Village Free Press_052720

Vol. IV No. 22 J.C. Penny files Chapter 11, PAGE 8

COVID-19 and the ‘race tax’

Why are blacks dying disproportionately? Start with historic plunder of black wealth

MAY 27, 2020

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Doc Rivers encourages D209 grads, PAGE 2

THANKFUL: At least a dozen employees and bystanders with signs stand ready to applaud and thank essential workers at Hines VA Hospital on May 21 during a car caravan hosted

by Pace Suburban Bus Service. Read more on page 2.

Shanel Romain

This is the debut of a regular column of my reflections on race, equity and COVID-19

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor

According to the Centers for Disease Control, nearly a third of COVID-19 cases in the United States have afflicted African Americans, who comprise only 13 percent of the country’s roughly 330 million people.

Since this disproportionality was made abundantly clear a few months ago, there’s been a tendency to look at it spatially.

“In urban centers large and small across the U.S., the novel coronavirus is devastating African-American communities,” writes a reporter for National Geographic.

“The environments where most live, the See RACE TAX on page 6

Maywood officials respond to record flooding Village manager says Flood Control Assistance Program underutilized

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor

May isn’t even over yet and it’s already the rainiest May in Chicago history, making this the third consecutive recordbreaking May in terms of rainfall in the area.

The National Weather Service reported that the city and

suburbs got more than eight inches by May 19, as residents across Proviso Township complained of flooded basements, water seeping through the foundations of homes, flooded streets and overwhelmed water mains.

Earlier this week, the Maywood Board of Trustees

and Maywood Village Manager Willie Norfleet Jr., moved to implement a series of actions to provide relief for village residents, including delivering sandbags to residents whose homes on Nichols Lane are on the water’s edge.

Norfleet called attention to the village’s Flood Control

Assistance Program, which is administered on a first-come, first-served basis. The village pays half the price (up to $1,750) of installing one of three flood control options designed to control back flow. Those options include an overhead sewer, a basic back flow prevention See FLOODING on page 3

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OUT and ABOUT the village free press Editor & Publisher Michael Romain Senior Sales & Strategic Consultant Kamil Brady Editorial Designer Andrew Mead Advertising Design Support Debbie Becker, Mark Moroney HOW TO REACH US Village Free Press c/o Wednesday Journal 141 S. Oak Park Ave. Oak Park, IL 60302 PHONE: 773-626-6332 FAX: (708) 467-9066 thevillagefreepress.org Twitter: @village_free Facebook: @maywoodnews

Pace buses show appreciation to Hines workers Pace buses wrapped in inspirational messages drove by eight Chicago area hospitals on May 21, including Hines VA Hospital, 5000 S. 5th Ave. in Hines.

The transit agency wanted to show appreciation for healthcare workers who rely on public transit to get to work. Forty children of Pace employees drew the signs that were taped to the bus windows and the transit agency hung banners reading “Thank you

health care workers” on the sides of some of the buses.

While Pace suspended some routes and reduced service on others, it continues to provide service to hospitals. The transit agency hasn’t escaped the toll of COVID-19. As of May 19, 43 of its employees tested positive for the virus, five of whom work on west suburban routes.

Pace has two routes — 308 and 311 — that serve Hynes Hospital.

— Igor Studenkov

The Village Free Press is published weekly

by Michael Romain. It is distributed free of charge at locations throughout Maywood. © 2020 Village Free Press We’re proud to partner with Growing Community Media, NFP. Publisher Dan Haley

“To learn to be human is to develop through the give and take of communication an effective sense of being an individually distinctive member of a community.”

—John Dewey

VILLAGE people Doc Rivers, East alum, has message for D209’s Class of 2020 Since the COVID-19 pandemic prompted Gov. J.B. Pritzker to close schools throughout the state in March, a move that preceded the unprecedented decision made by most school districts across the state to cancel in-person graduation ceremonies, District 209 officials have gotten creative with showing graduates some love.

The district has released a steady stream of appreciation and tribute videos to graduates, but one particularly special video features Maywood native son, Proviso Pirate and Los

Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers.

“I know this is a tough period for you, I know it’s tough,” Rivers said. “Having said that, look at this as an obstacle. Look at it as something you got through.

This will not be the toughest test in your life.”

Also on the video was Pirate and retired NBA player Steven Hunter, who had some advice for the graduates.

“Whatever you choose to do in life after high school, make sure you put your all into it,” Hunter said.

CONTACT: thevillagefreepress@gmail. com

VIRTUAL KUDOS: Proviso East alum Doc Rivers was among a group of Pirates who congratulated the Class of 2020 in a YouTube video. Pirate Steven Hunter also shared some words of wisdom.

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NEWS briefs Broadview officials seeking volunteers for May 30 giveaway Broadview village officials are seeking volunteers to help out at a food and personal protective equipment (PPE) giveaway scheduled for Saturday, May 30, 10 a.m., at Roosevelt School, 1927 S. 15th Ave. in Broadview.

The drive-up event, held in collaboration with Broadview’s 2020 Census Complete Count Committee, Proviso Township and other partners, is for Broadview residents only. Residents MUST show a current valid ID and will be given one bag of PPE per car.

Contact Broadview Village Clerk Kevin McGrier at kmcgrier@broadview-il.gov, if you’re able to give an hour of your time at the event.

With graduation ceremony cancelled, D209 gets creative to honor Class of 2020

The Proviso Township High School District 209 Class of 2020 will join students in districts across the state in becoming the first-ever graduating class to go without an in-person graduation ceremony; instead, the district will air a virtual commencement video on May 24.

Earlier this month, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced that his five-stage reopening plan for reopening the state prohibits gatherings of more than 50 people until the last stage —

FLOODING

Searching for solutions from page 1 valve, and a back flow prevention valve with a bypass pump.

Norfleet, who said that even his own Maywood block experienced flooding, explained that over the last few years, the village’s flood control program has been underutilized. He said that last year, the village reduced the program’s budget from $50,000 to $25,000, because residents were not sufficiently utilizing the program.

This year, however, Norfleet said that the village will provide the flood control program grants for all eligible homeowners who apply, even if it means increasing this year’s program budget.

“I’ve gotten many phone calls, especially from trustees and the mayor, indicating that the hazard from flooding is there,” Norfleet said on May 20. “After the initial stage of rain, there’s nothing that we’re really able to do, because we only have one vacuum truck and we’re talking massive water throughout the village. All you can do is wait for the water to recede.”

Norfleet said a day after Sunday’s downpour, he got reports that the water had mostly receded across the village.

“I physically saw the sewer shooting water in front of City Hall,” Norfleet said. “Maybe a third of Madison Street was filled with water. It was bad.”

Norfleet said that, despite the severity of this year’s flooding, at least two years of

which will only come about when COVID-19 can be cured with a vaccine, effectively treated and/or shown to be significantly decreasing by the lack of new cases over a sustained period of time “through herd immunity or other factors.”

In a board memo, D209 officials said that the district “seeks to preserve as much of the commencement experience as possible, while adhering to the health and safety guidelines from the state of Illinois.”

The district hired a company called Fogarty to create a “customized website for each senior that includes graduate accomplishments and videos from friends and family” at a cost of $10 per graduate, in addition to editing costs. The package also includes “a commencement video that is shareable and downloadable.”

District officials said Fogarty “is able to deliver the finished product by May 24th as long as [the district] is able to upload the required content by the due dates.” District officials also distributed yard signs to D209 graduates that have been cropping up across Proviso Township.

District officials also created multiple videos in which board members, faculty, administrators and others congratulated the Class of 2020.

unemployment system

IDES confirms data breach in online

The Illinois Department of Employment Security has confirmed that a new online portal that processes claims for federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance briefly allowed public access to applicants’ personal information including Social Security numbers.

The PUA system, which went online May 11, is a federal program that provides unemployment benefits to gig workers and other independent contractors who are not normally covered by regular unemployment insurance.

In a statement last week, IDES said its analysis found that one PUA claimant had “inadvertently” accessed personal data for a limited number of claimants.

“That claimant notified the department of the issue and within an hour, it was corrected to prevent any future unauthorized access,” the agency said.

The state of Illinois contracted with the international business services company Deloitte to build and maintain the web-based portal. IDES said it is now working with the company to run a “full-scale investigation” into the problem while conducting additional tests to prevent any future data breaches.

It also said it is working to notify affected individuals and will release the analysis of

infrastructure improvements have helped alleviate some of the flooding in Maywood.

“Recently, any place where we’ve done street improvements, we’ve also made sure that we took care of the infrastructure underneath the streets,” Norfleet said. “As recently as five years ago, after raining, the whole Madison Street flooded. Since then, we’ve cleaned that up. The infrastructure works now.”

Norfleet added that the installation of green alleys in Maywood has also helped alleviate flooding. The green alleys are designed to more effectively capture storm water runoff and reduce residential flooding and basement backups.

Norfleet said the village received grants from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District to install recently completed green alleys at 12th and 13th avenues, from Randolph to Oak streets; 15th and 16th avenues, between Warren and Washington; and 12th and 13th avenues, between Washington and Randolph.

This summer, the village will install additional green alleys on 2nd and 3rd avenues, between Green and Madison; 17th and 18th avenues, between Prairie Path and Madison; and 4th and 5th avenues, between Warren and Walnut. Those green alleys were funded through the Madison Street TIF district and are not exactly the same as MWRD-funded green alleys.

Other MWRD green alleys scheduled for completion are those on 21st and 20th, between Washington and Randolph; 21st and 20th, between Randolph and Oak; and 20th and 19th, between Randolph and Oak. Norfleet cautioned residents that

leaving yard debris like grass clippings, leaves and tree branches out in the street only exacerbate the flooding problem by “plugging up” the sewer system.

During a regular meeting on May 19, Maywood Mayor Edwenna Perkins urged board members to provide sandbags for homeowners on Nichols Lane, where properties are right on the edge of Silver Creek.

“Melrose Park was passing out sandbags to their residents on Nichols Lane,” Perkins said. “I know Maywood doesn’t do that, but I’m appealing to the board. Is there anyway the board will make a decision about getting sandbags to those people on Nichols Lane?

Believe me, I got water and most people in my block got water, so I understand how those people on Nichols Lane feel.”

A day after Sunday’s rainfall, the section of Chicago Avenue, between Thatcher in River Forest and First Avenue in Maywood, was closed due to heavy rainfall that pooled on the street, which is just blocks from Nichols Lane.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the board voted to direct village staffers to ask the Cook County Department of Emergency Management and Regional Security for sandbags, and if the county can’t provide them to direct village staffers to find a way to purchase the sandbags and get them to Nichols Lane homeowners.

For residents in other areas of the village, Norfleet said that Republic, the village’s contracted waste hauler, will be picking up large bulk items that residents affected by the flood have started to sit out, for as long as the items are on the sidewalks.

its investigation once it’s completed.

Asked about the issue during his daily COVID-19 briefing Monday in Chicago, Gov. JB Pritzker said similar issues have occurred elsewhere in the public and private sectors but that the state and Deloitte were working to resolve the problem.

“This, as you know, has happened in large corporations and other aspects of other governments around the United States, and we don’t like it happening here,” Pritzker said. “Deloitte, which built that system, and obviously the glitch that was in there is something that was a result of the work that was done to build it, but they are offering credit reporting for all of those who are affected by it to make sure that they can monitor their credit in case there’s any problem they may undergo.”

Meanwhile, IDES still encourages people covered by the program to continue filing for benefits through the PUA portal. The agency said more than 50,000 claims have been processed through the system so far.

The program provides up to 39 weeks’ worth of benefits for qualifying workers who have COVID-19-related claims.

People with questions or who need help with unemployment benefits are encouraged to visit IDES.Illinois.gov.

CONTACT: michael@austinweeklynews.com June also happens to correspond with the Maywood’s spring cleaning, which is when Republic picks up large, bulky items on selected days of the week. Residents are asked to have their discarded items at garbage pickup on the Wednesday morning of the week Republic is scheduled to be in their neighborhood. The June bulky item pickup routes are as follows: § June 3 | Roosevelt north to 290 from 1st west to 25th ave § June 10 | I-290 north to Madison Greenwood west to 21st § June 17 | Madison north to railroad, 1st west to 21st § June 24 | Main Street north to village limit, Des plaines west to 9th Ave. Norfleet said longer term flood relief that will have to come from higher levels of authority, such as the state and federal governments.

“The governor will have to declare the area a disaster area for FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] assistance to kick in,” Norfleet said. “If the governor declares a state of emergency, it’s then a matter of rounding up people in the village to put in an application and request from FEMA.” On May 21, Gov. J.B. Pritzker “issued disaster proclamations for four rural counties along the Illinois River: Grundy, Pike, Scott and Morgan.

Grundy County is southwest of Chicago, while the other three counties are in west-central Illinois,” according to Capitol News Illinois.

So far, however, no disaster proclamations have been issued for Chicago and the suburbs.

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As cannabis revenues pour in, grant opportunities open up Bellwood, Broadview, Maywood, Melrose Park entities eligible for slice of $31.5M Restore, Reinvest and Renew funds

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor

Before recreational cannabis was legalized in Illinois at the start of the year, state lawmakers told residents in predominantly black and brown communities that 25 percent of cannabis tax revenue would go to fund programs designed to address some of the many issues within those communities, particularly those intertwined with the government’s War on Drugs policies that have led to high levels of incarceration in the African American and Latinx communities.

Now, some of that money is ready to be distributed to eligible entities in a qualifying areas across the state that have been affected by substance abuse and policies that have criminalized the practice.

In a statement, Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford (7th), along with the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority — a state agency “dedicated to improving the administration of criminal justice,” according to its website — announced that $31.5 million in cannabis tax revenue is now available.

The funding is part of the state’s

Restore, Reinvest and Renew (R3) program, which funds “strategies that focus on violence prevention, re-entry and health services to areas across the state that [are] objectively found to be acutely suffering from the horrors of violence, bolstered by concentrated disinvestment,” according to the nonprofit Illinois Justice Project.

Lightford explained that $3.1 million of that $31.5 million amount will go toward helping eligible entities with assessment and planning. According to R3’s website, the grants will fund programs in five areas: civil legal aid, economic development, reentry, violence prevention and youth development.

Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton’s Justice, Equity and Opportunity Initiative (JEO) and the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA) identified communities across the state that are eligible for the funding. Stratton chairs the board that operates the R3 program.

According to an R3 eligibility map on its website, most of Bellwood, Broadview and Maywood — including a portion of Melrose Park north of North Avenue — are within a qualifying area, where planning grants will range from $25,000 to $240,668.

Eligible entities include “nonprofit

org anizations, local units of government, taxexempt faith-based org anizations, businesses, and other community o r g a n i z a t i o n s, ” that are located in a qualifying area and/or serve residents in those areas, Lightford explained in her statement. screenshot The deadline for POSSIBLE FUNDING: A map outlining R3 eligibility areas. Most of all applications is Bellwood, Broadview and Maywood, and a portion of Melrose Park, Monday, July 20, are in the region shaded purple.

2020.

“The work being done through the R3 Program is the most significant instructions on how to apply, are available part of legalizing cannabis in Illinois,” at: r3.illinois.gov/. If organizations need said Lightford, who is a member of the technical assistance with applying for the R3 board. “Putting funding into poor and grants, they can visit: icjia.illinois.gov/ disadvantaged communities will finally gata/technical-assistance. start to reverse the dire effects of the war on CONTACT: thevillagefreepress@gmail.com drugs.”

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RACE TAX

Here’s the history from page 1 jobs they have, the prevalence of health conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes, and how they are treated by the medical establishment have created a toxic storm of severe illness and death. (These common, underlying conditions make coronavirus more severe.)”

That’s indeed the case. In Chicago, African Americans are 29 percent of the city’s population but make up roughly half of COVID-19 deaths. And those case numbers and death totals are concentrated in black communities like Austin.

But make no mistake, the disproportionality is not just limited to black spaces. Black bodies everywhere are at higher risk of contracting and dying from this disease.

African Americans are 18 percent of Oak Park’s roughly 52,000 residents, but as of May 15, they were 44 percent of the 236 confirmed positive COVID-19 cases, according to the Oak Park Public Health Department.

In Forest Park, where African Americans are 27 percent of the population, as of May 18, they represented 41 percent of the 107 confirmed positive COVID-19 cases.

What the data shows is that for African Americans, there is no escaping the risk of race. But what most commentary I’ve read about the racially disproportionate impact ignores is how this risk was manufactured by whites in the first place and that it was the perception of risk that created the reality.

We can attribute COVID-19’s disproportionality to a range of factors, several of which National Geographic outlined above, but in the grand scheme of things, those are all secondary to the essence of the matter, which is the chronic wealth gap between African Americans and whites — a gap that was cleaved by the idea that blacks are unworthy, particularly of credit to finance homes (a primary source of wealth for most people) and of capital to build more wealth.

What’s more, the historic denial of credit and capital to blacks has been directly correlated to the accumulation of the same among whites.

Take, for instance, the Freedmen’s Savings Bank. Founded in 1865, pamphlets promoting the bank at the time described it as “Abraham Lincoln’s Gift to the Colored People.” But the bank wasn’t actually a bank in the traditional sense.

Instead of lending to freedmen in order for them to grow their own businesses or purchase their own property, the bank simply collected the freedmen’s savings and served as a “teaching institution” designed to “instruct freed slaves about American values and ‘to instill into the minds of the untutored Africans lessons of sobriety, wisdom, and economy,’” writes Mehrsa Baradaran in The Color of Money: Black

But the very remedies that, at certain points in history, more enlightened whites have proposed to address this race-based economic exploitation have themselves been tools for further exploitation and predation.

In the early 1960s, after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and the urban riots (what historians more accurately call upheavals or rebellions), the federal government slowly implemented laws to open up the segregated housing market, but the very real estate operatives and private interests that created the segregated market in the first place were now put in charge of carrying out so-called reforms.

Taylor calls this post-1960s era of reform “predatory inclusion.” In the past, blacks were denied the ability to purchase long-term, low-cost, governmentbacked mortgages. Now private real estate operatives, aided and abetted by government policies, coaxed blacks into purchasing “subprime,” or junk, loans in order to feed an overheated housing market that was desperate for higher profit margins.

When the subprime industry collapsed in 2008, black homeowners who were disproportionately herded into taking out those junk loans (regardless of their actual credit standing) lost everything while the profits, disproportionately owned by whites, were largely protected.

Again, virtually no one was prosecuted.

Even for blacks in the suburbs, the creation of what Bararadan calls a “Jim Crow credit market” paved the way for a Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America debt-cycle to become self-reinforcing.

“While the small black middle class may RACE AND RISK: A map created by agents of the federal government’s Home Owners’ Loan have been earning incomes similar to the Corporation between 1935 and 1940. Neighborhoods that received the highest grades white middle class, their upward mobility were considered minimal risks for banks and other mortgage lenders who determined carried much higher interest,” she writes. who should receive loans and what areas were considered safe investments. HOLC agents “Over 70 percent of suburban black wrote of Garfield Park at the time: “This is a mediocre district threatened with negro families had to borrow just so they could encroachment east of Sacramento Avenue.” purchase cars, appliances, furniture, and the life necessities.

“Because the black middle class had more Americans to begin wealth-building after two urban ghettos like Austin and “starving debt, they were charged higher interest on centuries of slavery, “the bank managers” those communities of resources and other each new loan. More debt begets higher — the very people who were preaching the investments greatly limited their access interest and vice versa. The added debt value of financial sobriety and wisdom to to better-paying jobs and well-resourced burden and high interest was a direct result the freed slaves — “began speculating in public schools, while pushing them into of the lack wealth, and, looping around real estate and then, quite simply, a close substandard housing,” Taylor writes. once again, the debt made it even harder to ring of managers with unfettered discretion “These conditions were then spun into the accumulate more wealth. The debt-wealth plundered the savings of the freedmen.” evidence that African Americans were unfit cycle fed on itself.”

Those investments began to unravel in the as potential homeowners and deleterious to In 2016, the $171,000 net worth of a typical Panic of 1873, which precipitated the bank’s property values within the housing market.” white family was 10 times greater than the free fall. In March 1874, “in a last ditch That blacks were unfit for good housing $17,150 net worth of a typical black family, effort to save the bank,” the trustees made was a justification for confining them into according to a recent Brookings report.

Frederick Douglass its president. After “black-only neighborhoods where they could Risk follows race, whether African lending the bank “$10,000 of his own money not ‘infect’ the larger housing market.” The Americans live in inner-cities like Austin to cover the bank’s illiquid assets,” Douglass “scarred geography” of places like Austin or in suburbs like Oak Park — and in both quickly figured out the ruse and alerted was the “physical evidence invoked to places the equation equals plunder.

Congress to the bank’s insolvency declaring, legitimize keeping” blacks out of places like In order to evaluate future reforms then, “that he ‘could no longer ask [his] people to Oak Park.

Real estate operatives profited on the “we must absorb the lessons of the past and deposit their money in it.’”

The bank was shut down for good in “allure of exclusivity for whites” that make sure we are not repeating the same was created exclusively from the distance mistakes,” Baradaran writes, adding that 1874, but not before “more than half of accumulated black wealth disappeared their homes were from “inferior” black we should apply a “short litmus test to any communities — what’s called a “race tax” policy proposal: does the program require through [the bank’s] mismanagement.”

According to the 1969 book The Negro as (in one sense, the tax is colorblind, because some collective sacrifice or does it place the a Business Man, by John Henry Harmon, it can also be felt by whites who live within burden of closing the wealth gap entirely on Arnett Grant Lindsay, and Carter Godwin proximity to blacks; just ask Oak Parkers the black community?”

CONTACT: thevillagefreepress@gmail.com Woodson, “What is most lamentable is the who own homes on the east side).

Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap. Within a decade of its founding, the bank had collected more than “$75 million of deposits by more than 75,000 depositors, an amount that would be approximately $1.5 billion today.” Despite freedmen comprising virtually all of the depositors, they were not represented in the bank’s management.

And they had no say in how the money was invested.

In 1870, the bank’s managers persuaded Congress to “amend and deregulate its charter,” effectively turning the savings institution into a private investment bank.

But soon after deregulation, instead of investing the deposits in black businesses or property that would allow African

fact that only a few of those who embezzled and defrauded the one-time liquid assets of this bank were ever prosecuted.”

Or take the history of the U.S. housing market.

“From the inception of the housing market in the United States, its viability had been structured around a scaffolding of racial knowledge that presumed insight into the speculative elements of ‘good housing’ and ‘good neighborhoods,’ which could then be actualized through ascending property values,” writes Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor in Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership.

Segregating African Americans into

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IL unemployment rate climbs to record 16.4% in April State agency says 1.2M regular unemployment claims processed since March

By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois

SPRINGFIELD – The unemployment rate in Illinois reached a staggering 16.4 percent in April, the highest rate recorded since the modern system of tracking joblessness began in 1976, the Illinois Department of Employment Security said on May 21.

The previous record of 13.9 percent was set in February 1983, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The rate in April was 12.2 percentage points higher than March, which was revised downward to 4.2 percent, reflecting a revised estimate of the number of people in the labor force that month.

That news came just a few months after the state set a record low unemployment rate of 3.4 percent in November, reflecting the speed with which the COVID-19 pandemic brought

about a virtual shutdown of most of the state and national economies.

The numbers reflect an overall loss of 762,200 nonfarm jobs since March, the largest single-month decline in state history, and a decline of 822,800 jobs since April 2019.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on our economy, as has been the case in states across the nation,” Deputy Gov. Dan Hynes said in a statement.

“As we move to safely reopen much of our economy, we are focused on ensuring working families and small businesses have the resources they need to recover, and we urge the federal government to step up and provide additional relief.”

IDES said that because of the high unemployment rate, extended state benefits are now available to those who exhaust their 26 weeks of regular state unemployment and the additional 13 weeks of federal Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, or PEUC. IDPH said that since March 1, it has processed more than 1.2 million claims for regular unemployment. In addition, it has processed 74,515 applications for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, or PUA, since

that program launched May 11, and another 36,367 applications for the PEUC program.

Both of those programs are 100 percent federally funded.

During his daily COVID-19 media briefing, however, Gov. JB Pritzker said even those additional programs might not be enough to help unemployed workers weather the storm.

“I’ll be honest with you, I see the $600 extra that people got and are getting in unemployment benefits, even that added on top of the existing unemployment benefits doesn’t seem to be enough,” he said. “And when you think about the amount of time that it looks like, that the economists, not me, the economists are saying that it might take us to get back to normal, I’m concerned that the typical number of weeks that are allowed may not be enough.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, the Illinois leisure and hospitality industry was hit the hardest by the pandemic, shedding more than 295,000 jobs during the month, or nearly half of the sector’s workforce. The trade, transportation and utilities sector lost just fewer than 100,000 jobs, or about 8 percent since March. Professional and

business services shrank by 93,800 jobs, or 11.3 percent.

If there was any good news in last Thursday’s report, it was that the economic impact of the pandemic and shutdown orders showed signs of leveling off.

The U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday there were 72,816 new claims for unemployment filed in Illinois during the week ending May 16 – a staggeringly high number, but an increase of just 145 from the week before.

In addition, for the week ending May 9, there were 733,466 workers in Illinois receiving continuing unemployment benefits, a decrease of 22,446 from the week before.

Pritzker said Wednesday that all four regions of the state are on track to enter the next phase of his reopening plan on May 29. That will enable most offices and retail establishments to reopen, using social distancing restrictions. Also, bars and restaurants will be allowed to open for outdoor seating using social distancing practices.

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How J.C. Penny’s bankruptcy impacts mall still unclear

Retailer, anchor tenant at North Riverside Park Mall, filed Chapter 11 May 11

By BOB UPHUES Riverside-Brookfield Landmark

J.C. Penney, the last remaining of the original three anchor tenants at North Riverside Park Mall, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Texas on May 15, the latest retail sales giant fighting for its survival in the midst of a pandemic that has devastated commerce nationwide.

According to a news release issued by the company Friday evening, J.C. Penney has entered into a restructuring support agreement with lenders, whose goal is “to reduce several billion dollars of indebtedness, provide increased flexibility to help navigate through the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and better position J.C. Penney for the long-term.”

The company announced that it would be closing stores in phases throughout the bankruptcy process, but did not detail which locations would be closing or when.

“The first phase of closures, including specific store details and timing, will be disclosed in the coming weeks,” the company said.

The 118-year old company operates nearly

850 stores in 49 states, including the one in North Riverside, which in 1975 joined Montgomery Ward and Carson Pirie Scott as anchors of the new shopping center.

Prior to the move to North Riverside, Penney’s operated a store at Cermak Plaza in Berwyn, opening there in 1956.

“Implementing this financial restructuring plan through a court-supervised process is the best path to ensure that J.C. Penney will build on its over 100-year history to serve our customers for decades to come,” said CEO Jill Soltau in the news release.

Whether the company will exit bankruptcy intact is anyone’s guess at this point. North Riverside has seen a string of major retailers seek bankruptcy protection with promises of sunny days ahead – Sports Authority, H.H. Gregg, Carson Pirie Scott, Toys R Us, Sears, Payless Shoe Source and Forever 21 among them – but rarely has that panned out.

Forever 21 exited bankruptcy with its North Riverside location intact and with new ownership. Sears survived when its chairman, Eddie Lampert, bought the bankrupt company.

Sears, however, hangs on as a shell of its former self with its North Riverside location – it replaced Montgomery Ward, which dissolved in 2001 – just half the size of its former footprint.

The bankruptcy filing comes just a day after an SEC filing by J.C. Penney revealed that the company was handing out millions

GOING AWAY SOON?: J.C. Penny, one of the anchor tenants at North Riverside Park Mall, has an uncertain future after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this month.

of dollars in cash bonuses to top executives.

Soltau, the CEO, was handed a bonus of $4.5 million while three others were each given $1 million bonuses. In accepting those bonuses, the executives forfeit their right to participate in the company’s 2020 bonus plan or receive any long-term incentive awards.

They also forfeit any equity or equity-based awards.

The bonuses, which were paid immediately, are to be largely repaid if the executives are terminated for cause or resign without “good reason” before Jan. 31, 2021.

CONTACT: thevillagefreepress@gmail.com

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REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT - CHANCERY DIVISION DITECH FINANCIAL LLC Plaintiff, -v.CLAUDIA S BREWSTER A/K/A CLAUDIA BREWSTER, MAURICE BREWSTER, U.S. SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, CHICAGO TITLE LAND TRUST COMPANY S/I/I THE CHICAGO TRUST COMPANY Defendants 19 CH 02400 508 RICE AVENUE BELLWOOD, IL 60104 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on January 28, 2020, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 10:30 AM on June 5, 2020, at The Judicial Sales Corporation, One South Wacker Drive, CHICAGO, IL, 60606, sell at a public sale to the highest bidder, as set forth below, the following described real estate: Commonly known as 508 RICE AVENUE, BELLWOOD, IL 60104 Property Index No. 15-09-310-0790000 The real estate is improved with a red brick, two story single family home with a detached two car

garage.

Sale terms: 25% down of the highest bid by certified funds at the close of the sale payable to The Judicial Sales Corporation. No third party checks will be accepted. The balance, including the Judicial Sale fee for the Abandoned Residential Property Municipality Relief Fund, which is calculated on residential real estate at the rate of $1 for each $1,000 or fraction thereof of the amount paid by the purchaser not to exceed $300, in certified funds/or wire transfer, is due within twenty-four (24) hours.

No fee shall be paid by the mortgagee acquiring the residential real estate pursuant to its credit bid at the sale or by any mortgagee, judgment creditor, or other lienor acquiring the residential real estate whose rights in and to the residential real estate arose prior to the sale. The subject property is subject to general real estate taxes, special assessments, or special taxes levied against said real estate and is offered for sale without any representation as to quality or quantity of title and without recourse to Plaintiff and in “AS IS” condition.

The sale is further subject to confirmation by the court.

Upon payment in full of the amount bid, the purchaser will receive a Certificate of Sale that will entitle the purchaser to a deed to the real estate after confirmation of the sale.

The property will NOT be open for

inspection and plaintiff makes no representation as to the condition of the property. Prospective bidders are admonished to check the court file to verify all information.

If this property is a condominium unit, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale, other than a mortgagee, shall pay the assessments and the legal fees required by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/9(g)(1) and (g)(4). If this property is a condominium unit which is part of a common interest community, the purchaser of the unit at the foreclosure sale other than a mortgagee shall pay the assessments required

by The Condominium Property Act, 765 ILCS 605/18.5(g-1).

IF YOU ARE THE MORTGAGOR (HOMEOWNER), YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN IN POSSESSION FOR 30 DAYS AFTER ENTRY OF AN ORDER OF POSSESSION, IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 15-1701(C) OF THE ILLINOIS MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE LAW. You will need a photo identification issued by a government agency (driver’s license, passport, etc.) in order to gain entry into our building and the foreclosure sale room in Cook County and the same identification for sales held at other county venues where The Judicial Sales Corporation conducts foreclosure sales.

MCCALLA RAYMER LEIBERT

PIERCE, LLC Plaintiff’s Attorneys, One North Dearborn Street, Suite 1200, Chicago, IL, 60602. Tel No. (312) 346-9088.

THE JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION One South Wacker Drive, 24th Floor, Chicago, IL 60606-4650 (312) 236SALE You can also visit The Judicial Sales Corporation at www.tjsc.com for a 7 day status report of pending sales.

MCCALLA RAYMER LEIBERT PIERCE, LLC One North Dearborn Street, Suite 1200 Chicago IL, 60602 312-346-9088 E-Mail: pleadings@mccalla.com Attorney File No. 268512 Attorney ARDC No. 61256 Attorney Code. 61256 Case Number: 19 CH 02400 TJSC#: 40-690 NOTE: Pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you are advised that Plaintiff’s attorney is deemed to be a debt collector attempting to collect a debt and any information obtained will be used for that purpose.

Case # 19 CH 02400 I3150553

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY

All real estate advertising in this newspaper is subject to the Fair Housing Act, which makes it illegal to advertise any preference, limitation or discrimination based on age, race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin, or intention to make any such preferences, limitations or discrimination.

The Illinois Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental or advertising of real estate based on factors in addition to those protected under federal law.

This newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. All persons are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised are available on an equal opportunity basis.

Restrictions or prohibitions of pets do not apply to service animals.

To complain of discrimination, call HUD toll free at: 1-800-669-9777.

Village Free Press

the village free press Vol. III No. 37

SEPTEMBER 11, 2019

A sampling of the top dishes at Taste of Melrose Park, PAGE 8

Maywood remembers Bataan, PAGE 2

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Proud to partner with Michael Romain and the Village Free Press

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

Three’s company As PMSA’s enrollment increases, D209 looks to replicate the school at East and West

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor

If all goes according to an ambitious plan laid out by administrators last week, there will not be one Proviso Math and Science Academy in Proviso Township High Schools District 209 — there will essentially be three.

In a lengthy interview on Sept. 4, D209 Supt. Jesse Rodriguez explained that the district is seeking to open math and science academies at Proviso East and Proviso West that replicate PMSA’s academic curriculum while continuing to increase the student population at the selective enrollment school in Forest Park.

Rodriguez said that the expansion will benefit students in the district who have the capability of excelling in PMSA’s academically rigorous curriculum, which notably includes the International Baccalaureate Diploma program.

The program allows high school students the opportunity to earn college credits and is considered by some education experts to See PMSA on page 5

NO STOPPING HIM: Tim Bannon, 14, was born without arms, but that hasn’t stopped him from competing in a triathlon and on the football field. The Hillside teenager wants to be the kicker for the freshman team.

SHANEL ROMAIN

Proviso West football player born with no arms lights up the field Tim Bannon, 14, wants to be the kicker on the freshman football team

By SHANEL ROMAIN Contributor

Tim Bannon, a 14-year-old Proviso West High School freshman, doesn’t want or need your sympathy or stares or sentimental

statements about how inspiring he is, although he knows that he’ll get those responses. And that’s OK. Tim’s going to do what he wants regardless of how people respond to him.

The Hillside teenager spent the latter part of his summer preparing for the Chicago Triathlon (that’s a roughly mile-long run, a 200-meter swim and around four miles of See TIM BANNON on page 6

TIRED OF PAYING ATM FEES?

PAY NO MORE!

LOOK INSIDE TO FIND OUT HOW

1759 N. Mannheim Rd. | Stone Park, IL 60165 708-483-0030 | www.provisobank.com Proviso Community Bank is a branch of Hinsdale Bank & Trust Company.

141 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, IL 708.613.3300 | OakPark.com

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PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

IN A MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS? DO NOT DELAY IN SEEKING HELP. In Case of EMERGENCY, Dial 911 Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Call 1-800-273-TALK Crisis Text Line: 741741 Call4Calm: Text TALK or HABLAR to 552-020 In Partnership with:

IF YOU THINK YOU’RE EXPERIENCING A MEDICAL EMERGENCY, DIAL 911 OR GO TO THE NEAREST EMERGENCY ROOM FOR HELP. © UHS OF DELAWARE, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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