Lead testing at CPS

Originally posted at The Sixth Ward

In light of recent social media and blog posts about maintenance issues and lead issues at city schools we now see stories about lead testing of drinking water. Of course in an earlier post about lead poisoning shared here on this blog it was over lead based paint in some older schools.

The Sun-Times and DNA Info shares articles on this and also a listing of those schools tested for lead via CPS. In addition at DNA Info you see a google map that show which schools have testing positive for lead and those that have tested negative.

Also, the lead poisoning testing was noted on Capitol Fax in a post on Thursday where north side legislators and educators invited Governor Rauner to tour a school. Unfortunately this invitation was noted as a "stunt".

Because there is still no budget from Springfield CPS can't say if they are going to have summer school this year also via Capitol Fax. We also see a further debate regarding charter schools or even newer charter or otherwise.

DNA Info: Put A Park, Not A Cell Tower, In Vacant Lot In Roseland, Residents Say

The pictures above were shot in April 2016 near 107th & King Drive of a vacant lot which as you see in the pic above is zoned for a cellphone tower. A group of Roseland activists want to see this turned into a park:

Members of the 9th Ward Greater Roseland Community Coalition said they fear the potential environmental and health threats the cell tower could bring to the empty lot at 107th Street between Vernon and Eberhart avenues.
...
The neighborhood coalition has been circulating petitions opposing the cellphone tower. Members said they want the land cleaned up and turned into a park and botanical garden.

Of course there's this:

The city did an environmental screen of the site in 2014 to identify any potential environmental concerns and said the site’s history of pollution doesn’t make it the best location for a garden.

"The site is listed as an abandoned service station, and available records identified several underground storage tank (UST) installations and removals dating back to 1953," a letter from Fleet Management to [9th ward Ald. Anthony] Beale reads. "In addition, at least three USTs were abandoned in place in 1984, and a demolition notice was issued in 1996. Although no releases have been reported for the Site, the majority of the USTs were removed or abandoned in the 1970s and early 1980s, prior to requirements to have spill protection, conduct confirmation sampling, or report releases."

The letter says that since there is no data available to confirm a release hasn't taken place, the tanks "present an environmental concern to the Site."

It was recommended that the site not be used as a community garden because there is “high potential for both current and historic USTs at the site.”

Bryant Payne, a spokesman for Beale, confirmed Friday that the land is contaminated and that before anything is built there, it would have to be cleaned up.

This is a nice lot that could see some use in the future. How successful will this group be in getting it cleaned up and hopefully a garden could be placed there instead of a cell tower?

Oh yeah a recent ig post about this lot below.

This lot was noted in a story at @dnainfochi a community group wants a garden here instead of a proposed cellphone tower. These pics were shot in April near 107th/King Drive #zoning #roseland #chicagogram #olloclip #9thward

A photo posted by The Sixth Ward (@thesixthward) on Jun 7, 2016 at 11:59am PDT

From October 2015, photos along 103rd Street

Crossposted from The Sixth Ward

I realized that I failed to what I set out to do a few months ago. I wanted to do a photo essay and basically I started with taking some photos along 103rd Street. This was back in October and although I shared a few pics back then there were than that in my photo library.

For example, I have some pics taken east of King Drive on 103rd Street.

103rd & Rhodes

The pic above I knew at one time as the offices of Congressman Mel Reynolds. In 1995 he was caught up in a sex scandal with an underaged girl and was forced to resign. Unfortunately this property is now vacant and looking for a use since the time of Reynold's having his congressional offices here.

Across the street is a former dry cleaners. It's unclear when this particular building became vacant. Across the street from here is this.

103rd Street between Rhodes and St. Lawrence

In a different time this property had once been home to a McDonald's. That store eventually closed down and was ultimately demolished a with a church built instead.

Beyond this church and the former dry cleaners is this vacant lot.

103rd Street between Rhodes & St. Lawrence

I see this as potention for this part of 103rd and one of many undeveloped lots ready for the right development. To be sure 103rd is largely a commercial corridor and is quite walkable. With the right development it could be a very vibrant corridor.

Of course this is only an example of some of the pics I took in October 2016. I hope to share more of them in the future. And apologies for not sharing these much sooner. My goal is hopefully to come up with some ideas perhaps this part of town could use some bold vision and why not.

Yesterday on the Capitol Fax #notaprison

FYI: An update to this is seen on the Capitol Fax this morning one new pic of that classroom provided by a spokeswoman from CPS which is in better condition. Then from Kyle Hillman a more recent pic of the hallway which still doesn't look in that great of a condition. The pic of that classroom you see below was said to be from a DNA Info article from 2014 and we learn that CPS has a $3 billion deferred maintenance backlog.

It's been in the news that due to the current budget stalemate in Springfield, CPS may not open in September. You can follow a lot of the state budget news over at the Capitol Fax.

In the meanwhile CPS CEO Claypool took issue with Governor Rauner referring to Chicago Public Schools as crumbling prisons. I don't blame Forrest Claypool or any other figure named in that Capitol Fax post for sticking up for Chicago's schools. Unfortunately they are often maligned mostly for the right reasons and those students who attend public schools deserve to have someone lookout for them. It doesn't do them justice to be held hostage by a budget stalemate.

At that same time the Capitol Fax had another post regarding Claypool's comments. Rich Miller preferaced this post by saying the man with his own opinion - via this FB post - is no "Raunerite" but basically expresses his interest in fixing our neighborhood schools. I'll share a pic that makes the point of this pic look at teh state of disrepair.

Gale School - 1631 W Jonquil Terrace

This school is probably one example of many with issues of disrepair as the post noted lead paint peeling from the ceiling - this is a much older school. Also bad fire doors and broken fire alarms. Then what about services needed by students?

The school has been gutted by a funding formula CPS put in place. The school has no technology teachers, no librarians, after-school programs have been gutted and our social worker is hanging on by the grace of his nonprofit.

You know what they do get in Illinois Prisons? Library Services! Mental Health Services! Educational Services.

You see what happened there. What do CPS students get at this particular school versus what people who are incarcerated in prison gets? Then it goes further:

So yeah the Governor’s solution of REDUCING funds for CPS is madness, but what he said today wasn’t wrong. If Claypool doesn’t want his schools to be called worse than prisons… FIX THEM!

“Frankly, the Governor’s comments comparing Chicago schools to ‘crumbling prisons’ are disrespectful and beneath his office.” via Claypool.

You know what is really disrespectful and beneath (their) office? Allowing schools like this to happen, our Mayor owns this.

The next question is how many other schools have issues such as these. Not only a building in disrepair but not enough services educational or otherwise for students. I can believe that funding is an issue but that's certainly one one portion of many other issues in such a vast school district as CPS.

Marathon Pundit visits Pullman

Crossposted from The Sixth Ward

Hotel Florence by John Ruberry

John Ruberry of Marathon Pundit takes a look at the Pullman neighborhood and any progress made on the national monument here. Ruberry doesn't have much faith that the federal government will make far more progress here than the state government had. The state actually owns the Hotel Florence that you see above which is waiting for a new use.

He goes through the history of this neighborhood and any governmental role in the future of this neighborhood. Including the purchase of select property such as the Pullman factory, adminstrative buildings and the clock tower. Those in addition to the Hotel Florence.

He also noted the Bernie Sanders signs throughout the neighborhood. Sanders back in March lost the Illinois Democratic presidential primary to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton but we see one strong enclave of Sanders supporters. I even noted a sign on our ig page.

Ruberry has some strong opinions on what's going on here. Anyone want to agree or disagree with the Marathon Pundit?

DNA Info: Roseland Teens Help Fix Up Abandoned Homes To Rent

Something you may have seen on our ig

I think this is what we'd all like to see more of in our communities. No more stories about the youth causing trouble in our neighborhoods more about them deciding to help build it back up. That's what the young men in this story are doing.

Simeon Career Academy senior Hakeem Day would rather be working with his hands than in the streets.

“I’ve been interested in construction since I was a little kid and this gives me the opportunity to practice for the future because I plan on doing this in the future,” said the 18-year-old Roseland resident.

He is getting that opportunity through a new youth and trades After School Matters program.

Aaron Mallory, 28, of Roseland started the program through his nonprofit God Restoring Order, or G.R.O. He’s working with a group of high school teens from schools including Simeon, Morgan Park and the Noble charter schools

The goal is to improve the community one block at a time by rehabbing the abandoned homes, and Mallory is doing just that with the help of local teens. They’re finishing up work on their first home near 109th Street and Wentworth Avenue.

The reporter for this story Andrea Watson has a poll up asking "Should our teens learn the trades?" My answer would be yes, we need carpenters, mechanics, pipe fitters, plumbers, etc. Trades in addition to helping our young people get into college. Different programs and different options.

At that learn a trade and be a value to our community and earn some community service credits. I forgot about getting valuable job experience.

Read the whole thing.

The Roseland Theater and the future of the neighborhood

11331 S. Michigan Avenue

For the past month I've went to the Pullman neighborhood to document the sights of the neighborhood. And I've allowed myself the opportunity to document the nearby communities as well. Most of what you see documented is photographed on my cameraphone often utilizing an olloclip lens.

So last week I took a quick stroll one late afternoon in Roseland and stopped in front of the Roseland Theater Building. This old building appears to be going through some remodeling and changing tenants in the storefronts as they appear to be vacant currently.

This former neighborhood movie house is looking for new use having long since stopped showing movies. According to Cinema Treasures - link above - it is being converted into retail use. Though this news hasn't changed for years so perhaps a number of things happened and I don't see a lot of progress.

However, I have one potential idea and it would involve doing something similar to what was done with the Logan Theater. It was rehabbed in 2011 and is a second run movie house and is a story you can read here - unfortunately that story is behind a paywall in spite of being published in 2012. Perhaps when the time is right that story of a deep pocketed developer who comes in to redevelop this building could happen here at the Roseland Theater.

In the meanwhile as I document Pullman as it is in 2016 a year after it was designated a national monument and other development activities there my hope is that this spreads across Cottage Grove. Roseland and the business district that sits on Michigan Ave from between 103rd & 115th Street can see some of the effects of being so close to a very successful tourist destination.

And furthermore I hope that in the near future we can see further progress on bringing the red line from 95th through Roseland. Thus the Roseland can certainly have a future similar to the Logan Theater which also isn't that far from a CTA L station.

ALSO you can see some of the photos of Pullman and Roseland over at The Sixth Ward's ig account. Here's the post below of the Roseland Theater.

The former Roseland Theater building. Waiting for a new use. #roseland #movietheater #architecture #chicagogram #southside #olloclip

A photo posted by The Sixth Ward (@thesixthward) on May 18, 2016 at 6:09am PDT

US Bank building on 111th Street

1000 East 111th Street

The US Bank building is located near 111th Street just off of the Bishop Ford Expressway (I often just call this stretch the Calumet Expressway as the Ford is the newest name for this highway). I mostly know of this building as the Pullman Bank building, however, as it happens banks go through name changes as they go through new owners.

Before US Bank took ownership of this building it had been owned most recently by FBOP Corporation which bought Pullman Bank & Trust Company in 1999. FBOP Corp failed in 2009 and US Bank came in to purchase the remaining assets.

This is an unusual building on the south side and it certainly a landmark on this part of town recognizable. In googling the history of this building it has been surmised that it has been used as a billboard or free advertising for whoever owned this building.

Since I'm sure most businesses seek to not sink much money onto labor or otherwise utilize processes that don't cost much money I'm sure US Bank doesn't use the whole building. Pullman Bank presumably used this as their HQ and that changed when ownership changed between banks. It makes me wonder if there are other tenants in this building.

And through more googling I found the Calumet Area Industrial Commission has offices in this building to help those out of work find jobs. And the Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives are in that building as well.

CTA service to improve on south side

By James T4

 Announced at the 95th Red Line terminal on Thursday these are the changes expected to start this summer:

• The 95th Street bus, which will combine separate east and west segments to create a continuous route.
• The No. 4 Cottage Grove bus, which will extend service south from 95th Street to 115th Street.
• The No. 71 71st Street bus, which will extend all trips from 73rd to 112th and Torrence, and see increased frequency.
• The No. 26 South Shore Express, which will add earlier and later service.
• The No. 34 Michigan and No. 119 Michigan/119th bus routes, which will add increased frequency during midday and evening hours.
• The Cottage Grove and Ashland/63rd branches of the Green Line will have increased frequency during the a.m. and p.m. rush hours.

Also:

The improvements will cost an extra $5.7 million a year and are planned to be implemented in September, but some could be seen as soon as the beginning of the summer, said CTA spokesman Jeff Tolman.

“These improvements are related to CTA President Dorval R. Carter's goal of looking at service from a holistic perspective and providing the most effective service possible,” Tolman said. “These improvements will further improve the quality and reliability of service for riders."

Words from the Mayor himself:

“With this expansion, the CTA is continuing the important work of connecting more residents to jobs and economic opportunities,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “This announcement builds on the strides we have made to improve connections to and from downtown. These types of investments help our economy to grow, our neighborhoods to prosper, and our city to thrive – and we will continue to make them to ensure that every resident has an opportunity to succeed.”

Former fire station in Pullman

Took this snapshot of this old fire station near 108th/Cottage Grove in Pullman. BTW, who is that person sitting in that top window on the left side. I thought this place was abandoned lol.

Regardless if you want to know more about the history of this building there's this page from Forgotten Chicago.

This firehouse is located on 108th Street in Pullman, just north of the charred remains of the famous factory. Built in 1895 and home to Engine Company 80, this is the last former firehouse in Chicago with an observation tower. Many 19th century firehouses originally had them to aid in locating fires. This station was disused in 1957 and currently sits abandoned.

And now with the additional attention Pullman is getting with the national park designation what other use could this architectural treasure see?

Check out the post of this picture on ig below.

An old firehouse in #Pullman near 108th/Cottage Grove. And who's that person sitting in the top window on the left hand side? #firehouse #architecture #chicagogram #southside

A photo posted by The Sixth Ward (@thesixthward) on May 8, 2016 at 8:55am PDT