Austin Weekly News 061720

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Vol. 34 No. 25

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June 17, 2020

The life and loss of Nickolas Lee,

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austinweeklynews.com

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Also serving Garfield Park

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@AustinWeeklyChi

Arrested A t d protesters t t risk spreading COVID-19, PAGE 7

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Public safety without police?

West Siders say block clubs cheaper, more effective alternative to police intervention

By PASCAL SABINO Block Club Chicago

West and South side neighborhoods are reviving block club networks that empower residents to keep watch over their communities and deter crime — reducing the need for police intervention.

The watch groups have already worked for residents like Marquinn McDonald, who volunteered to patrol his area of Bronzeville as recent rioting and looting began.

“I believe in taking ownership of your community. …We have the right to look out for one another,” McDonald said. “The only way you’re going to have safe neighborhoods is by having everybody involved. The police is a reactionary force.”

Hyperlocal community watch groups were a part of organizer Amara Enyia’s platform in her bid for mayor last year. But now, as communities grapple with the coronavirus pandemic as well as unrest over police violence around the city, Enyia has started to put those plans into action.

Community watch groups emerged organically in Enyia’s Austin neighborhood, where many residents still belong to block clubs. The block clubs are a way for neighbors to keep an eye out for elders and children.

So when the pain and outrage against police violence at the George Floyd protests spilled over into vandalism, Enyia helped formally organize block clubs and other neighborhood groups to protect local businesses.

More than 50 people on the West and South Sides are now taking shifts to safeguard their own communities as part of Enyia’s blockSee BLOCK CLUBS on page 2

ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

UNITED FOR BLACK LIVES: Hundreds of demonstrators marched from Oak Park to the West Side on June 13 to protest systemic racism.

March for justice starts in Oak Park, ends on West Side Roughly 300 protestors demand end to racism, start of police accountability

By IGOR STUDENKOV Contributing Reporter

Around 300 protesters, most of them from Oak Park and a decent portion of them white, marched down Madison

Street from the Oak Park/Chicago border all the way down to Garfield Park on June 13.

They demanded justice for AfricanAmerican men and women who died at the hands of the police, defunding the police, accountability reforms and an end to racism.

The march was organized by a group of Oak Park residents. As noted on the event’s fundraising page, the idea was to connect Oak Parkers with their West

Side neighbors and show that white residents were willing to literally talk the walk “through the disenfranchised and oppressed communities that have been plagued by police brutality,” the organizers explained.

Originally, the marchers were supposed to stick to the sidewalk, but that was quickly abandoned as they spread out across all eastbound lanes. At every block, cars honked in support of the march.

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Austin Weekly News, June 17, 2020

BLOCK CLUBS A better solution from page 1 watching program.

When incidents do surface, the neighbors jump into action. Each block now is connected with others doing the same work, so residents have far more collective support than they did as a standalone block club.

Enyia’s network keeps track of where monitors are, and also identifies which blocks are having frequent issues and need extra eyes and ears.

“We need to invest in strengthening the block club infrastructure that has people monitor their own blocks in their own communities so we don’t have to rely on police to keep us safe,” Enyia said. “And the city can actually help to fund the infrastructure to do that.”

and our leaders will take notice” of.

McDonald had organized community safety initiatives in the past, so he knew Enyia’s block-byblock network would help stop people from damaging property and endangering neighbors in Bronzeville.

The first night McDonald went out, his patrol group came upon people breaking into a nearby MetroPCS shop. As soon as McDonald’s group showed up in numbers, the people who were looting fled.

In another incident, a woman in the neighborhood was being harassed by men as she was doing a food giveaway in the evening. She texted McDonald’s group because she felt unsafe.

McDonald’s group showed up quickly and did something police wouldn’t have been

able to — they stuck around for hours to make sure she was safe through the duration of the giveaway.

McDonald’s group has also done wellness checks for kids and older adults in the area.

They’ve even monitored police officers and reported misconduct to make sure the community is safe from police violence.

Investing in local communities to prevent crime instead of traditional policing, which responds after the fact, could save the city a lot of money, Enyia said.

The $1.78 billion budget for Chicago Police Department accounts for about 40 percent of the city’s operating budget. To help protect South and West side businesses from looting, the city shelled out an extra $1.2 million to hire 100 private security guards to monitor business corridors — the same thing Enyia’s network is doing for free.

A stronger community infrastructure supported by city dollars can make neighborhoods more resilient to pandemics, riots and everything in between, Enyia said.

“If we had already established that network … a lot of the damage from the looting could have been mitigated because you’d have had people ready to monitor and protect the businesses,” Enyia said.

The city has increased its communitybased safety budget sevenfold since 2019 to $11.5 million, according to Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office. The street outreach and trauma-informed victim services funded by that money is aimed at shifting away from a police first-and-only strategy for reducing violence, a spokesman for the mayor said.

But as cities like Minneapolis pull cops out of schools, and Los Angeles shifts as much as $150 million away from police and into communities, Enyia said the time has come for Chicago to follow the lead of grassroots organizers who are imagining alternatives to policing.

“We’ve been calling for the same things over and over,” Enyia said. “We cannot have public safety 40 percent of our budget. The status quo is expensive.”

Photos by: Lee Edwards, Colin Boyle and Club 21.

Pascal Sabino is a Report for America corps member covering Austin, North Lawndale and Garfield Park for Block Club Chicago. Read more of his reporting at blockclubchicago.org.

CONTACT: pascal@blockclubchi.org

‘People listen to those who can share in their burdens’ On the West Side, Pastor Robbie Wilkerson has helped Enyia’s block-watching program use the abundance of churches to make the area safer.

Wilkerson said the local faith communities have helped to monitor about 25 blocks in the area in collaboration with neighborhood groups like the West Side Health Authority and the Austin Chamber of Commerce.

The churches are also a gathering place for residents to coordinate the revitalization of the community beyond public safety.

“We utilize those houses of worship to be beacons of light and to galvanize the community, block-by-block, to pull together individuals who can help us do some community policing and organizing,” Wilkerson said.

Since the program started, the looting has slowed down, Wilkerson said. Volunteers live in the areas they monitor, so they can engage with potential troublemakers to help address the root of people’s frustrations that can lead to vandalism, Wilkerson said.

“People listen to those who can share in their burdens,” Wilkerson said. “That community messenger is a very powerful tool that I’m hoping that our government

BURDEN-SHARING: Top left, copies of Sunday’s Chicago Sun-Times sit in a looted Walgreens in Kenwood on June 1, 2020, after looting hit the neighborhood. West Side activist Amara Enyia addresses a crowd of more than 100 people on the corner of 63rd & Cottage Grove Ave. Block Club 21 in Washington Heights in a new community garden.

Austin Weekly News, June 17, 2020

MARCH

Still demonstrating from page 1 “I think I’m going to cry,” said a woman who was waiting for the bus near the corner of Madison Street and Pulaski, as she saw the approaching marchers. “Black lives matter!”

The march stopped for about 10 minutes at the Chicago Police Department’s 15th District police station, 5701 W. Madison St. As the marchers prepared to have 8 minutes and 46 seconds of silence, some kneeling, some lying prone, Omar Yamini, an Oak Park activist, encouraged everyone to think about what it’s like to have a knee on their neck for that long as they’re begging for their lives.

“Today, we put the end to the tyranny, harassment and oppression,” he said. “You get no more chances. This relationship is toxic. This relationship is over; beat it, I can do better!”

Yamani added that now more than ever, black people need to hold black elected

officials accountable and urge them to pass legislative reforms.

Laurie Freivogal, of Oak Park, said she was no stranger to protests and believes that it’s important to keep a spotlight on injustice.

“We need to stay active until there’s change,” she said. “There needs to be accountability and the change to make it happen. And the police need to be accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

Chantell Lewis said she grew up in Austin and moved to Oak Park to keep her kids safe — a move that, retrospect, may not have been the right one, she said.

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“As an A f r i c a n American, as a mother of an AfricanAmerican daughter, a mother of an AfricanAmerican son and a wife of an AfricanAmerican husband, I say we need to stop the abuse,” she said. “We need to stop abusing ourselves.

Everybody has a voice and your voice needs to be heard.”

“I haven’t done much for the movement other than writing checks, said Marva Boyd, who has lived in Oak Park for 40 years. “To be honest, I started feeling guilty. I just decided that my daughter and I needed to attend this march.”

Susan Mitchell currently lives in Naperville, but she grew up in East Garfield Park before moving to Oak Park, where some of her relatives live.

“I went to a protest we had in Naperville and felt that this protest was very

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ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer

MORE THAN WORDS: Saturday’s Walk the Walk demonstration was attended by Fred Hampton Jr. (pictured middle left), the son of slain Black Panther leader Fred Hampton. important,” she said. “And my grandbabies are in the march. In 1968, I thought naively that we’d be much further along by now.”

CONTACT: igorst3@hotmail.com

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Austin Weekly News, June 17, 2020

Austin students awarded scholarships

Third Unitarian Church gave $1K each to 10 graduating high school seniors

By ZACH CUNNING AustinTalks

Ten graduating high school seniors from Austin were each awarded a $1,000 scholarship recently at the Third Unitarian Church’s annual scholars service.

The 46-year tradition, held during services May 31 by Zoom rather than in person in the church sanctuary, continued despite a global pandemic, lost mail and shuttered schools.

Congregation members joked about Rita Maniotis, co-chair of the Austin Scholars Award Committee, storming the post office in search of missing applications.

Maniotis said “that’s just folklore.”

What she did was more like a detective’s investigation.

When an application she and Roberta Wilson, the other committee co-chair, knew had been mailed never showed up, they thought “we’re missing more than just one,” Maniotis said.

Worried about how many student’s applications might be missing, Maniotis began calling school counselors and post offices, reconstructing the dates and timing of the mail.

With less than a week until the award ceremony, a post office in Austin found a bin containing all of the church’s mail.

It should’ve been diverted to the church secretary’s home but never made it there or back to the church, Maniotis said.

On Friday, May 29, less than 48 hours before the awards ceremony, Maniotis recovered the missing mail. “We found one student that we didn’t know about. So that was worth it,” she said.

Denean Mayes is graduating from Whitney Young Magnet High School.

She applied for several scholarships, including the church’s Austin Scholar Award, because of the prohibitive cost of attending college.

“It’s a ridiculous amount, and it’s especially hard for people of color and people from underserved communities to pay for,” she said. “I just can’t, you know, afford going to school without applying for scholarships.”

Mayes will be attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, majoring in political science on a pre-law track.

Wilson has been involved in the Austin

Scholars Award program since it began in 1974. One Sunday, then-pastor Don H. Wheat said the best thing Third Unitarian could do was give scholarships to Austin high school students. It took off from there, she said.

Wilson said she’s maintained the program over more than four decades through word of mouth. To raise money for the scholarships, she’s leveraged her connections with Chicago Public Schools, the Chicago Board of Education and throughout the community.

Additionally, Third Unitarian hosts three fundraisers each year for the program: a pancake breakfast, the Martin Luther King luncheon and a “super soup” contest. On average, they raise about $20,000 per year, said Maniotis.

The scholars program is important because “it shows an investment in the Austin community.”

Mayes expects that investment to pay dividends. She wants to become a lawyer to help people of color in her community receive access to healthcare and equal rights.

“I believe that as I do this, I will encourage more improvement, more progress,” she said.

The following students received a scholarship this year from Third Unitarian: • Sieon Brown, Westinghouse High School, Illinois State or Bradley University • Starmesha Brown, Al Raby High School, Northeastern Illinois University (NIU) • Trevion Cobbins, Westinghouse High School, Jackson State University • Ivory Griffin, North Grand High School, NIU • Denean Mayes, Whitney Young High School, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • Iyana Quinones, Michele Clark High School, Harris Stowe University • Danyel Smith, Collins Academy High School, Harris Stowe or NIU • Tyneasha Tate, Douglass High School, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale • Tikayih Walker, Michele Clark High School, Harris Stowe University • Tanajah Willingham, Al Raby High School, Western Illinois University

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Austin Weekly News, June 17, 2020

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Austin’s Walmart, Walgreens still closed from looting

Company representatives could not definitively say when the chain stores will reopen

By IGOR STUDENKOV Contributing Reporter

Two weeks after several West Side shopping strips were looted, the stores are slowly opening up, but for national chains that have more resources than smaller businesses, the progress hasn’t been the same across the board.

The Walmart Supercenter at 4650 W. North Ave., in Austin remains closed and it is not clear when it might reopen.

While many West Side Walgreens locations reopened last week, two Austin locations — at 4748 W. North Ave. and at 1546 N. Central Ave. — remain closed and it’s not clear when they will reopen. A spokesperson for the pharmacy said customers who need to pick up prescriptions will be able to pick them up at open locations nearby or have them delivered to their homes.

The Food 4 Less grocery store at the Washington Square shopping plaza, 4821 W. North Ave., reopened last week while Save A-Lot discount supermarket chains at 5555 W. North Ave. in Austin and 420 S. Pulaski Rd. in West Garfield Park reopened days after the looting that started May 31.

The Aldi at 3835 W. Madison St. in West Garfield was not looted and reopened last week. WBEZ reported that the Aldi didn’t get looted, because the staff closed it early and the shutters protected the store. The neighborhood Save-a-Lot did get ransacked, but it reopened a few days later with partially restocked shelves.

On June 4, Austin photographer and community activist Vanessa Stokes pointed

out that, with all the grocery store and pharmacy closures, residents simply don’t have any alternatives.

“We didn’t have those things to begin with and now, it’s even more so,” she said. “The little bit we had, was, like, a lot. So it’s huge.”

In an e-mailed response to Austin Weekly News, Walmart spokesperson Ann Hatfield indicated that it was too early to talk about when the Austin Walmart might reopen.

“As you likely know, there is significant damage to our Austin store,” she wrote. “We are still assessing the total damage to Austin and all of our Chicago stores.”

Hatfield noted that, as of June 11, the only Chicago store that was open was the Pullman Walmart Supercenter on the Far South Side.

That store was not looted.

“While we cannot address timing for re-opening of individual locations, we are working to reopen stores as quickly as possible,” said Alexandra Brown, a spokesperson for Walgreens.

Brown also outlined several steps the chain has been taking to ensure their customers can still get their prescriptions.

The pharmacy staff has been “proactively” reaching out to customers to let them know the locations of other Walgreens pharmacies where they can get their prescriptions. Any calls to the closed locations are automatically redirected to nearby stores and customers can also chat with pharmacists online using the Pharmacy Chat feature. Walgreens continues to offer free prescription delivery and the chain is working with vulnerable customers, Brown said.

“Walgreens pharmacists are also contacting those who require high touch care, such as senior patients and those with chronic or complex conditions, to provide individualized support and solutions for their medication and health care needs,” Brown said.

For the most up-to-date information on which Walgreens are currently open, visit the company’s store locator at walgreens.com.

CONTACT: igorst3@hotmail.com

City Council plans to create reparations commission

Resolution creating commission sponsored by black West Side aldermen

By IGOR STUDENKOV Contributing Reporter

The Chicago City Council’s Committee on Health & Human Relations voted unanimously on June 12 to approve a resolution that calls for the creation of a Chicago Descendants of Enslaved Africans Reparations Commission.

While the original plan called for it to be a separate commission, after some discussions, Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th), a South Side alderman who chairs the committee and introduced the resolution creating the reparations commission, agreed to have the commission function as a subcommittee of the health committee.

All of the African American aldermen in the City Council, including West Side aldermen Michael Scott (24th), Walter Burnett (27th), Jason Ervin (28th), Chris Taliaferro (29th) and Emma Mitts (37th).

The resolution creating the reparations commissions is sponsored by all The reparations commission would address the effects of racism, segregation and modern-day structural racism in order to figure out the best ways of redressing those societal harms. The commission may also explore a range of specific issues, such as education funding and contract opportunities for black-owned businesses. In addition, the commission will hold public hearings to discuss the implementation of proposed measures designed to address those past harms.

The vote sends the resolution to the full city council, which is meeting virtually on June 17. So far, it’s unclear how many members the reparations commission will have.

Last year marked the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Illinois Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton and the 100th anniversary the Chicago race riots that happened from July 27 through Aug. 3, 1919. The riots erupted after Eugene Williams, an African American youth, was stoned to death after accidentally swimming into the white portion of the segregated 29th Street beach.

“More than 30 percent of African American families live below the poverty line in Chicago, compared to less than 10 percent for white families,” the resolution states. “The unemployment rate for African-Americans in Chicago is approximately 20 percent and for whites, it is less than 5 percent. The median family income for African Americans is $36,720, compared to $81,702 for white families and $47,308 for Latino families.”

The resolution also mentioned higher infant mortality rates, lower high school graduation rates, as well police abuse.

“African Americans have been disproportionately incarcerated and been victims of torture and police abuse,” it read. “Although African Americans account for 31 percent of Chicago’s population, they account for 80 percent of the victims of gunshot wounds and deaths for the past 10 years. During this last decade, the City of Chicago has paid out nearly $1 billion in wrongful death lawsuits against the Chicago Police Department where primarily citizens of African descent were the victims.”

CONTACT: igorst3@hotmail.com

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Austin Weekly News, June 17, 2020

The life and loss of Nickolas Lee

A widow tried to save her late husband’s life during his stay at 26th and Cal. Instead she witnessed the explosive spread of COVID-19 inside.

As told to SARAH CONWAY City Bureau

The day after her husband died on Easter Sunday, Cassandra Greer-Lee’s emotions swung from shock to pain to confusion. She wondered whether she did everything she could to save Nickolas Lee from the rapid spread of coronavirus inside Cook County Jail.

She thought of the long stream of calls she had frantically dialed over the past few weeks as Cook County Jail rapidly cemented itself as the “largest-known source” of coronavirus cases in the U.S. Scrolling through her calls, the numbers ballooned from 60 to 70 to 90 to 100 to finally 132 calls made to the sheriff’s office, a jail sergeant’s desk line, the jail hospital and others to alert them to the spread of coronavirus on Lee’s tier—almost all were unanswered.

Lee was the third of seven detainees who have died after contracting the virus at Cook County Jail. Since then, almost 1,000 Cook County Jail employees and detainees have tested positive for COVID-19; two corrections officers and one court deputy have also died, according to WTTW. Like 98% of inmates at Cook County Jail, Lee was awaiting trial.

He had been charged by the county for gun possession after violating federal parole.

Beyond its walls, one in every six cases of COVID-19 in Chicago and Illinois can be connected to people who passed through the Cook County Jail, according to a new study released Thursday. “For elected officials to sell the narrative that they could structure social distancing behind walls is a myth they were able to sell to the residents of Cook County and Illinois,” said Chicago Torture Justice Center’s Mark Clements, an exonerated police torture survivor who spent 28 years in prison on a recent Hoodoisie panel on the pandemic.

Greer-Lee spoke with City Bureau about her love for Nickolas Lee and the fight to save his life. Here is her story, as told to Sarah Conway. It has been edited and condensed for clarity. *** This guy was my best friend.

Nickolas Lee was a very hard worker. He loved family. He loved to cook. Oh, my god, one of the best cooks ever. He loved to see me smile. A comedian. Nickolas was a big guy, but he was a teddy bear. When I tell you he was one of the most thoughtful people, I was

blessed to have him in my life. I miss him so much daily so I’m trying to do the best that I can to fight and get justice. And this is just really the beginning.

I met Nickolas when I was 17 years old in South Shore where we both grew up. He was friends with my brother and he really liked me but I couldn’t have boyfriends, so my brother said, “Well, no, you can’t talk to my sister.” But Nickolas was always persistent.

He was always try, try, try, try, try. He said one day, “You’re going to be my wife.” When

my god, I have a lifetime to go without him.

Everything in our city that was beautiful to me is dull now. I miss him so much. I miss his voice. I just miss talking to him. He was my soulmate and I know I will never have another one. He really was.

That’s why I have to fight for him, because he’s supposed to be here. He would have fought for me. I am a firm believer in God, so I don’t question what happened to Nickolas, but I have to fight to make sure it don’t happen to no one else.

Illustration by Arabella Breck

Cassandra Greer-Lee and Nickolas Lee. I became grown and I came back [to Chicago] and started my career he was one of my No. 1 supporters. We have been together for 20 years and married for four years. Even with his incarceration, he would call me each day.

He would get up and call me every morning on my way to work. When I would come home with my lesson plans, he’d be on the phone giving me little ideas for the children that I teach.

What we did really love was going to La Rabida on the lakefront here on the South Side. Together we’d watch the sun come up.

He fell in love with the sunrise deeper than me. Nickolas would say, “Come on, let’s go.”

I just showed him something different. He saw how peaceful it was and how the sun beams when it comes up off the water almost as if it is arising from the water itself. And he loved that, watching the sun. My guy, he loved it.

I don’t know if it’ll still be the same if I went now though. I look now at the things that I really loved to see, like the skyline, and it all feels so dark. It reminds me, oh

Nickolas was totally fine and healthy when he left federal custody because he had to get a medical clearance to be transferred to Cook County Jail. His court date was supposed to be the beginning of March, but due to the pandemic, they rescheduled it to April 22. He never made it to that day.

It started the second week of March. I was speaking to Nickolas every day, several times a day, and one day he told me that there were two sick inmates on the dormitorystyle tier that he shared with 50 other people.

We wasn’t really knowledgeable at all about the coronavirus at that time. I would listen to Mayor Lightfoot and Governor Pritzker on the daily news briefings so I could be abreast of what they were saying as far as symptoms, precautions and just anything about the virus. So as I would tell him the symptoms, and one day he said, “Cassandra, some men possess these symptoms, I think they have this virus.” I said, “Nick, do not worry. What I need you to do is to cover your nose and your mouth throughout the entire day with your T-shirt because they say it’s

airborne and when you call me, you need to take a separate T-shirt and wrap it around the phone.” He did that but the gentlemen on his tier didn’t have any sanitizing products or anything. I mean absolutely nothing.

And when you are in one room with up to 50 gentlemen, it’s so hard to isolate yourself.

So I just asked him to please try to stay safe.

So as time went along, the men on the tier became more and more sick. We both were afraid. He wanted to move away from the tier, of course.

Nickolas even went so far that he found a unit downstairs. He said it was for intake and there weren’t very many people there.

He was hoping they’d send him down there just so he could try to social distance himself. He just wanted to live. I recall one time I was on the phone and I heard one of the gentlemen near him said, “I feel like I’m about to pass out.”

That’s when I started calling trying to get Nickolas moved from the tier. So I’m calling, calling. Nickolas asked me daily on our calls, “Did anybody answer?” I’m like, no.

He would go to the window and you know, ask the guards like, “Is there other numbers my wife can call? She can’t get through here at Division 8.” And they would say, well, she can call that Inmate Information Helpline. I called it to no avail.

Finally, on March 28 someone answered the phone. She was very polite. She explained to me that during this pandemic they were short staffed. There were no social workers available for me to speak with. I said, “Okay. Is there a sergeant that I can speak with?” She said, give her 24 hours and someone would get back to me. My husband didn’t show his first symptom until the very next day, which was March 29. He said he had a sore throat. I’m still saying, God, just let it be a common cold. So I’m calling, calling, calling. I’m calling Division 8. I’m calling the Inmate Information Helpline. I’m calling Tom Dart’s office. I’m calling Cermak [Health Services]. No one is answering. My husband’s health is declining daily. It went so fast, so fast. You wouldn’t believe it. It went from a sore throat to a fever, from a fever to a loss of sense of taste and smell to chills, from chills to total weakness. I’m still trying to encourage Nickolas because I don’t want him to panic. But on the inside I’m panicking. I’m calling. I even went to the jail gates and I could see the guards coming in and out. I asked them for help or advice.

They had none for me, but just to call.

My husband’s calling me daily, “Did you speak to anybody?” Baby, I am trying. I’m trying. This was one of the worst things that could happen to any human being; to cry out for help and to just feel silence. Finally, they took my husband on April 6 to Stroger Hospital ICU. Cook County Jail never called me even. I found out from someone on his tier that Nickolas had gone to the hospital.

When he got to Stroger my husband was already in a severe stage of COVID. The See NICKOLAS LEE on page 9

Austin Weekly News, June 17, 2020

Arrested protesters risk spreading Coronavirus

University of Chicago study found nearly 16 percent of all coronavirus cases in Chicago are related to people cycling in and out of jail.

By PASCAL SABINO Block Club Chicago

With thousands of people arrested in Chicago amid massive protests of the killing of George Floyd, new research from the University of Chicago suggests such mass detentions could lead to a spike in coronavirus cases.

More than 3,000 people have been arrested in Chicago since May 29, detained for civil unrest, disorderly conduct and looting, police said.

A study released last week from researchers Eric Reinhart and Daniel Chen suggests the surge of people being taken to Cook County Jail to await court hearings carries a tremendous risk of spreading COVID-19 back into communities.

The study found nearly 16 percent of all documented cases of COVID-19 in Chicago as of mid-April were associated with people

cycling through the jail — which has been a hotbed for infections.

County officials have worked for months to reduce the jail population and contain the spread of disease. But the study suggests despite those interventions, people entering and exiting the jail even briefly can introduce COVID-19 back into their neighborhoods.

Jail cycling is a much bigger predictor of COVID-19 community spread than demographic considerations like race, poverty, public transit utilization and population density, the researchers said.

“Those people are processed through closed, tight spaces in the jail,” Reinhart said. “So even if just one of them has COVID and may not even know it, by the time they’re done processing them … they have been made into a possible risk to their communities.”

At one point, Cook County Jail had one of the highest clusters of confirmed COVID-19 infections in the country, though prisons and jails in other states have since recorded more illnesses. Sheriff Tom Dart has said the high number of positive cases was due to his office’s rigorous testing practices.

At the peak of the outbreak in the jail, more than 300 detained people were sick with coronavirus at the same time. Seven detainees and two correctional officers have died from complications related to

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COVID-19.

As of June 7, 36 people detained at the jail were positive for COVID-19 and 39 correctional officers had the virus.

The Sheriff’s Office pushed back on that conclusion, saying in a statement the study was “a fantasy filled with assumptions bordering on lies.”

According to the Sheriff’s Office, the study fails to take into account the precipitous drop in coronavirus infections in the jail in the past month. Nearly all new COVID-19 infections come from incoming detainees who often come from communities hit hardest by the pandemic, officials said.

But Reinhart said the risk of community transmission is separate from the jail’s improved sanitation practices and dramatic reduction in COVID cases. The hundreds of arrestees entering the jail daily could infect each other even if they are released within the day, he said.

Given the racial disparities in COVID-19 infection rates and deaths, the study points to over-policing as a contributing factor to the disproportionate burden of the pandemic on Black communities. Reinhart said the infections are just one metric of the many, often unseen effects of mass incarceration.

“The real problem is not the internal conditions of the jail. It’s the structural conditions that are producing huge numbers

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of unnecessary arrests and producing this risk,” Reinhart said.

Hoping to prevent the unnecessary spread of the disease, the Chicago Community Bond Fund has posted bail for more than 75 people who were detained in the past week. Many of those released participated in the wave of protests against police violence.

The nonprofit has pushed to reduce the population of the Cook County Jail since the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Bond Fund and other civil rights advocates, including the MacArthur Justice Center, contend social distancing is impossible while incarcerated. An inability to afford bail can be a death sentence for those awaiting trial, they said.

More than 75,000 people have donated more than $3.5 million to the Chicago Community Bond Fund since May 28, helping its effort to post bail for activists and to stop the spread of COVID-19. The group aims to pay bail for each person arrested at the protests.

“We consider every single one of those arrests to be a political arrest,” said program director Matt McLoughlin.

Pascal Sabino is a Report for America corps member covering Austin, North Lawndale and Garfield Park for Block Club Chicago. Read more of his reporting at blockclubchicago.org.

CONTACT: pascal@blockclubchi.org

8

Austin Weekly News, June 17, 2020

L E T T E R S

CPD is broke beyond repair It is my belief the Chicago Police Department is beyond repair. If true reforms do not happen right away, we need to eliminate our current system. We need to replace our current system of how we handle public safety and the many issues faced by our communities.

Calls for defunding the police in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis have rung out from coast to coast. If the Chicago Police Department implements real reforms, it will be more responsive to our communities, especially black communities and other taxpayers.

Holding police truly accountable for their actions IS showing support for our police, as recently stated by our Chicago Police Commissioner David Brown.

This is not about individual police officers or bad apples. This is about a system that is inherently flawed. Other professionals should be funded to deal with issues that police are called for now but are not trained to handle, often resulting in the killing of black men and women.

Examples include crisis intervention for mental health issues; domestic issues; diversion to drug treatment; prevention of guns getting to our streets in the first place; social services and housing for those experiencing homelessness; and so many other issues.

We also know the system is flawed and is a waste of taxpayer dollars. In the last 10 years of lawsuit payouts involving the Chicago Police Department amounts to $524 million, according to CBS2 Chicago. In 2018, the figure was $97.8 million.

The city’s 2020 budget set aside $153 million for legal settlements. The top three reasons for the lawsuits were excessive force, reversed convictions and false arrests.

What about the consent decree – won’t that solve the problem? There are many good suggestions in the consent decree, but there is one huge problem.

“In the aftermath of the 2014 Laquan McDonald murder, the city negotiated a consent decree with the Illinois attorney general for a federal judge to oversee the operations of the Chicago Police Department. Buried on Page 214 is the provision that “Nothing in the Consent Decree is intended to … impair or conflict with the collective bargaining rights” of employees of the Chicago Police Department,” according to commentary in the Chicago Tribune earlier this month by Ed Bachrach and Austin Berg I want to see if the Chicago Police Department really wants a system that also protects police officers, provides them excellent and ongoing training with input from the communities they serve, and makes them proud to be a member of the Chicago Police Department to improve

safety in our communities.

I believe the Chicago Police Department and the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) have a choice. True reforms can be put in place or the Chicago Police Department should be defunded and replaced by a different system.

So this is a call for the Chicago Police Department and the FOP to join to make substantial reforms and be at the table. As long as there are objections to reforms, we will not move forward, and we will continue to see more videos of black men and women being killed by police in Chicago.

The time for real change is now.

— State Rep. La Shawn K. Ford represents much of Austin in the Illinois House of Representatives.

Welcome to the movement As I made my way to Cicero and Monroe on Thursday, I saw block after block of boarded up store fronts and empty lots and buildings in disrepair.

Then, it dawned on me that parts of the West and South Sides of Chicago have looked like this since I could remember — destroyed and abandoned. When I arrived, the area was surrounded by local residents who, quite frankly, were not interested in yet another spectacle in their neighborhood filled with empty promises and photo opportunities. And I agree with them.

As mothers cried out about the children they lost to gun violence and others screamed about the lack of opportunity, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx reminded us that those of us who are successful are not exceptions, and that we are only seen as such because we are expected to fail.

That was the first of four days of action hosted by the Joint Caucus of Black Elected Officials. On the South Side, people gathered in frustration with elected officials. Their needs are not being met either, as other areas receive what they need and more. I hear them and I am frustrated with them.

In the South Suburbs, we heard stories from local business owners who have to rebuild after the looting that took place.

Attorney General Kwame Raoul brought a message of no longer hesitating to be unapologetically Black as he had done in the past.

In the Western Suburbs, local officials discussed disinvestment, the need for better healthcare and education. They asked for help in making their communities a better place. Those four days in those four locations were a hard reminder that we, the Black Caucus, have been tirelessly fighting for the wellbeing of our communities. And still, their needs have not been met.

We have not failed.

To every person who needed to see buildings burning before doing something about racism, welcome to the movement. To everyone who felt uncomfortable speaking on race issues, welcome to the movement.

To every corporation who made their first statement in support of Black lives, welcome to the movement. To every young person who took to the streets in protest for basic human rights, you are the movement.

Keep pushing.

In the coming days, weeks and months, we will draft bold legislation that addresses inequities in healthcare, education, procurement, job training, community redevelopment and everything in between.

I want our local residents to know that we did not disrupt their day for a show — we disrupted their day for change. We have commitments from the governor and the senate president to work with us.

However, it takes support from a majority of my colleagues to pass anything and I know how to count to the magical 30 and 60 needed to accomplish anything. We may be heading down an uncomfortable road for some of my colleagues, but racism is much more uncomfortable.

The people have spoken.

— Senator Kimberly A. Lightford is the Illinois Senate Majority Leader and represents the 4th District.

How do we combat CPD’s culture of impunity?

While in my home trying faithfully to obey the stay at home order due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I listened recently to the president twisting, bending and breaking every law the legislative branch creates. I see some police officers operating with the impunity that plagues our country and poisons the efforts of good police officers who want to build bridges of trust in our communities. The bad cops are emulating the president.

As an African American who has viewed this pattern of abuse over most of my life, I know that these abuses are not isolated events, but are events captured in isolation that shock the conscience of those who are in the deep denial, but not those who have suffered in silence.

These recent incidents of blacks treated with indifference because of the color of their skin— from Laquan McDonald to George Floyd to countless others whose deaths have been captured on video—are just simple facts baked into the daily lives of African Americans.

I remember when I returned to Chicago from the military and bought a brand new 1985 Z28. I took my girlfriend to the beauty supply store on Austin and Lake.

She hopped out of the car and ran into the

store. The Oak Park police pulled behind me, startling me with the shrill of their PA system. “Move the car,” they shouted.

I signaled and moved into the left lane to turn on to the Chicago side of Lake Street.

The officer followed and put on his lights, I stopped and turned my car off. He then asked me for my license and registration, which I immediately surrendered. After checking that, he did not inform me of any violation for stopping me; but he asked if he could search the car. I got out of the car, locked the doors and asked if there was any probable cause for the search. If not, I said, the officer had better get a warrant.

I was immediately placed under arrest and taken to the Oak Park Police Station.

After an hour or so, I guess they couldn’t come up with any justification for detaining me. While cuffed, I was taken out of the cell facing the arresting officer. I do not remember exactly why, but I could see something in his eyes and he proceeded to throw a left and right open-hand cross.

My instincts kicked in and I bobbed and weaved, leaving him punching air. “What the f— are you doing?” another officer shouted to his offending colleague before asking me if I would like to file a complaint.

I could see in the eyes of the officer who had tried attacking me that he knew he’s screwed up.

“No, just get me back to my car, please,” I said calmly.

In this instance, there was a culture that would not allow this officer to attack me with impunity, which is much different than the culture that allows a group of police officers to descend upon a vehicle containing African American women, as in the case of the recent Brickyard Mall incident that I saw on the news the other night.

Those officers approached the women swinging sticks and acting like a gang of thugs. The culture of impunity that allows an officer to kneel on a citizen’s neck for more than 8 minutes is the same culture of impunity that allows an officer to unleash deadly force on an individual not posing an immediate threat.

In order to begin the process of real reform, radical action must be taken to root out this culture of impunity and allow the officers who are really trying to serve and protect to thrive.

“They Can’t Breath.”

I have witnessed the faces of the timid officers, as the more aggressive officer assert themselves. Those more timid officers know that if they could they would step up say, “What the f — are you doing.”

The culture, however, will not permit this immediate corrective act.

Given this reality, what fresh ideas and solutions need to be enacted to ensure that the “What the f— are you doing” officers can come forward? How can we change the culture of impunity in the Chicago Police Department?

Continued on next page

Austin Weekly News, June 17, 2020

9

L E T T E R S ■ New

police officers should have an accredited college degree in criminal justice with a minor in social justice. This might prevent new officers from being influenced by the culture impunity that permeates the department.

■ They must be able to pass a psych test that has been validated by three different scientific studies and that weeds out racial bias, or at the very least identifies the possibility of racial bias in a prospective officer, so that other officers can be aware themselves and receive additional training and scrutiny.

■ Officers should not be allowed to serve more than 20 years unless they are promoted into other areas of law enforcement, such as narcotics, a gang unit, an organized crime unit, internal affairs, administrative support, or homicide for an additional 10 years. And once promoted, they must have a high rate of effectiveness. At the very minimum, they must maintain a 50 percent clearance rate. Those who are retired after 20 years can then go on to other agencies, such as the state police or the FBI. In addition, their performance record, Civilian Office of Police Accountability filings, and internal affairs records should be part of the vetting process.

■ When new contracts are reached with the city, an intensive review should be performed, as part of the new contract. This will identify individuals who have poor performance records and

NICKOLAS LEE Seeking justice from page 6 doctors and nurses there were so wonderful to me.

I called around the clock. I’m talking about, I would call at 2:30 a.m. or 4:00 a.m. in the morning. I knew every nurse on every schedule. I knew the personal doctor who would call me daily to keep me abreast with his condition and what was going on. I am so grateful for them. And I was blessed that I was able to speak with Nickolas for one last time on April 11 at 7:30 p.m.

I said, “Nickolas, I love you so much. I need you.”

I kept encouraging him. You know my husband is a very strong person and it was the first time he felt like something was defeating him. Nickolas said, “Cassandra, is people beating this?” I said, “Baby, thousands are, and you’re going to be one of them.”

That was my prayer. People will never understand the pain and the agony of that conversation. That was my last conversation with my husband. God saw Nick fit for something else. He passed away the next morning, April 12, on Easter Sunday, at 4:28 a.m. He was 42 years old.

Still I’m out here fighting daily with my protests outside Cook County Jail because you know, had one person, just one person just answered, heard my cries, heard my pleas, and just helped my husband, he would still be here today. He would be here.

This isn’t fair to him. It isn’t fair to me. Our family, no one. I am going to fight for him until the day I die because I know he would have done it for me. This has stopped my life, as well. We had a future, he had a chance to come back into society and be a productive citizen. Nickolas was portrayed

multiple complaints lodged against them. These officers should be dismissed as part of that collective bargaining agreement.

■ Body cam video and other digital documentation that the city issues at its discretion should be turned over to interested parties within 10 days of being requested. This information belongs to the citizens of the city, so why are we allowing the city to tell us that we cannot have what belongs to us?

■ A database of Individuals with mental health conditions should be developed to alert officers of individuals that might pose a challenge during emergency situations. In addition, family members of mentally challenged individuals, or the individuals themselves, should be able to register for this database. This will help ensure that these individuals are given the consideration their conditions deserve.

■ There needs to be a massive overhaul of the process for apprehending suspects. Police training should really be more focused on neutralizing targets in such a way that guarantees little to no harm. Officers have become too reliant on their firearms and stun guns.

— Willie Chatman, Austin CONTACT: michael@austinweeklynews.com

in the media as a convicted felon by the Sheriff’s office when he died. He was a person. He wasn’t “detainee 3.” He did not die of “cardiac arrest” as the Sheriff’s office told the media. Did his criminal history warrant him to die? That’s all I want to know as his wife.

All of my constitutional rights and Nickolas’ were violated. That’s why we have a judicial system put in place, for my husband to go back in front of the judge so he could either be found guilty or not guilty.

He didn’t get that chance. Cook County Jail found him guilty and sentenced him to a slow, painful death by coronavirus. It took three inmates to die before they gave out face masks, Nickolas being the third. So I’m going to keep fighting because I have to. I want the world to know that his death could have been prevented.

Justice for me is to see Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart either resign or get fired, and then go ahead and live his life with his family. Justice means accountability and making sure that this doesn’t happen to another family. That’s why I’m fighting every day because I lost the battle for my husband.

I did. You know, a lot of people say Cassandra, you didn’t, you tried the best that you could. I lost the battle. There is no other way to look at it. I lost the battle for Nickolas Lee, but I’m still here. God has me here for a reason. It’s now to continue to fight for the others. I can’t let this happen to another family.

Cassandra Greer-Lee is outside of Division 10 at Cook County Jail every day at 1 p.m.

She welcomes anyone who wants to honor her husband’s memory or support people who are currently incarcerated.

Support City Bureau’s community-centered reporting by becoming a City Bureau Press Club member today. Visit citybureau.org for more info.

T

We need a mayor who was born here

here are certain missteps a mayor can make that the general public will overlook.

Then there are the “F-Ups” that will haunt a mayor forever. One-Term Lori (OTL) has managed within her first year to accomplish both, with an emphasis on the latter over the former.

Chicago is a roughand-tough city. We like feisty candidates. We elected Jane Byrne over Michael Bilandic because of the 1979 snow-removal debacle as well as her “stand up for the little guy” appeal. Moving into Cabrini-Green was a stunt, but it was still a feisty and bold move even though she didn’t have the right kind of backup to make it work permanently. She lost black folks’ support permanently when she had those two Southwest Side women put on the school board.

For a moment, OTL had a similar persona developing. Her boldness in closing down the lakefront in spite of her whinier constituents’ lament had her becoming a popular meme. Many were proud that OTL wasn’t playing, and had even given her a nickname: “Auntie Lori.” There she was at any and all events, reminding people to stay home. Unfortunately, memes are not reality. She used toughness when she should have used smartness, as in the exchange with those young black people who were out at the school playground on the West Side. She failed to use real toughness and preparedness as the city spiraled out of control into looting following the death of George Floyd.

One of the first things any mayor has to understand are the two sides of town that the black community occupies. The south side has always been considered the hoity-toity side that will serve you hors d’oeuvres, while the West Side is the more down-to-earth side that will serve you a complete

meal. Add her “doesn’t-have-aclue” about this city, a new police chief who is an out-of-towner, with no “on the ground” concept about the policing needs and strategies to deal with a very predictable situation, and this city was ripe for all that happened!

The buck stopped directly at the mayor’s desk. Her failure to call in the National Guard to send a message that she was serious, sent the message that she was playing. And everybody tested the waters. Looters were not restricted to any one nationality or race.

It was a free-for-all with those wanting something for nothing, taking it. Others just wanted to see things burned and destroyed. And to top it off, we still have coronavirus lurking.

In retrospect, would Toni Preckwinkle have been the better mayor? I say no, and this is the reason why. Chicago needs a strong city council/weak mayor concept.

That’s how it was designed. For the past 65 or so years, each mayor has controlled the city council with an iron fist. We finally now have aldercreatures who are taking a stand and pushing back against the mayor’s powers. They are becoming the hyenas, jackasses, slithering snakes and rats they have always been. And that’s a good thing. For they won’t blindly go along with an agenda just because the mayor wants it. The taping of the Zoom meeting is proof!

Because I see the mayor as a one-termer, it is time for those who have political aspirations to be the next mayor to begin to make waves to challenge her. And the challenge will not be difficult. I want my next mayor to have been born in this city. I want my next mayor to have gone to school in this city. I want my next mayor to have always lived in this city.

That is the foundation for the only someone who can truly know how to run this city!

ARLENE JONES

NEED TO REACH US? Contact Editor Michael Romain at 773-626-6332 • michael@austinweeklynews.

10

Austin Weekly News, June 17, 2020

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REAL ESTATE FOR SALE IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT CHANCERY DIVISION WILMINGTON SAVINGS FUND SOCIETY, FSB, AS TRUSTEE OF UPLAND MORTGAGE LOAN TRUST A Plaintiff, -v.PERRICK ROBINSON, DEUTSCHE BANK NATIONAL TRUST COMPANY, AS CERTIFICATE TRUSTEE ON BEHALF OF BOSCO CREDIT II TRUST SERIES 2010-1, TILA MITCHELL, MIDLAND FUNDING LLC, STATE OF ILLINOIS-DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE Defendants 18 CH 10399 4843 W. KAMERLING AVE CHICAGO, IL 60651 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on July 1, 2019, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 10:30 AM on July 21, 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 4843 W. KAMERLING AVE, CHICAGO, IL 60651 Property Index No. 16-04-217-0060000 The real estate is improved with a single family residence.

The judgment amount was $139,538.72.

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

REAL ESTATE FORÂ SALE 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 â&#x20AC;&#x153;AS ISâ&#x20AC;? 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 (driverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;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.

For information, HEAVNER, BEYERS & MIHLAR, LLC Plaintiffâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Attorneys, 111 East Main Street, DECATUR, IL, 62523 (217) 4221719. Please refer to file number 364100.

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

HEAVNER, BEYERS & MIHLAR, LLC 111 East Main Street DECATUR IL, 62523 217-422-1719 Fax #: 217-422-1754 E-Mail: CookPleadings@hsbattys. com Attorney File No. 364100 Attorney Code. 40387 Case Number: 18 CH 10399 TJSC#: 40-1020 NOTE: Pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, you are advised that Plaintiffâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;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 # 18 CH 10399 I3151341

Austin Weekly News, June 17, 2020

(773) 626-6332 | FAX: (708) 467-9066 | E-MAIL: CLASSIFIEDS@AUSTINWEEKLYNEWS.COM REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT CHANCERY DIVISION DEUTSCHE BANK NATIONAL TRUST COMPANY, AS TRUSTEE FOR ARGENT SECURITIES INC, ASSET-BACKED PASSTHROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2005-W2 Plaintiff, -v.JOANN R. MARSHALL A/K/A JO ANN MARSHALL, ONEMAIN FINANCIAL OF INDIANA, INC, F/K/A AMERICAN GENERAL FINANCIAL SERVICES, INC, CITY OF CHICAGO Defendants 18 CH 11976 5333 W. GLADYS AVENUE CHICAGO, IL 60644 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered in the above cause on May 30, 2019, an agent for The Judicial Sales Corporation, will at 10:30 AM on July 21, 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 5333 W. GLADYS AVENUE, CHICAGO, IL 60644 Property Index No. 16-16-115-0680000 The real estate is improved with a single family residence.

The judgment amount was $93,393.80.

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.

For information, Alexander Potestivo, POTESTIVO & ASSOCIATES, P.C. Plaintiff’s Attorneys, 223 WEST JACKSON BLVD, STE 610, Chicago, IL, 60606 (312) 263-0003. Please refer to file number 114234.

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

POTESTIVO & ASSOCIATES, P.C. 223 WEST JACKSON BLVD, STE 610 Chicago IL, 60606 312-263-0003 E-Mail: ilpleadings@potestivolaw. com Attorney File No. 114234 Attorney Code. 43932 Case Number: 18 CH 11976 TJSC#: 40-1735 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 # 18 CH 11976 I3151666

CLASSIFIEDS

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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.

Austin Weekly News

AUSTINWEEKLY news Mary Ellen Nelligan Editor Michael Romain Circulation Manager Jill Wagner Senior Editor Bob Uphues ≈ Contributing Reporters Bonni McKeown, AustinTalks, Igor Studenkov Publisher Dan Haley Columnist Arlene Jones Business Manager Joyce Minich Staff Photographer Alex Rogals ≈ Design/Production Manager Andrew HOW TO REACH US Mead 141 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, IL 60302 PHONE 773-626-6332 Designer Debbie Becker FAX 708-467-9066 Sales & Marketing Representavies ONLINE www.AustinWeeklyNews.com Lourdes Nicholls, Marc Stopeck TWITTER @AustinWeeklyChi Sales & Development Austin Weekly News is published digitally and in print by Growing Community Media NFP. It is distributed free of charge at locations across Austin and Garfield Park. Our hours are Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Advertising rates are available by calling our office.

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Austin Weekly News, June 17, 2020