Whole Foods Market distribution facility coming to Pullman

The map above were you see that red marker, a Whole Foods Market distribution center is expected to be built there.

Whole Foods plans to build a distribution facility in the Pullman neighborhood on the South Side that would employ 150 people.

The 140,000-square-foot facility will be at 720 E. 111th St., according to the city of Chicago. The site is currently vacant.

The center, to open in early 2018, will replace an existing Munster, Ind., facility and will serve up to 70 Whole Foods stores in the Midwest and Canada, according to the city.

The city "will consider approximately $7.4 million in tax-increment financing assistance" for the project, according to a statement. The subsidy is being considered "to ensure the site was competitive with the existing facility in Indiana," the statement said.

The Whole Foods distribution center will be built on a 17-acre site owned by a venture of Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives, a unit of Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank, CNI President David Doig said in an email. Doig's real estate company will prepare the site for an industrial developer, which will build the distribution center and then lease it to Whole Foods.

The facility will be able to handle cold and dry storage and will have office space, CNI said.

More on the future site of the facility and adjacent properties:

The former Ryerson property also includes a Method soap factory that opened about a year ago and includes a Gotham Greens farm on its roof.

Doig's CNI also developed a new shopping center on the site anchored by a Wal-Mart big box store, and more retailers plan to open stores there. The neighborhood also received a boost about a year ago, when President Barack Obama designated the area a national monument, citing its manufacturing and labor history.

You may have seen this vid below on CBS 2 this morning, BTW

#alvarezisgone 2016 primary elections

via @toy4dst ig

Crossposted from The Sixth Ward

Not that I had been all over this, but aside from Donald Trump winning this state in his bid for the Republican nomination for President - the same with Hillary Clinton, btw. Also with longtime Congressman Bobby Rush beating his challenger Ald. Howard Brookins tonight. We have this.

I consider her response to a question about guns when Anita Alvarez first ran for Cook County State's Attorney. Her performance on 60 Minutes discussing Chicago being the false confession capital. And then the protests following the release of a video of a fatal confrontation with Laquan McDonald.

I share the pic above not only here but to our ig page just to share that someone is happy about Tuesday night's victory for the new Democratic nominee for State's Attorney Kim Foxx.

BTW, I have wondered people in other parts of the country and as it turns out suburban Cook County get those "I voted" stickers. Why don't we? DNA Info answers and unfortunately it took a few people to ruin it for everyone else as it turns out. :(

Hope Dealers on TV Sunday

I sadly didn't recognize that Corey Hardiman's alternate spring break in 2016 got some attention on ABC Chicago. These Men of Morehouse came from Atlanta many of them originally not from here to be "Hope Dealers" - a force for change for other male youths on the South Side. Perhaps many more of us would be more apt to support such a mission.

BTW, the reporter of this story Leah Hope had been an mc at the recent Morehouse College Glee Club concert at the Harris Theater (205 E Randolph St) this past Tuesday night. And even better she has a personal connection as a descendant of the first Black President of Morehouse College Dr. John Hope.

If you live in Chicago's 9th ward...

You may have received these palm cards from the Cook County Democratic Party in the mailbox which you are able to bring with you into the voting booth next Tuesday. One has a general listing for candidates the other one lists the judges you will vote for next week.

#MBMHMC I don’t live in Chi-Raq, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist

This report is via My Block My Hood My City by their head of data, Matthew Pietrus. The map above chronicles homicide hotspots throughout Chicago:

After analyzing homicides locations in conjunction with demographic data, I found that of these thousands of homicides from 2010-2015, two thirds of them occurred in neighborhoods that are two thirds or more black. Compared to just over 12% in predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods and under 2% in predominantly white neighborhoods, it is clear that violence is not equally shared.

Unfortunately, this is not news. Most Chicagoans understand the disparities that exist in the city so studies like these can seem repetitive. But the significance of this map, and other studies like it, lies not in the data displayed on its surface but in the social interactions that create it. While what is occurring is certainly of importance, only in understanding why something is occurring can change happen.

That is why the story this map tells, the story of Chi-Raq, is an important one.

With the mention of that term, many readers may have moved on from this piece, and with understandable frustration. With massive clusters of homicides isolated in the South and West sides of the city, to many Chicagoans, Chi-Raq, the city more deadly than a warzone, is not the city they know nor is it the reality they face. For this reason, there has been constant backlash to the city’s new name, dating from the term’s inception to Spike Lee’s recent film. However, is this image of Chicago really a misrepresentation? More importantly, is our outcry over the term Chi-Raq really more important than the larger socioeconomic, racial, and violent disparities that it brings up?

Conclusion:

Similarly, for city officials and community members to continue a blasé approach towards reading these stories is a form of complicity, permitting the city to continue its violent polarization. Instead of becoming numb to statistics and these stories, we instead need to mobilize when Chicagoans like Bettie Smith, Quintonio LeGrier, and Tyshawn Lee are killed. We need to call our aldermen, protest, and make our dissention known.

In the end, this map tells the story of Chicago’s segregation. This story is not just one depicting a lack of cultural integration but one telling of a social isolation which disproportionately impacts black communities. But just because this may not be the story of your Chicago does not mean it is a story you should ignore.

Now how do we change this idea of violent polarization in those violent communities?

Chicago housing crisis...

Recently DNA Info did a story about living alone in Chicago. You can refer to this link to see where you can afford to live in apartments of varying amenities in this city. So is this city getting more and more expensive to live each year.

There for it leads me to this Chicagoist post which talks about a new development in the Cabrini Green area. You have to afford to live there now and especially at that proposed development. The final paragraph:

With Chicago in the midst of a housing crisis we can't help but see the promises of these luxury developments coinciding with the displacement of Chicago's working class and the hastening demise of its affordability for anyone making less than $72,000 a year (that's how much you'd have to make to reasonably afford a studio apartment at $1,825 a month, based on this popular rental formula).

Now it makes me wonder where are rents in this part of the city range. For those who want something affordable in a safe and good community would it still be out of reach for those looking for a place to live?

111th & State mid 1980s

Funny thing is I remember this White Castle. In fact probably used to patronize this place with my family back in the day and then one day it closed down and building itself is now another vacant lot.

As a matter of fact the YMCA is no longer in the building you see beyond White Castle. The building itself is still there, but YMCA itself isn't there. Someone wrote a comment on our page as we shared this photo from Forgotten Chicago noting how clean it was.

Things must change from the mid-80s unfortunately. Here's a Google Streetview of this same location

Pullman is the Curbed Cup 2015 winner

We had to wait a few days for the official call, but thanks primarily to a strong effort in the comments and voting my Pullman residents and supporters they did it. Pullman is the 2015 neighborhood of the year for Curbed Chicago. Here's hoping for a great 2016 for that historic and architecturally significant community on the far south side of town.

Curbed Cup final Loop vs. Pullman

Hotel Florence Pullman

Crossposted to The Sixth Ward where as of this posting I see that Pullman has edged out the Loop for the 2015 Curbed Cup. Unfortunately due to the holiday we probably won't see a formal announcement until Monday hopefully. Happy new years to you all!

Pullman advances and you have until tomorrow night on New Year's even to cast your vote for the neighborhood of the year over at CurbedChicago. Hopefully you're vote will be for the Pullman neighborhood which has had quite a year in 2015.

the Pullman neighborhood on the city's far south side has had a huge year. Its historic district has become the first national monument in Chicago and there's even growing support for a full blown national park campus. Pullman also welcomed the first new factory to open on Chicago's south side in three decades. The colorful factory is not only generating much needed revenue for the neighborhood, but it has also set a very high bar for other companies when it comes to being environmentally friendly.

To be sure I like the loop but home for me is the South Side and it's a no brainer that this part of town would get my vote. Hopefully Pullman is back again for the Curbed Cup in 2016.