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Locals push for Illinois House bill on reparations

Bill could giv month of guaranteed income to eligible Illinoisians

By JESSICA MORD Staff Reporter

West Siders are speaking in suppo a new Illinois House Bill that could gi guaranteed income of $500 a month to eligible state residents. Already successful in Chicago, this guaranteed income would serve as a form financial compensation dants of those enslave

“It’s not just a handout, it up,” said Deon Hodrick, an dent and research intern with Equit and Transformation created in 2018 by and been incarcerated, and to create equity for those who face everyday barriers after incarceration.

On Saturday, EAT co-hosted a people’s assembly with Movement for Black Lives at Alt Space Chicago, 5645 W. Lake St. T he goal was to educate locals about House Bill 4443 and guaranteed income

Filed in January by Re p. La Shawn Ford, House Bill 4443 would create the Illinois Future Fund to provide qualifying Illinois residents — those who

Locals at Alt Space Chicago, 5645 W. Lake St., le arn more about reparations through House Bill 4443 on Saturday.

live in a community disproportionately affected by economic disinvestment and cannabis criminalization, and who receive SNAP benefits— with a $500 a month cash payment. This guaranteed income would be funded by dispensary taxes that go into the Cannabis Regulation Fund. In addition

to administrative expenses, the Cannabis Regulation Fund subsidizes Restore Reinvest Renew grants given to Illinois communities impacted by high rates of incarceration, economic disinvestment and violence.

Hodrick himself is a testament to the

See REPARATIONS on pa ge 8

Runway of Change disability fashion show Page 5

Honey Pot marks 25 years of Black culture

Through per formance, the group highlights creativity, resilience, and community

By HECTOR CERVANTES Contributing Reporter

As Honey Pot Performance marks its 25th anniversary, the West Side arts organization is reflecting on a quarter-century of using perfor mance, storytelling and public humanities projects to preserve Black cultural history and foster community.

What be g an in 2001 as a small collective of artists and friends has grown into a cultural institution whose work spans archival initiatives, neighborhood progr amming and perfor mances rooted in Afro-feminist and Black diasporic traditions

Meida Teresa McNeal is the artistic and managing director of Honey Pot Performance and has spent over two decades producing a wide range of creative projects as both a solo artist and in collaboration with the company.

“Honey Pot Perfor mance uses performance as a tool to build collectivity and as a fellowship.

See HONEY POT on page 4

TONEE CUDI/MOVEMENT FOR BLAC K LIVES

Illinois law prohibits the use of electronic devices for texting, emails, watching videos, playing games or accessing social media while driving.

PULL

DISTRACTED

DRIVING CAN BE DEADLY

Don’t Drive Distracted. A message from The Prevention Partnership, Inc., through a grant from the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Don’t Drive Distracted. A message from the Prevention Partnership, Inc., through a grant from the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Web: www.p2online.net Twitter (X): @PrevPartnership

West Suburban Hospital

CEO remains in charge

Judge did not grant receivership for a new owner and scheduled a hearing this month to discuss disputed leases

By BRENDAN HEFFERNAN and JESSICA MORDACQ Staff Reporters

West Suburban Medical Center will not be g etting a new owner at this time

T he judge presiding over a bid for a c our t-ordered rece ivership said there was not enough evidence to suppo rt new management being brought in to attemp t to reopen the hospital through rece ivership after West Suburban closed March 27 d ue to a year- long failure in the hospital’s electronic medical record billing system.

After closing arguments on F riday from Rathnaker Reddy Patlola, the landlord for West Suburban, and Resilience Healthcare CEO Manoj Prasad, who manages the hospital, Cook County Judge Patrick Stanton said he would deliberate over the weekend on whether to appoint a new receiver for the safety-net hospital. On Monday, Stanton told the court room that F riday afternoon he met with Patlola and Prasad’s lawyers late into the evening to develop a plan to reopen West Suburban.

He did not share details of that plan before delivering his ruling Monday morning, denying Patlola’s bid for a receivership.

“There was an implied claim that the hospitals declined because Dr. Prasad was CEO,” Stanton said. “There was no evidence of fered that Prasad caused these problems,” or that granting a receivership would fix those problems.

“I believe there’s a framework in place that leads to the reopening of the hospital,” Stanton said during his decision. He added that the court shares the belief that the hospital needs to reopen.

Prasad and Patlola bought West Suburban and Weiss Memorial in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood in 2022 from Pipeline Health for $92 million. Before selling the hospitals, Pipeline filed for bankruptcy, re porting nearly $70 million of net losses between West Sub and Weiss from Aug. 2021 to 2022 alone

T he case is the result of dueling lawsuits between Patlola and Prasad, with

the for mer business par tners disag reeing about what the official hospital lease was and Patlola accusing Prasad of “misappropriating” $35 million, including a $10 million loan from the state of Illinois.

But Patlola’s lawyers couldn’ t pr that hospital money had been misappropriated, Stanton said.

After a May 8 hearing — where Patlola’s lawyers brought three witnesses to the stand, including a for mer hospital executive who testified that Prasad moved money around into different accounts in part to keep income from showing up in his divorce proceedings — Stanton said Monday that neither of the witnesses revealed evidence of mismanagement of funds. Patlola’s team didn’t call to the stand its suggested receiver Michael Flanag an or a re presentative of Insight Chicago, which Patlola had proposed should take over management of the hospital, to testify to how they would manage West Suburban better than Prasad has

Following a third-par ty review of contested financial record s, Stanton said Friday that there was no evidence to support the alle ged largescale misappropriations by Prasad.

West Suburban employees of all levels, West Side activists and faith leaders had consistently attended the half-doz en hearings on the matter over the last month. Many left court disappointed on Monday.

“Both of them are bad actors,” said Sylvia Williams, furloughed director of the progressive care unit at West Suburban, of Prasad and Patlola after Monday’s decision. “Neither one of them know what they’re doing.”

Through tears, Williams lamented the hearing process

“Moneys were moved around, not necessarily stolen, but we know it was not given to the hospital,” Williams said. “But that’s not what the court was about. ... There was not enough evidence that receivership was war ranted.”

Williams added that she’ll keep fighting for West Suburban, though she’s wary

that any of the furloughed employees will want to return to work at the hospital.

“He still hasn’t fixed anything. The hospital closed in March, and the HVAC system is still broken. ...What about the community? What about the patients?” Williams added, “Our politicians, they haven’t really been behind us. They want this to go away They don’t care that they gave him millions of our taxpayers’ dollars.”

But legal disputes between Reddy and Prasad aren’t yet finished, as Stanton said he’s still unclear about which lease is in place. Representation will meet again at the Daley Center June 22, when Stanton said the parties will dive further into the dispute between Patlola and Prasad over West Suburban and Weiss’ leases.

In his closing argument on Friday, Patlola’s lawyer Scott Kaplan grounded the request for receivership in the claim that Prasad had defaulted on the leases for West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, its River Forest campus and Weiss Memorial by not paying rent or property taxes. But Prasad’s counsel maintained that the lease ag reement governing the properties only required Resilience to pay Patlola $1 a year in rent, a claim Patlola’s camp has re peatedly denied.

On Monday, Stanton said that Patlola signed Prasad’s version of the lease but said he didn’t remember agreeing to $1 a year.

“Ramco neve r enforced the lease as w ritten,” S tanton said of Patlola’s holding c ompany that oversees the West Subu rban and We i ss proper ties

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TODD BANNOR

Manoj Prasad

HONE Y POT

It is through invitations to create and build together and through play, risk, and experimentation, that healing happens. This is where the alchemy of intimacy, vulnerability and trust comes together to build a practice of caretaking; how we guide and facilitate one another through the work matters,” McNeal said.

Their work moves between intimate, personal stories and broader societal and collective narratives. McNeal describes the storytelling as a kind of talisman for collective healing, one that honors what came before, what has been hidden and what is being newly valued through performance.

Aisha Josina Jean-Baptiste, the group’s marketing and communications director and co-founding member of Honey Pot Performance, said the organization began in 2001 as a small grassroots performance collective of four friends with limited resources and an evolving vision. She noted that it has since grown into a public humanities and cultural organizing practice that includes archival projects like the Chicago Black Social Culture Map and community-based programs bringing together artists, scholars, and residents.

“We’ve remained consistent in our commitment to Afrofeminist inquiry and Black diasporic storytelling. From the beginning, we’ve centered lived experience, collective memory and everyday cultural knowledge as for ms of intellectual and creative production. While the scale of our work has expanded, our core focus stays the same: honoring the complexity and creativity of Black life through performance and public engagement,” Jean-Baptiste said.

Kimeco Roberson, a board member of Honey Pot Performance, said it is especially important right now to create spaces where Black people are not only responding to crises or surviving, but also actively experiencing joy, connection, and self-deter mination in public

“So much of the narrative around Black communities is rooted in struggle and while that history is real, it is not the whole story. For Honey Pot Performance, this season is about making room for celebration, movement, pleasure, creativity and memory as for ms of cultural preservation and resistance,” Roberson said.

and preserve Chicago’s Black

Jean-Baptiste said the West Side is more than just a geographic focus for Honey Pot Performance; it is also a cultural and historical foundation for much of the organization’s work She said many members are rooted in the area and aim to challenge negative narratives by highlighting the West Side as a site of creativity, resilience, and cultural production, while also acknowledging the impact of ongoing structural disinvestment on local communities.

“For Honey Pot Performance, staying rooted there is about our deep commitment to accountability and relationshipbuilding. Our work is shaped in collaboration with local artists, organizers and residents, and we want to ensure that our programming reflects community priorities and is not extractive,” Jean-Baptiste said.

When asked what the next 25 years of Honey Pot Performance might look like for both the organization and Chica-

go’s broader cultural landscape, McNeal said she wants to see their systems for supporting artists develop and grow “I want to continue to draw more creatives and communities to the space to help us imagine what our arts, culture and public humanities can look like as a hub in the neighborhood for our city and for the West Side,” McNeal said. “When we commit or surrender to being all in, we open up possibilities to make something happen: a spark, a charge, an elevation. We are activating energies and making meaning and worlds that reflect us, embrace us, celebrate us and make room for us to be our full selves.”

Honey Pot Performance will host its second annual Juneteenth Celebration on June 19 at First Church of the Brethren, featuring games, vendors, food trucks, wellness workshops and live performances.

The church is located at 425 S. Central Park Ave.

‘Runway of Change’ to spotli ght disability inclusion with a fashion show

June

21 event will feature models, entrepreneurs and advocates with disabilities

By HECTOR CERVANTES Contributing Reporter

A fashion show, dubbed Runway of Change and centered on disability inclusion and accessibility, will take place on June 21 at the Columbus Refectory in Chicago.

Presented by The Stay Up Foundation and Limitless Free and United Inc., the show will take place at 5701 W. Jackson Blvd. It will feature adults and youth with disabilities modeling adaptive and sportsinspired fashion designed to highlight con-

Mallory, founder of Limitless Free and United, a community-based organization focused on empowerment and support initiatives; and Jamaal Johnson, the founder of the Stay Up Foundation, which empowers individuals with disabilities by promoting inclusion, mental health and confidence.

The foundation, according to Jamaal Johnson, its chief executive officer, promotes disability pride, inclusion and adaptive awareness through advocacy, community engagement and fashion-focused events.

Mallory said that Runway of Change is meant to stand apar t from traditional exclusive fashion shows. Instead of simply providing clothing for people with disabilities to wear, the event uses the runway format to emphasize expanded opportunities for participants

“The Runway of Change would be different from any exclusive fashion show because we’re not just going to give people with dis-

“Inclusion was very important because otherwise I wouldn’t be doing the things I’m doing now. “

J AMAAL JOHNSON Founder of Stay Up Foundation

abilities clothing to wear. No, it’s more than that. It’s giving them awards, resources and opportunities. That’s what makes this fashion show different from others and it’s what inspired us,” Mallory said.

For Johnson, inclusion is more than re presentation on a runway; it is a reco gnition of the dignity, independence and everyday experiences of people with disabilities. He stressed that members of the disabled community work, live independently and deserve the same opportunities and respect as anyone else.

“When I was first injured in a car accident in 2014, my life changed completely. Inclusion was very important because otherwise I wouldn’t be doing the things I’m doing now. I earned my bachelor’s de gree, work full time, have a foundation and have hosted events. These are important accomplishments that deserve the reco gnition they should receive,” Johnson said.

Rather than treating disability as a brief moment of visibility, Runway of Change celebrates the full range of experiences and achievements within the disability community. Participants will take the

stage not only as models but also as business owners, speakers and innovators, highlighting their impact.

“It doesn’t matter what disability someone has. They could be a quadriplegic and only be able to move their head, but they’re going to move their head the best they can. Our selection process focuses on people who want to be models and who want the opportunity to show the world, ‘Hey, I can do this too.’ There’s no specific look or set criteria for our models, just a willingness to show up and demonstrate what they’re capable of,” Mallory said.

Runway of Change has generated significant enthusiasm from both the disability community and local supporters, according to Mallory and hope it will inspire people across Illinois and foster greater awareness and inclusion among diverse communities

Tickets are required to attend and can be purchased on the Eventbrite Runway of Change page

PROVIDED

Jamaal Johnson and Azalia Mallor y

PROVIDED

Azalia Mallor y, founder of Limitless Free and United

PROVIDED

Child with a Barbie doll in a wheelchair

PROVIDED

Jamaal Johnson, founder of the Stay Up Foundation

New transit funding boosts West Side bus service, cleaner el trains

More sales tax funding to be div vied up later this year

By IGOR STUDENKOV Contributing Reporter

Chicago Transit Authority is getting extra funding for security and service improvements – including bus and el train service on the West

Side

The Northern Illinois Transportation Authority Act passed last October created new revenue streams to fund transit, including allowing a 0.25% RTA sales tax increase. Those measures took effect on June 1, and the Re gional Transportation Authority Board of Directors voted unanimously at a special meeting that morning to make the increase official.

Before then, during the regularly scheduled May 21 meeting, the board approved a budget amendment on how to spend $132.2 million out of$199 million the tax increase is expected to bring in this year. While nearly halfofthe funding will go toward various

safety and security improvements, around $54 million will go toward service improvements. On the West Side, this includes funding to increase bus service on Central Avenue and the extension ofLaramie Avenue bus service past Grand Avenue

The rest ofthe new sales tax funding is expected to be allocated this fall. RTA, which is being rebranded into NITA, will get a new governing board in September, and it will get more authority over CTA, Metra and Pace budgets, including the final say over any fare increases and service changes. The RTA board wanted to make sure its successors will have some extra funding to work with.

Route 85/Central serves, as the name suggests, the Central Avenue corridor between Loretto Hospital and Jefferson Park Transit Center. While it is relatively frequent during rush hours, the frequency drops to anywhere between every 15-20 minutes the rest of the day.

The budget amendment allocates $1.5 million to add four bus routes, including Route 85, to CTA’s Frequent Service Network Launched in March 2025, the initiative increases bus service so that riders don’t

have to wait more than 10 minutes to catch their bus. On the West Side, CTA previously added routes 12/Roosevelt, 20/Madison, 53/Pulaski, 54/Cicero, 66/Chicago and 82/ Kimball-Homan to the network. Route 85 service increase is currently scheduled to begin sometime this fall.

The amendment also allocates $750,000 to extend route 57/Laramie. Unlike routes 54, 85 and most other North-South routes that serve the West Side, it doesn’t go north ofGrand Avenue, creating a service gap between Central and Cicero avenues. The extension is expected to launch sometime this winter.

The amendment also sets aside a total of $5 million to improve on-time performance systemwide.

Blue Line’s Forest Park branch, the section of the line that runs in the median/ aloneside Eisenhower Expressway, has been notorious for its slow zones, areas where trains have to slow down due to deteriorating track conditions. While the budget amendment gives CTA $10 million to address slow zones, none of that money will go to the West Side service.

That isn’t to say the amended budget

doesn’t benefit West Side el service at all. CTA will get $1 million to more regularly clean the Blue and Red el line trains. The transit agency will give those jobs to employees hired through Greencorps Chicago, a nonprofit organization at the northeast corner of East Garfield Park that offers job training to Chicagoans who face barriers to employment.

On the safety and security side, around $20 million will go toward hiring more of f-duty Chicago police of ficers to provide extra security, nearly doubling their head count from 99 to 180. Another $10 million will go toward increasing the number ofK-9 units from 164 to 200. It would also get $2 million to expand its Safe Ride Specialists Crisis Intervention Team pilot program, where trained social workers seek to de-escalate volatile situations without involving law enforcement, and connect riders to social services they may need

As previously re ported by Austin Weekly News, CTA pays Haymarket Center to send outreach teams to the Blue Line to talk to riders who might be experiencing issues such as lack ofstable housing, mental health issues or addiction.

Age Well

MOVE & MINGLE

Kehrein Center for the Arts | 5628 W. Washington Boulevard June 12 | 11:00 a.m.–1:30 p.m.

VIVA LA VIDA

National Museum of Mexican Art | 1852 W. 19th Street June 18 | 10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. or 1:30–3:30 p.m.

WALKING & WELLNESS CLUB

Salvation Army Freedom Center | 825 N. Christiana Avenue Fridays | 8:30–10:00 a.m.

REPARATIONS

Based on Chicago pilot project from page 1

success of guaranteed income. He was introduced to EAT 2 years ago as a part of a citywide pilot project, Chicago Future Fund, where EAT administered to Hodrick $500 a month for 12 months. EAT also helped guaranteed income recipients reduce other barriers to success after incarceration by assisting with transportation, buying clothes for a job interview or setting up a bank account. Today, Hodrick works as EAT’s research intern, canvassing Chicago neighborhoods and speaking on panels to educate others about guaranteed income and other issues that for merly incarcerated people face

“All this stuf f has transformed me into a leader in my own community,” Hodrick said. “This was the whole snowball effect of positivity through guaranteed income … This has been life changing for me.” He added, “I didn’t feel li ke $500 a month was a lot of money, but what it did was [teach] me how to manage my money or have

some stability, like I won’t be panicking about my phone bill this month.”

Now, Hodrick and EAT are spreading the word about how House Bill 4443 could impact communities throughout Illinois. Through Saturday’s people’s assembly and other events, EAT aims to inform the community about guaranteed income and who’s eligible, but also to energize locals to support the bill.

“Our work don’ t stop after that assembly. We still have to go to Springfield, we still have to fill up buses, we still have to check in with our senators and aldermen,” Hodrick said. “We still have to keep boots to the ground, still have to keep pushing the information, we still have to go to Cong ress.”

They’re also spreading the word about how the Illinois Freedom Fund would benefit the West Side of Chicago with mental and financial stability that could reduce crime.

“These re parations would help everybody in the Austin community tremendously. I live there, my mother still lives there, and every day I see different examples of small things that could go a long way with my people,” Hodrick said. “A lot of people in my area are living below the poverty line, doing a lot of things that

they don’ t necessarily have to do to make ends meet.”

“Just because they ain’ t got $50 or $20, crime is being committed,” Hodrick added. “It just helps people catch up on bills, small things to push them in the right direction. I think that’s what guaranteed income re presents.”

Guaranteed income as reparations

Since its creation, EAT has advocated for re parations in Chicago.

“They were one of the lead organizations in the city to help marijuana be legalized,” Hodrick said of EAT. “Through that, they were already pushing for re parations through the cannabis sales tax.”

Today, the Cannabis Re gulation Fund subsidizes Restore Reinvest Renew grant funds. R3 funds programs in civil legal aid, economic development, reentry, violence prevention and youth development.

When it comes to reentry into society after incarceration, those who are for merly incarcerated face a multitude of barriers in getting a job, housing and access to healthcare. Hodrick is currently working on a Bill of Rights for people who are formerly incarcerated.

“The Austin community has a large per-

centage of returning citizens from penitentiaries, so these guys need opportunities,” Hodrick said. He added that guaranteed income “is proven to stop recidivism and give people the luxury of making decisions not out of haste. People have to be able to make decisions in life not under pressure.”

Reparations through guaranteed income have proven to be effective throughout Cook County.

For 2 years starting in Dec. 2022, Cook County gave $500 monthly cash payments to 3,250 families with low-to-moderate incomes. The payments were funded by American Rescue Plan Act funds from the federal government after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Last year, the county re ported that 94% of participants used program funds for a financial emergency or unexpected expense, 70% said the program positively impacted their mental health, and 73% said the payments would continue to impact them after the program ends.

The next Cook County guaranteed income program is being designed this year to distribute $7.5 million to participants. Stay infor med about the next program through this interest form.

SUPERBSTARS

SEASON-ENDINGCONCERT

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