SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY IN CHICAGO
The South Side Weekly is an independent non-profit newspaper by and for the South Side of Chicago. We provide high-quality, critical arts and public interest coverage, and equip and develop journalists, artists, photographers, and mediamakers of all backgrounds.
Volume 12, Issue 7
Editor-in-Chief Jacqueline Serrato
Managing Editor Adam Przybyl
Investigations Editor Jim Daley
Senior Editors Martha Bayne
Christopher Good
Olivia Stovicek
Sam Stecklow
Alma Campos
Jocelyn Martinez-Rosales
Community Builder Chima Ikoro
Public Meetings Editor Scott Pemberton
Interim Lead
Visuals Editor Shane Tolentino
Staff Illustrator Mell Montezuma
Director of Fact Checking: Ellie Gilbert-Bair
Fact Checkers: Bridget Craig Jim Daley
Patrick Edwards
Rubi Valentin
Layout Editor Tony Zralka
Executive Director Malik Jackson
Office Manager Mary Leonard
Advertising Manager Susan Malone
Webmaster Pat Sier
The Weekly publishes online weekly and in print every other Thursday. We seek contributions from all over the city.
Send submissions, story ideas, comments, or questions to editor@southsideweekly.com or mail to:
South Side Weekly
6100 S. Blackstone Ave. Chicago, IL 60637
For advertising inquiries, please contact: Susan Malone (773) 358-3129 or email: malone@southsideweekly.com
For general inquiries, please call: (773) 643-8533
Taking Down Tyrants
On Saturday, Americans took to the streets of cities large and small in all fifty states to protest President Donald Trump and his billionaire majordomo Elon Musk, who have jointly endeavored to dismantle the federal government, undermine the Constitution, and upend the U.S. economy. In Chicago, thousands of people packed Daley Plaza and surrounding streets as part of the protest, which was organized by Indivisible Chicago along with the Chicago Federation of Labor, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Equality Illinois, Personal PAC and others.
Saturday’s protests followed dozens of smaller demonstrations outside Tesla dealerships in Chicago and elsewhere. Those peaceful protests took place amid a spate of arson attacks on Tesla stores in cities across the United States and Europe. Meanwhile, the company’s share value has plummeted in recent weeks, and Trump, at odds with Musk over tariffs, is reportedly considering sidelining him.
Trump has called the Tesla dealership attacks “terrorism” and threatened to send people convicted of burning the cars to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison. If the Department of Justice follows through on that threat, it would be extraordinary, and decidedly unconstitutional.
The Constitution, however, hasn’t slowed Trump’s authoritarian spree. His administration has already used the extremely shaky pretext of the 1798 Alien and Enemies Act to deport hundreds of migrants accused of having gang ties to El Salvador, where they were summarily thrown into CECOT. Some of them—like Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who fled to the United States to escape the very gang he’s wrongly accused of belonging to and is now imprisoned with—were deported mistakenly. All of them had their right to due process violated.
Trump has similarly flouted the Constitution with his myriad executive orders that ran the gamut from illegally pulling already-approved federal funding from teachers to shuttering federal agencies that were established by Congress. The president who declared he would be a dictator on “day one” in office is doing all he can to make good on that. In the Senate, the Democrats have thus far only managed to muster a single (if record-breaking) filibuster in opposition to Trump. Judges have ruled against some of his worst unconstitutional excesses, but Trump seems determined to defy the courts. Whether the Supreme Court with its conservative majority can curtail the president is anybody’s guess.
Resistance to authoritarianism works only when it is concerted, sustained, and patient. It will take more than a symbolic single-day demonstration, even one held in hundreds of cities and towns simultaneously, to stop Trump and Musk. We—the people—must continue to organize and resist. It’s the only way we will save our democracy.
IN THIS ISSUE
council confirms quezada
Mayor Johnson’s pick to replace 35th Ward Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa was approved 32–11.
leigh giangreco ...................................... 4
woodson library celebrates a half-century
“Woodson provided a safe, nurturing environment for young readers and continues to do so today.”
dierdre robinson 5
letting the light in
The South Side Community Art Center unveils big plans for a $15 million rehab and expansion.
jasmine barnes 7
dj nanoos brings community with her on “musiqa baladi” tour
Nanoos kicks off North American tour with a Chicago send-off.
jocelyn martinez-rosales 10
ask a punk and the power of community storytelling
The short is Brian Herrera’s latest offering in his journey from visual arts to filmmaking.
sofia mcdowell 12
lakefront shelter sparks heated debate at hyde park town hall
A proposal to convert a migrant shelter into a permanent homeless shelter was met with opposition by some locals.
max blaisdell, hyde park herald 14
meeting cancellation has alderperson and mayor’s office pointing fingers
Ald. Matt Martin and police district councilors said the mayor prevented department heads from attending; the Mayor’s Office said the departments declined themselves.
leigh giangreco .................................... 16
public meetings report
A recap of select open meetings at the local, county, and state level.
scott pemberton and documenters 19
Cover collage by Julia O'Brien
Council Confirms Quezada
Mayor Johnson’s pick to replace 35th Ward Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa
BY LEIGH GIANGRECO
The City Council confirmed Cook County Commissioner Anthony Quezada as the new alderperson of the 35th Ward on Monday.
Mayor Brandon Johnson chose Quezada to fill the vacancy after tapping former Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa to lead the Chicago Parks District in February. Quezada took his seat in the council chambers Monday afternoon to rousing applause from family, friends, fellow Cook County commissioners, and members of the 35th Ward Independent Political Organization.
“Growing up, I learned from my parents and our neighbors that a community can thrive when people from diverse backgrounds care for each other, even under challenging economic circumstances and poverty, which have impacted my family,” Quezada said after taking the oath of office. “The 35th Ward and city of Chicago are made up of diverse communities and families where we share common values and concerns. Inspired by the diversity and values of our neighborhoods, I’ve always believed that we can have an elected leadership that does work to advance our shared compassionate values.”
A Logan Square native and progressive protege of Ramirez-Rosa, Quezada previously worked as his constituent services director in the 35th ward. In 2022, Quezada ran as a socialist for the Cook County Board’s 8th District and won 54 percent of the 35th ward, becoming the county’s first openly gay Latino commissioner.
Though Quezada received the majority of votes needed for his appointment, the newly minted alderperson also met pushback from some council members who seized upon a decade-old tweet he had sent that used a racial slur. Quezada, who at twenty-
was approved 32–11.
nine will become one of the youngest members of City Council, was a teenager at the time he sent the tweet.
The post resurfaced shortly after Quezada announced his intention to seek the 35th ward seat. On March 7, he posted an apology statement on the social media site X (formerly Twitter).
“I would like to take this opportunity to express again my deep regret for making that mistake as a high school student and take full responsibility for my tweet,” Quezada wrote. “That tweet does not reflect my values or character, and I am confident that my time in public service demonstrates my true values, commitment, and solidarity in addressing the concerns of Black Chicagoans.”
That apology didn’t satisfy Ald. David Moore (17th Ward) who argued that there was a difference in apologizing for writing the tweet versus saying the word.
catch me and shoot me in my behind, and people say to me, ‘Alderman, how do you feel about this?’ Well, I regret being in that hotel room with Beyonce. I regret that Jay- Z came in there,” Moore said. “But you’re never going to say ‘I’m sorry for sleeping with Beyonce.’”
Ald. Jeanette Taylor, (20th Ward), who represents the Woodlawn community, acknowledged the slur still held power and that she was offended by it. However, she expressed faith in Quezada moving forward.
“Shouldn’t have never been on social media, but it is what it is,” Taylor said. “But him saying those words, don’t make me think you’re gonna vote against my interests. Don’t think I won’t have an ally in here. Don’t think that you won’t vote for things that are great for my community.”
Quezada was ultimately approved
by a vote of 32–11. Alds. Brian Hopkins (2nd), Anthony Beale, Desmon Yancy (5th), Raymond Lopez (15th), David Moore, Silvana Tabares (23rd), Felix Cardona (31st), Gilbert Villegas (36th), Brendan Reilly (42nd), Jim Gardiner (45th), and Debra Silverstein (50th) voted against.
Quezada’s appointment hit a snag earlier in the day when some of its opponents argued during a rules committee hearing that freshman alders should not inherit their predecessor’s committee appointments. Quezada was slated to take over Ramirez-Rosa’s positions on the powerful budget and zoning committees.
When Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd Ward) suggested that the committee assignments should be handed out based on seniority, his comments set off a flurry of confusion and political jockeying in the council chambers. Ald. Anthony
Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, Brandon Johnson, and Anthony Joel Quezada during Johnson’s 2022 campaign for mayor. Collage by Shane Tolentino
Beale (9th) took the opportunity to request a seat on the budget committee, contending that his twenty-six years in City Council gave him the right to serve on the influential body. Rules Chair Michelle Harris (8th Ward) countered Beale, noting that when she was appointed in 2006, she took on her predecessor’s appointments on the budget and zoning committees.
The sound and fury was all for naught when Harris ultimately added Beale to the budget committee. Beale later told reporters that move signaled that the Johnson administration didn’t have the votes to keep him off the committee.
The brief attempt at committee musical chairs came in the wake of rumors that Johnson was considering dethroning three progressive council members from their chairmanships. A week before Quezada’s appointment vote, Crain’s Chicago Business reported Johnson’s top staff were discussing removing Alds. Andre Vasquez (40th Ward), Maria Hadden (49th) and Matt Martin (47th) from their leadership positions on the immigration, environmental protection, and ethics committees, respectively.
Before Monday’s vote, Hadden told reporters that the mayor’s top legislative aide, Kennedy Bartley, gave the three alders assurances that the reassignments wouldn’t happen. Moving the committee assignments would have required a vote in council and Hadden said she believed the mayor would not have had enough support. Still, she expressed more concern over whether there had been any discussion at all about reshuffling the chairmanships. Even after speaking with Bartley, Hadden said it wasn’t clear to her whether those conversations had occurred.
“I don’t know that we reached that understanding, but I think we’re close enough to move forward,” Hadden said.
Bartley, meanwhile, tried to quell the simmering controversy on Monday.
“I really haven’t spent much time concerning myself with any of the interpersonal rumors and drama. I have a lot of respect for those three alderpeople. [I’ve] been fortunate enough to have conversations with all of them,” Bartley said. “I think that we’re on the same page. I think we all share in our desire
to just move forward because the city is depending on it and there’s a lot of real work to do.”
Following his first gaggle with reporters, Quezada joked that he had received both congratulations and condolences as he stepped into City Council. The new alderman is leaving a more collegial body in Cook County and filling the shoes of a controversial predecessor.
Once a rising star in the city’s progressive movement, Ramirez-Rosa’s quick ascent to Johnson’s floor leader and the Zoning Committee chair plummeted after council members accused him of bullying his colleagues, including an alleged attempt to physically block Ald. Emma Mitts from entering the chambers during a controversial vote. RamirezRosa apologized to Mitts on the council floor, and in November 2023, he resigned from both his leadership positions.
“My approach to getting things done has always been building coalitions both with internal government partners and external government partners,” RamirezRosa told the Weekly. “Ultimately as you work to build coalitions, you’re going to make mistakes. You’re not always going to get everything right. But the important part is to own those mistakes and to seek to make amends. And that’s what I did in November in 2023. And I’m really grateful to have mended a lot of those relationships and continue to work towards bringing people together for the collective advancement of our entire city.”
When asked how he would conduct himself in the City Council, Quezada emphasized his cooperative nature.
“Collaboration, communication, and listening to each other is extremely important. It’s a core tenet to the way that I lead, and that’s how I plan on leading as well,” Quezada said. “I’ve had fantastic conversations with the majority of the City Council, and I’ve heard the concerns that folks communicated today, and I plan to make sure that we’re always working together, that we are always collaborating and communicating.” ¬
Leigh Giangreco is a freelance reporter based in Chicago. You can follow her work on Twitter @LeighGiangreco and at leighgiangreco.com.
Woodson Library Celebrates a Half-Century
The library, home to the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature, will turn fifty years old in December.
BY DIERDRE ROBINSON
In neighborhoods across the country, libraries serve as gathering places, quiet refuges, and essential academic lifelines. They remind us that access to information is a powerful and often overlooked privilege—still free and open to all who seek it.
In Chicago, there are eighty-one libraries, including three regional libraries, spread across the city’s seventy-seven communities. One such location is the Carter G. Woodson Regional Library in Washington Heights. This year will be its fiftieth anniversary.
When Woodson Library first opened at 9525 S. Halsted St. on December 19, 1975, the date was probably no coincidence, for it landed exactly 100 years after the birth of the man for whom the library was named: Dr. Carter Godwin Woodson, the scholar, educator, and historian known as the “Father of Black History.”
Officials at the time described the library’s inauguration as “a day of great rejoicing,” and it was seen as a commitment to offering the community: academiclevel resources, world-class Black history archives, and a cultural hub right in the heart of the South Side.
Born in 1875, in New Canton, Virginia, Woodson was the son of former slaves. The fourth of seven children, he worked on his family farm as a boy and in the coal mines of West Virginia as a teenager to help his
family make ends meet.
Woodson received his early education in a one-room schoolhouse where he was taught by his uncles, who recognized Woodson’s aptitude for learning early on. By the age of seventeen, Woodson had already mastered most common school subjects. He entered high school at the age of twenty and completed his diploma in less than two years.
Woodson went on to study at Berea College in Kentucky, earned degrees from the University of Chicago, and in 1912 earned a Ph.D in History from Harvard University.
While his life continued to be defined by academic achievements, he didn’t just collect degrees. Woodson also founded important institutions.
In 1915, Woodson co-founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History or ASNLH, (now the Association for the Study of African American Life and History or ASALH). In 1926, he launched the precursor to what we now celebrate as Black History Month as a way to promote the study of African American history in schools and communities.
In the spirit of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, Woodson Library has become more than just brick and mortar. For fifty years, Woodson has served as a community anchor and repository for a vast amount of information and special collections.
It houses the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History and Literature.
Harsh, who was the Chicago Public Library system’s first Black librarian, started the collection and served as a librarian for thirty-four years. Her collection includes over 70,000 books, manuscripts, photographs, and oral histories documenting the Black experience, particularly in Chicago, and is the largest Black archive in the Midwest.
Woodson Library has not only educated the minds of patrons of all ages for half a century, it has also served as a safe and welcoming space where people could gather, grow, and feel seen. The people who use the library know best what the institution means to the community. Some have walked through its doors with their children or grandchildren. Some have met the person who would become their life partner, and others have been patrons of
Woodson Library for almost as long as it has existed.
Virdell Scott is a long-time patron for whom that legacy is deeply personal, not only because she’s been visiting Woodson since childhood, but also because it has been a place where she could also spend meaningful time with her grandmother, who was living with dementia.
“I have been a patron of Woodson Library for forty-nine years,” Scott said in an interview with the Weekly. “I was four years old when the library opened in 1975… and my earliest recollection is participating in their summer reading challenge and other reading challenges in kindergarten.
Woodson [became] a home-away-fromhome for a little girl who was incredibly shy. [It was] a place to check out books and socialize with kids my own age. Woodson provided a safe, nurturing environment for young readers and continues to do so today.”
books and archives, Woodson also provides opportunities for the community to partake in social activities such as art classes, book clubs, seminars, author talks, special exhibits, workshops, and movie screenings.
Woodson “offers a wide range of programs for patrons of all ages, from athletes to seniors,” said librarian Quentella Davis, who has worked at Woodson for seventeen years.
“I’ve been here since 2008”, Davis said. “I got transferred here as a library associate in the children’s department, and in December of 2024, I was promoted to librarian. I thought I was gonna be a social worker… that was my dream, but my whole trajectory changed. I ended up working at the library, and I stayed once I got here.”
When she first walked through the doors at Woodson, Davis had no idea the library offered so much beyond just books. Like many patrons, Davis visited the library to get work done, read, or just to enjoy the solitude.
organizers intended it— and dedicated staffers like Davis are ready to lend a helping hand to ensure that patrons leave feeling warm and welcomed.
“I don’t care how you look, smell, or dress,” Davis said. “You’re gonna get the same [service] as if you were wearing a million-dollar coat. It doesn’t matter. I’m gonna serve you.”
In his book, The Mis-Education of the Negro, Woodson wrote, “If you can control a man’s thinking, you do not have to worry about his actions.” His belief that education and knowledge could empower people still seems to echo through the halls of Woodson Regional Library fifty years later. As Scott put it, “The key will always be staying connected to the needs of the community.”
To ensure that connection, Woodson is planning a year-long celebration which will include special events taking place on the nineteenth or twentieth of each month and culminating in a grand, year-end
Beyond its extensive collection of
everything,” Davis said. “I didn’t know they had all these technical computers that they offer for children and adults….and all the programs going on.” At the same time, “the space was always welcoming, I could get work done without interruptions. If I had any questions, or needed any materials, when I asked a librarian they were always willing to assist.”
Just like the librarians were always willing to help Davis as a young patron, she now pays that kindness forward in her role as a librarian, guiding a new generation of library patrons with the same level of concern and care.
Without question, there’s something for everyone at Woodson—just as the
celebration in December. Opportunities to obtain limited-edition commemorative merchandise will also be available by visiting chicagopubliclibrary.threadless.com. Chicagoans are also invited to share their stories and experiences about Woodson by visiting chipublib.org/woodson-50th and using #WeAreWoodson50 on social media.
For more information about library events throughout the year or to explore the Harsh Collection, visit chipublib.org, or stop by the library at 9525 S. Halsted St. ¬
Dierdre Robinson is a writer and accounting professional in Chicago. She has a BA in Journalism from Michigan State University. She last wrote about a Chicago Public Library exhibit on Black steelworkers.
Shirley Alonzo with Storytime in the Children’sDepartment of Woodson Regional Library, 1990s. Photo provided by Chicago Public Library
During the Woodson 50th Anniversary celebration, the community painted a table commemorating Carter G. Woodson.
Photo provided by Chicago Public Library
A wall of paintings hung up in the Children's Area of the Woodson Regional Library.
Photo provided by Chicago Public Library
Letting the Light In
The South Side Community Art Center unveils
big plans for a $15 million rehab and expansion.
BY JASMINE BARNES
Hundreds of nail holes pepper the dark-brown wood paneling of the repurposed 1920s brownstone. Each indentation serves as a kind of signature for every Black artist whose work has been exhibited during the eighty-five-year history of the South Side Community Art Center (SSCAC).
The windows of the cozy house’s Margaret T. Burroughs Gallery have been temporarily covered to protect the art lining the walls from light. It feels as though decades of history, celebration, and community are concentrated in the livingroom gallery. It was here that Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks and famed Black novelist Richard Wright worked on their writing and photographer Gordon Parks envisioned how to arrange his newly developed photographs.
“ Seeing these holes in the wall, people often talk about microcosms— these possibilities of the past,” said Lamar Gayles, SSCAC’s archives and collections manager. “These holes show a lot of history in some ways but also the immense amount of artists that have haunted this space over the decades.”
young people so that we do build our next generation of culture keepers.”
As the country’s oldest, independently run, and continuously operating Black arts institution, the SSCAC is an anomaly.
In response to the Great Depression, the New Deal’s Federal Art Project (FAP) funded 110 community art centers nationwide. Only a fraction were located in majority-Black communities. The SSCAC is the only one of those that is still in operation
“The core to the mission of the Southside Community Arts Center is being of service to the community,” said Executive Director Monique BrinkmanHill. “[It] has a history of filling that void and helping to make art more accessible to
Despite growing disinvestment in arts and DEI initiatives, the historic art center is doubling down on its commitment to support Black artists and Black culture by pursuing a $15 million rehabilitation and expansion project. The environmentally responsive improvements will allow the SSCAC to reach new audiences, provide educational programming, and remain accessible to the community for decades to come. In the meantime, the center’s artists will have to contend with the space’s closure for over a year while the organization strives to leverage community fundraising to supplement foundation funding. Still, these challenges aren’t new to the center, which has relied on grassroots fundraising
throughout its history.
On a quiet Saturday afternoon in February, a mix of Bronzeville residents, artists in colorful sweaters and expressive hairstyles, and folks in business-casual attire were scattered among the pews of Apostolic Faith Church. Unlike the religious Sunday services that usually fill the space, a lineup of architects, arts administrators, and real estate developers took turns at the lectern.
At the official community design unveiling, project leaders shared intricate details of the work, which will begin construction of the addition and rehabilitation of the historic house in the latter half of 2025.
With SSCAC’s status as a Chicago Landmark and a designated National Treasure by the National Trust for
Historic Preservation, the best option was a rehabilitation and expansion approach to increase functionality while keeping the original building intact. Due to the building’s age, the design team chose what the National Park Service defines as “Rehabilitation” to ensure the building’s structure is preserved while allowing for more adaptability in repairing and implementing new structures in the interior of the building.
With the guidance and support of Chicago-based development advisor URBAN ReSOLVE, SSCAC leaders sought out a team of diverse and local experts to complete the massive project.
The firms working on the project are Future Firm, an architecture and design research office focused on arts and culture organizations, non-profit facilities, and mission-driven businesses in Chicago, and wrkSHäp | kiloWatt, a Black-owned, woman-owned historic preservation and design studio. Both organizations are committed to balancing the preservation of SSCAC’s rich history with creating a modern, environmentally sustainable and accessible space. Their plans will add 10,000 square feet of space to the center, expanding visitor capacity by 398 percent and making the venue wheelchair accessible. The expansion will allow for more exhibitions, art practice space, archive storage, and gathering space for the community.
k. kennedy Whiters, the principal architect at wrkSHäp |kiloWatt, brings her expertise in architectural preservation and her own deep connection to the South Side to the project.
“I'm acutely aware of the importance of the archives [and] the legacy of Black people: We are the living archive,” Whiters said.
Growing up on the South Side and
Robert Pruit drawing on display against the hole-lined wood panels of the Margaret Burrows Gallery. Photo by Jasmine Barnes
in the south suburbs, Whiters recalls her mother and maternal grandmother telling her stories about the impact and importance of Dr. Margaret Burroughs and other leaders during Chicago’s Black Renaissance in the 1930s and ’40s.
In the 1930s, a group of Chicagobased Black American artists, including Burroughs, crafted a vision and fundraising strategy for the art center. Burroughs was one of the center’s youngest members and brought her youthful passion to her fundraising efforts that included membership drives, benefit parties and lectures, and her “Mile of Dimes” streetcorner collections that took place on what is now Martin Luther King Drive.
In 1941, Burroughs, Eldzier Cortor, Charles White, and Archibald Motley Jr founded SSCAC and purchased a vacant brownstone on South Michigan Ave. for about $8,000—or a little over $170,000 today. The deteriorating building was renovated the same year. Federal funding for arts projects, including for the SSCAC, was cut in 1943. Still, the center’s tenacious fundraising and devoted community enabled it to remain an active art center and community space.
American. The social and political pressures of that moment led to internal tension and anxiety at SSCAC.
By the mid-1950s, even Burroughs felt the need to take a leave of absence from her work as a teaching artist at the center due to the paranoia present within the organization’s board. Upon her return, she was denied membership to the art center and only later re-emerged as a guiding figure in SSCAC revival in the 1960s. SSCAC experienced a major decline in the classes, exhibitions and social gatherings they offered during the Red Scare, leading the organization to drift away from its mission.
Gayles said he and his colleagues are intent on not allowing social and political repression dictate the art center’s work in the future.
zakkiyyah najeebah dumas-o’neal, the SSCAC’s previous public programs manager, worked closely with Gayles to co-curate exhibitions and support programming that also highlighted queer artists in the community’s archives.
The art center has acquired over $10 million in funding from city and state institutions, arts foundations and other private donors for the rehab project. SSCAC plans to close the $5 million gap through community fundraising, invoking the spirit of Burroughs’ “Mile of Dimes” efforts.
“With my heart and passion, I’m clear that this is going to happen,” BrinkmanHill said. “Our community is going to make this happen.”
Whiters said she feels proud to have a chance to preserve the space that helped facilitate her culturally rich upbringing and to support the legacy of the critical Black community arts space.
“ I'm looking forward to neighbors and folks from the South Side walking through the space and the smiles and the awe,” she said. “[There will also be] an ancestors space to honor the legacy of our ancestors who pave the way for the South Side center to continue to be there in the future.”
Toni Graham, the director of community initiatives at Berglund Construction, said her plan is to prioritize demographically diverse and neighborhood-focused recruitment for subcontractors so that “the people in the community can look like the people that are on the project.”
On the uppermost level of the 130-year-old brownstone, Lamar Gayles has spent many years working to preserve SSCAC’s precious artworks and archives. The storage rooms and closets on the top floor house the works of famed artists such as Elizabeth Catlett, Charles White, and Ralph Arnold, which are stowed away alongside film photographs and pamphlets from art center celebrations from the early mid-twentieth century.
Gayles has installed air conditioning units and utilized dehumidifiers to protect the precious, aging items from the rising heat of summertime and muggy days. Each art object is like a delicate elder he’s been tasked with keeping alive and well.
Gayles, who is the archives and collections manager at SSCAC, has been
Even the contract team—a joint venture between Brown & Momen, Inc. and Berglund Construction—is committed to prioritizing the surrounding community for employment and career development opportunities.
actively engaged with the center since he was a teenager. While working for the Museum of Contemporary Art in high school, he was a part of a small team that collaborated closely with SSCAC for an exhibition that exposed him to “a Black art historical canon” and the work of Black women artists like Geraldine McCullough. Upon graduating from college, Gayles continued to volunteer his time with SSCAC and eventually worked with the executive director to design a full-time role working with the center’s archives and art collection.
“Diversity, equity, and inclusion being targeted should [alarm] people to make sure that certain forms of information aren’t lost,” Gayles said. “In the same way like book bannings and book burnings really made certain information lost, I think we don’t want that to happen to Black culture.”
The challenges of this political moment aren’t new to the center, which struggled through the anti-communist moral panic of the Red Scare in the 1940s and ’50s. Black artists like Romare Bearden, Aaron Douglas, and Charles Alston, who used their art to express their political views around racial and social inequity, were flagged during the Red Scare as un-
For dumas-o’neal, it was important to expand what was already a “Black, affirmative cultural space” to be inclusive of all facets of Black identity. She said she believes the new accessibility improvements to the space will enable another level of inclusivity.
As we walk through the rooms where Gayles has spent many of his days communing with objects, the functional need for restoration feels just as clear as the aesthetic motivations—and more urgent. At the rear of the property, what was once a coach house and then a residency space now remains unused; the roof is caving in on itself. Inside, swatches of faded paint are peeling from the ceiling. Beloved objects are nestled close to each other, unable to be displayed in all their glory due to the limited square footage.
While the rehabilitation and expansion project will eventually provide ample room to display the art center’s extensive collection, for the year-or-so that construction takes place, the center will be significantly limited in its ability to accommodate visitors.
The SSCAC archive will transition to an offsite storage facility with office space for staff to work from. Because the space
Exterior aerial view of South Side Community Art Center addition, including universally accessible entry ramp. Courtesy SSCAC & Future Firm
will likely be too small for visitors, Gayles plans to use this interim period to focus on increasing the archives digital accessibility to reach more interested individuals. His hope is to make the archive as resilient and accessible as possible.
“ I think doing all this, [building] an archive for the future, allows people to see possibilities,” said Gayles. “It allows an expansive realm of nuance in the past and it allows people to build a new kind of future for themselves.”
Gayles’s team has floated starting an oral history project during the renovation that centers the reflections of community members about SSCAC’s impact in their lives—making their voices additions to the museum’s archive.
It’s easy to imagine this active dialogue between the past and future coming to life in the new and improved space equipped with a solar-ready roof, an outdoor events space, and new gallery spaces.
Regardless of which part of the building this next generation flocks to,
the legacy of past artists will reach them. Designed by the project’s architects, including Ann Lui of Future Firm, the historic pattern of nail holes found in the center’s wood panels will be represented through a perforated exterior wall plaque. Symbolically linking the past and present, sunlight will pass though the panel’s intentionally placed holes and create a unique pattern in the new exhibition space.
“We were thinking about the work of Margaret Burroughs and the way that in etching and printmaking, it is actually an act of subtraction that creates an image,” said Lui. “We’re really excited to share that the work, the legacy of the artists that came in the generations before will let in light for the artists in the generations to come.”
Jasmine is a writer, facilitator and community builder living in Woodlawn. You can learn more about her work at www. jasbarnes.com
MUSEUM TALK & ART MAKING
The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center 740 E. 56th Place | April 17 | 1:00–3:00 p.m.
FEED YOUR MIND, BODY & SOUL
AKARAMA Foundation | 6220 S. Ingleside Avenue April 24 | 9:30–11:30 a.m
WELLNESS AT THE COV
New Covenant Missionary Baptist Church 754 E. 77th Street | Mondays–Thursdays | 9:30 a.m.–2:00 p.m.
Gallery Wall from the “Beyond Frames” exhibition in the second floor gallery
Photo by Jasmine Barnes
DJ Nanoos Brings Her Community With On “Musiqa Baladi” Tour
Nanoos kicks off North American tour with a Chicago send-off.
BY JOCELYN MARTINEZ-ROSALES
Beloved Palestinian Armenian DJ and producer Nanoos kicked off her solo North American tour, “Musiqa Baladi,” on April 4 with a send off at the California Clipper. The tencity tour is an ode to the places she calls home as she makes stops in cities like Detroit, Montreal, and Los Angeles. The twenty-seven-year-old Chicago-based DJ debuted her “Musiqa Baladi” dance party at the Ramova Theatre in Bridgeport in September 2024, selling out the 280-person venue. More recently, Nanoos was featured in the Pilsen-based music platform Elevator Music—the first Arab DJ to be invited there.
This year is shaping up to contain many more firsts for Nanoos as she dives full-time into her music career. Towards the end of last year, she released music alongside Bodhi and Southsider DJ Slugo with the track ARJUUK, which blends juke, dance, and Arab sounds. Nanoos has teased future collaborations with DJ Slugo as well as with Pakistani DJ Zeemuffin.
The spring tour will end back on the South Side as Nanoos gets behind the decks at the Ramova loft once again on May 30. A year since our last conversation, the Weekly caught up with Nanoos to see what’s changed.
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Tell me about your tour “Musiqa Baladi,” which is being kicked off in Chicago.
The premise of the tour is paying homage to the places that I call home through
music—Detroit, Chicago, Palestine, Armenia. How am I going to showcase the music of my land with people that I love in a way that they can relate to? Club music, Chicago house music, Detroit techno music, and Arabic music. I fuse all of these things together to create subgenres of new things, where we have Arabic rhythms and melodies with Chicago music or with Detroit music, and connecting the dots for people in a way where they feel like they understand me better.
I’m trying to give my all in it. This is
music that comes from people who look and think like me. And I want people to know that any music that they listen to comes from the hands of real people who go through real things.
This is a ten-city tour you’re going on as a solo DJ. How are you mentally preparing?
Honestly, I don’t feel like I’m intentionally mentally preparing. I’m physically in “go, go, go mode” so it’s been really hard, just
to keep it real. It’s been really hard to even sit back and be proud. Because I should be so ecstatic. I should be so happy. And don’t get me wrong, I am, but I still need to execute. I still need to make sure that people come through the door. So I need to work really, really hard to get this done, and then when it’s done, I’ll be able to sit
Since the ceasefire ended and the genocide resumed, the moments of hopelessness also resumed. How are you still treading forward and doing so amid criticism for doing it through dance and music parties?
I don’t want our voices to get diminished in any light. And not all of us are going to be revolutionaries or on the front line or at the protests and the microphone, but we interrogate other people's lives in other ways. For me, it’s the music scene. For you, it’s through journalism. We interrogate all these things in our own way.
The love has overshadowed all of that, and honestly, I’m lucky that I haven’t gotten too much to where I can’t handle…. It just goes in one ear, out the other, because I know my intention and the community behind me, they love me and they support me. And they’re people who don't just love me as sheep, but [as] my best friends. They will clock me when I know that I’m gonna do something wrong.
What is something you’re excited to share?
In September, I’m doing my first
DJ Nanoos kicks off “Musiqa Baladi” at the California Clipper in Chicago on April 4, 2025. . Photo byJordan Esparza-Kelley
500-person venue at Lincoln Hall, and it’s going to be an interactive DJ party. It’s going to be like a murder mystery DJ party, where it’s going to be called, “Who Killed the DJ,” and it’s going to be a surprise lineup of out of town people. I won’t say, but they’re really cool people. They’re not gonna know who’s on the lineup, who’s gonna DJ until it’s time. No set times, no nothing. And it’s gonna be interactive.
What is your creative process like?
I have a home studio now, and it’s because I have this issue where I would have an idea, I would hear something in my head, but I didn’t have anywhere to put it because I didn’t know how to do something, or I didn’t have the equipment. So I would have to ask somebody to get in the studio. But then, by the time you get in the studio, either you forget it, you don’t have the same flow, it’s just gone!
So I built the home studio for this purpose. When I get an idea, I literally go immediately to the computer and if it’s a sound I’m thinking, I’ll run through, literally, a bunch of samples and just find something. Or I’ll listen to other music that other producers I really appreciate have made, and I look through their process. I’m an extremely “type A” person: when I sit down, I lock in. I’m afraid when I lock in I won’t even get up to drink water, it’s really bad. I don’t condone that behavior at all, but that’s kind of where I’m at because I’m a perfectionist.
What can you tell us about future collaborations?
I’m already collaborating with DJ Slugo and will collab again with DJ Slugo. I’m hitting the studio this week in Detroit with a couple of OGs here. There’s a DJ in New York, Zeemuffin, she’s a Pakistani DJ. I told her that I’m gonna send her some stuff and we’re gonna work on some stuff together. So there’s that. But honestly, as much as I love collabs, I want to focus on my own productions. Literally, on my own, just to really challenge myself.
Do you have any advice for anyone looking to pursue their creative aspirations?
I quit my nine to five and at the same time I became self managed. And like, it's very fucking possible. It’s just like, “hHow bad do you want it?” And not to say that you need to work yourself off into oblivion but just the biggest lesson I learned was that people are there for you if you keep your heart pure. And people will help you as much as you can remain in a nontransactional relationship with them, where you help them and you love and care on them because you want to. Look at your peers and your friends and see the small talents that they have. How can I wake that up for them so they can help me too in a way?
Like for Jordan [Editor’s note: Jordan Esparza-Kelley took photos of the Friday event and is a frequent Weekly contributor], he did a little interview tour thing for me, and before, when I asked him to help me do it, he was like, “Oh, I’ll ask one of my friends to help me too.” I was like, “No, no, I asked you because I believe in you and I want you to help me. I don’t want your friend. I want you.” And he was like, “Oh, damn. Okay, I really appreciate that.” We did it, and he executed a great project, and now we’re going to work on more.
And my best friend Alexa, she designed my hair for Elevator Music, and now she wants to creatively produce more outfits and designs and hair for me. So it’s just about waking each other up and inspiring each other. I feel like that is what this tour brought to light—that you don’t need nobody except your peoples who love you.
You can check tour dates and buy tickets at djnanoos.com. ¬
Jocelyn Martinez-Rosales is a Mexican American independent journalist from Belmont Cragin who is passionate about covering communities of color through a social justice lens. She is a senior editor at the Weekly
Photo byJordan Esparza-Kelley
Photo byJordan Esparza-Kelley
Photo byJordan Esparza-Kelley
Ask A Punk and the Power of Community Storytelling
The short is Brian Herrera’s latest offering in his journey from visual arts to filmmaking.
BY SOFIA MC DOWELL
An exclusive screening of Punk was held on March 25, 2025 in an intimate room at Soho House Chicago in the heart of the West Loop. As the film unfolded, we were immediately transported to the vibrant streets of Little Village, immersing ourselves in Brian Herrera’s powerful fifteen-minute narrative. The screening was more than just an opportunity to watch a film—it was an inspiring journey that broke boundaries and embraced community. About thirty guests gathered not just to view a film, but to experience a celebration of cultural identity and punk spirit.
Herrera’s path to filmmaking was anything but conventional. With a background in design, illustration, and visual arts, filmmaking was not a medium he had worked with before.
“This is my first time diving into the filmmaking world,” Herrera told the Weekly. His journey began when he was invited to participate in Full Spectrum Features’ Community Storytellers program, a nonprofit initiative aimed at giving underrepresented communities a platform to share their stories. The selection process is highly competitive as it is designed to amplify voices from those with no prior film experience. Herrera had a concept in mind: a punkrock narrative intertwined with the complexities of family dynamics, rooted in his own Latino background.
The opportunity to turn this idea into a film, despite his lack of formal experience, marked a significant shift in his creative career.
“I submitted a story and already had the whole premise of the film surrounding the punk scene and family relationships. I wanted to make a zine about it,” he said.
When Full Spectrum Features offered Herrera the chance to turn his idea into a film, he didn’t have a script. “I just had this idea,” he recalled. The program pushed him to move beyond his comfort zone, and the leap into filmmaking proved to be a pivotal moment in his career.
Ask A Punk tells the story of Luna, a teenager who finds herself at odds
with her family’s traditional values while discovering the rebellious world of punk music. Set against the backdrop of Little Village, the film explores the tension between her desire for independence and her familial duty, particularly with her grandmother, who was once part of the punk scene herself.
Luna’s search for her identity is set against her relationship with her grandmother. The film captures Luna’s rebellion not just against societal expectations but also against the
constraints placed on her by her family. As Luna navigates these complexities, the film ultimately highlights the intergenerational bond between her and her grandmother, who bridges the divide between past and present punk culture. The film reflects Herrera’s own experience growing up in a Latino community, where punk music served as a form of rebellion against both societal norms and familial expectations. “I experienced similar things,” Herrera said. “With the music I listened to or how I
A shot from Ask A Punk.
Photo provided by Brian Herrera
dress or the friends I had. And also, I really wanted to sort of shift a little bit of the focus of this negative stigma that like Little Village has.” The film combines punk aesthetics with deeply personal themes of identity, family, and tradition, making it a compelling exploration of the immigrant experience through the lens of rebellion and cultural pride. “The punk scene is rooted and very present still, you know, in the South Side of Chicago and the Latino communities,” Herrera said. “And there’s a lot of history.”
One of the most striking elements of Ask A Punk was its unconventional production process. Herrera was given a rare opportunity to be involved in every aspect of the filmmaking, from selecting the director to choosing the locations and casting the actors.
“I was the one that chose the locations,” he said. “I picked the actors, the director, and they compiled a list of groups for me to select Luzzo, the producer.”
At the heart of the film’s setting is a DIY show, which holds a special place in the punk scene. This particular show took place at a real DIY venue, capturing the raw, authentic spirit of the community. The band performing at the venue in the film was one that Herrera personally selected, ensuring that the energy and atmosphere felt true to his own experiences growing up in the scene. The decision to incorporate a live punk performance not only deepens the film’s connection to the culture but also highlights the importance of DIY spaces in nurturing both musical and personal expression within subcultures.
This hands-on involvement allowed Herrera to shape the film authentically and gave him the freedom to bring his personal experiences and vision to life, which was a valuable learning experience as he transitioned from visual arts to film. He also learned the importance of collaboration. He was guided by a talented team who helped him see his ideas from new perspectives.
The film also stands out for its diversity. With sixty-one percent of the crew identifying as Hispanic and fiftyeight percent as women or non-binary, Herrera’s film showcased a commitment
to representation both in front of and behind the camera.
“It feels really great to be part of this project because I not only relate to the story but everybody in the story can relate,” he noted, emphasizing the importance of authenticity in the filmmaking process.
With a live performance by the original Garfield Ridge band, blood club, the event provided a deep dive into the creative process behind Herrera's film.
At its core, Ask A Punk is a story of cultural identity, rebellion, and the relationships between family members from different generations. Growing
a form of self-expression and rebellion against societal norms reflects Herrera’s broader goal of challenging the dominant narratives about immigrant communities. By using punk music as a vehicle for storytelling, Ask A Punk explores how creativity and rebellion can offer a voice to those who have long been marginalized.
The film also emphasizes the importance of representation. As an immigrant artist, Herrera understands the significance of telling stories from within the community. “I tell the students, ‘Our stories are really fucking important. Our stories are the ones that major studios look for when they create these expensive
“The film combines punk aesthetics with deeply personal themes of identity, family, and tradition, making it a compelling exploration of the immigrant experience through the lens of rebellion and cultural pride.“
up in a Latino household, Herrera experienced firsthand the clash between traditional values and the punk spirit.
“The whole reason why I wanted to do this very specific niche story is because I wanted to do something that I could relate to,” Herrera said, pointing to the personal nature of his work.
Beyond the personal story of Luna, a sixteen-year-old girl, Ask A Punk also aims to shift the negative stereotypes associated with Latino immigrant communities. Although Herrera is from Humboldt Park, he spent much of his teenage years in Little Village. His experiences there provided a clear outlook on his decision to create a film highlighting the neighborhood’s vibrant creativity, cultural pride, and community resilience.
The film’s focus on punk culture as
filmmaking was a transformative experience. “The really exciting part was going to Center Space to work with Periscope for the editing,” he recalled. This blend of indie filmmaking with professional expertise helped Herrera refine his creative vision.
As the film evolved, Herrera learned the value of relinquishing control and allowing others to bring their own interpretations to the project. Ask A Punk made its world premiere at the prestigious Miami Film Festival on April 4. The independent film collective Sub Tropic selected the film, alongside six other shorts. The event was sold out, with over 240 people in attendance. Ask A Punk was the only film in the lineup not shot in Miami, highlighting a stark contrast in its portrayal of the Latino communities in Miami, Little Village, Chicago, and beyond.
Although Ask A Punk is a short film, Herrera has bigger ambitions for its future. He envisions expanding the story into a full feature film, delving deeper into the characters and their backgrounds. “We originally wrote more backstory for the grandmother, who was part of the punk scene. There’s so much more to explore about her journey and how she stepped away from that world,” Herrera said.
films, yet they keep all the money for themselves,’” Herrera said.
Herrera’s transition from visual arts to filmmaking was filled with twists and turns. As a visual artist, he was accustomed to working solo and having complete control over his creations. However, the collaborative nature of filmmaking required him to embrace teamwork. “As a visual artist, the way I work is that when I create a painting or finish a digital design, things start to move when I share the work. With this film, it was a slow process. We shot it and then spent months piecing everything together,” he explained.
The editing process, in particular, was an eye-opener for Herrera. He worked with a crew experienced in editing major productions like Chicago Fire and Empire, and this exposure to professional
He also hopes to screen the film on the South Side, where the narrative’s reflection of cultural pride, resilience, and creative expression could deeply resonate. Herrera said he hopes the film will spark broader conversations about diversity and representation in media. “I think it’s important to bring this narrative to different audiences, not just to keep it rooted in our neighborhood,” he said. ¬
Sofia Mc Dowell is a freelance writer and marketing professional. Her short story, "La Noche en que te perdí," was published in the anthology Los Mecanismos del Instante, featuring sixty-four Spanish-speaking authors from the United States and Canada.
Lakefront Shelter Sparks Heated Debate at Hyde Park Town Hall
A proposal to convert a migrant shelter into a permanent homeless shelter was met with opposition by some locals.
BY MAX BLAISDELL, HYDE PARK HERALD
Tempers flared among neighbors of an East Hyde Park homeless shelter during a town hall on March 31, where the loudest voices in the audience implored elected officials to cancel the project.
Organized by the Hyde Park Neighbors Preserving Community, the event, billed as a forum for airing grievances about the shelter, drew more than 200 mid-South Siders to the Nichols Park Fieldhouse, 1355 E. 53rd St. It began with a lengthy presentation on the chronology of the Best Western Hotel’s evolution from vacant property to state-owned migrant shelter to city-run shelter for anyone unhoused, and descended into screeds against “illegal immigrants” and claims of municipal officials self-dealing on shelter contracts.
“The city never engaged with our community,” said Cathy Perry, one of the evening’s organizers. “We are giving the community a platform to express their concerns about the city shifting the landscape of our neighborhood and quality of life overnight.”
In September 2023, with only a few days’ notice, the city opened a shelter at the Lake Shore Hotel, 4900B S. Lake Shore Dr., to accommodate more than 300 people in need of housing, primarily asylum seekers from Venezuela. It was one of more than a dozen temporary shelters established in response to the influx of new arrivals to Chicago since August 2022, when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began busing thousands of migrants to sanctuary cities in protest of federal immigration policies.
In the past two and a half years, more than 51,000 refugees and asylum seekers have arrived in the city, though the pace slowed significantly last year. Nearly a year after the Lake Shore Hotel shelter opened, the state opened an additional shelter in the neighboring Best Western hotel, which initially housed nearly 400 people. As the number of new arrivals declined, the city closed the Lake Shore Hotel shelter last October as part of its decompression strategy, while the Best Western shelter remained operational.
In December, a joint effort between the city and state repurposed the Best Western shelter to house all Chicagoans experiencing homelessness. The shelter is now part of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s
One System Initiative, which runs five integrated shelters for both permanent residents and asylum seekers, instead of separate facilities. Come July 1, the city is set to take sole control of the lakefront facility, but will continue to receive state funding.
The transition comes amid rising homelessness in the city. Last year, the number of longtime residents living in shelters or on the streets increased by more than 1,000 people, from 3,943 to 4,945, according to the city’s most recent pointin-time count. In all, the projected number of Chicagoans experiencing homelessness in 2024 was nearly 19,000 people.
And according to a recent statement from the Illinois Department of Human
Services (IDHS) provided to the Herald, the lakefront shelter currently houses about 390 people, of whom the majority are families with children.
“This shelter provides a vital service in meeting the need of families with children for immediate access to safe shelter and supporting them in planning for long term housing and other goals,” said a spokesperson for IDHS.
Describing the shelter as “an important tool in a larger toolbox of supports,” IDHS noted that it also offers case management services, language learning and connections to affordable housing to quickly move people out of the system and into permanent dwellings. Chicago Public Schools is also assisting with local school enrollment for the 200 children at the shelter.
“Additionally, the shelter works to support residents as neighbors to the local community through regular resident community meetings where good neighbor practices are reviewed, clear signage, and consistent security staff in the building and on the facility perimeter,” IDHS said.
But meeting organizers also presented a catalog of grievances about the shelters’ residents. They backed up their claims with lurid photographs, ranging from images of public urination and defecation to unpermitted street vending, trash, rodents and large congregations. Attendees also raised concerns about the supposed toll of the shelter on their property values, and alleged an increase in crimes such as drug dealing and prostitution, though these claims were unsubstantiated.
The Indian Village section of East
Newport Condominiums resident Loretta Flanagan weighs in on city and state efforts to convert the former Best Western hotel at 4900 S. Chicago Beach Dr. into a homeless shelter, during a public meeting in the Nichols Park Fieldhouse, Monday, March 31, 2025.
Photo by Marc C. Monaghan
Hyde Park, where the shelter is located, is predominantly made up of high-rise condo and apartment buildings, as well as a smattering of townhouses.
Several attendees expressed that they had worked hard to buy a lakefront property only to no longer feel safe in the neighborhood. One audience member even said residents should take steps to arm themselves.
“People paid damn good money to move into Hyde Park,” said Tom Jacks, another audience member. “What was done was crazy.”
Many attendees emphatically demanded that their elected officials take actions to shutter the shelter and move it to a less densely populated residential area.
“We are asking the city to stop the revolving door on this shelter, to not take over the lease on July 1, create a plan with actionable tasks and timelines to find alternative placements for everyone in the shelter by September 2025,” said Perry to considerable applause and acclamations from the audience. “Most importantly, we no longer want to be sacrificed as martyrs for the city’s political agenda.”
Local state Sen. Robert Peters (D-13th) listened to the entire presentation and tried to speak about his efforts to address his constituents’ concerns about the shelter, although neither he nor the other elected officials who were in attendance, Ald. Desmon Yancy (5th) and local state Rep. Curtis Tarver II (25th), are directly responsible for the shelter’s operations.
Yancy called the city’s messaging about the shelter “evasive” and said it had been “derelict in its duty” to listen to surrounding residents’ concerns. He said city officials’ presentation at a February meeting with residents was patronizing rather than sympathetic.
“To lecture people for thirty minutes about a humanitarian crisis when they live in their own crisis across the street, it was offensive, it was irresponsible, and we need better leadership,” he said.
Yancy told frustrated residents in the audience that they could challenge the city’s zoning designation for the shelter by filing an appeal with the Zoning Board of Appeals.
should continue appropriating money for Johnson’s One System Initiative, including the lakefront shelter, for prioritizing new arrivals over permanent residents and a lack of transparency.
In a letter to IDHS and the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget released last week, Tarver wrote that the $91.5 million in Gov. JB Pritzker’s fiscal year 2026 budget proposal for the initiative should be withheld until “neighborhood concerns are addressed and a plan inclusive of all voices is solidified.”
Little consideration at the meeting was given to the voices who expressed support for keeping a facility for the homeless in place.
“We need to know exactly what’s happening,” he said. “I also plan to go into the shelter myself and see inside.”
But, facing a hail of boos, Peters sat down.
Last Friday, Peters sent a letter to IDHS and the Mayor’s Office expressing the concerns of the surrounding community who are “directly impacted by the shelter’s operations,” while also reaffirming his longstanding commitment to “ending homelessness.”
In the letter, Peters requested that the city cap the shelter’s capacity at 400 to 450 people—down from its current cap at 764—and designate its use exclusively for families. He also urged the city to promise not to expand the shelter into the adjacent Lake Shore Hotel building (both buildings share the same owner) and to install additional police cameras in the shelter’s vicinity.
“If we have 200 kids and a bunch of parents on the street, I would make a bet that that is a far greater harm to public safety than having them in transitional housing,” Peters told the Herald. “Most of these people are finding work. They have some stability, they’re going to school.”
The city and state officials charged with operating the shelter did not attend the meeting. Event organizers said they extended invitations to Beatriz Ponce de Leon, Deputy Mayor for Immigrant, Migrant and Refugee Rights, and to Sendy Soto, the city’s Chief Homelessness Officer, but both declined.
According to a letter sent to Yancy’s office Monday by the city’s Department of Planning and Development, the shelter’s property is currently zoned as a “Community Shopping District” with a business license that expires June 15, 2026.
Tarver, who has publicly opposed the shelter, piled the blame on the Johnson administration.
“I won't mince words,” he said. “This is the result of ineptitude on the fifth floor of the City of Chicago.”
Tarver questioned whether Springfield
Niketa Brar was one of the two people who publicly spoke in defense of keeping the shelter in operation. While she spoke, Brar was repeatedly heckled by members of the audience and, after ceding the microphone, was subjected to disparaging remarks.
“This wasn’t really a community discussion,” she told the Herald afterwards. “It was meant to be the airing of particular grievances.”
To Brar, the town hall prioritized Nimbyist, or “not in my backyard,” concerns over those who want to provide shelter to the unhoused.
“This was a conversation that was positioning property ownership as the only right to enter this discussion, and that’s not
Brar, who lives near the hotel, said she frequently walks with her kids past the shelter. Many of the children living there attend school with her children.
“I see the moms at drop off,” she said. “They look like me.”
Brar thought shelter residents deserved to have their voices heard, too.
“If you really want to talk about this,” she said, “then let’s have this conversation with the mothers who are trying to make sure their babies are safe.” ¬
Zoe Pharo contributed reporting.
Max Blaisdell is a fellow with the Invisible Institute and a staff writer for the Hyde Park Herald
4900-4900B S. Chicago Beach Dr., August 2023. Photo by Marc C. Monaghan
Anita West of the ad hoc group Hyde Park Neighbors Preserving Community speaks in opposition of the city's efforts to convert the former Best Western Hotel at 4900 S. Chicago Breach Dr. into a homeless shelter, during a public meeting in the Nichols Park Fieldhouse, Monday, March 31, 2025.
Photo by Marc C. Monaghan
Meeting Cancellation Has Alderperson and Mayor’s Office Pointing Fingers
Ald. Matt Martin and police district councilors said the mayor prevented department heads from attending; the Mayor’s Office said the departments declined themselves.
BY LEIGH GIANGRECO
Police district councilors’ efforts to explore alternatives to having police and 911 handle parking violation complaints hit a snag when a City Council hearing on the matter was abruptly canceled last week.
Members of the 19th Police District Council (PDC) who have been pushing for the subject-matter hearing laid the blame squarely on the Fifth Floor of City Hall in an email to constituents. It said the meeting was canceled after the mayor prevented department heads from attending, a charge the Mayor’s Office denied.
“Unfortunately, we recently learned that Mayor Johnson’s office declined to allow representatives from key City departments—such as the Department of Finance, Police Department, and the Office of Emergency Management and Communications—to attend the hearing to discuss the proposal,” the email read. Ald. Matt Martin (47th Ward), a member of the public safety committee, told the Weekly he agreed with the email’s characterization of events.
A spokesperson said the Mayor’s Office never objected to the subjectmatter hearing or the participation of department representatives. According to the spokesperson, the departments “expressed that it would not be productive” to attend the hearing without first reviewing the proposal. “To have a more informed, substantial, and productive dialogue around these ideas for reform, City Departments felt that more time and discussion is needed.”
Emails reviewed by the Weekly show that on March 25 the Mayor’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs declined Ald. Martin’s invitation to the hearing on behalf of representatives from CPD, the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, and Department of Finance. The email invited Martin to “connect directly” with departmental
representatives copied on the email instead. Martin’s reply noted that those departments had previously ignored or denied requests to meet. The staffer wrote back to say they’d asked the representatives to follow up with him.
“To have the mayor’s office, at the eleventh hour, decline to make the departments available publicly is a
profound disappointment and not the first time that something like this has happened,” Martin told the Weekly. “I think we’re aware of many instances in which the mayor’s office has slow-walked common-sense public safety reforms.” 19th PDC Chair Maurilio Garcia said effectively removing parking enforcement from CPD’s duties is his council’s priority and that he and other district councilors have already had “productive conversations” with various department representatives about it. According to Garcia, a mayoral staffer told district councilors that their efforts overlapped with Johnson’s “People’s Plan for Community Safety,” which includes an analysis of 911 calls and “potential opportunities for alternative (non-police) response that would supplement existing alternate response programs such as CARE (Crisis Assistance Response and Engagement).”
As CPD struggles with limited resources and manpower, police district councilors from the 19th and 8th districts have argued that officers could shift parking enforcement, typically a lower priority 911 call, to another City department or even civilians. In an analysis of more than 5.6 million 911 calls spanning three years, the 19th district councilors discovered that parking violations ranked sixth among the most common reasons Chicagoans called police. A separate Office of the Inspector General analysis found that parking violations made up nearly 8 percent of 911 calls between 2022 and
Mayor Johnson presides over the March 2025 City Council meeting. Photo by Jim Daley
February 2025.
The percentage of 911 calls prompted by parking violations also fluctuates depending on the police district. In some districts, parking violations can account for as much as 15 percent of 911 calls, Garcia said.
“If you then think about each parking violation taking fifteen minutes, that’s fifteen minutes away from them walking the beat or being available to interact with the community,” Garcia said. “Why do we have police doing all these things, that quite frankly, they didn’t sign up to do?”
In both the 8th and 19th police districts, councilors have found that residents either experience long response times or no police response to parkingviolation calls, said Jason Huff, the chair of the 8th district council, which encompasses eight Southwest Side wards. Huff said that during a recent meeting with Department of Finance leadership, officials expressed interest in an
alternative response but said developing one would require staff increases.
In response to emailed questions from the 19th PDC, the Department of Finance said about fifty employees are contracted to do parking enforcement and that they do not respond to 911 calls about parking violations.
“At this time, the Department of Finance has not finalized any cost estimates for a pilot program to expand staffing related to parking violation processing,” spokesperson LaKesha Gage-Woodard said in an email to the Weekly
Martin pointed to CPD’s slow pace of compliance with the federal consent decree the department was placed under after the 2014 police murder of Laquan McDonald and a workforce allocation study that is expected to help determine where police should place officers around the city. After missing a deadline imposed by the City Council late last year, CPD finally initiated the study this January. It
won’t be completed until the end of the year, which means it won’t impact the council’s fall budget season.
Meanwhile, the police district councilors have undertaken their own CPD workforce analysis using FBI data. Their study found that compared to peer cities like Los Angeles and New York, Chicago has a smaller proportion of nonsworn personnel. Non-officers make up just 5 percent of CPD while New York has 30 percent and LA counts 28 percent.
“That means that we have a lot of officers probably doing low administrative tasks that don’t require a sworn officer,” Garcia said. “So when we talk about under-resourced districts and we have a low civilianization rate, that to me seems to be a really good indication that we don’t have our officers deployed where they need to be most.”
Until another hearing is scheduled, the police district councilors say they’ll continue reaching out to residents and alderpersons. They are also trying to
identify which labor unions could be affected by potential changes in parking violation responsibilities. Those groups could include SEIU, Teamsters, or the Fraternal Order of Police, Garcia said.
“We urge the mayor to support these common sense efforts, including by encouraging these relevant departments to participate in a hearing when it’s rescheduled soon,” Garcia said in an email to the Weekly after the meeting.
“Having this conversation publicly, with all decision makers across these departments present, would serve the community best.” ¬
Leigh Giangreco is a freelance reporter based in Chicago. You can follow her work on Twitter @LeighGiangreco and at leighgiangreco.com.
Public Meetings Report
and state level.
BY SCOTT PEMBERTON AND DOCUMENTERS
March 4
A brief and experimental meeting of the 1st Police District Council—Loop/River West/Near South Side was held during the day. Members heard from community engagement lead Jamie Brown, who spoke on residents’ concerns about not enough police. Citing the Congressional Budget Report, Brown reported optimistically about federal funding: law enforcement appears to be exempt from cutbacks. Brown reported that the Council’s outreach efforts have emphasized homeowner association meetings, visits to businesses, including restaurants, and discussions with stakeholders. A public speaker pointed out the dangers of summer crime and, for minor issues, asked whether alternatives to arrest were available. Such alternatives might include, the commenter said, community-based intervention and restorative justice. The 1st Police District released its strategic plan for 2025. It prioritized focusing on vice complaints, motor vehicle theft, and robberies.
March 8
At its meeting the Chicago Police District Council—Special Quarterly Meeting All Police District Councils provided a forum for members to call attention to issues they were facing: insufficient police interaction with the community, slow response times, understaffing, and turnover. A report on an analysis of 911 calls citywide showed that almost eight percent are about parking violations. Members of the 19th Police District Council who performed the analysis recommended that parking violations calls be routed to civilian agencies instead of police. [See story on page 16] They also urged fellow police district council members, the mayor, and the City Council to work together to allocate police time more efficiently. The district councils’ planning committee introduced protocols to support more consensus-based decisionmaking, including training so members can better understand the district councils’ legal authority.
March 20
This meeting of the Chicago Board of Education focused on renewing the charters of several high schools and included wide-ranging discussion of thirty-eight Options Network schools. These schools, the network’s website reports, “are designed to be a unique learning model for students not engaged in a traditional high school.” Options students “seek an alternative pathway to graduation” leading to college and career success. Some thirty public commenters spoke on this topic and others. Most speakers seemed to support the Options Network program. After public comments, many
other issues were covered. Board Member Jitu Brown praised Dyett High School for winning its first state basketball championship a few days earlier. In 2015, Brown led a month-long hunger strike to keep the school open. Board members expressed concern that a vote planned on the FY 2025 CPS budget was being delayed amid negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union. Federal funding for education has been uncertain in view of Washington’s likely shutdown of the Department of Education. [Editor’s Note: A tentative agreement with Chicago teachers was reached on March 31, eleven days after this CPS Board meeting.]
March 24
Launching the search for a new CEO, opening the National Museum of Public Housing, and extending of Housing Assistance Payments were key items on the agenda at a Chicago Housing Authority Board of Commissioners meeting. Finding a new leader is part of CHA’s “Year of Renewal” initiatives for 2025, which also include developing a long-term strategic plan. “It’s about being intentional in beginning to rebuild trust through openness, collaboration and long-term strategic planning,” said Interim Board Chair Matthew Brewer, an attorney. “Residents deserve a leader who understands their needs, listens to their concerns and fights for continued funding for safe, stable and affordable housing.” Former CEO Tracey Scott left her position last October after more than four years, thanks in part to criticism of her decision to sell public land to private developers and allow properties to remain empty even though waiting lists contained more than 200,000 names. CHA Board Chair Angela Hurlock has served as interim CEO since October. The board also announced the opening of the National Museum of Public Housing in Little Italy. Commissioners approved an extension of Housing Assistance Payments for four housing developments in Logan Square, Humboldt Park, Ashburn, and Englewood.
March 25
Three public commenters offered their thoughts on the COPA Chief Administrator Search during a public hearing hosted by the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA). Scheduled for ninety minutes, the meeting concluded in less than twenty-five. “Sexual assault cases are still a big issue,” the first speaker said when suggesting priorities for the new chief administrator. The second speaker said they would like to see someone proven to be an unbiased investigator and a good manager. A third said the new administrator should “let the city know how the investigations [are] being done [and] the progress being made.” This hearing was one of several listening sessions being conducted across the city looking for public input. The position became open in February after Andrea Kersten, then the chief administrator, stepped down. Mayor Brandon Johnson appointed COPA Director of Investigations Lakenya White as interim chief administrator. CCPSA continues to hold Traffic Stop Listening Sessions as members work to draft a policy on the issue. The next session is April 16.
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This information was collected and curated by the Weekly in large part using reporting from City Bureau’s Documenters at documenters.org.
illustration by Holley Appold/South Side Weekly
