Current Temperature

CHICAGO WEATHER

Friday, July 31, 2015

DNA Info: CPS Changes Start Times For 82 Chicago Schools (FULL LIST)

In addition to change start times at 82 city schools, CPS also plans to consolidate school bus stops:
In the past, CPS buses have picked up magnet and selective-enrollment students at 450 stops — stops located at their neighborhood schools — across the city. But this fall, CPS plans to consolidate the number of bus stops to 180.

According to a statement, "the plan to shift bus arrival times resulted from an analysis that revealed that CPS’ transportation costs far outpace those at other large, urban districts."

At an LSC meeting at Andrew Jackson Language Academy last week, Martin Ellinger, CPS manager of student transportation routing, said the district is working to ensure the security of students and to make sure no children have to cross gang lines or other unsafe areas.

The eliminated bus routes will force some kids to walk up to 1.5 miles to their nearest stop, the district said.
Click on the link to DNA Info's article for the list of schools and see if your neighborhood school's start time is expected to change. We also hope that if your child takes a bus to school no major changes as far as where they should catch their bus.

Thursday, July 30, 2015

What about Shedd?

Closed Shedd School
Found this in an e-mail blast, more news about the closed Shedd School in Roseland Heights at 200 E. 99th St.:
  • Thanks to all who attended the 9th Ward meeting last night.

    The table I was sitting at did not get cards to write questions for [Alderman Anthony Beale]. I was given cards after I asked , but they were never picked up! Others told me they were not given cards also.

    However the alderman did answer the question about the Business Zone being put on the school. He said he did that because no business would want that location and it would stop others from buying it until he could discuss want the community wanted in the location. Really???

    These former schools sites are not being sold to meet the needs of the community, they are being sold to meet the needs of CPS...money, money, money!

    A CPS CEO says “While there is still work to be done, we are working deliberately to ensure former schools sites bring value to CPS and their local communities for years to come.” ...and the game goes on.
Here are some related posts on the news related to Shedd School.

Monday, July 27, 2015

NBC News: A tour of Roseland

Cross-posted to The Sixth Ward on July 7, 2015
The video above had been shared onto our FB page. A man talks about his Roseland neighborhood what it takes to survive there and what it takes to make it a better community. Even better how the community used to be in the 1970s.

A shame that the community was very nice back in the day only to regress into the violence he talks about today. Roseland and it's people deserve so much and soon. What does it take to turn that community around?

I invite you to read this article from NBC News which talks about violence in our fair city whether Roseland or the west side. Unfortunately Chicago has been taking an unfortunate hit because of the incidents of gun violence here. If only there is a solution to this problem.

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Tribune: Volunteers help spruce up Pullman neighborhood

http://www.thechicagoneighborhoods.com/Pullman
Via The Chicago Neighborhoods
Yesterday, I posted about the attention being given to Englewood and then found this article about the attention given to Pullman. Pullman was designated a national monument and that means it will be getting further attention in years to come.
When railroad baron George Pullman built the Hotel Florence in 1881 in the heart of his company town, he meant for the extravagant Queen Anne style inn to host businessmen and dignitaries.

In addition to hotel rooms, the building featured a dining room, billiard room, barber shop, separate men's and women's parlors, and the only bar. Over the past several decades, most of the four-story, 50-room hotel, named after one of Pullman's daughters, has remained closed during restoration efforts, which include a new slate roof and an elevator.

On Thursday, with the building's doorways still draped in sheets of plastic and much of the ornate ceilings in its rooms still in the process of being torn down, the hotel hosted new guests. Five months after President Barack Obama named a portion of the historic Pullman neighborhood a national monument, volunteer Sam Gutterman and others helped clean up the hotel's main entrance.


"It's getting closer to having people attracted to come here," said Gutterman, 67, who lives on the North Shore, as he washed the first floor windows with a rag. "Because if it's in rundown condition no one's going to want to come here, no one's going to want to learn about the history. If you make things a little more attractive — it doesn't have to be perfect — people will appreciate it."

The hotel was among half a dozen sites in the Pullman neighborhood that were targeted in the first major cleanup of the area by the National Parks Conservation Association.

Several dozen volunteers grabbed ponchos to combat the rain and fanned out across the historic factory district. Among the efforts: A team of volunteers painted the baseboards of Greenstone United Methodist Church; another group weeded around the Historic Pullman Foundation Visitors Center, and a local landscaping company donated mulch and assisted in sprucing up Arcade Park.
Of course the 9th Ward Alderman jumped on some of this attention:
 Ald. Anthony Beale, 9th, who also was in attendance, still remembers riding his bike past the historic row houses and other architectural gems as a child, thinking "it was like driving through another world." Witnessing the cleanup and initiatives since the national monument designation has been especially poignant for Beale, given the huge blow the community suffered in 1998 when an arsonist destroyed much of the factory district and damaged the administration building.

"To be able to quarterback the rebirth of this ..." said Beale, who paused as he looked toward a damaged factory building with black tarps covering its structural beams. "I can't even put words on it.
There's already ranger overseeing this park:
Sue Bennett has become the park's first full-time employee taking on the role of acting superintendent. Bennett has worked across the country as a park ranger for 26 years, most recently at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Though the national park still doesn't have a budget (that usually is set up after two years by Congress), the Illinois native says she's been lucky to lean on a number of established community organizations for help.

"I never dreamed when I started on my journey that I'd be back in my home state in a city that I love and doing the kind of service work, community outreach and preservation and stewardship, here," Bennett said. "So I'm the luckiest park ranger in the world in that I have at least 10 key partners that have been here on the ground and doing work to make it easier for us."
It's good to know the community has stepped up to the plate at least until Congress finally sets up a budget for the Pullman nat'l monument.

How long until Pullman gets their own Starbuck's? Would it be located at the Hotel Florence?

Monday, May 25, 2015

May 9th ward community meeting

You may have received these notices if you've signed up for Ald. Beale's e-mail list.
  • 9th Ward Alderman Anthony A. Beale and City Department Representatives present a 9th Ward Community Meeting Tuesday, May 26, 2015
    6:30 - 7:30 p.m.

    Pullman Presbyterian Church
    550 East 103rd Street
    Chicago, Illinois 60628
Flyer below



Thursday, May 7, 2015

Crain's: Emanuel facing decisions on Board of Ed

I'm sure we're going to hear more calls for an elected school board once again:
Mayor Rahm Emanuel will have a chance to reshape the Chicago Board of Education in June, when four of the seven members' terms expire.

Emanuel revamped the board in 2011, appointing a fresh slate of new members. Five of those members are still there, having survived the uproar over the decision in 2012 to close 49 schools and one high school program. Last month, some parent groups demanded Emanuel again install an entirely new board, contending that such a step is needed to restore public confidence in the wake of a federal investigation into a no-bid contract the board approved in 2013.

Ald. Patrick O'Connor, 40th, Emanuel's floor leader in the Chicago City Council, says some changes are likely.

“In terms of the city government, we are looking at a little bit of reshuffling in terms of some departments. Not wholesale changes, but kind of a mini-transition,” O'Connor said. “I don't see why the board would be immune from that.”

But William Sampson, an expert in education policy, predicts that dissatisfaction among parents about the board will force Emanuel to make extensive changes.

“He's going to use this investigation to clean house and then pat himself on the back,” said Sampson, chairman of the Public Policy Studies Department at DePaul University. “In a sense it may be a godsend for him because it gives him the political cover to do it.”

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

DNA Info: Planners Dreaming Up What's Next for Pullman National Monument

Via Chicago Neighborhoods
Mark Konkol who just so happens to be a Pullman resident talks about the implications of the neighborhood becoming a national monument as declared not long before the February municipal elections:
Pullman’s days as a cute historic district with a pretty cool house tour are officially over. Now, the neighborhood has a shot to be a national model for inner-city renewal, creative public transportation and urban tourism that has the attention of architects and city planners from across the country.

And for that, the National Park Conservation Association and the American Institute of Architects have rounded up some of the nation’s most prominent architects, economists, transportation gurus and historic preservationists for a three-day brainstorming session aimed on creative ways to capitalize on the neighborhood’s new national status.

Starting Thursday, about 40 professionals who know a thing or two about making big plans for urban areas will gather in Pullman to come up with plans for everything from renovating Metra stations and restoring historic ruins to coming up with a blueprint for bolstering local business and safer ways to walk across 111th Street.

“We want to visualize what Pullman might look like in 10 years with the influence of the national monument designation,” said Lynn McClure, the conservation association's Midwest senior director.
I could only envision this is not only good for Pullman but good for neighboring Roseland as well.

Thursday, April 2, 2015

9th ward paper shredding event

Tomorrow April 3, 2015 from 11 AM until 3 PM at 322 E. 103rd Street. Refer to flyer below for more details. This event is sponsored by 9th ward Alderman Anthony Beale - who sent the flyer below to his e-mail subscribers - in addition to the Roseland Special Service Area and the Greater Roseland Chamber. Any additional questions call Sheila Stevenson at 773.928.6000 ext. 221.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

9th ward community meeting tonight...

9th Ward Alderman Anthony A. Beale and City Department Representatives present a 9th Ward Community Meeting
  • Tuesday, March 24, 2015 
  • 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. 
  • Pullman Presbyterian Church 
  • 550 East 103rd Street Chicago, Illinois 60628 
For more information call the 9th ward office at 773.785.1100