NOVEMBER 15, 2017
Vol. I No. 15
@village_free
@maywoodnews
thevillagefreepress.org
Meet James Weathers, PAGE 3
Maywood outlines efforts to save water
Village Manager Norfleet presented a water mitigation plan in the wake of Chicago Tribune investigation By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor
Village of Maywood officials said that they’re making progress on fixing the town’s water and sewer infrastructure after to a two-part investigative report published in October by the Chicago Tribune showed that the village has among the highest water rates in the Chicago region. The average monthly water bill for 5,000 gallons of water charged to Maywood residents in 2017 was $72.61 — higher than the rate for 156 of 162 municipalities that provided the Tribune with information. Part of the reason for such a high water rate, the paper reported, is because of aging pipes that transport water from its source in Lake Michigan to residents’ homes. The old infrastructure translates into massive amounts of water that leaks, busted pipes and water main breaks, among other incidents. As of 2014, according to the Tribune, more than 60 percent of Maywood’s reported 62 miles of pipes were at least 61 years old. Another 16 percent of pipes were older than 40 years. In 2016, Maywood reported losing around 39 percent of the water that it buys from Chicago due to leaky pipes and broke water mains. According to a June memo sent by Edwin Hancock Engineering, Maywood’s contracted engineering firm, to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the water lost through leaks and broken water mains See MAYWOOD WATER SAVINGS on page 4
Alexa Rogals
HIS LATEST ACT: Proviso West grad Maurice Robinson in the Uptown studio where he produces his new radio show, Alternative Thought.
Maurice Robinson’s latest act
The creative Proviso West alum is constantly reinventing himself, this time as a budding media mogul By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor
When Maurice Robinson, a graduate of Proviso West High School, attended his 10year class reunion a few years ago, he said he was approached by classmates who still remember a blowout fashion show he put on as an 18-year-old entrepreneur and jackof-all trades. The show was something of a prelude to Robinson’s latest act as the host
of his own radio show and aspiring media mogul. “I had like four or five limos, it was one of the biggest fashion shows ever at Proviso West and I made a ton of money for an 18-year-old kid,” Robinson said during an interview earlier this month inside of the Chicago studio where he records his new show. “I enjoyed the people I put into the show.
I was popular among the unpopular and never really fit into a mold, so I brought art students into the mix, I had plus-size girls, fly girls, everybody was in the show,” Robinson said. “It was a community.” In 2014, when Robinson campaigned to become an alderman in the Chicago ward where he grew up, the 31-year-old former rapper and producer imagined that he’d See MAURICE ROBINSON on page 6