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New $7M medical, retail and housing development headed to N. Lawndale,
Vol. 34 No. 29
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July 15, 2020
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austinweeklynews.com
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Also serving Garfield Park
@AustinWeeklyChi
PAGE 6
Austin teens turn liquor store into grocery oasis, PAGE 2
@AustinWeeklyNews
Loretto workers threaten to strike
Around 180 Loretto Hospital workers could walk off job July 20 if wage, staffing demands not met By PASCAL SABINO Block Club Chicago
Essential workers at Loretto Hospital announced July 9 that they would strike if their demands for higher pay and better staffing are not met by the hospital. About 180 workers represented by SEIU Healthcare Illinois have been bargaining with Loretto since December, but say the hospital has not made efforts in good faith to meet their demands for better compensation and workplace rights. The union voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike that would begin July 20 if no progress is made. Union organizers said the collective action dubbed #StrikeForBlackLives would push the hospital to address the safety and wellbeing of both patients and workers at the hospital. Loretto’s frontline essential workers and the community served by the hospital are both predominantly Black and have long suffered from a lack of equity that has left them vulnerable to poverty, COVID-19 and other underlying illnesses union representatives said. “At Loretto, we see a lot of people whose health and lives are on the line because of accidents or shootings—but we see even more people whose lives are at risk because of poverty and stress,” said ER Tech Wellington Thomas. Some communities served by Loretto HosSee LORETTO on page 6
ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer
IN FULL BLOOM: On July 11, members of the Austin/Adams Block Club organized volunteers to plant rose bushes and flowers at several corners along Austin Boulevard. Even Mayor Lori Lightfoot stopped by. See more photos on page 7.
Austin pastor affected by ‘trifold pandemic’ Rev. Ira Acree has contracted COVID-19, protested after George Floyd and buried a 13-year-old — all in less than three months By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor
On June 7, Rev. Ira Acree, the pastor of Greater St. John Bible Church, 1256 N. Waller Ave., walked to the pulpit of his
Austin church for the first time in several weeks. “Millions didn’t make it, but I am one of the ones who did,” Acree told a gathering of about a dozen masked and socially distant parishioners during a service that was streaming to a larger body of believers online. Acree had cause to rejoice. He and his wife had both contracted COVID-19 and lived to talk about the experience. Many Blacks across the country did not — including Adrew Betts, the chairman of Greater St. John’s deacon board. Betts died in early April. At the time, Acree stated that Betts’ death
“has left a great void in the leadership helm of our church and community.” Weeks later, while preaching on one Sunday in May, Acree began coughing. “I was feeling some kind of way up to Mother’s Day weekend,” Acree said during a phone interview on July 12. “I was in the pulpit doing virtual service with about seven or eight people in the building. My wife didn’t feel well that Sunday and had been recovering. At that point she thought it was the flu. And in the middle of my sermon, I started coughing. In this context, in this environment, when you cough or sneeze, everybody starts looking at you. I
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See IRA ACREE on page 5
Larry Williams,Agent 5932 W. Lake Street Chicago, 60644 (773) 379-9010 larry.williams.b0bk@statefarm.com