Austin Weekly News 081220

Page 1

FREE

Vol. 34 No. 33

North Lawndale organizations launch contact tracing initiative,

August 12, 2020

austinweeklynews.com

Also serving Garfield Park

@AustinWeeklyChi

PAGE 2

Rep. R FFord: d Ab Abolish li h teaching history until we get it right, PAGE 9

@AustinWeeklyNews

Study: Minority homeowners face tax burden New white paper shows Black, Brown homeowners paying extra $300 to $390 in property taxes By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor

A new working paper has found that Black and Hispanic homeowners face a 10 to 13 percent “higher tax burden for the same bundle of public services “than white homeowners due to racial biases in how homes are assessed for property tax purposes. The assessment disparity translates into an extra $300 to $390 that Black and Brown homeowners must pay in property taxes. In the most extreme cases, the average Black homeowner in a county where the racial assessment gap is widest “would pay an extra $790 annually in property taxes,” the authors argue. The paper, published in June by economists Troup Howard of the University of Utah and Carlos Avenancio-León of Indiana University, is called “The Assessment Gap: Racial Inequalities in Property Taxation.” Howard and Avenancio-León analyzed 118 million homes in the U.S., and specifically analyzed 3.4 million property tax appeals in Cook County. The authors conclude that the assessment gap is due to two main factors. See PROPERTY TAXES on page 6

File

DONOR AWARENESS: In honor of National Minority Donor Awareness Month, Loretto hospital is encouraging people to visit the mural installed on the outside of its Austin facility last year. Read more on page 2.

West Side grocery store shut down

The city revoked the One Eleven’s license for allegedly failing to comply with a safety plan mandated after several shootings in the area By PASCAL SABINO Block Club Chicago

One of the few grocery stores where Garfield Park residents can buy fresh

produce was shut down by the city. The Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection and the Chicago Police shut down One Eleven Food & Liquors at 111. N. Kedzie Ave. in July after for allegedly failing to follow a required plan to mitigate criminal activity around the business. The Black-owned business, which has been a staple in the area for over 42 years, had its business license revoked in July 2019 and lost an appeal to reopen last month. “They blamed us for these types of crimes. But we were in touch with the police, we called the police whenever

there were problems in the area,” said Verlinda Dotson, whose family owns the store. “They blame us for the people loitering around, instead of the police doing their job. But they’re [loitering] on city property, not our property.” The city shut down One Eleven using a process called summary closure, which enables police and city officials to close establishments they say pose a repeated threat to public safety. The store is located just off the Kedzie Green Line station, which has been a hotspot for shootings, loitering and illegal street peddlers. In 2016, there were multiple shootings

State Farm Mutual Automobile • Insurance Company State Farm Indemnity Company • Bloomington, IL • statefarm.com® Larry and his staff are licensed and together have over 75 years of State Farm experience.

See GROCERY STORE on page 8

Larry Williams,Agent 5932 W. Lake Street Chicago, 60644 (773) 379-9010 larry.williams.b0bk@statefarm.com


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.
Austin Weekly News 081220 by Wednesday Journal - Issuu