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New owner of West Side Sears site wants more retail, fewer apartments,
Vol. 34 No. 42
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October 14, 2020
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Also serving Garfield Park
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A lending library appears in N N. LLawndale, d l PAGE 3
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Austin natives say green industry needs people of color
‘Most of the time, when people see guys doing this kind of work, it’s not us,’ say Owners of two Black-owned sustainability firms By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor
According to a recent report released by the Brookings Institution, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, D.C., the average hourly wage for occupations in clean energy and environmental sustainability, or the green economy — from solar panel installers to environmental engineers — was nearly $26 an hour and most of those jobs required just a high school diploma or less. But Blacks, who comprise 12 percent of the U.S. population, are significantly under-represented in the burgeoning industry, which could swell if Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden is elected in November and makes good on his campaign’s $2 trillion climate plan, which could mean many more jobs in the clean energy sector. For instance, Blacks currently only comprise 3 percent of the country’s electrical power-line installers and repairers, 6 percent of the country’s insulation workers and 5 percent of the country’s environmental scientists and geoscientists. Austin natives Darnell Johnson, Stacy Johnson and Byron Payne are among the rare Black men working in the clean energy sector. They head up two companion firms. See CLEAN ENERGY on page 11
PASCAL SABINO/Block Club Chicago
A SPACE OF THEIR OWN: Alexi Young, the founder of Art West, which had its opening recently at 750 S. California Ave.
Black-owned Art West gallery opens Gallery gives West Siders a creative venue to call ‘our own’
By PASCAL SABINO Block Club Chicago
The opening show at a new Blackowned art gallery imagines the West Side’s future as a creative hub. The Art West gallery, 750 S. California Ave., is a culmination of years of art crawls and events organized by West Side artists who wanted to create space for creativity to blossom in Garfield Park.
The opening show at Art West featured the work of one of the founders, Alexie Young. Young’s collection, “Belizian Roots, Westside Raised,” is an exploration of the artist’s intersecting identities. Young’s work invokes Afro-Caribbean aesthetics, using turquoise and gold to forge a connection between her experience as a first-generation Black American in Chicago and the lives of her ancestors in Belize. While Young’s artwork looks into the
past, it also incorporates elements of science fiction to imagine the future of Black folks on the West Side. Many pieces are inspired by novelist Octavia Butler, whose Afrofuturist stories bring Black perspectives on science and technology into plots about the environment, revolutionary moments, aliens and the apocalypse. “We want to continue to think about ourselves in an empowered way and
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Austin Weekly News, October 14, 2020
Austin lawmaker wants state’s history standards changed
Rep. La Shawn Ford’s plan would establish commission to review state’s history curriculum By AUSTIN TALKS Publishing Partner
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A brighter future
Alarmed that traditional history teaching has failed to provide students with a comprehensive education that includes the perspectives of marginalized communities, state Rep. La Shawn K. Ford on Oct. 9 unveiled his proposal to update the state’s history curriculum. “To the detriment of many, the teaching of history has often been viewed through the lens of one perspective,” Ford said. “This limited narrative has rarely taught our children about the marginalization of women, people of color, persons with disabilities and other minority groups.” Over the summer, Ford said he worked with a diverse group of stakeholders to put together a legislative proposal that can immediately begin to update our teaching standards. Ford’s plan would establish a commission to review and update the state’s history curriculum so that textbooks, class discussion and other course material more accurately reflect history through the inclusion of diverse perspectives. With certain credit exceptions, under Ford’s proposal, schools would shift to civics teaching instead of history teaching during the 2021-22 school year until
Provided
TOGETHER, WE CAN POWER THROUGH ANYTHING.
CHANGE NEEDED: Rep. La Shawn Ford wants to change the state’s history curriculum standards.
recommendations from the commission are implemented. The commission would be expected to complete its work by the end of next year, with new curriculum fully adopted by June 30, 2022. Ford has been an advocate for strengthening history curriculum, previously introducing House Bill 4954 to expand instruction regarding pre-enslavement Black history and the American civil rights renaissance. At a press conference held at the DuSable Museum of African American History, its president, Perri Irmer, said education and knowledge are the most important cures for bigotry. Rep. Ford said history lessons as they are taught now are rooted in white privilege and spread misinformation. “We have to reverse the damages and effects of the traditional historic narrative that fails to account for all of us,” NBC5 reported Ford as saying. Before Friday’s press conference advocate Meleika Gardner of We Will said it would speak volumes if lawmakers voted for both of Ford’s proposals. “Both of these bills will build better race relations starting at the kindergarten grade level because they will come to understand and respect each other’s identity in this nation,” Gardner said. American history text books portray Caucasians as the only heroes and inventors who built the United States, she said. “We know that this is not true. Black people, Native Americans, Latinx, women, the Jewish community, etc. helped to build this country.”
CONTACT: austintalks.org@gmail.com
Austin Weekly News, October 14, 2020
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AUSTIN WEEKLY
news Editor Michael Romain
Senior Editor Bob Uphues Contributing Reporters Bonni McKeown, Igor Studenkov Reporting Partners Block Club, Austin Talks Columnist Arlene Jones Staff Photographer Alex Rogals Design/Production Manager Andrew Mead Designer Debbie Becker Sales & Marketing Representavies Lourdes Nicholls, Marc Stopeck Sales & Development Mary Ellen Nelligan Circulation Manager Jill Wagner ≈ Publisher Dan Haley Business Manager Joyce Minich ≈ GROWING COMMUNITY MEDIA Board of Directors Chair Judy Greffin Treasurer Nile Wendorf Gary Collins, Darnell Shields, Sheila Solomon, Eric Weinheimer ≈ HOW TO REACH US 141 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, IL 60302 PHONE 773-626-6332 FAX 708-467-9066 CIRCULATION Jill@oakpark.com ONLINE www.AustinWeeklyNews.com TWITTER @AustinWeeklyChi 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. Printed entirely on recycled paper. © 2020 Growing Community Media NFP.
PASCAL SABINO/Block Club Chicago
WHEEL OF FORTUNE: YMEN executive director Marcus Thorne at the bike box in K-Town. The bicycle library operates out of a repurposed shipping container on a formerly vacant lot at 13th Street and Pulaski Road in the K-Town neighborhood.
Bicycle lending library comes to West Side A fleet of bikes is available inside a shipping container so locals can borrow them for transit and recreation. By PASCAL SABINO Block Club Chicago
A library has opened in North Lawndale — but instead of books, this one loans out bicycles. The bike library is a project of the Young Men’s Educational Network, known as YMEN, designed to strengthen community in the area. The library will have a bicycle repair shop to offer simple bike repairs so neighbors have a place to go for flat tires, brakes and handlebar adjustments. The bicycle library operates out of a repurposed shipping container on a formerly vacant lot at 13th Street and Pulaski Road in the K-Town neighborhood. The shipping box is outfitted with about 20 donated bicycles that can be borrowed by community members and neighborhood groups. The rentals are free. YMEN is working with groups on rentals, but solo trips can also be set up by calling the group at (773) 522-9636. Making the bikes and tools to maintain them available can give residents a greater sense of freedom and autonomy to get around the city in an affordable and sustainable way, said Marcus Throne, executive director of operations for YMEN. “I want our young people to know that this
neighborhood is more than just the two or three blocks they live on,” Thorne said. “It’s the idea of having a young people feel like they own the city, the city belongs to them.” YMEN emphasizes job training and entrepreneurship among youth. The bike library will give young people in the neighborhood a paid opportunity to learn mechanical skills to help community members fix their bikes. Even though the teens may not pursue a career in mechanics, Thorne said it will give the young people a sense of accomplishment and an interest in engineering. The bike library is supported by donations and the expertise of local groups such as Working Bikes, which is developing the on-site repair shop, and Equiticity, an organization that uses biking to promote kinship and advance racial equity in the community. Other partners on the project include UCAN, the neighborhood’s greening committee GROWWS, Boxing Out Negativity and the Chicago West Side Christian School. The partners are working to build a culture of cycling in the neighborhood, where residents rely on bikes for transit and leisure. “We think of bikes as tools of empowerment and really focus on getting people who need bikes sustainable transportation,” said Trevor Clarke, of Working Bikes. “We’re really hopeful that it will be recognized as a resource that people can use and rely on into the future.” The bike box debuted as a pilot through the fall to build interest in the bike sharing program. Over the colder months, YMEN
will work with partners to streamline the bike-borrowing process, hours of operation and the bike repair program. Through the fall, Thorne expects the bicycle library to be used by local churches, neighborhood groups and after-school programs. Those groups will easily be able to contact YMEN to access the bike box to borrow as many bikes as they need for recreational activities or community bike ride events, Thorne said. The pilot will allow “organizations [to] be able to come and get the bikes, to tour North Lawndale, to take bike rides to do things in the neighborhood. So it’s kind of almost like a shared community fleet of bikes,” Thorne said. Recreation groups Boxing Out Negativity and Equiticity regularly host community bike rides to promote fellowship between neighbors and give young people safe activities. Having more biking events will improve people’s physical health and create job opportunities for young people, and it will strengthen trust among residents, which can make the neighborhood safer, said Equiticity founder Olatunji Oboi Reed. “When more people walk and bike in our neighborhoods, then our streets are more vibrant,” Reed said. “We’re confident that should we achieve vibrant streets in out neighborhood we’ll have an impact on reducing violence.” Pascal Sabino is a Report for America corps member covering Austin, North Lawndale and Garfield Park for Block Club Chicago.
CONTACT: pascal@blockclubchi.org
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Austin Weekly News, October 14, 2020
Austin Weekly News, October 14, 2020
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Dem leaders being held to account Black lawmaker says Sen. Lightford’s remarks made as third pillar of anti-racism legislative agenda unveiled By JERRY NOWICKI Capitol News Illinois
SPRINGFIELD — Illinois Legislative Black Caucus Chair state Sen. Kimberly Lightford said the caucus is holding Gov. JB Pritzker, House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, and Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, accountable for their pledged support for the ILBC agenda. At a news conference on Oct. 1 in Chicago’s Englewood community to unveil the third pillar of the ILBC’s four-pronged legislative agenda for the upcoming veto session, Lightford, D-Maywood, was asked whether she believed Madigan’s promise “to try” to support the ILBC’s initiatives to combat systemic racism in Illinois and whether the Black Caucus would support his re-election as House speaker. “He didn’t say he would try,” Lightford answered. “He said he would. Let’s not water down his statement, or the statement of the Senate president or the governor. They’re all
being held accountable for the support they said they were going to lend to this initiative, and we need their support and we’re calling on all of our colleagues to support the Black Caucus agenda to end systemic racism.” When pressed again on whether she believed him, Lightford replied “a man is only as good as his word, and that’s the word the man gave us.” Last Thursday’s event foCapitol News Illinois cused on economic access, Sen. Kimberly Lightford, left, during a news conference equity and opportunity with a on Oct. 1. joint Senate committee hearing on housing and gentrificaOpportunity and Equity Committee, and Sen. tion following in the afternoon. Christopher Belt, D-Centreville, the Senate Two other pillars of the agenda – criminal ILBC chair, will lead Black Caucus initiajustice reform, violence reduction and police accountability; and education and work- tives related to the economic equity pillar. “At a time when organizations and resiforce development – have both been formally dents are ready and working to rebuild unveiled in separate news conferences and and organize, our communities deserve the been the subject of six joint Senate committee hearings to delve into more specific top- attention they need,” Harper said. “Black ics such as sentencing reform and funding people should no longer be considered or treated as a commodity or just a consumer, for early-childhood education. The fourth pillar, health care and human but an actual partner in the economic sucservices, will be formally announced at a cess of this country with equal and equitable access to all the state has to offer.” later date. According to Lightford, all four pillars State Rep. Sonya Harper, D-Chicago, who will be addressed with legislation during the serves as the chair of the House Economic
upcoming veto session, which is scheduled for Nov. 17-19 and Dec. 1-3. Some legislation will actually be repeated, or there will be newer versions of bills the Black Caucus has filed in the past “5 years or so” but were unsuccessful for various reasons. “It’s either held in rules, or it can pass one chamber but cannot pass the other, or passes both chambers and the governor vetoed it, or it passed and became law and agencies don’t implement,” Lightford said. “I think our advantage this time is the times that we’re in. It started with George Floyd being murdered on May 25, and there’s been a major shift in how injustice and inequities have been at the forefront. The pandemic exposed everything disproportionately impacting black people in health care, and all of the nuances.” Asked where the money to fund new initiatives to end systemic racism would come from, Rep. Justin Slaughter, D-Chicago, said legislation would focus on reallocating existing resources to areas of the state with Black communities that have historically faced disinvestment or purposeful under-allocation of resources. Lightford had a shorter answer. “It’s going to come from the same place the white caucus gets their money from,” she said.
CONTACT: michael@austinweeklynews.com
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Austin Weekly News, October 14, 2020
Police reform advocates accuse alderman of ‘flip-flopping’ Members of the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability staged Oct. 8 protest outside of Ald. Chris Taliaferro’s office in Austin By IGOR STUDENKOV Contributing Reporter
Twenty activists from the community organizations that make up the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability (GAPA) marched on Ald. Chris Taliaferro’s (29th) ward office, 6272 W. North Ave. on Oct. 7, to decry what they described as his “flip-flopping” on one of the major provisions in their police oversight ordinance. For the past few years, GAPA and the Chicago Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression (CAARPR) have been pushing for ordinances that would create an elected civilian body that would have some degree of oversight over Chicago Police Department practices, discipline issues, and the hiring and firing of the police superintendent. Out of the two, GAPA’s ordinance would give the commission fewer powers, but it would still allow it to select candidates for police superintendent, the head of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability and the
members of the Chicago Police Board. It would also be able to review, approve and propose CPD and COPA policies, so long as they don’t violate the consent decree. That last aspect became an issue when Mayor Lori Lightfoot pulled her support for the ordinance, because she wanted to be a tie-breaking vote while GAPA wanted the commission to have the final word. At the time, Taliaferro supported GAPA’s position, but after his appointment in May 2019 as chair of the powerful Committee on Public Safety, he has since changed his position on the ordinance. During the Oct. 7 press conference, GAPA activists insisted that they weren’t willing to negotiate on something that would diminish the commission’s power and undermine the community’s voice. The group intends to make its case during the Oct. 20 meeting of the Committee on Public Safety. In the meantime, GAPA intends to keep up the pressure in hopes of getting Taliaferro to change his mind — or at least get more aldermen on their side. While Taliaferro signed on earlier versions of the GAPA ordinance, he told Austin Weekly News last year that, as the Public Safety chair, he wanted to stay neutral. He did announce his intention to hold hearings on the GAPA ordinance, only to repeatedly push back the date of the hearings. In March, Taliaferro told the Chicago Sun-Times that, without the ability to have the family say on policy, “You begin to ask
whether or not you even need a commission if they have no authority and no responsibilities and no power.” But in Sept. 30, the paper reported that he changed his mind, arguing that Lightfoot should have the final say, because her “political future” is on the line. GAPA Coordinator Desmon Yancy took umbrage in Taliaferro’s statement. “I think this is far more important than any person’s political future,” he said. “Turning against the community is bad enough––but doing it for purely political reasons is infuriating.” Yancy told the reporters that they couldn’t possibly compromise on that provision. “We are asking you to pass the GAPA ordinance, because we think it’s the most transformative ordinance, which is what our city deserves,” he said. Austin Weekly News attempted to speak to Taliaferro after the press conference, but the staff said that he was too busy to do an interview. Cindy Greenwood, of Community Renewal Society, a member organization that’s affiliated with GAPA, noted that Lightfoot expressed some support for the GAPA ordinance while running for mayor and that it has been over 500 days since she won election. “End the flip-flopping, mayor,” she said. “Keep your word. Pass GAPA now.” Joshua Barker, of GAPA member Southwest Organizing Project, said that he’s been advocating for police reform in general and
the GAPA ordinance specifically for over three years. “[Ald. Taliaferro], we demand you give that same energy as before,” he said. “Call it for a vote on Oct. 15.” But the harshest words came from Rabbi Suzanne Griffel, of the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs. “When police officers can murder with impunity, when politicians care more about their power than the safety of their citizens — no, Alderman Taliaferro and Mayor Lightfoot, you need to be more concerned about Black and Brown lives,” she said. “You are in office to make Chicago a place where all of us can thrive and live in peace.” Amin Musaddiq, of Austin, works for the Inner-city Muslim Action Network. He said that he had his own experience with police misconduct back in 2001, when he said a police officer planted crack cocaine on him. The complaint he filed with the police department’s Office of Professional Standards, he said, didn’t go anywhere. “I support the GAPA ordinance because it gives the community a voice at the table, a table that history has proven is not [acting] in the interest of the community,” he said. “So, as a resident of the West Side, I support the GAPA ordinance with no compromise, with the community being at the table. And politicians should stop playing with the safety and well-being of the community.
CONTACT: igorst3@hotmail.com
During forum, residents call to put community back in policing The 15th District held the forum to gather feedback for its District Strategic Plan By IGOR STUDENKOV Contributing Reporter
The fallout from the killing of George Floyd has brought renewed calls to shift from using police enforcement to address crime and violence, with many activists even calling for abolishing the police altogether. But more enforcement was exactly what many Austin residents called for at a recent virtual forum organized by the 15th District. The forum, held Oct. 6, is part of a series of district-level events that are being held throughout Chicago in October and November in order to give residents a chance to talk about what their local police should focus on and how they would like to see the police interact with the community. The urging for more enforcement did get some pushback, with other residents and some police officers calling for more of a restorative approach. There was a broad
consensus among the roughly 76 attendees, around 60 of whom were residents, that what CPD is doing isn’t working, and that it would benefit everyone if officers are involved in the community outside the context of responding to calls. 15th District will now take that feedback and use it to craft the District Strategic Plan. It will hold another online meeting on Nov. 10, at 6 p.m., to give residents a chance to review the plan before it’s finalized. In November, the 15th District joined the Neighborhood Policing Initiative, which was piloted in the neighboring 25th District. The project puts more emphasis on having officers interact with the community in a positive context, giving residents a say in policing and creating District Coordination Officers, who are specifically responsible for working with residents to resolve issues. The Oct. 6 community forum followed the format CPD has adopted for most outreach events. Attendees were broken up into small groups made up of police officers and residents and everybody was encouraged to share as much as they were comfortable with and suggest ideas. Toward the end, representatives of each group presented the highlights of their
respective discussions. In the room Austin Weekly News was sorted in, the conversation was dominated by two residents who’ve been active in their respective block clubs — Diana Graham and La Toya Fox. Both of them urged the officers to do more about quality of life issues, such as loud music, people obstructing traffic, overflowing trash bins and neglected buildings. “These are quality of life, issues, but when you call 911, you’re told immediately that those issues are not prioritized,” Fox added. “And I think [that response] contributes a lot to where we are mentally on some things. I mean, it affects your state of mind when you live around filth.” Fox wants police officers to ticket people who commit these sorts of offenses. “There have to be consequences for that particular behavior,” Fox said. “If you want to see people show respect for that particular block, start hitting people with those tickets.” Fareem Willis, a restorative justice coordinator, was among those who argued that ticketing wouldn’t actually help; rather, talking to people and addressing their needs would be more productive.
“No one should be hungry, no one should be without key services,” he said. “I think if we take a more progressive approach to regain more of an idea of the community, come out, introduce ourselves to people, find out who needs what.” Donovan Robinson, a restorative justice coordinator at Michele Clark High School and a former police officer echoed that argument. “I think we need to have a conversation in front of everyone and listen to each side, and maybe they start to listen to the community, and respect the community,” he said. If there was one thing the participants agreed on, it was that the 15th district police officers should have more positive interactions with residents. Aileen Bhandari, a Cook County assistant state’s attorney who works with the office’s community justice centers program, noted that, whether a person was a victim of a crime or was accused of a crime, their first experience with the police is most likely to be negative, because, either way, the person is going to be distressed.
CONTACT: igorst3@hotmail.com
Austin Weekly News, October 14, 2020
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I evicted my tenants with no remorse!
couple weeks ago I was sitting in my backyard with a friend. I proudly pointed out how I had grown zinnias this year from deadhead flowers from last year. I pinched a few dying flowers, and went to put them in the flip top shoe box that I kept underneath the back stairs. As I pulled the shoe box out, I noticed that it was extremely heavy. My first thought was that my son had put something in it for reasons unbeknownst to me. I cradled the box in my arm like a newborn and flipped the top back. Staring at me with two black eyes that don’t blink and curled up in those dead flowers quite comfortably, was the infamous possum that I have met several times over the past
year coming down my sidewalk. I screamed from fright, threw the box to the ground and jumped back simultaneously. My friend uses oxygen and I landed on his oxygen tube, cutting him off from his source of life. The possum was unfazed by it all and slowly strolled off. Needless to say, I now keep a heavy piece of lumber over that box so that he can’t make his way in again. Tenant number one was evicted! My neighbor called me the other day and told me the city was out to bait for rats. I jumped up and went to the garage, opening the overhead door expecting the city worker to be in the alley. When the man entered my garage from the service door, he immediately informed
ARLENE JONES
AUSTIN WEEKLY NEWS
me that the rats were living in my garage. What? I use my garage all the time and I have never seen them. The man pointed out several mounds of dirt and rocks that the rats had been digging out from underneath the foundation. Since it was on the passenger side and I always back my car into my garage, it was something I never noticed because of all the other junk I had in the garage. Strangely, my garage concrete floor had a 4-in gap between it and the wood that was used to construct it. The rats had been burling holes underneath the wood siding to get into the garage. They had also been eating the two-by-four studs that hold up the garage in order to have their burrows. That night, as I came home and opened up the garage door, a 9-in rat with a 9-inch tail scurried into the corner. That was it. These tenants were getting an eviction! I was on a mission.
I went to Home Depot and the employee pointed out a steel mesh panel I could trim to fit into the gaps. He also recommended the commercial strength concrete. My son, the big chicken, and I, the scary cat, went to work. I shoveled as much of the dirt and rocks back into the gaps, until it was level with the concrete floor. He mixed up the concrete and trimmed the steel mesh to lay at the bottom. I filled the gap between each of the stud walls with about six inches of concrete forcing it down into all the cracks and crevices. One of my newly evicted tenants was seen eating some of the rat poison that somehow had been carried into the yard. We also discovered one dead body in the garage along with another one that had been hit by a car. We gave both former tenants a plastic bag burial and any of the others are now homeless, at least from my garage!
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Apply for city’s neighborhood development award
Applications for LISC’s Chicago Neighborhood Development Awards By PASCAL SABINO Block Club Chicago
A national nonprofit is awarding grants to neighborhood groups doing communitydriven projects in the city — and the deadline to apply is soon. Now in its 27th year, LISC Chicago‘s Chicago Neighborhood Development Awards recognize excellence in community development, personal achievements of neighborhood leaders and architecture. Awards will be given for creative placemaking, outstanding community plan, healthy communities, outstanding nonprofit neighborhood real estate project, affordable rental housing preservation, for-profit neighborhood real estate project and power of community. Most of the awards come with a $15,000 grant. Applications are due 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15. To apply and find out more information on project eligibility, visit: https://app.lisccnda.org/.
Special grants supports nonprofits during pandemic The 2020 Chicago Neighborhood Development Awards ceremony was held virtually in the spring due to the pandemic. LISC had already raised money for an in-person celebration before the pandemic made that unfeasible. Organizers converted the money they would have spent on the party to fund more neighborhood projects, creating $75,000 worth of special grants for four programs. Firebird Community Arts in Garfield Park received a grant in recognition of programs that use glassblowing and ceramics as a medium for healing trauma. Brave Space Alliance, the city’s first Black- and trans-led LGBTQ Center located on the South Side, received a grant to support their resources, programming and services for LGBTQ individuals on the South and West sides. Mujeres Latinas en Acción received a grant to support its comprehensive social services and advocacy initiatives serving Latinas that promote non-violence, reproductive health and leadership development. Southside Community Federal Credit Union, a credit union owned and managed by its members, received a grant to support
its work to equalize economic power and to fight poverty by improving financial literacy and providing access to credit and savings services. “We really wanted to help see them grow to the next level and to keep providing important services they do in neighborhoods,” said Caroline Goldstein, deputy director at LISC. “The hope is to help those organizations become the next generation Chicago Neighborhood Development Award winners.” Firebird Community Arts applied for the awards twice in the past, Goldstein said. During site visits evaluating them for the award, LISC volunteers identified the arts organization as a rising star. “They were top on the list for me because just the great feedback that I’ve gotten about their creativity, how engaged they are with the clients and the real need they’re responding to by using art to help people heal from trauma,” Goldstein said. Like many organizations, Firebird Community Arts has had to pivot to address the uprisings against police violence and provide relief to those impacted by the pandemic. The special grant will help the nonprofit continue to give young people a place to manage their mental health while also directly responding to other community needs, such as food and hygiene products, Reyes said. “The thread between all of the awards is community engagement and responding to community need and vision,” Goldstein said. The arts organization’s signature program, Project FIRE, is a partnership with hospital-based violence intervention service, Healing Hurt People. Young people recovering from gun violence are recruited into Project Fire, where they are offered trauma training and group discussions led by social workers to help them process their mental, physical and emotional trauma. Blowing glass in the hot shop is used as a creative outlet to deepen those conversations about trauma by building relationships and finding trust with others who have similar experiences, said Marine Tempels Black, of Firebird Community Arts. “They have to be working together in a very focused situation, and that requires a lot of trust in other people for safety,” Tempels Black said. “So it’s a very powerful tool for building trust and relationships there, which then helps people feel … more open to sharing.”
CONTACT: pascal@blockclubchi.org
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Austin Weekly News, October 14, 2020
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New owner of Sears site wants more retail, fewer apartments Contributing Reporter
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Novak Construction, the new owner of the former Sears store at North Avenue and Harlem, is looking to build more retail, while keeping some of the residential components outlined in an earlier redevelopment plan. As previously reported, Seritage Holdings, which inherited the ownership of the site when it was spun off from Sears, sold several of its Chicago properties to Novak Construction. Seritage had previously worked with Chicago-based Tucker Development to turn the Sears complex into a mixed-use development with retail space and upscale apartments. Novak now proposes to demolish the Sears building altogether and build a new grocery store, two retail buildings and a drive-through restaurant, while keeping the apartment plans for the site’s east parking lot the same as Tucker’s. In a message to constituents, Chicago Ald. Chris Taliaferro (28th), whose ward includes both lots, said he will be hosting community meetings over Zoom “within the next 2-3 weeks,” but didn’t give any concrete details by deadline. The previous proposal attracted plenty of support from residents because of the
jobs it would create and the new customer traffic it would generate, but it also attracted opposition. Most of the concerns centered on the fact that residential units would be apartments rather than condominiums, as well as the size of the buildings. Residents living among Nordica Avenue, east of the east parking lot, were especially concerned about the impact of the buildings towering over their houses. Some residents were also concerned about the lack of green spaces. In the message to constituents, Taliaferro wrote that he asked Novak to create more green space on the east lot than what the Tucker plan called for. It should be noted that Tucker already gutted the existing Sears building to prepare it for the renovation, but the work was paused at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The plan doesn’t make it clear what would happen with the CTA Route 72/North Ave bus turnaround, which currently wraps around the Sears building. In his message to constituents, Taliaferro was optimistic about the new owner. “[John Novak, president of Novak Construction] is excited about the opportunity to bring the 29th Ward a project that we will be proud of,” he wrote. “His family has extensive experience in neighborhood-based development, and it is important for him that this project is well received by the ward.”
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CHANGE OF PLANS: The site of the former Sears at the corner of North and Harlem has a new owner who wants to build more retail on the site.
Austin Weekly News, October 14, 2020
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Byron Payne, Stacey Johnson and Darnell Johnson are among the rare Blacks who own businesses in the green energy sector. Michael Romain
CLEAN ENERGY Diversifying from page 1 Darnell owns Urban Efficiency Group, which provides free environmental sustainability consulting services to local governments, particularly in underserved communities of color. Stacy and Byron are president and field director, and field supervisor, respectively, of Urban Efficiency LLC, a firm that provides a range of urban efficiency services, such as home weatherization and energy conservation consultation. “Stacy is the president and Byron is an owner of Urban Efficiency — they are premier demonstrators of what it means to be a minority-owned business in a space that doesn’t necessarily show a lot of us in the space,” said Darnell during an interview on Oct. 8 at a worksite in suburban Broadview. Darnell, who wore a sharp navy blue suit, worked to secure a memorandum of understanding with the predominantly Black suburb to provide environmental sustainability consulting services in a variety of areas. Already, his firm has helped the village implement a program designed to increase the number of homeowners who weatherize their homes. While Darnell spoke, Stacy and Byron were in black work outfits installing a Retrotec Blower at the entrance to Broadview’s village hall. The door is typically used to test homes for air leakages, but Urban Efficiency has retrofitted it to serve a different need. “This depressurizes the home,” Stacy said of the door. “Typically, we use it to test for air leakages — every crack and open spot
that leads to the outside. This pulls air through those cracks so we can go around the home and find where the leaks are at and seal those leaks up, so that the home can be more energy efficient. But instead of tracking leaks, the Retrotec Blower door will be used to increase ventilation and lower people’s risk of contracting COVID-19 while inside of Broadview’s polling facilities on Nov. 3. The installation was part of Urban Efficiency LLC’s and Urban Efficiency Group’s Healthy Voting Initiative, which is designed to help keep voters and election workers in predominately African American communities safe while at the polls. In addition to Broadview, the men have also worked with some south suburbs, they said. “Most of the time, when people see guys doing this kind of work, it’s not us,” Darnell said. “And so Stacy and Byron have been very dedicated about letting people know that this is a career path.” Darnell said that one of the reasons there are so few Blacks working in the clean energy sector is due to what he said is a chronic lack of the three A’s: awareness, accessibility and affordability. In addition to not seeing many people like them working in the field, many Blacks may also be locked out clean energy employment due to the barriers to training opportunities and the steep cost of certifications. “If the training is so far away from them and it’s not localized, they won’t necessarily have the means to getting to where the training is available,” Darnell said. Stacy and Byron Payne said that this is one of the reasons why they’re often willing to setup pop-up training sites to localize
access. Darnell said that the other barrier, affordability, is due to the fact that a certification, which is critical to career advancement, can cost between $1,800 and $2,500. “You can know about this and have access to the opportunities, but if you can’t afford to pay for certifications, then it doesn’t matter,” Darnell said. He said that certifications for entry level jobs like air leakage controller and installer is between $1,800 and $2,000. It costs about $2,200 and $2,500 to get certified as a building analyst, a step above leakage controller and installer. “To get to where Stacy and Bryon are, and those certifications aren’t all that they have, you’d have to spend in excess of between $12,000 and $15,000 to get the certifications that each of them has,” Darnell said. “And once you move from your mid-level to ad-
vanced certifications, there are a certain amount of hours you have to demonstrate in the field before you can even sit to take those certifications.” Urban Efficiency LLC is a certified test center and is qualified to “put folks on a certain trajectory,” Darnell said. In order to address those barriers to entry for minorities, Urban Efficiency LLC created an EcoWorks program designed to “recruit, train and employ a diverse workforce in the energy efficiency industry,” according to the firm’s website. “You can’t talk about a green economy and wanting to get more people into it until you start talking about equity,” Darnell said. For more information on Urban Efficiency LLC and Urban Efficiency Group, visit urbanefficiencygroup.com.
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Austin Weekly News, October 14, 2020
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Austin Weekly News, October 14, 2020 attempt to build a future for the West Side where residents don’t have to leave their own neighborhoods and travel across town to experience the arts, Young said. The gallery aims to expand opportunities for local artists and entrepreneurs to showcase their talents. “We don’t complain about what we don’t see. We create the amenities that we don’t see,” Young said. “We’re creating the experience that we want to have, and we’re trying to do that on the West Side rather than taking our dollars and our energy out of the community.” Having a local and Blackowned art venue will be a tremendous resource to the neighborhood, Simon said. Art West will begin to fill the gap in creative opportunities for
ART WEST Artist
from page 1
pandemic and the fight for racial equity. “I personally get strength from my elders and ancestors to move things forward and move the culture forward,” Simon said. At its core, the Art West gallery is an
embody a sense of strength as we are transforming what we see around us,” Young said. The worlds shown in Young’s paintings are true to the vision of West Side that Art West seeks to create. Many of the pieces show a thriving West Side revitalized by the community members themselves. One painting shows a woman taking the form of a phoenix rising from the ashes, safeguarding the neighborhood from the gentrification local families fear will soon displace longtime residents, Young said. Photographer Jay Simon, who helped curate the show, said Young’s use of her ancestral roots to envision a better future is “very timely,” given the many transformations happening in response to the
Pascal Sabino/ Block Club Chicago
ART IS DOPE: Art West is an attempt to build a future for the West Side, say its founder Alexie Young.
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people on the West Side, he said. “I felt like for years, the West Side, was like a stepchild — nobody cared about us, it felt like nothing was here,” Simon said. “I just hope that the community and the culture receives this as a place that we take on as our own.” At the Art West opening, Lawndale resident Azadi Williams said the art venue “brings a richness to the community that people wouldn’t get otherwise.” Having an abundance of art in the area is especially beneficial for young people so they can see possibilities for themselves in creative fields, said Williams, who is also the principal at North Lawndale College Prep. “The more that we have artistic people living, thriving, growing, pouring back into the community … that exposure for our young people, they need to be able to see art and understand it and interact with it, and know that they, too, are creative,” she said. Art West is raising funds to further expand art opportunities for the West Side CONTACT: pascal@blockclubchi.org
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Austin Weekly News, October 14, 2020
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TEACHER AND TEACHER AIDE MINI ME BUNCH seeks teacher and teacher aide to enhance and expand daycare serving children ages 6 weeks to 5 years. Teacher must have at least Associates’ degree in Early Childhood Education. Minimum 1 year experience preferred in each position. Must love children and be outgoing, patient, flexible. Contact 773-521-9499.
ELECTRICIAN’S HELPER PART-TIME Part-time Electrician’s Helper. Must have own transportation. Call for more info. 708-738-3848
HAPPY KIDD’S WEST INC. 6928 W 16th St Berwyn, IL 60513 We are seeking a Director and 2 teachers. Director must be qualified and have Associate’s degree or equivalent. Teachers must be director or teacher qualified. Mon thru Fri. working with Infants to 6 yrs old. Compensable salary negotiable based on experience. Call 773-619-5545 or fax resume to 773-728-5437.
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SUBURBAN RENTALS FOREST PARK 3BR Jackson Blvd, 3 BR apt., 2nd floor w/dining room and breakfast nook. New kitchen w/granite & stainless, new bath, central air, free laundry. 2 blocks to blue line, 2 blocks to Madison Street. 1700 + deposit & credit check required. Garage available. 312-802-8291 OAK PARK: ROOSEVELT/ OAK PARK AVE. CORRIDOR 2BR 4RMS close to blue line. On site laundry, parking, heat & water incl. $1200/ month 708-383-9223
ROOMS FORÂ RENT AUSTIN CLEAN ROOM With fridge, micro. Nr Oak Park, Super Walmart, Food 4 Less, bus, & Metra. $116/wk and up. 773-637-5957
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WANTED TO BUY WANTED MILITARY ITEMS: Helmets, medals, patches, uniforms, weapons, flags, photos, paperwork, Also toy soldiers – lead or plastic – other misc. toys. Call Uncle Gary 708-522-3400 To Be Given Away, Items for Sale and Lost & Found classified ads run free in Austin Weekly News! Call 773/626-6332 to place your ad.
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Qualifications: a) Certified Registered Nurse license required b) Appropriate Bachelor’s Degree required; Master’s Degree is preferred c) Three years of successful infection control experience is preferred w/experience in a large institution, such as a hospital, school, or detention center. Job Duties: Provide direct support to the Superintendent in the area of COVID-19 prevention, surveillance, tracking/tracing, and outbreak containment. The Infection Control Officer will be instrumental in facilitating the District’s successful transition to in-person classroom instruction at the elementary and middle schools. Emphasis will be on establishing and implementing an infection control policy across the school district, overseeing the tracking and tracing of all student/staff COVID-19 cases, liaison with the area pediatricians and local testing centers, and management of district database for a district dashboard. Apply online at district90.org River Forest Public Schools District 90 is seeking a Permanent Traveling Substitute Teacher for Willard and Lincoln elementary schools Qualifications: a) Valid Illinois Professional Educator License with Elementary Grade School Endorsement b) Successful teaching experience preferred Job Duties: The traveling elementary substitute teacher will be assigned to classes at the elementary schools on a daily basis, as needed. Apply online at district90.org River Forest Public Schools District 90 is seeking a Long-Term Substitute PE Teacher (November 30, 2020 – March 19, 2021) Qualifications: a) Valid Illinois Professional Educator License with Grade-Appropriate Physical Education Endorsement b) Successful teaching experience in physical education preferred c) A Master’s Degree is preferred Job Duties: Physical Education Teacher will instruct a class in physical education in elementary grades and work cooperatively with other classroom teachers and support area staff. The teacher will be responsible for supervising and managing the class, effectively teaching the curriculum to meet individual needs of children. Apply online at district90.org
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PUBLIC NOTICES PUBLIC NOTICE Notice is hereby given, pursuant to “An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State,� as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: Y20004709 on October 5, 2020 Under the Assumed Business Name of THE PERFECT PLAN 4 U 2 with the business located at: 3636 213TH PL, MATTESON, IL 60443. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/ partner(s) is: ELLEN MCKAY 3636 213TH PL MATTESON IL 60443, USA. Published in Austin Weekly News 10/14, 10/21, 10/28/2020
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PUBLIC NOTICE PUBLIC NOTICE Notice is hereby given, pursuant to “An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State,� as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: Y20004728 on October 6, 2020 Under the Assumed Business Name of MAID 2 ADORE with the business located at: 3301 W ARTHINGTON 205, CHICAGO, IL 60624. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/partner(s) is: LATISHA PATRICE LACEY 3301 W ARTHINGTON CHICAGO, IL 60624, USA. Published in Austin Weekly News 10/14, 10/21, 10/28/2020
REAL ESTATE FOR SALE IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS COUNTY DEPARTMENT CHANCERY DIVISION CITY OF CHICAGO, A MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, Plaintiff, vs. TBI URBAN HOLDINGS LLC; METLIFE HOME LOANS; THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT; LATISHA VEAL; WANKEE VEAL; CHASE HOME FINANCE, LLC; CURTIS GARRETT; DEMETRIOUS KELLY; UNKNOWN OWNERS AND NON-RECORD CLAIMANTS, Defendants, 11 M1 402682 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC NOTICE is hereby given that pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure entered in the above entitled cause on February 18, 2020, Intercounty Judicial Sales Corporation will on Monday, November 2, 2020, at the hour of 11 a.m. in its office at 120 West Madison Street, Suite 718A, Chicago, Illinois, sell to the highest bidder for cash, the following described property: P.I.N. 16-09-315-043-0000, 16-09315-044-0000, and 16-09-315-0450000. Commonly known as 125 North Pine Avenue, Units A, B, and C, Chicago, Illinois 60644. The property consists of vacant land. Sale terms: 10% of the purchase price will be required to bid at the sale. The balance of the purchase price required by 12:00 p.m. the following day. The property will NOT be open for inspection. Upon payment in full of the amount bid, the purchaser will receive a Certificate of Sale which will entitle the purchaser to a Deed to the premises after confirmation of the sale. For information call City of Chicago Department of Law/COAL, City Hall 121 North LaSalle Street, Suite 400, Chicago, Illinois 60602 (312) 7420007. INTERCOUNTY JUDICIAL SALES CORPORATION Selling Officer, (312) 444-1122 Dated: August 26, 2020 I3156690
Austin Weekly News, October 14, 2020
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Austin Weekly News, October 14, 2020 SPONSORED CONTENT
Don’t let the COVID crisis become an eviction crisis Can’t pay your rent due to COVID? Oak Park Regional Housing Center is here to help! By Athena Williams Executive Director
While you may not think about the Oak Park Regional Housing Center as a great resource for help on rental assistance, eviction mediation, we’ve pivoted fast to meet what is a critical need whether you live in Oak Park, on the West Side or in Proviso. Finding housing, keeping people in their housing is what we do and we’re ready to help you.
C
OVID-19 has challenged us to reexamine all the different parts of our lives. We’ve spent the year quarantining at home, we’re wearing masks and keeping our kids focused on learning is now an extra job, assuming we’ve kept our real jobs.
Maybe, though, the biggest and most immediate worry is not being able to make the rent. And it’s confusing sorting out the different eviction moratoriums the state and the federal government have rolled out.
Athena Williams, Executive Director
OAK PARK REGIONAL HOUSING CENTER
While you may not think about the Oak Park Regional Housing Center as a great resource for help on rental assistance, eviction mediation, we’ve pivoted fast to meet what is a critical need whether you live in Oak Park, on the West Side or in Proviso. Finding housing, keeping people in their housing is what we do and we’re ready to help you. As the Housing Center’s executive director, I am intimately familiar with the struggles people are facing in making ends meet right now and I know people don’t
Sharon Eckhoff is the voice you hear when you call the Oak Park office of the Housing Center. ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer
Something that people don’t realize is how critical keeping folks in their homes is, especially right now. When people are evicted the most common recourse is to lean on others for housing support. That might work in a pandemic-free world but with COVID-19 this creates optimum conditions for spread. Removing people from their homes now would force people to pile into small spaces or couch surf around the community, exposing more people than necessary to COVID-19. The more people evicted means more COVID cases, which leads to more people getting ill, more people not being able to work, and if the rate of infections increases too much, we may be looking into shutting down again. Whether living alone, with roommates, or with your family, it’s a matter of public health safety to keep people contained in their current living arrangements.
OPRHC’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program is designed to help both tenants and property owners. Our efforts help facilitate conversations to temporarily The Housing Center has offices in both Oak Park and Austin. Anita Bailey, housing counselor , works in the lower monthly rental costs for Austin office on Lake Street near Austin Blvd. tenants facing financial hardship. ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer As unemployment and job loss are plaguing our community, it’s necessarily know where to turn for help. OPRHC is a understandable that people need help navigating their resource, as our newest rental assistance program was finances right now, but that extends to our community’s initiated to help both tenants and landlords explore a landlords, too. They have mortgages that need paying. middle ground for rent payments during this COVID-19 We’re finding that both parties are usually open to creating pandemic. Renters have options, and they need to know a solution that works for everyone. that.
The full staff of the Austin office of the Housing Center includes Deboorah Williams, program coordinator; Anita Bailey, housing counselor;, Karen Barragan, secretary and Wilane Boone, senior housing counselor. ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer
The Center for Disease Control’s eviction moratorium, effective Sept. 4 to Dec. 31, 2020, will prevent landlords from evicting non-paying tenants for up to six to eight months, when under normal circumstances landlords can evict in just 60 to 120 days. This time extension puts Mom-and-Pop landlords — building owners who use rent payments to cover the cost of their own housing — in incredibly difficult situations. OPRHC’s intention is to make sure landlords are still receiving at least some rent money during the six to eight months tenants are at risk of eviction. We have always helped our community with rental housing assistance, whether it be credit debt management sessions or lease amendments, but our current focus on rent status mediation is a pivot to help answer the problems COVID-19 has created. So if you and yours are fighting to make it, reach out and we’ll do everything we can to find a solution. Our phone is 708-848-7150.