Current Temperature

CHICAGO WEATHER

Friday, August 24, 2018

Block Club Chi: Massive Indoor Track Facility Coming To South Side Will Be City’s First

There was a ground breaking for this facility this past Sunday and it will soon be at Gately Park. Via Block Club Chi:
For 35 years, Chicago activist, scholar and former track athlete Dr. Conrad Worrill has worked to bring an indoor track facility to Chicago.

On Sunday, during a groundbreaking ceremony at Gately Park, 744. E. 103rd St., he realized it’s actually happening.

“I’m ecstatic, happy, overjoyed, we’ve been fighting for this for over 35 years and I think it will give an option to Chicago Public Schools student athletes in having accessibility to an indoor track,” Worrill said. “I believe it will put Chicago on the map and it’s an opportunity to put Chicago track and field on the map.”
...
In a statement, Emanuel said the track and field facility will provide Chicago athletes of all ages a place to train year round.

“In partnership with After School Matters and Exelon, we are proud to make Harold Washington’s dream a reality on the South Side,” he said.

Harris, whose ward is home to Gately Park, said the project will cost $55 million and is scheduled to be completed by August 2019.

Saturday, August 18, 2018

Report: Chicago Public Schools 'failed to recognize' extent of systemwide sexual abuse problem


We've seen a lot about this in the last few months or so. The allegations of sexual abuse and in some instances prosecution of them. This report well who knows if there is a lot of surprise over this:
Broad failures at all levels of Chicago Public Schools kept officials from preventing and responding to sexual abuse suffered by students in the nation’s third-largest school system, according to a prominent law firm’s early review of problems documented this summer in a Tribune investigation.

The report by the law firm Schiff Hardin identified repeated “systemic deficiencies” in training, incident reporting, data collection and trend tracking that pervaded city schools, the system’s downtown headquarters and a school board controlled by Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Employees were not consistently trained on district policies and procedures involving sexual misconduct, according to the report authored by Schiff Hardin partner Maggie Hickey and released Friday. CPS also did not ensure that those policies were being implemented or that they were effective, the report said.

The report describes how understaffed and underfunded CPS investigators struggled to process reports of potential sexual harassment, notifications sent to the Department of Children and Family Services, employee misconduct allegations and altercations between students and staff — thousands of reports during the 2016-17 school year alone.

Hickey noted that the district’s incident-reporting software, known as Verify, “is almost universally viewed by principals as cumbersome and inefficient.” CPS is moving to a new system next year, the report said.
While this blog is named for a now closed former public school, it just has to be said. Another reason for confidence in public education to go into a negative direction...

h/t Newsalert

Friday, August 17, 2018

#Ward09 Public notice

Who knew that Chicago did indeed have bats flying around in the city. And I never considered that they would fly south as this bat authorities have found. Check out this notice from Ald. Beale's ig page.

Saturday, August 11, 2018

Pullman playground and gang truce....

I'm sorry to have not shared yesterday's playground building in Pullman - although I did note this over at The Sixth Ward earlier this past week. I also didn't know the story behind this though judging by the headline is more interesting than building this new playground.

I will share a tweet from the reporter of this story for the Tribune, Tessa Weinberg
But the playground’s foundation was really laid nearly a year ago when Sherman Scullark, a member of the Risky Road gang faction, rang Detective Vivian Williams’ doorbell.

Williams, who has lived in the neighborhood for 32 years — and has spent 23 of them working as a Chicago police officer — was shocked when Scullark came to her.

“I could see in his face that he needed to talk about something. And when I opened the door he said, 'Officer Williams, I'm just tired. I'm tired,’ ” Williams said.

Scullark was tired of the violence. The conflict between Risky Road and the Maniac Fours faction had been going on since Scullark was a young boy.

And it marred the community. Kids didn’t play outside. They knew not to go to the basketball courts or the gas station — both hotspots for shootings when rival gang members found each other across the 107th Street dividing line.

So Scullark asked Williams, who’s known as the neighborhood mom, to set up a meeting between the rival gangs. Williams agreed but needed approval from the district commander.

The next day, Williams got it. But Scullark beat her to it. He had already orchestrated a truce agreement.

He had approached his rivals on their block and let them know he wasn’t carrying a firearm. Then he told them how he felt. It turned out some of them felt the same.

They agreed to put down the guns, and the neighborhood has been more peaceful ever since.

“I said, 'You didn't even give me 24 hours?’ ” Williams said. “He said, ‘Now can you introduce me to Arne Duncan?’ ”

Duncan, the former education secretary under Barack Obama and former Chicago Public Schools CEO, is the driving force behind the organization Chicago Creating Real Economic Destiny, known as Chicago CRED.
Read the whole thing!

And here's a flyer for that recent event that I hadn't posted here.

Friday, August 10, 2018

Annual back to school picnic and health fair August 18, 2018 #Ward09 #BuildingwithBeale

This one of many events that seemed to have picked this particular day. Who can turned down a back to school picnic however.
Ward09.com
Saturday, August 18, 2018
11:00 AM to 3:00 PM
Palmer Park
201 E. 111th Street

Of course give Ald. Beale's office a call with any questions! 773.785.1100

BTW the above image was taken from Ald. Beale's new ig page. Give it a look and follow to see what else he's up to!

A permanent reallocation of police to troubled neighborhoods #Ward09 #BuildingwithBeale

You know I'm with Ald. Beale on this. The troubled areas of Chicago need an aggressive approach and if that means an increased police presence then it's necessary.

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

FOX News: Chicago Democrat asks for President Trump's help

[VIDEO] This is not something we see everyday. Chicago is supposed to be a "Trump-free" zone and we are home to a piece of Trump owned real-estate that people seem to love making a statement in front of. Let's not forget Mayor Rahm Emanuel has little issue going at it in the press with the President.

Then we see state representative LaShawn Ford discussing why he would like President Donald Trump to send federal help to Chicago with regards to the gun violence. He is one local Democrat who isn't accepting Chicago as a "Trump-free" zone. He appeared on FOX & Friends on Monday morning something you might have seen on Capitol Fax yesterday.

You know I can't blame him one bit. Don't just get federal assistance, get state assistance as well. Over the years there were plans to send in the Illinois State Police at least and it seems city hall - or perhaps Mayor Emanuel himself - has rebuffed this assistance. I think it went beyond whatever animosity between Emanuel and Gov. Bruce Rauner, Emanuel didn't get along well with our former governor Pat Quinn who is seeking to install mayoral term limits on the November ballot.

BTW, I posted this to The Sixth Ward last night with regards to the city council's Black Caucus making their own statement to the violence of this past weekend.
It obvious this violence is giving our city some negative attention, it's time to start working to make Chicago safe again!

Monday, August 6, 2018

CBS Chicago: Mayor, Top Cop Lament Bloody Weekend In Chicago

[VIDEO] Yes many people in this city affected by gun violence are tired of it. Will another march affecting the transportation infrastructure bring more attention to solve the issue of this violence?

The Mayor and Police Superintendent had a press conference this morning discussing the violence. When seeing this, I thought the mayors was close to tears...

Saturday, August 4, 2018

Artistmac: Lake Shore Drive Shutdown for Peace March, 8/2/2018

[VIDEO] I wanted to share artistmac's recent video with regards to the north side anti-violence march. I haven't seen it yet, but wanted to share it with you all.

I'm sorry I haven't followed this as I had last month's anti-violence march on the Dan Ryan Expressway. This had been making the news in the weeks leading up to it. Question is whether or not this draws attention to the gun-violence plaguing neighborhoods in Chicago.

I also wanted to share Marathon Pundit's recent post on the most recent march. He took his camera with him also!