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AUSTIN WEEKLY news ■ 29th Ward participatory budgeting results in, PAGE 5
Vol. 31 No. 47
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December 6, 2017
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austinweeklynews.com
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Also serving Garfield Park
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Meet Rosemarie Rodriguez, page 3
West Side artists talk gentrification The artists explored their roles in the process and how to fight it By IGOR STUDENKOV Contributing Reporter
Some West Side artists are speaking out on a controversial subject in the African American community — gentrification. During a panel discussion convened at Jane Addams Hull House Museum in October, a range of artists who live and work on the West Side talked about “claiming” public spaces and how artists contribute to gentrification and the displacement of lower-income residents and businesses that results from the process. The panel, called Claiming and Reclaiming Space, was one of several discussions and events held as part of the museum’s Making of the West Side project, which looks to bring together scholars, activists, neighborhood residents and other stakeholders to explore the area’s history and see how the experiences of the past can inform present day issues. Jennifer Scott, the museum’s director, said that the major purpose of the project was to bring more attention to “the part of the Chicago that’s been considerably ignored, neglected, misunderstood.” And, given the fact that the museum honors the work of Jane Addams, who worked to help immigrants and lobbied on the behalf of the disenfranchised, the project was a good fit. Since 2014, artists Sara Pooley and Paola Aguirre have been working on Creative Grounds, a photo project documenting what happened to closed public schools on the West Side and elsewhere in the city. “I guess it’s important to choose what histories you want to record,” Pooley said. “And this is something we definitely felt was important,” Aguirre said that they have tried to reach out to local residents and activists in Austin and elseSee ARTIST TALK on page 6
ALEXA ROGALS/Staff Photographer
’Tis the season
Andrew Brown, left, 13, of Lake Zurich, and Elijah Walls, 11, of Prospect Heights, clean up a tree before loading it into a familys vehicle on Saturday, Dec. 2, during a a Christmas Tree giveaway at By The Hand Club For Kids on Laramie Avenue in Austin.. More photos on page 9.
Taking command
New 15th District commander Ernest Cato shares some plans for Austin By LEE EDWARDS Contributing Reporter
During a recent interview, West Side native Ernest Cato III, the new 15th District commander, laid out some of the plans he has for improving public safety in the area.
In October, city officials announced that Cato had replaced former commander Dwayne Betts, who was promoted to deputy chief of the department’s Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS) program. Betts had been at the helm since 2015, when he succeeded former commander Barbara West after she was reassigned to lead the 11th District. Cato had served the Austin district for more than a year as a tactical lieutenant before his promotion. He said that he was “fortunate” to be mentored by Betts.
Cato, a 27-year CPD veteran who grew up on the 4300 block of W. Monroe St., has served in a range of capacities in his route to becoming a commander. He said his career began on the city’s South Side, within the 21st District, where he was a tactical officer for roughly six years before moving on to become a supervisor of investigations within the City of Chicago’s Inspector General’s Office . Cato has served as a detective assigned to cases involving sex crimes against
Austin Chamber of Commerce on the move... 773.854.5848 • www.austinchicagochamber.com
See COMMANDER CATO on page 4