veterans. The city’s latest effort builds on the Ending Veteran’s Homelessness Initiative (EVHI) which was established to help house homeless veterans and through this program more than 2100 veterans received housing. City residents are being asked to answer the call and donate basic household items the veterans need to live independently; such items include new personal hygiene products, kitchen and bathroom cleaning supplies. City residents are being asked to bring their donations to one of 20 participating Chicago Park District locations or to their local ward office. A list of the more common items to be purchased can be found at www.cityofchicago.org and search for Operation Help A Hero.
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Gifted Boy Helps Boost Accessibility of African-American Children’s Literature
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ost African-American parents understand how challenging it can be to find books for black children and statistics from Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) attests to this. CCBC receives most of the trade books published annually in the United States. In 1985, only 18 of the 2,500 trade books that were published were written by African Americans. Although this number has improved over the decades, statistics still indicate that there is still a diversity gap when it comes to children’s book. CCBC’s 2015 statistics revealed that of all the children’s books received by the Center, only 7.59% featured people of color. Little Buzz Book Club is on a mission to promote books about people of color including African and Caribbean culture. The Little Buzz character was inspired by the Founder’s six-year-old son, Qadar. At the age of two, Qadar taught himself how to read. He has a rare condition known as hyperlexia - a natural ability to decode and understand words without the ability to speak in conversation. Qadar had a hard time communicating with others but eventually began to mimic conversations he read in the books. As a result, he has developed a love for reading and
enjoys putting himself inside of books. When asked about the motivation to start the subscription box, Sharif-Harris said: “I was disappointed that I had such a difficult time finding books for my son. Then I realized there were millions of other moms who wanted to inspire their children with stories about characters that looked like them as well.” Little Buzz Book Club is the first subscription box that focuses on literature featuring children of color. For this reason it has been generating a buzz among the African-American and Caribbean communities. The club has more than 33,000 Facebook fans and the number of satisfied subscribers continues to grow. One parent commented: “Asiri was so happy to get her subscription box. It was the first time she did work on her own. Great investment!” The subscription box is affordable and features two plans - one for preschoolers and the other for young readers’ ages 4-10 years old. The pre-school subscription box is available for $14.95 and the young reader subscription box for $18.95. For further details or to start a subscription, visit: http:// www.littlebuzzbookclub.com.
Size Ranking of Historically Black Colleges/ Universities Released and three private, nonprofit HBCUs AffordableSchools.net, a college -- most of which are members of the rankings site centering on unique TMCF. We’ve added our standard and affordable academic programs, discovery features, including custom recently released its newest college map, scrollable lists, interactive charts rankings list, featuring the 25 and per-school statistics dashboard, Largest HBCU Bachelor’s Colleges by to help compare the set of ranked Enrollment. The top three schools on the “HBCU schools, for anyone who is searching AffordableSchools.net’s rankings list are: institutions for a suitable HBCU institution, or (1) North Carolina A & T State University (Greensboro, North Carolina); (2) have a very simply has an interest. This is the first a small series exploring bachelor’sHoward University (Washington, District important role in granting HBCU colleges.” of Columbia); (3) Florida Agricultural in American Rankings for this list were and Mechanical University (Tallahassee, compiled with data from NCES Florida), aka Florida A & M. The higher (National Center for Education complete list of all 25 U.S. colleges and education.” Statistics), a bureau of the Dept. of universities, in alphabetical order , can be Education (http://nces.ed.gov/). We found on AffordableSchools.net. queried for HBCU institutions that “HBCU institutions have a very grant bachelor’s degrees, filtered out important role in American higher schools in U.S. protectorate nations such as Guam education,” said Raj Dash, the article’s lead and Puerto Rico, then sorted the remaining researcher. “The ranks of alumni of HBCUs have schools by the total student enrollment figures produced many successful African-Americans in (grad and undergrad) -- from the most recently all walks of life -- politics, writing, acting, music, recorded information at time of writing. The education, hospitality, general business, law and largest 25 schools made this list, which is part of others. In the latter category is Howard University our ongoing series of “top 25” bachelor’s colleges, (#2 on our list) alumni Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American to sit on the Supreme Court exploring various niches. Similar niche rankings will be published at AffordableSchools (http:// as a Justice. www.affordableschools.net) -- an independent “Even more importantly, the Thurgood college search and rankings site with a focus on Marshall College Fund (TMCF) is named after affordable colleges and programs -- on a regular him -- a fund that promotes education at public basis. HBCUs. The rankings article highlights 22 public
Gifted Boy Inspires Subscription Box Boosting Accessibility of African-American Children’s Literature.
ComEd: 52,000 Customer Interruptions Caused by Foil Balloons Warm weather brings outdoor parties for graduations, birthdays and weddings. However, ComEd is warning that events like these can lead to power outages when foil balloons, also known as Mylar balloons, from those festivities come into contact with power lines. When a foil balloon contacts a power line or a part of substation equipment, its metallic properties can cause a surge of electricity that can, in turn, cause the equipment to short-circuit. And the spark could lead to a power outage or fire. Foil balloons were the cause of more than 7,000 customer interruptions in April and more than 52,000 customer interruptions in 2015. To help reduce foil balloon-related power outages ComEd is advising customers to: Keep balloons tethered at all times and attached to weights. Properly dispose of foil balloons by puncturing the balloon to release helium that otherwise could cause the balloon to float away. NEVER touch a power line. Do not attempt to retrieve a balloon or toy that is entangled in an overhead power line. For assistance, call ComEd at 1-800-EDISON-1 (800-334-7661). Always assume power lines are live and keep yourself, your belongings and anything you are carrying at least 10 feet away from power lines. ComEd customers can learn about more safety tips for the season by visiting ComEd.com.
www.thechicagocitizen.com • 51 years of serving the Black community