BlockClubChi: Chatham Building That Housed Black-Owned Bank For Sale For $1.5 Million

 I shared news about this last week on this blog. Jamie Nesbit Golden writes about this.

A Chatham building that housed a Black-owned bank is for sale for $1.5 million. https://t.co/YuYZrYyTlL pic.twitter.com/iq4k623UdG

— Block Club Chicago (@BlockClubCHI) February 5, 2021

CTA Red Line extension meeting regarding the station at 130th street

 I'm sorry I haven't be able to adequately advertise these virtual townhalls regarding the CTA Red Line extension. One had just passed last night, however, regarding the proposed station at 103rd Street as you see in the flyer below. There will be two other meetings on the 103rd Street and Michigan Avenue stops later this month.

Meanwhile StreetsBlog Chicago has a recent story about the meeting about the 130th Street stop for the proposed Red Line extension

Bank branch at 87th & King Drive for sale

347-371 E 87th Street

This former Illinois Service Federal/GN Bank branch is for sale on 87th & King Drive. When driving by I've observed that there's hardly any business taking place there. I and perhaps others who live nearby wondered if this branch had been closed since ISF was purchased by GN Bank. And now we see some evidence of this with this listing shared by Concerned Citizens of Chatham.

This location is right on the borderline of both Wards 6 & 9.

Fran Spielman: SC Johnson steps forward to fund Beale’s $250,000 Roseland ‘cop house’ #Ward09

Sun-Times:

SC Johnson & Son, Inc., a multi-billion dollar manufacturer of household cleaning supplies, identified itself Thursday as the $250,000 corporate donor behind Ald. Anthony Beale’s Roseland “cop house.”

“You can’t get any bigger and more credible than that,” Beale (9th) told the Sun-Times.

“This is a great tool that they fund elsewhere. They wanted to bring it to my community. ... To have a Fortune 100 company step up to the plate in my ward is really a tribute to what we’ve been able to do out here.”

...

The company’s $250,000 commitment in Roseland, where they own Method Manufacturing and a second distribution facility, will test the concept in the Chicago Police Department’s Calumet district.

“As a member of the Chicago community with manufacturing operations in the Pullman neighborhood, SC Johnson is invested in supporting the people and communities where we live and work,” the company said in a statement.

“We view these funds, given to Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives, a non-profit organization dedicated to economic development and neighborhood revitalization, as a pathway to help improve outcomes for communities.”

SC Johnson has a vested interest in improving neighborhood safety, Beale said. The company approached him about bankrolling CNI’S purchase and renovation of a Roseland home on a crime-plagued block to create a place where police officers, adult residents and young people can come together to build trust.

After a trip to Racine to see how it works, Beale decided to try it in Chicago, only to have Lightfoot stonewall the idea — with deadly consequences, according to the alderman.

“The very first house we had in mind — we had a contract on it. We ended up losing the contract. Five people have been shot and two people have been killed in or around the house where we were trying to first implement this,” he said.

I got some research to do on this "cop house". How will this plan be implemented? Why is the Mayor of Chicago opposed to it?

We should be trying anything to get crime rates down in the city, and especially in unsafe neighborhoods.

Read the whole thing. 

103rd & Eberhart #tbt #Ward09

 

[VIDEO] I found this article in the archives recently and decided to upload this. On a cold January day in 2015 I was walking along 103rd Street shooting video on my then new iPhone 6. So I captured the traffic near 103rd & Eberhart including this very loud Chevrolet Caprice making a turn onto Eberhart. I wish I could tell you why you hear that helicopter, however, there is heavier traffic seemingly on this street than normal after 4 PM on that day.

If there's anything from the neighborhood or from around the city you'd like to see on YouTube feel free to subscribe and let me know.

Block Club Chi: "My Block, My Hood, My City needs volunteers to help shovel senior’s sidewalks Tuesday."

 

ForMyBlock.org

One of the many wonderful initiatives by MBMHMC founder Jahmal Cole. He's been organizing volunteers to shovel snow for senior citizens for many years around the city. And our city is getting hit my heavy snow as of late:

My Block, My Hood, My City needs volunteers to help shovel senior’s sidewalks Tuesday.

The city got hit with its first big storm of the season Monday night and Tuesday morning.

People who want to help seniors can sign up with the organization online. My Block, My Hood, My City will send them information Tuesday morning about the homes of one or two seniors who need help with shoveling, according to an email newsletter from the group.

Once participants get that information, they will go to those homes and shovel the sidewalks.

CPS: All instruction could be halted if teacher's don't return to work

 For those of you concerned about the back and forth between the city and the teacher's union. The union doesn't want teachers to go back to in-person instruction at the schools. If CPS teachers don't return to school all instruction including virtual instruction could come to a halt.

From the Sun-Times

If Chicago teachers collectively refuse to return to their schools on Monday in defiance of Chicago Public Schools’ reopening orders, the district will consider the labor action a strike, schools chief Janice Jackson reiterated Friday, suggesting the outcome could be all classes coming to a halt.

The 25,000 rank-and-file members of the Chicago Teachers Union are voting through Saturday night on a resolution to continue working from home next week because of health concerns tied to in-person work.

CPS officials have said working from home is no longer an option for about 10,000 educators who have been told to report in person, nor for the 3,800 who have been ordered to schools since early January.

The union has repeatedly argued its action Monday would not be a work stoppage since teachers plan to continue working remotely. The CTU’s pending resolution instead says a strike would start if CPS “retaliates” by locking out all its teachers from remote work as it has done with about 90 pre-Kindergarten and special education staff members who were supposed to report to their schools earlier this month but haven’t shown up.

Mayor lifts stay-at-home advisory on Friday

 From WTTW

Mayor Lightfoot's stay-at-home order will expire on Friday.https://t.co/Qyt26nDX2C

— WTTW (Chicago PBS) (@wttw) January 20, 2021

Mayor Lori Lightfoot will allow the advisory that urges Chicagoans to stay home in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19 to expire on Friday, officials announced Wednesday.

Lightfoot updated the advisory Monday to reflect Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s decision to lift the toughest restrictions in Chicago after the Illinois Department of Public Health launched a new plan to add hospital staff and beds where the need is greatest.

Although the order issued Monday extended the stay-at-home advisory until Jan. 30, city officials told WTTW News on Wednesday that was an error.

The mayor on Wednesday morning updated the order for the fourth time to allow it to expire at 12:01 a.m. Friday.

“In recent weeks, Chicago has made significant progress in the ongoing fight against the deadly COVID-19 virus,” said Chicago Department of Public Health spokesperson Andy Buchanan. “While there is much more work to be done, we have reached important milestones in curbing the spread of the virus, and we want to thank the countless Chicagoans that continue to do their part to save lives.”

WGN: MBMHMC near MLK Memorial Bridge this morning

 

[VIDEO] That 15 second clip shared earlier on another post didn't do justice to what My Block My Hood My City did at the Charles Chew Secretary of State facility on this MLK holiday. And I also wanted to share this FB post over at MBMHMC today regarding this volunteer PPE giveaway.