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AUSTINWEEKLY news ■
Vol. 33 No. 51
29th Ward 2020 participatory budgeting projects announced,
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December 18, 2019
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austinweeklynews.com
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Also serving Garfield Park
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PAGE 11
Marijuanna decriminalization picks up steam, page 2
Austin celebrates first year of 5-year plan
Hundreds gathered Dec. 14 to mark first year of plan’s implementation By SUZANNE McBRIDE AustinTalks
A few hundred people gathered on Dec. 14 to mark the one-year anniversary of implementing Austin’s five-year quality-oflife plan and to celebrate $13 million that has been committed this past year to improving the city’s largest neighborhood. “It’s been a really momentous year. There’s been a lot of success,” said Darnell Shields, executive director of Austin Coming Together. The nonprofit, launched in 2010, is the driving force behind the quality-of-life plan and efforts to improve Austin that recently garnered a record $10 million from BMO Bank. Shields also heralded last week’s announcement that a proposal to develop an area bounded by Madison, Chicago, Central and Laramie avenues was named one of six finalists for the $10 million Chicago Prize, to be awarded to a South or West Side community-led initiative by the Pritzker Traubert Foundation. The Austin proposal – known as the Aspire Initiative – proposes developing an early learning, health and recreation cenSee AUSTIN PLAN on page 4
Holiday sweet treats
ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer
Kids decorate holiday cookies with different types of sprinkles and frosting on Dec. 16, during a toy drive and holiday party at New Moms in Austin. Read more on page 10.
West Siders want a culturally engaging top cop
By IGOR STUDENKOV Contributing Reporter
The Chicago Police Board held a community listening meeting at East Garfield Park’s Community Center, 2622 W. Jackson Blvd., on Dec. 12, in order to get a sense of what Chicagoans want from the next police superintendent. Most of the meeting attendees who spoke, however, weren’t impressed
with the search process. Some speakers questioned the entire process, wondering if anything they said would have any impact. Several argued that, for all of the promises from city and police officials that oversight would be more accountable and that the police would improve the relationship with the community, there seems to be little to show for them. Some people even questioned the legiti-
macy of the police board itself, arguing that an elected body would be more suitable than the current, mayor-appointed police board, for hiring the kind of superintendent Chicagoans want. Those who did address the superintendent qualifications directly said they wanted someone who would make hiring more
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