August 10, 2023

Damani Bolden Named Executive Director of South Side Weekly NFP

The South Side native will oversee the publication of the Hyde Park Herald and South Side Weekly.

BY MAX BLAISDELL, HYDE PARK HERALD

This week, South Side native Damani Bolden steps into the role of executive director of South Side Weekly NFP, the nonprofit that publishes the Hyde Park Herald and South Side Weekly. In an interview with the Herald, Bolden said he wants to offer South Siders a platform that “traditional media would never provide.”

Although he brings a bevy of experience in politics, not journalism, Bolden said he wanted to take the helm at the Weekly and the Herald because of a commitment to “telling real and authentic stories that are meaningful and reflective of the communities that we're serving.”

He also said he plans to foster greater community engagement through in-person events and workshops, as well as by strengthening digital engagement with the papers and adding more Spanish-language translations and original content.

Bolden is succeeding longtime Weekly leader Jason Schumer, who spent the past eight years stepping into a range of roles and assuming a Herculean number of tasks at the biweekly paper. Last year, Schumer also oversaw the merger between the Weekly and the Herald under one nonprofit.

Growing up in the Wrightwood neighborhood of Chicago, Bolden was raised by two parents who were dedicated public servants. As a child, Bolden was a self-described “avid newspaper reader,” soaking up headlines and stories from the Sun-Times, RedEye, the free daily

commuter paper, and the Tribune—when he could afford it.

For him, the South Side was a vibrant place where people loved and took care of each other. But he felt the portrayals of his neighborhood in those mainstream publications served a different set of interests from his community’s.

“Those papers were reflective of the negative things that went on in our communities,” Bolden said. “It's easier probably to sell ‘32 people shot, 11 killed over 48 hours’ versus 100 percent of African American kids at Urban Prep

graduated and matriculated to college … At the end of the day, it’s a business.”

But he connected with the range of perspectives expressed on WVON, Chicago’s long-running Black-led talk radio station. He first listened to the station in his grandfather’s car on their rides home from school at Vanderpoel Elementary in Beverly and later from Lindblom High in Englewood.

“WVON was always a place that expressed Black excellence, South and West Side excellence, while also not negating the issues and problems that we have in our community but talking about them from a solution-oriented standpoint,” he said.

Bolden called WVON his “greatest source of media inspiration,” noting that the Weekly and Herald have similar strengths.

“South Side Weekly and Hyde Park Herald give people the platform to tell those positive stories, to shine a light on things that need to be improved, and to connect with one another in a way that other publications don't give us the opportunity to do,” he said.

In 2010, Bolden went downstate to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he majored in agricultural and consumer economics. He was also elected student body president for the third straight time in his life, holding the position during the 2013-14 academic year. He was the third Black American to win that elected office at University of Illinois.

Bolden said his experience working with press, in his case with the Daily Illini, the student-run paper at University of Illinois, was on the whole positive, even when the paper wasn’t entirely favorable in their coverage.

He said they had an “open and transparent relationship,” that was only occasionally contentious because he was the subject of their reporting. He understood that they were playing a role of ensuring accountability and transparency on his part, which he views as the purpose of journalism for society as a whole.

After graduating, Bolden worked as chief of staff for State Senator Emil Jones, III and on the state budget for former President of the Illinois Senate John Cullerton. He also did some political consulting work but eventually grew disenchanted with politics.

“I found that my impact on my community could be so much more meaningful than just helping put people into elected offices,” Bolden said.

Now, as publisher of two community newspapers, he hopes to find greater meaning in reflecting what is “bustling, beautiful and thriving” in Hyde Park and the South Side writ large, back to those communities.

Readers can reach Bolden at damani@southsideweekly.com. ¬

Max Blaisdell is a fellow with the Invisible Institute and a staff writer for the Hyde Park Herald

Damani Bolden, executive director of South Side Weekly NFP, the nonprofit that publishes the Hyde Park Herald and South Side Weekly.

PHOTO BY MARC C. MONAGHAN

SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

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 10, Issue 22

Editor-in-Chief Jacqueline Serrato

Managing Editor Adam Przybyl

Senior Editors Martha Bayne

Christopher Good

Olivia Stovicek

Sam Stecklow

Alma Campos

Jim Daley

Politics Editor J. Patrick Patterson

Labor Editor Jocelyn Martínez-Rosales

Immigration Editor Wendy Wei

Community Builder Chima Ikoro

Public Meetings Editor Scott Pemberton

Contributing Editors Jocelyn Vega

Francisco Ramírez Pinedo

Visuals Editor Kayla Bickham

Deputy Visuals Editor Shane Tolentino

Staff Illustrators Mell Montezuma

Shane Tolentino

IN CHICAGO

Migrants relocated as classes resume

Before City Colleges prepare to return to classes for the fall, more than 500 migrants who were temporarily housed in college gymnasiums and common areas as a way to relieve pressure on police stations were relocated. In the first week of August, migrants were bused from Daley and Wright colleges to the American Islamic College, a private facility near North Lake Shore Drive, until further notice. Other migrants were transferred to the Broadway Armory Park Fieldhouse, three miles north, from the South Loop police station. To facilitate the school enrollment of migrant children in CPS, city officials have established a pilot “welcome center” at Roberto Clemente Academy on the Northwest Side to offer city and social services in Spanish to migrant families.

St. Adalbert Church draws closer to becoming a landmark

IN THIS ISSUE

damani bolden named executive director of south side weekly nfp

The South Side native will oversee the publication of the Hyde Park Herald and South Side Weekly max blaisdell, hyde park herald 2 chicago spent millions on nascar

CDOT work and police overtime for the street race add up to more than $3 million.

jim daley

q&a with vanessa arroyo, founder of méxican american footwear seres

Small business owner creates sustainable footwear that draws from her Chicana roots.

sarah luyengi

4

5

Director of

Fact Checking: Savannah Hugueley

Fact Checkers: Lauren Doan

Ellie Gilbert-Bair

Christopher Good

Alani Oyola

Kelli Jean Smith

Layout Editor Tony Zralka

Program Manager Malik Jackson

Executive Director Damani Bolden

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

For years, Polish and Mexican communities have rallied to save St. Adalbert, the historic Pilsen Catholic church, from deconversion, sale, and demolition. The Archdiocese of Chicago announced in 2016 that the church would close because repairing its iconic towers and other structures would be too expensive at over $3 million. Despite protests from community members, the church was finally closed in 2019 as part of a broader consolidation of churches, and has received several offers from developers over the years, though none have gone through. Earlier this week, those residents received welcome news when the City’s Commission on Chicago Landmarks voted to recommend the church for landmark status. Dozens of supporters of the landmarking effort showed up to the meeting on Monday, August 7, and celebrated in the aftermath. The church met at least four criteria that the commission uses in its recommendations: its heritage, important architecture, connection to an important architect, and unique visual features. The vote this week begins a landmarking process that will culminate in a vote by all fifty alderpersons at a full City Council meeting.

New law allows non-citizens to become police officers

Governor J.B. Pritzker signed into law in late July a bill that will allow for individuals who are non-citizens, but are eligible to work in the U.S. and are authorized to possess firearms under federal law, to become police officers. This caused social media outrage and a misunderstanding of the law as it circled Facebook. Mayoral candidate Willie Wilson went as far as posting a statement to his Facebook calling on the state legislature to repeal the law stating, “Our country is being destroyed by bad public policy decisions.”

Contrary to public belief, undocumented immigrants and refugees are still not able to become police officers under Illinois House Bill 3751. The new law, however, does make way for “DACAmented” individuals and legal permanent residents— who are required to undergo background checks—to one day have police jobs. While DACA recipients are legally authorized to work in the country, they are not able to obtain firearms under federal law. In a fact-check by Reuters, University of Illinois College of Law professor Lauren Aronson told the publication “the bill’s passage means Illinois DACA recipients would be able to move forward as recruits if there [were] a federal shift in the law in the future.”

cpd sergeant accused of threatening asylum seekers with dog

The officer is under investigation; volunteers allege mistreatment of new arrivals at five other stations. jim daley ..................................................

una sargento del departamento de policía es acusada de amenazar a migrantes con un perro

7

La agente está bajo investigación. Voluntarios denuncian malos tratos a los migrantes recién llegados en otras cinco estaciones de policía. por jim daley traducido por alma campos 9 interim cpd chief fred waller was accused of domestic abuse in 2006

Waller also claimed he called 911 at the time, but investigators found no record of the call.

max blaisdell ........................................ 11 the last ‘block party’

Photos from the eighteenth and last ever Silver Room Block Party.

thoughtpoet and south side weekly ... 12 locked in

At a South Shore condo, an investment group has control of the building. The owners who live there feel stuck.

emeline posner 14

woodlawn tenants unionize, demand repairs from landlord 312 properties

Fourteen members of the newly formed 312 Tenants Union have filed fourteen-day notices. emeline posner .......................................... 18 reclaiming community stolen by war

Local Bosnian and Herzegovinian diaspora and allies honor the lives lost during the 1995 Srebrenica genocide.

ermina veljačić 19 public meetings report

A recap of select open meetings at the local, county, and state level.

scott pemberton and documenters 22 calendar Bulletin and events.

zoe pharo ............................................... 23

Cover photo by Kayla Bickham

Chicago Spent Millions on NASCAR

CDOT work and police overtime for the street race add up to more than $3 million.

BY JIM DALEY

The City spent at least $3.25 million on the 2023 NASCAR Chicago Street Race, according to a preliminary analysis by the Weekly. That figure includes more than $2.1 million spent on repairs to the streets that made up the racecourse and an estimated $1.1 million in police overtime associated with the race. The final tally, which could include additional costs such as traffic management, will likely be even higher.

NASCAR’s two days of street races and an accompanying music festival over the July 4 weekend shut down portions of Grant Park and the surrounding streets for weeks as crews prepped the event site. Former mayor Lori Lightfoot landed the deal with NASCAR in 2022 but did not seek City Council approval for it, and some alderpersons blasted that decision. Ald. Brendan Reilly, whose 42nd Ward includes parts of the Loop, called Lightfoot’s secretive deal “ham-handed” and criticized her lack of transparency.

NASCAR’s contract is for three years, but it allows either the City or the car-racing company to cancel it. In the deal Lightfoot’s administration inked, NASCAR was required to pay the Chicago Park District a $500,000 fee in the first year along with fifteen percent of concessions and $2 for each ticket sold in its first year (ticket prices started at $269). The fee is slated to increase to $550,000 in 2024 and $605,000 in 2025.

NASCAR hasn’t yet released information on the number of tickets sold or concession revenue.

The Chicago Street Race’s 2.2-mile

track wound around Grant Park on Dusable Lake Shore Drive, Columbus Drive, Michigan Avenue, Jackson Drive, and Balbo Drive. The Weekly submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) for documents showing the cost of repaving and repairing the streets that made up the racetrack in preparation for and following the race.

According to the document CDOT

provided, the street work alone cost $2.15 million.

The expenditures were all for work in preparation for the event; no additional roadway repairs were needed as a result of the race, according to CDOT.

Much of that—nearly $1.8 million— was listed as “Engineering” costs related to concrete, pavement, and landscape work on streets and sidewalks along the racetrack before the race. CDOT replaced

the curb and sidewalk on the west side of Columbus Drive, resurfaced and repaved roadways, and installed bus pads for the event. The total budget allocated to CDOT’s Engineering division for 2023 is $7.87 million; the NASCAR-related work ate up about twenty-three percent of that division’s annual budget.

NASCAR isn’t on the hook for any of that. The only cost recovery stipulations NASCAR is responsible for are in the

Park District permit, which requires NASCAR to pay for any damage to Park District property. According to CDOT, there aren’t any race-related repairs needed for the streets or sidewalks that NASCAR might be liable for. The damage assessment to the Park District is still pending.

More than a thousand Chicago cops earned overtime duty related to NASCAR. Data the Weekly obtained from CPD via FOIA showed that 1,034 officers were credited with 21,532 hours of overtime labeled “NASCAR CHICAGO STREET RACE” in the department’s timekeeping system. Nearly half of those hours were worked in the days leading up to the race weekend, and 926 cops were credited with 12,408 hours of overtime labeled NASCAR during the July 4 weekend. Most of those officers were working a canceled day off.

To estimate the cost of NASCARrelated overtime, the Weekly analyzed the CPD data and the salaries of each officer who worked overtime associated with the race. The analysis found that NASCAR generated the equivalent of $1.1 million in overtime for the department.

More overtime was credited to NASCAR than any other special event so far this summer except the Pride Parade, for which officers were credited with 31,297 hours. The 2023 Pride Parade crowd estimate was nearly a million people; NASCAR projected it would attract about 100,000 attendees

over the course of the weekend. (Data for Lollapalooza 2023 was not available by press time. In 2021, the most recent year for which the Weekly has data, Lollapalooza generated 48,161 hours of police overtime.)

Together, the data the Weekly obtained adds up to an estimated cost of $3,250,000 for street repairs and police overtime for NASCAR. The total price to taxpayers, which could include additional costs such as overtime for traffic control aides, will likely be higher.

A NASCAR-commissioned study predicted the event would generate millions in tax and sales revenue for the City and local businesses. It’s unclear how accurate those numbers were. Choose Chicago, the City’s tourism bureau, has commissioned an economic impact study on the race by researchers at Temple University, Crain’s reported last week.

Mayor Brandon Johnson has been noncommittal about keeping the contract with NASCAR.

“Like everything else I inherited, I’m a teacher, so I will assess it and grade it and it will be an open process where other folks get a chance to weigh in,” Johnson said after the race. “I’m confident that the people of Chicago and our administration will come up with a way forward that’s in the best interest for the entire city.” ¬

Q&A with Vanessa Arroyo,

Founder of Mexican American Footwear SERES

BY SARAH LUYENGI

Thirty-four year old fashion designer and small business owner Vanessa Arroyo remembers trips to flea markets in Chicago, and summer visits to Taxco, Guerrero, Mexico with her family. While she doesn’t have her “anchor set in one place,” Arroyo has found inspiration from the different stages of her life. Her parents immigrated to Chicago and lived in multigenerational homes in both Pilsen and Palmer Square. Arroyo spent most of her upbringing in Logan Square with her grandparents and “ran throughout the entire city” as she had friends on the Southside and other neighborhoods.

After spending more than four years in the New York City fashion world as a footwear design assistant and product developer, Arroyo knew that she wanted to explore the role her Mexican heritage played in fashion. In 2023, she launched SERES, a socially responsible brand that supports ethical and sustainable labor practices. SERES is the Spanish word for —a word that Arroyo deliberately chose to highlight the collective and every participant that makes SERES footwear possible - from “from people and ancestors,” to “animals and nature

Customers can shop SERES online

or in person or at local popups, which they announce on their social platforms.

“I love to see a lot of people like me taking up space in fashion,” said Arroyo. “I love seeing international designers putting their culture in the spotlight.”

According to Business Formation Statistics, Illinois entrepreneurs launched 198,827 new businesses in 2021, representing the highest number of new businesses on record. However, a report found that only 12.7 percent of the 1.2 million small businesses in Illinois are minority owned.

So, what does being a Chicana business-owner mean to Arroyo? South Side Weekly spoke with Arroyo about her pathway to SERES and how her Mexican American identity shapes each step she takes.

The following interview has been edited slightly for clarity.

SSW: What role did fashion play in your life?

Arroyo: Growing up as an only child, I learned how to always keep busy with my imagination. My parents were always into fashion and loved keeping me fly. I still

Jim Daley is an investigative journalist and senior editor at the Weekly.

ILLUSTRATION BY JULIE MERRELL

Small business owner creates sustainable footwear that draws from her Chicana roots.

hated it! I’ve always had a personal way of dressing which has evolved over time.

Describe your time in the fashion industry.

My dad used to tailor his own clothing, and he taught me how to sew [on a sewing machine] when I was a teenager. That’s when I really found myself through fashion. I took accelerated fashion college classes during high school. After studying fashion at Columbia College Chicago, I worked at vFish, a womenswear label that wholesaled at various retailers including Macy's. I got to travel overseas and I was so excited about that. But I knew that I needed to grow somewhere else. I bought a one-way ticket to New York City in 2012. I worked for Rag & Bone, which is a high-end fashion label. Shoutout to Catherine Eberhardt for taking me under her wing! I was happy

during this time—I thought I was living my dream as I worked Fashion Week, designing collections and doing product development. I looked up to everyone that I worked with. But after six years of living in NYC, I really wanted change. I wanted to learn more about footwear and maybe take classes. It was actually someone who I was working with that suggested that I go to México to learn more about the industry. In the back of my head, I had always wanted to move to México but it was never in my budget the times that I wanted to. So, I was like, this is my opportunity!

How did your time in Mexico influence

I was in León Guanajuato, México from 2016 to 2020 seasonally, staying anywhere from one to three months at a time. But I fully relocated for two years, which was 2017 and 2018. I immersed myself in the footwear world. I took classes all around León but formally trained at Arsutoria and Ciatec schools. One of my friends ran a space called Z. Leather Workshop and I learned a lot there. My good friend Olga Olivares introduced me to shoemakers in

going through a lot personally during that time. What do I want to create and how can it best represent me? I wanted it to be a Mexican American brand, and the name would be in Spanish. I was listening to a lot of podcasts at the time and the word seres kept popping up. It means many things but one of the definitions is “beings,” which is a tagline of the brand. We want to put a spotlight on all the participants that are part of the brand.

I wanted to create something that wouldn’t harm the planet, something that was ethically made. We work with artisans in México and make small batches from sustainably sourced materials. Our mission is to create fashion-forward footwear in a sustainable, efficient way while also respecting all of the beings it took to create this product.

How was the overall process creating SERES?

I knew that I needed a lot of money to start my business, and I’ve always been financially responsible. As a first generation immigrant, you learn the hustle! I think it goes back to that survival mode that you're

making SERES was cathartic for me. I’ve always had this affinity to nature. I felt like the word SERES can be felt in the entire creation of the brand. There’s <i>seres</ i> all around us. It’s the essence of being connected to the spiritual and physical world. It’s the ancestral ties. My business wouldn’t be anything without all of the beings that were involved in the process and inspiration.

What role does your Mexican American heritage play in your journey?

I’m a first generation Chicana. Both of my parents emigrated from México when they were children. My mom when she was just a baby and she’s from Ciudad Juarez. My dad, who was ten, is from Amealco. When I decided to move to México to learn more about footwear, I was surrounded by people who looked like me. I had visited México with my family during the summer when I was a kid, but it was different when I lived there. I started to dig more into my ancestral lineage and bother my grandparents with all of these questions. Why did you leave México? How did our family end up in Juarez and Amealco? Why did we come to the US? Without my time in México, I wouldn’t be where I am today with SERES.

What would you tell other people who are interested in starting their own business?

Mexico City and I was able to take courses with them. Another friend, Nei Ermel, from NYC hooked me up with a few apprenticeships and applied for scholarships to get technical training on how to operate machinery. I was just staying busy. But behind all of that, there was something else happening—I was reconnecting with my roots. I had an epiphany. I was so happy to be in that type of setting.

Tell us more about SERES. How did you start it?

I think a lot of creatives, especially in the fashion industry, hope to one day have their own business. It was during the pandemic when I knew it was now or never—I was

taught at a very young age as immigrants. I did a lot of research about business relations and entrepreneurship. I connected with a lot of organizations in Chicago to learn more, like the Women’s Business Development Center. I also reached out to my contacts in México once I knew I had a viable product. After the lockdown, I went to México to meet with people and see how we could make SERES come to life.

How does spirituality tie into your work?

It begins with the land. SERES is a sustainable brand and we source all the materials locally. The land is a being. All of the natural resources are living, breathing things—beings. The whole process of

Don’t overthink things if you have an idea. If you think about it every day, then it’s for a reason. It’s a seed that’s been planted inside of you that needs to grow and express itself. One of the best feelings in life is having creative expression. It’s work that you enjoy so do what you need to do. Follow your intuition. ¬

The CPL calendar will list events celebrating this major anniversary throughout the city this year, as well as hosting several exhibitions on CPL’s history. CPL is also starting a podcast on their history and libraries.

Sarah Luyengi earned her B.A. in English with a concentration in creative writing from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2014. Some of her non-fictional work has appeared in Borderless Magazine. She last reviewed Once I Was You for the Weekly.

“Our mission is to create fashion-forward footwear in a sustainable, efficient way while also respecting all of the beings it took to create this product.”

Fashion designer and small business owner Vanessa Arroyo

PHOTO BY

CPD Sergeant Accused of Threatening Asylum Seekers With Dog

The officer is under investigation; volunteers allege mistreatment of new arrivals at five other stations.

BY JIM DALEY

Apolice officer at the 14th District in Logan Square is being investigated by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) for comments she allegedly made to newly arrived asylum seekers and volunteers assisting them. A CPD spokesperson also acknowledged that the department’s Bureau of Internal Affairs (BIA) is “investigating a department member at the 14th District.”

Multiple 14th District mutual-aid volunteers told the Weekly they heard the officer say xenophobic and derogatory things to the people staying at the station. In June, the officer also allegedly shouted profanities at a group of new arrivals and threatened them with a dog, according to a woman who was staying there.

The officer, a sergeant who has been with the department since 1998, has at least fourteen complaints on her record, according to the Citizens Police Data Project. The Weekly is not naming her because the COPA and BIA investigations are ongoing.

Since last August, more than 10,000 people from Venezuela and other countries have arrived in Chicago, many of them bused here by Texas governor Greg Abbott. Hundreds are staying in police stations across the city. Mutual aid groups and individual volunteers have stepped up to fill gaps in City services, ensure the new arrivals are fed, and help them with basic amenities.

Several volunteers with a mutual aid group in the 14th District gave statements to COPA about the allegations of verbal abuse by the sergeant. Three of them recounted their experiences with the officer in interviews. The Weekly is not identifying any of the volunteers who were interviewed for this story to protect their ability to

continue assisting new arrivals.

One volunteer said that when a busload of new arrivals were dropped off, the sergeant angrily began shouting questions at the bus driver. As they stood in the station’s vestibule, the sergeant said, “There’s no more room at the inn,” according to the volunteer. Then, she began “going on this rant” about President Joe Biden being a war criminal.

“The way she handled it was very disheartening,” the volunteer said.

Another volunteer said that when a group of new arrivals were dropped off, the sergeant shouted that they couldn’t come in the station, that they were going to bring lice and disease, and that “we have to take

care of our own.”

A third volunteer told the Weekly that one night in mid-May, the vestibule was overflowing with new arrivals. A group of people who had just arrived were facing the prospect of sleeping outside, despite more space being available in the station’s lobby.

“I approached this officer and said, you know, ‘would it be okay if some of these folks were to move into this other space for the night,’” the volunteer said. “Her response was, quote, ‘why don't you take them to [former mayor Lori] Lightfoot’s house.’”

In June, the sergeant allegedly berated new arrivals while she held a dog on a leash.

“Ana” (not her real name), a new arrival

who said she witnessed that incident, described it to the Weekly Ana left Venezuela in April with her husband and children, the youngest of whom was less than a year old, and began the trek north. They crossed through Colombia, the treacherous Darién Gap in Panama, and most of Central America on foot before arriving in the United States. In June, they boarded a bus that took them to Chicago, where they were sent to the 14th District station.

Ana first encountered the sergeant on her second day in Chicago. Around noon, Ana and other young families were lying on the floor under a stairway inside the station, chatting with one another. Among them were a pregnant woman, the women’s husbands and a teenage boy.

“The sergeant arrives and starts yelling in English, but we don’t know if she was referring to us [at first],” Ana said. “She was screaming, saying crazy things. . . . We don’t speak English, but we did know that she was referring to us with obscene words, rudely.”

Another officer approached and explained in Spanish that men couldn’t be inside the station. The sergeant continued shouting. “At the time, we didn’t understand the situation, and [the sergeant] was very upset,” Ana said. “Since we didn’t react to what was happening, she went into another room and came out with the dog. She came out more upset.”

Still shouting, the sergeant gave the dog’s leash enough slack that it could get closer to the families, Ana said. It was as if the sergeant was “threatening that if [we] don't leave now, then [she’s] going to release the dog.”

The families tried to explain that the men in the group were their husbands and that one was a minor. “She didn’t care that

A police officer at the 14th District in Logan Square is under investigation by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability for comments she made to new arrivals and volunteers.

PHOTO BY JASON JARRACH ON UNSPLASH

there were children,” Ana said. “She didn’t care that the other [boy] was underage, [or] that the woman was pregnant. She didn’t care at all.”

As Ana and the others left the station, she said the sergeant followed them to the doorway.

“She stood at the door with the dog, looking at us with hate,” Ana said. “She spent a long time standing there, looking at us with hatred.”

Soon after, 14th Police District Council member Ashley Vargas arrived, and the families told her what had just taken place. Vargas spoke to the sergeant and said she would tell the District Commander what had happened.

“[The sergeant] was like, ‘go ahead, I’ll talk to the commander myself,’ so I said, ‘well, bring her out,’” Vargas told the Weekly “And then she was like, ‘no, she shouldn’t waste her time talking to a little girl.’”

David Orlikoff, also a member of the 14th Police District Council, called the officer’s behavior alarming. “I personally witnessed this sergeant calling [Vargas] a ‘crazy little girl,’ and that she doesn’t have to talk to her, won’t talk to her, doesn’t need to work with her,” Orlikoff said.

In a subsequent email to the Weekly, Orlikoff wrote that the sergeant’s “apparent inability to respect the authority of our community’s duly elected district councilor while acting directly within her official capacity seems incompatible with the requirements imposed by her position of leadership” as a District Station Supervisor.

The allegations in the 14th District are among multiple incidents volunteers described of police officers mistreating new arrivals at several police district stations.

Several volunteers said that some officers have gone out of their way to help new arrivals, whether buying food with their own money or taking a relaxed and compassionate attitude towards them. A volunteer in the 24th District said some officers have been kind, brought toys for children, or shared vitamins. “But when they’re doing that, they’re really acting as individuals, not as officers, because the system of the police station is still an unsafe and unfriendly one,” they said.

Other officers have allegedly made xenophobic comments and refused to assist new arrivals, according to multiple

volunteers who spoke to the Weekly

A volunteer in the 1st District in the South Loop said that a Latinx officer there makes new arrivals line up early each morning for a daily headcount. She and other officers wake people sleeping there by shouting or blowing whistles.

“She will line them up … sometimes [at] 5:30 in the morning,” the volunteer said. “[She says things like] ‘Everybody get out. When my father came here, he was already working. You’re all lazy.’”

The volunteer said this officer has also intentionally separated long-term couples who aren’t married. According to the volunteer, the officer has given these couples different 311 service request (SR) numbers, which hold their place in line for a spot at one of the city’s shelters, in order to send them to different ones.

officers’ response shifted, according to a volunteer there. First, they stopped turning the lobby lights off at night. Then, they began bringing arrestees in through the lobby instead of a back entrance. “People felt like it was happening on purpose to make them uncomfortable being there with their kids,” the volunteer said.

“A lot of people spoke about an officer that would walk around and kick them as they were sleeping, and shine flashlights in their faces,” they added.

At shift changes, officers started making everyone leave the station, ostensibly for cleaning. “But then nothing would be cleaned,” they said. “So the overwhelming feeling was that they’re going to continue to make it more and more uncomfortable for us and unsafe for us because they don’t want us there.”

officers in the 25th District have refused to help new arrivals with service request (SR) numbers. When one volunteer asked a sergeant in that district to help a new arrival get a new SR card, the sergeant said he’d only help if the volunteer took three of the people staying there home with them.

The department’s press office did not immediately respond to questions about the additional allegations.

The 24th District volunteer said that new arrivals have no way to report the abuses themselves. “There’s nothing posted,” they said. “COPA’s already confusing for English speakers who are from here, and inefficient. I feel like people really deserve an easy way to report any abuses—from police, from volunteers, from [the] workplace, from shelter staff. They’re just a very vulnerable population right now, and I feel like the people who are supposed to protect them would want to know where the weak spots are in their safety.”

In an email to the Weekly, Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th Ward), who chairs the City Council’s Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said the committee intends to have CPD leadership and mutual-aid representatives attend a hearing to address the allegations.

In the 4th District on the Southeast Side, a police officer made a new arrival leave the station in the middle of one of the recent thunderstorms. “You’re removing dignity and humiliating these folks, and that’s creating fear and mistrust,” the volunteer said.

A volunteer in the 5th District in Pullman said that in May, they got a call from another volunteer who was at a hospital with a new arrival who’d had a miscarriage. After being treated, the woman was returned to the police station. Volunteers attempted to provide over-thecounter painkillers for the woman, but police refused to allow them to.

“You have somebody that’s coming from a different country, and they should still have the dignity of being able to have the medical treatment they need,” the volunteer said. “It’s just so disheartening.”

As more and more people arrived at the 24th District in Rogers Park, the

Families ultimately slept outside, “because that was a friendlier environment than the lobby of the police station.”

As others have reported, the volunteer said new arrivals don’t want to complain for fear of worsening their situation. “[They] just want to slide under the radar; [they’re] not trying to make anything worse,” the 24th District volunteer said. “There was that much mistrust, that saying anything, it would just get worse.”

In the 25th District in Belmont Cragin, new arrivals are forced to sleep in a vestibule near where sex offenders register each morning. A volunteer said that when mutual aid groups bring coffee and breakfast for the new arrivals, they have to put it on the floor, because the only available table is close to the registration area. The police refused to move the table, provide another table, or allow the mutual aid group to bring their own, the volunteer said.

The volunteer added that police

“We take these matters seriously,” Vasquez wrote, “especially as the Mutual Aid groups have been doing the heavy lifting in providing support and the migrants deserve the dignity and respect that every person does.”

At a press conference announcing the opening of a pilot center to welcome newly arrived families that will be housed at Roberto Clemente Community Academy, Mayor Brandon Johnson said “there is urgency” around getting new arrivals out of police stations citywide. He added that the administration is in the process of setting up alternate facilities.

“Our deputy mayor . . . will help provide the attention and continue to build on the infrastructure that’s ultimately going to create a safe space for everyone who wishes to call Chicago home.” ¬

Jim Daley is an investigative journalist and contributor to the Weekly.

Note: This story was originally published on July 17.

“They’re just a very vulnerable population right now, and I feel like the people who are supposed to protect them would want to know where the weak spots are in their safety.”

Una sargento del departamento de policía es acusada de amenazar a migrantes con un perro

La Oficina Civil de Responsabilidad Policial (COPA, por sus siglas en inglés) está investigando a una agente de policía del distrito 14 de Logan Square por comentarios que supuestamente le hizo a varios solicitantes de asilo y a los voluntarios. Un portavoz del departamento de policía de Chicago (CPD) también dijo que la Oficina de Asuntos Internos (BIA, por sus siglas en inglés) del departamento está “investigando a un miembro del departamento en el distrito 14”.

Múltiples voluntarios del distrito 14 le dijeron al Weekly que oyeron a la agente decir cosas antiinmigrantes y ofensivas a las personas que se refugiaban en la comisaría. En junio, la agente también les gritó insultos a un grupo de migrantes y los amenazó con un perro, según testigos.

La agente, una sargento que lleva en el departamento desde 1998, además tiene por lo menos 14 denuncias en su historial, según información del proyecto Citizens Police Data Project, que toma nota de las interacciones de la policía con el público. El Weekly no nombra a la agente porque las investigaciones de COPA y BIA están en curso.

Desde el pasado agosto, más de 10,000 personas procedentes de Venezuela y otros países han llegado a Chicago, muchas de ellas transportadas en autobús por el gobernador de Texas, Greg Abbott. Cientos se han alojado en comisarías de toda la ciudad. Grupos de ayuda mutua

y voluntarios han intervenido para suplir las carencias de los servicios municipales, garantizar la alimentación de los recién llegados y ayudarles con las necesidades básicas.

Varios voluntarios de un grupo de ayuda mutua del distrito 14 hicieron declaraciones a COPA sobre malos tratos verbales a los solicitantes de asilo por parte de la sargento. Tres de ellos relataron sus experiencias con la agente durante entrevistas. El Weekly no está identificando a ninguno de los voluntarios entrevistados para no interrumpir su labor.

Uno de los voluntarios dijo que, cuando un autobús que llevaba migrantes llegó a la comisaría, la sargento empezó a gritarle y a hacerle preguntas al conductor del autobús. Mientras estaban en la entrada de la comisaría, la sargento dijo: “Ya no hay lugar aquí”, según la voluntaria. Entonces, empezó a decir varias cosas, como que el Presidente Joe Biden era un criminal de guerra.

“La forma como manejó las cosas fue muy decepcionante”, dijo la voluntaria.

Otro voluntario dijo que cuando dejaron a un grupo nuevo de recién llegados, la sargento gritó que no podían entrar en la estación, que iban a traer piojos y enfermedades, y que “tenemos que cuidar a los nuestros”.

Un tercer voluntario le contó al Weekly que una noche, a mediados de mayo, la entrada estaba llena de recién llegados. Un grupo de personas que acababan de llegar

enfrentaban la posibilidad de dormir afuera, a pesar de que había más espacio disponible en el vestíbulo de la comisaría.

“Me acerqué a la agente y le dije, ‘¿estaría bien que algunas de estas personas pasen la noche en este otro espacio?’ Su respuesta fue, literalmente, ‘¿por qué no los llevas a la casa de [la ex alcaldesa Lori] Lightfoot?’”

En junio, la sargento supuestamente les reprochó a los recién llegados mientras llevaba un perro amarrado.

“Ana” (nombre ficticio), una recién llegada que dijo haber presenciado ese incidente, lo describió al Weekly.

Ana vino de Venezuela con su marido y sus hijos. El más pequeño tenía menos de un año. En abril comenzaron la travesía hacia el norte, atravesando Colombia, la peligrosa selva del Darién en Panamá y la mayor parte de Centroamérica a pie antes de llegar a los Estados Unidos. En junio, se subieron a un autobús que los llevó a Chicago, en donde fueron enviados a la comisaría del distrito 14.

En su segundo día en Chicago, Ana conoció a la sargento. Hacia el mediodía, Ana y otras familias jóvenes estaban acostadas en el suelo debajo de una escalera dentro de la estación, conversando. Entre ellos estaba una mujer embarazada, los maridos de las mujeres y un adolescente.

“Llega la sargento y empieza a gritar en inglés, pero no sabemos si se refería a nosotros [al principio]”, cuenta Ana. “Estaba gritando, diciendo locuras… No

hablamos inglés, pero sabíamos que se refería a nosotros con palabras obscenas, groseras”.

En ese momento, otro oficial se acercó y nos explicó en español que los hombres no podían estar dentro de la comisaría. La sargento siguió gritando. “No entendíamos la situación y [la sargento] estaba muy alterada”, contó Ana. “Como no reaccionábamos a lo que estaba pasando, se fue a otro cuarto y salió con el perro. Salió más alterada”.

Sin dejar de gritar, la sargento aflojó la correa del perro lo suficiente para que pudiera acercarse a las familias, según Ana. Era como si la sargento estuviera “amenazando con que si no nos íbamos ahora, iba a soltar al perro”.

Las familias intentaron explicar que los hombres del grupo eran sus esposos y que uno de ellos era menor de edad. “No le importó que hubiera niños”, dijo Ana. “No le importó que el otro fuera menor de edad ni que la mujer estuviera embarazada. No le importaba nada”.

Cuando Ana y los demás se salieron de la comisaría, la sargento los siguió hasta la puerta.

“Se quedó en la puerta con el perro, mirándonos con odio”, dijo Ana. “Estuvo mucho tiempo allí de pie, mirándonos con aborrecimiento”.

Poco después llegó Ashley Vargas, miembro del Concejo del Distrito 14 de Policía, y las familias le contaron lo que acababa de ocurrir. Vargas habló con la

POR JIM DALEY TRADUCIDO POR ALMA CAMPOS

La agente está bajo investigación. Voluntarios denuncian malos tratos a los migrantes recién llegados en otras cinco estaciones de policía.

sargento y le dijo que le contaría lo ocurrido a la comandante del distrito.

“[La sargento] dijo, ‘adelante, yo misma hablaré con la comandante’, así que le dije, ‘bueno, dile que salga’”, le dijo Vargas al Weekly. “Entonces ella dijo, ‘no, ella no debería perder el tiempo hablando con una niña’”.

David Orlikoff, también miembro del Concejo del Distrito 14 de Policía, dijo que el comportamiento de la agente fue alarmante. “Fui testigo de la forma que esta sargento le decía [a Vargas] ‘niña loca’, y que no tenía que hablar con ella, que no hablará con ella, y no necesita trabajar con ella”, dijo Orlikoff.

En un correo electrónico enviando posteriormente al Weekly, Orlikoff escribió que la “aparente incapacidad de la sargento para respetar la autoridad del concejal de distrito elegido por nuestra comunidad mientras actúa directamente dentro de su cargo oficial parece incompatible con los requisitos impuestos por su posición de liderazgo” como supervisora de la comisaría de distrito.

Las acusaciones en el distrito 14 forman parte de los múltiples incidentes que los voluntarios describieron acerca de los oficiales de policía que maltratan a los recién llegados en varias comisarías de distrito.

Varios voluntarios reconocieron que algunos agentes se han esforzado por ayudar a los recién llegados, ya sea comprando comida con su propio dinero o manteniendo una actitud relajada y compasiva hacia ellos. Un voluntario del distrito 24 dijo que algunos agentes han sido amables, han traído juguetes para los niños o les han dado vitaminas. “Pero cuando hacen eso, en realidad están actuando como individuos, no como oficiales, porque el sistema de la comisaría sigue siendo inseguro y poco amistoso”, dijeron.

Otros agentes han hecho comentarios xenófobos y se han negado a ayudar a los recién llegados, según varios voluntarios que hablaron con el Weekly.

Una voluntaria del distrito 1, en el centro, dijo que una agente latina hace que los recién llegados se pongan en fila temprano cada mañana para hacer el recuento diario. Ella y otros agentes despiertan a las personas que duermen allí gritando o sonando un silbato.

“Los pone en fila... a veces [a] las 5:30

de la mañana”, explica la voluntaria. “Dice cosas como: ‘Fuera todos. Cuando mi padre llegó [a Estados Unidos], ya estaba trabajando. Son unos flojos’”.

El voluntario dijo que esta agente también ha separado intencionadamente a parejas que no están casadas. Según el voluntario, la agente ha dado a estas parejas diferentes números de solicitud de servicio del 311, los cuales le asignan su lugar en la fila para una vacante en uno de los refugios de la Municipalidad, con el fin de enviarlos a sitios diferentes.

En el distrito 4, en el lado sureste, un agente de policía hizo salir de la comisaría a un recién llegado en medio de una de las recientes tormentas de lluvia. “Están quitándoles la dignidad y humillando a esta

voluntario allí presente. Primero, dejaron de apagar las luces del vestíbulo por la noche. Después, empezaron a hacer entrar a los detenidos por en frente en vez de por una entrada trasera. “La gente tenía el sentido de que lo hacían a propósito para hacerlos sentir incómodos estando allí con sus hijos”, explicó el voluntario.

“Mucha gente habló de un agente que caminaba y les daba patadas mientras dormían, y les apuntaba a la cara con linternas”, añadió.

En los cambios de turno, los agentes empezaron a hacer salir a todos de la comisaría, supuestamente para limpiar. “Pero luego no limpiaban nada”, dijeron.

Al final, las familias durmieron afuera, “porque era un entorno más agradable que

registro. La policía se negó a mover la mesa, a proporcionar otra mesa o a permitir que el grupo de voluntarios trajera una suya, dijo el voluntario.

El voluntario añadió que los policías del distrito 25 se han negado a proporcionarle a los recién llegados con los números de solicitud de servicio (SR, por sus siglas en inglés). Cuando un voluntario le pidió a un sargento de ese distrito que ayudara a un recién llegado a obtener una nueva tarjeta SR, el sargento dijo que sólo lo ayudaría si el voluntario se llevaba a casa a tres de las personas que se alojaban allí.

La oficina de prensa del departamento no respondió inmediatamente a las preguntas sobre las acusaciones adicionales.

El voluntario del distrito 24 dijo que los recién llegados no tienen forma de reportar los abusos. "No hay nada publicado sobre eso”, dijeron. “En si, COPA ya es confusa e ineficiente para las personas que son de aquí y que hablan inglés. Creo que la gente se merece una forma fácil de reportar cualquier abuso: de la policía, de los voluntarios, del lugar de trabajo, del personal del albergue. Ahora mismo [los solicitantes de asilo] son una población muy vulnerable, y creo que las personas que se supone que deben protegerlos querrían saber cuáles son los puntos débiles para su seguridad”.

gente, y eso crea miedo y desconfianza”, dijo el voluntario.

Una voluntaria del ditrsito 5 de Pullman contó que en mayo recibió una llamada de otra voluntaria que estaba en un hospital con una recién llegada que había sufrido un aborto espontáneo. Tras ser atendida, la mujer fue devuelta a la comisaría. Los voluntarios intentaron proporcionarle analgésicos sin receta a la mujer, pero la policía se negó a permitírselo.

“Tienes a alguien que viene de otro país y deberían darle la dignidad de recibir el tratamiento médico que necesita”, dijo la voluntaria. “Es tan decepcionante”.

A medida que más y más personas llegaban al distrito 24 en Rogers Park, la respuesta de los agentes cambió, según un

la comisaría”.

Como otros han reportado, el voluntario dijo que los recién llegados no quieren quejarse por miedo a empeorar su situación. “Sólo quieren pasar desapercibidos; no intentan empeorar las cosas”, afirma el voluntario del distrito 24. “Había tanta desconfianza, que decir algo sólo empeoraría las cosas”.

En el distrito 25, en Belmont Cragin, los recién llegados se ven obligados a dormir en un vestíbulo cercano al lugar donde los delincuentes sexuales se registran cada mañana. Un voluntario dijo que cuando los grupos de ayuda mutua traen café y desayuno para los recién llegados, tienen que ponerlo en el suelo, porque la única mesa disponible está cerca del área de

En una conferencia de prensa sobre la apertura de un centro piloto para familias recién llegadas en la secundaria Roberto Clemente, el alcalde Brandon Johnson dijo que “hay urgencia” por sacar a los recién llegados de las estaciones de policía en toda la ciudad. Añadió que la administración está en proceso de establecer instalaciones alternativas.

En otra conferencia de prensa sobre la investigación de COPA de las acusaciones de mala conducta sexual que involucran a oficiales en el distrito 10, la jefa de administración de COPA, Andrea Kersten, dijo que la agencia ha recibido alrededor de dos docenas de quejas contra oficiales de CPD que involucran a migrantes.

“Sólo dos o tres” de las quejas caen bajo la jurisdicción de COPA, agregó Kersten. ¬

Jim Daley es periodista de investigación y contribuyente del Weekly

En ese momento, otro oficial se acercó y nos explicó en español que los hombres no podían estar dentro de la comisaría. La sargento siguió gritando. “No entendíamos la situación y [la sargento] estaba muy alterada’, contó una migrante. ‘Como no reaccionábamos a lo que estaba pasando, se fue a otro cuarto y salió con el perro. Salió más alterada’”.

Interim CPD Chief Fred Waller Was Accused of Domestic Abuse in 2006

BY MAX BLAISDELL

Content warning: This story includes descriptions of alleged domestic violence.

Interim police superintendent Fred Waller was accused of domestic violence by a thirty-nine-year-old woman in 2006, according to records obtained by the Weekly. During an investigation by the Office of Professional Standards (OPS), Waller made statements that contradicted evidence gathered by OPS investigators. Despite the inconsistencies, OPS marked the allegations as “not sustained” and closed the investigation.

In May, Mayor Brandon Johnson appointed Waller to serve as interim police superintendent while the Community Commission on Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) searched for a permanent replacement for David Brown, who quit after the 2023 municipal election. In a press conference announcing the pick, Johnson cited Waller’s “experience and integrity” as key factors behind his decision to select him for the top job. When Waller stepped to the lectern, he referred to himself as “old school with integrity, professionalism and respect.”

On Monday, WBEZ reported that in 1994 Waller’s then-wife accused him of committing domestic violence. After making the complaint, however, she ceased cooperating with OPS investigators, who designated her complaint “not sustained” and closed the investigation. According to WBEZ, Waller has been the subject of fifty-eight complaints during his Chicago Police Department (CPD) career.

The Weekly filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the CPD for a 2006 complaint record on June 14. After several weeks of delays, CPD provided heavily redacted documents.

The 2006 incident allegedly occurred at a home Waller was sharing with the then thirty-nine-year-old woman in Ashburn on March 26 of that year. The woman

alleged that Waller choked and pushed her, according to the records the Weekly obtained.

allegations, Waller told investigators “he called 911” around the time of the alleged incident. But according to OPS files, investigators determined that “records don’t reflect any 911 call being placed by [Waller].”

Unlike Waller’s then-wife in the 1994 complaint, the woman who accused him of domestic violence in 2006 cooperated with investigators throughout the investigation. She reported her complaint less than twenty-four hours after the alleged incident occurred and agreed to have her neck photographed for signs of injury by an evidence technician. Two days later, she sat for an interview without an attorney present and made a sworn statement that was consistent with her initial complaint.

She alleged that after he got angry, Waller poked her “forcefully” on the forehead several times. When she tried to prevent him from continuing to poke her, Waller grabbed her by the neck and choked her, stopping only when he saw that she could no longer breathe. After that, she said, he packed up his clothes, took a shower, and left.

The woman also told the investigator that she experienced “no visible injuries” but that her “neck and forehead were sore”

after the incident. While she said she wasn’t seeking a restraining order against Waller at the time of the interview, she would if he

On August 30, 2006, about five months after the alleged incident occurred and after investigators had spent weeks pressing him for an interview, Waller finally sat down for one at OPS headquarters. With two lawyers present on his behalf, Waller affirmed that “any intentional falsification of an answer” he made in his interview “would be in direct violation of the Department Rules and Regulations.” Waller also said he was “not giving [the] statement voluntarily but under duress” because he’d been advised that he could be fired if he did not.

He then categorically denied that any physical or verbal altercation ever took place, stating that the woman who accused him “was not even in the house” the day of the incident. Waller added that he was “preparing for work” and “constantly on the telephone with Officer Melvin Branch” on the afternoon of the alleged incident.

Waller told investigators that when he returned to the house after work later that evening, he found his personal items “thrown about the house and in the backyard and in the garbage.” He also claimed that he called 911 to request a supervisor and that a “female Hispanic” sergeant from the 8th District responded to his call, observed his clothes strewn about the house, and heard

his explanation for what happened.

After being given “the opportunity to make corrections, additions or deletions,” Waller signed the statement, attesting that it was “true and accurate.”

But according to a memo written by an OPS investigator that same day, there was no record of a 911 call being placed by Waller or any police activity at that location during the timeframe he specified. Despite making this determination—which directly contradicted Waller’s sworn statement— there is no record of the OPS investigator attempting to contact or reinterview Waller for an explanation about this discrepancy. Neither is there a record of OPS contacting or attempting to contact Officer Melvin Branch or the “female Hispanic” sergeant Waller referred to in his statement. Instead, OPS closed the investigation that very same day, marking it as “not sustained.”

“Due to the conflicting accounts and no evidence of injury,” the OPS investigator wrote in the conclusion of the report, there was “insufficient evidence to either prove or disprove the allegations” leveled against Waller.

OPS also noted that Waller would not be charged with making a false statement to investigators about the 911 call because that would “unduly extend the investigation on an issue that had no impact on the original allegations made in this case.”

In a statement provided to the Weekly, a CPD spokesperson wrote, “The Chicago Police Department is deeply committed to supporting and protecting victims of domestic violence. Allegations of domestic violence by Department members are taken seriously and investigated thoroughly.” The department’s press office did not respond to questions specific to the 2006 incident by press time. ¬

Max Blaisdell is a fellow with the Invisible Institute and a staff writer for the Hyde Park Herald

Interim superintendent Fred Waller speaks at a press conference ahead of Memorial Day 2023 as Mayor Brandon Johnson looks on.

Waller also claimed he called 911 at the time, but investigators found no record of the call.

The Last ‘Block Party’

Photos from the eighteenth and last ever Silver Room Block Party.

BY THOUGHTPOET AND SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

To the dismay of many, it was announced this summer that it would be the last Silver Room Block Party—a free music event that was born in 2002 in Wicker Park near its namesake storefront and has been held in Hyde Park since 2015.

returned as a paid two-day festival at the beach. But this year, founder Eric Williams said that despite generous sponsors,

different ball game and the weight of it all just became too much,” Williams said in a public Facebook post. He claimed to have contributed $1 million to subsidize the event over the last seventeen years. was there to capture the last iteration of the Silver Room Block

“Seeing a lot of Black people from different backgrounds all in one place is still considered a rare occurrence because we be worried about our safety and our ability,” said Weekly photographer ThoughtPoet. “The Silver Room Block Party taught me that love and understanding for community can exist.” ¬

PHOTOS BY THOUGHTPOET

PHOTOS BY THOUGHTPOET

Locked In

BY EMELINE POSNER

When an investment company first bought into her South Shore condo building, Monique Foster felt a wash of relief.

It was 2014 and, like other condos throughout the country, the Silver Coast Citadel had been hurting for money. The 1920s yellow-brick courtyard building, which winds around the top of the 7200 block of South Yates Boulevard like a snake, had been developed into a condo in 2001. A beautiful, old building in a prime location near the lake, the Metra Electric, and a public library, its larger units sold for more than $100,000.

But in the years following the housing crash, more than two dozen of the building’s ninety-eight units went into foreclosure. Condos rely on owners to pay monthly assessments to pay their taxes, expenses and maintenance costs; a round of foreclosures can run a condo’s association’s emergency reserve fund dry.

That year, Icarus Investment Group bought two of those foreclosed units. In 2015, Icarus bought five more units, four of those in foreclosure. Though the company was leasing out its units to renters, to Foster, their buy-in felt like a vote of confidence in the building’s future. “We were in the green again,” she remembered thinking.

But that feeling started to sour as the company gained more power in the building. By 2019, Icarus and a separate Icarus-managed LLC had acquired nearly half the units in the building and with those units nearly half of the building’s voting power. Icarus employees assumed leadership of the board, replacing former resident-owner board members.

Last year, the Icarus-run board put the building on the market, marketing it as an ideal candidate for a deconversion into a rental building. But what the listing didn’t mention was that the building had

been in court with the city over building code violations since 2019—and the board hadn’t yet moved to repair the most serious violations. The listing was removed, and the building didn’t sell. The board has since put remaining owners on the hook for nearly half a million dollars in two “special assessments” to fund building repairs.

Some owners, alleging delayed construction and the board’s lack of transparency with financials, say they

believe that the company is trying to force them out of the building rather than get the building back into shape.

Reached for comment, an Icarus spokesperson did not respond directly to residents’ allegations but provided a written statement:

“It is a tough spot for all unit owners in the building … When the city files a case against a building, the building has to take action. Unfortunately the action the

building has to take to make these repairs are extensive and costly, but the building is taking action and doing what is necessary to make sure the building is in compliance.”

The Department of Buildings would not comment on the building’s status, citing pending litigation.

With several hundred thousand units across Chicago, condos make up one of the city’s largest sources of affordable homeownership. But market trends of the last fifteen years have somewhat threatened their stability.

After the housing market crashed, developers started eyeing condo buildings—some of them still struggling to rebuild their finances—as sources of new multifamily rental housing. For a developer, a condo deconversion promised good profits; for a building’s owners an out from a financially struggling building and an opportunity to receive more than market rate for their units.

Condo deconversions can be mutually beneficial for both parties, but that’s not always how it plays out on the ground. At Silver Coast Citadel and other condos throughout the city, unit owners have watched as property groups and investment firms have bought up hundreds of units in buildings of interest, a strategy that some developers have used to circumvent board approval and gain voting power in the building.

As interest rates have risen, condo deconversions have grown less frequent. But at the Silver Coast Citadel, and perhaps a handful of other condos throughout the city, resident-owners remain stuck between two market trends, beholden to the leadership of an investment company and locked out of the decision-making process. Outside of the courts, though, experts say there’s little that can be done about it.

At a South Shore condo, an investment group has control of the building. The owners who live there feel stuck.

Silver Coast Citadel, on the 7200 block of South Yates Boulevard in South Shore.

PHOTO BY KAYLA BICKHAM

Foster started looking for apartments in 2008, shortly after graduating from college. She set her sights on South Shore, where she has family ties. She came across a one-bedroom apartment listed for less than $40,000 in the Silver Coast Citadel. She put down an offer and moved in.

“It was the last thing my mother told me I had to do, and probably the best thing,” Foster said.

The housing crash gave her and others a cheaper path to homeownership; just a few years earlier, a unit in the building had sold for as much as $133,000. But it also set off a yearslong wave of foreclosures that hit condo buildings particularly hard. Between 2007 and 2018, more than fifty units were foreclosed on at Silver Coast Citadel.

Adding to the building’s financial straits was another problem. The building was developed into a condo in 2001. But by 2007, the original developer hadn’t sold sixteen of the building’s ninety-eight units and owed more than $180,000 in monthly assessments to the condo association, records show.

Foreclosures and the original developer’s unit holdings provided an early foothold for Icarus to buy into the building, the records suggest.

Icarus Investment Group picked up its first two units in 2014 through foreclosure sales, property records show.

In 2015, Icarus bought five more units, all of which had also recently gone through foreclosure.

In March 2016, an Icarus-managed company, CLO Investments LLC, bought eleven units in bulk. Those units were owned in trust through a bank, so the individual owner’s name is not listed on the deed. But cross referencing property records showed that these units were among the sixteen units still owned by the original developer.

The unit acquisitions meant a few things. First, that the building would receive more monthly assessments, easing the financial burden on the building’s other owners. And second, with more assessments coming in, the board might be able to build up its reserve fund, a building-wide savings account that all condominiums are required to maintain to fund routine or emergency expenses.

Foster remembered having an initial sense of relief that the company had bought these units. “We were in the green again,” Foster recalled.

But as time passed, Icarus and CLO Investments continued to acquire more units.

Through the rest of 2016, Icarus and CLO Investments purchased fourteen more units from a mix of individual owners, companies, and foreclosure sales. Each of these were ultimately transferred by quitclaim or special warranty deed to CLO Investments or a third related entity, CLO Holdings Portfolio.

The exact relationship between CLO Holdings Portfolio and Icarus is unclear. Icarus CEO David Pezzola is listed as the manager of CLO Holdings Portfolio in the LLC’s most recent corporate filing; the principal address provided is a West Loop office suite to which CLO Investments and numerous other Icarusmanaged entities are also registered. (In the prepared statement, an Icarus spokesperson stated that neither Icarus nor Pezzola held ownership over CLO Holdings, but did not respond to further questions via email

asked to remain anonymous due to fear of retaliation, building governance changed once Icarus employees were voted onto the board. Board meetings, previously held in person at the South Shore library branch around the block, were now hosted only over Zoom, that owner said. Members said that they were muted until the last few minutes of each meeting, during the designated “open forum” period. On some occasions, Foster said, she wasn’t able to get into the Zoom meeting at all, either because the host wouldn’t let her in or hadn’t noticed she was in the Zoom waiting room.

State law requires condo associations to hold annual elections. But the board has not held annual elections since 2019, members said.

In a provided statement, the Icarus spokesperson did not address or respond to the South Side Weekly’s questions about annual elections or other allegations relating to board governance.

In that time, existing building violations

building on the market, marketing it as a candidate for deconversion into rentals. By then, the three companies owned at least fifty units, according to a review of property records.

According to the sale listing, that amounted to around fifty-six percent of the building’s total ownership. (Depending on their size and shape, some units may carry higher or lower percentages of the building’s total ownership.)

“The majority of units at Silver Coast Citadel are investor-owned, with one entity owning fifty-six percent of the entire building. As Silver Coast Citadel is in essence functioning as an apartment building, stabilization from condominiums to apartments is a straightforward path,” the listing reads.

Members said that the building didn’t get any offers. The building is no longer on the market.

A spokesperson denied that Icarus owned more than two units in the building but did not respond to subsequent questions about the sale listing. (Currently, Icarus is recorded as owning two units in the building. But the group has acquired more than a dozen other units, transferring those units’ deeds to the two entities that are listed as managed by Icarus or by Icarus CEO David Pezzola.)

Since then, the board has moved to impose nearly half a million dollars in special assessments, members said.

from the Weekly.)

Foster started to feel nervous about the company’s stake in the building. She said the company had been leasing out its units to renters and that she was noticing damages like broken windows and doors.

By the 2019 annual election, at least forty-five of the ninety-eight units in the building were owned by Icarus or the two related entities.

That year, the company voted out the previous board members and voted in its own employees, members said. A 2019 annual filing by the condo association shows two Icarus employees, Jessica Koonz and Jared Snyder, listed as the board’s president and secretary. Reached by phone, a third listed board member said they have not been affiliated with the company since 2018 and had no direct involvement with the building or board.

According to one resident-owner who

grew more serious, public records show. In 2018, the city’s building department cited the building for its concrete balconies, which were showing signs of wear. The next year, the city filed a lawsuit against the building over the balconies and other minor code violations. When a building inspector returned to the building in 2020, they found that the balcony supports were sagging and significant cracks had developed in the concrete.

Through 2022, permit applications were filed for minor building repairs and one unit renovation, but none for comprehensive balcony repairs.

In December 2022, a buildings department inspector identified a “large section of concrete missing” from third and fourth floor balconies as well as “large cracks,” which an inspection report referred to as “dangerous and hazardous.”

That year, the board had placed the

Foster said that she wasn’t opposed to the first special assessment of $250,000, which was supposed to fix the structural concerns in the balconies and address smaller code violations. The company gave members around five months to pay their part. Each member’s portion is tied to the size of their unit. Foster, who owns a smaller one-bedroom unit, was responsible for around $3,500, she said.

But on May 3, the board voted to pass a second special assessment, totaling $220,000. In its request for the second assessment, the board specified that the additional money would go toward repairing the building’s central air system and additional code violations.

Foster now questions the legitimacy of the two assessments. She said that she saw some work being done on the balconies last fall, but that the work stopped without explanation, she said.

Records show that on May 23, 2023, a permit application was submitted to replace

According to one resident-owner, building governance changed once Icarus employees were voted onto the board. Board meetings were now hosted only over Zoom and members said that they were muted until the last few minutes of each meeting.

fourteen concrete balconies.

Visits to the building in May and July showed one balcony with visibly degraded concrete on the south end of the building. No construction equipment or signs of construction were present on the property.

The board told members that the money from the first special assessment was gone. In its April 18 request for the second special assessment, the board wrote: “Unfortunately, there is no money available in our condominium association’s operating fund or reserve fund for these two urgently needed projects. Therefore, we have no choice but to impose a $220,000 special assessment on each of the Silver Coast Citadel’s owners.”

Each unit owner would be required to pay their portion “in a single lump sum payment” by May 15, the letter says—less than two weeks from the vote to pass the measure.

For Foster, a financial aid manager at a graduate school, that came out to around $1,500. “I’m a single female who works in corporate America, so for me to cough up $3,500 was a thing for me.…Then to ask for [more] right away?” Foster said. “I try to

live as close to bare minimum as possible, so I did have savings that I could pull from, but if you don’t have that, it’s significant,” Foster added.

Icarus did not respond to specific questions and allegations, but in a prepared response stated:

“Prior to the recent special assessment, there was a meeting held with unit owners to discuss the impending costs and possible ways forward. One way forward, which did garner unit owner interest and support, was selling the building. Of course weighing costly special assessments versus a sale is not an easy or clear-cut decision, especially when the decision involves many individuals with varying interests and needs.”

Foster and another member worry that without further intervention, more special assessments will come. In an April 18 letter to unit owners, the board wrote that it was working with an independent consultant to “prepare a reserve study…an in-depth analysis of the condition of all of our building’s common elements to help us anticipate and prioritize other major repair and replacement projects.” Foster said that the board estimated the cost of hiring the

consultant at upwards of $50,000.

“They’re trying to run us out of money,” alleged the building owner who requested anonymity. “Everyone’s been pretty upset.”

Founded just over ten years ago, Icarus Investment Group quickly made a name for itself in the South Side rental market.

The company first made headlines in 2018 for its $20.3 million purchase of a 325-apartment housing portfolio near Midway Airport. The company now owns at least 1,500 units through Chicago, according to its website.

The company’s main focus has been housing in the neighborhoods surrounding the Obama Presidential Center. “We bought, rehabbed and rented 100 units in Woodlawn when people thought we were crazy to invest in the neighborhood,” the company’s website reads.

David Pezzola cofounded Icarus at the age of twenty-six after several years in the insurance industry, according to the company’s website.

Pezzola didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment. But on his LinkedIn

page, Pezzola describes Icarus as a company whose “primary objective” is ”to create passive income for investors.”

“Icarus Investment Group targets areas that have low costs to purchase with respect to the cost to rent and buys properties that have opportunity to yield positive cash flow rapidly after acquisition,” the LinkedIn description reads.

While Icarus is better known for its dealings in the rental market, public records show that Icarus has had involvement in the deconversion of several condo buildings between 2015 and 2021.

Icarus and Icarus-managed entities have filed condo removal documents on seven other South Side condo buildings in the last eight years, according to data from the Cook County Recorder of Deeds. The office processes the document that a property owner submits in the final stage of a condo deconversion, which formally removes the building from the state’s Condominium Property Act.

The buildings, which are located between Bronzeville and West Woodlawn, range from three to eight units. Two of these buildings were sold to new purchasers,

records show; but the remaining five appear to have remained under the ownership of Icarus or an Icarus-managed holding company or trust.

It’s neither illegal nor uncommon for an outside property company or investment group to buy up units in a condo.

Some companies may simply acquire a few units to rent out. But in the last ten years, it’s become increasingly common for companies to buy multiple condo units as a way of pursuing a deconversion.

It’s what condo lawyer David Rudolph calls a “hostile takeover”—as opposed to a “friendly” deconversion, where the condo owners have collectively decided and voted to sell their building to an interested buyer.

Hostile takeovers are easier in smaller condos, where it takes fewer unit purchases to get a majority vote.

But that hasn’t stopped firms or even individuals from buying many units in larger buildings.

Larger New York-based company Strategic Properties owned forty percent of the units at a 163-unit Loop condo building when the board moved to deconvert the building in 2019.

That same year, some owners in an East Lakeview condo spoke out after a businessman acquired seventeen units in their sixty-unit building.

There are some ways for condo associations to deter investors from buying up condo units in their building, Rudolph said. One way is to amend the association’s bylaws to prohibit or limit the leasing out of units. Another is to amend the bylaws to limit the number of units that a single entity may own, although companies could skirt this requirement by forming new LLCs or holding companies.

In practice, a condo that doesn’t have these restrictions written into their by-laws could use a right of first refusal to buy or lease units in the building instead of selling them to an outside buyer.

But that would require the association to have enough money to buy or lease the unit, a reason for doing so, and, often, a majority vote from the building’s membership, according to a blog post by the Community Associations Institute, an international interest group that represents members of condos, HOAs, and cooperatives.

Once an investment company already

owns a significant number of units, it can be “impossible” to put any of these measures into effect, Rudolph said. For a bylaw amendment to pass, between two-thirds and seventy-five percent of owners must vote in favor. A company that owns more than twenty-five percent of a building’s units could potentially tank the effort.

“Once you have a simple majority, it’s pretty much game over,” deconversion consultant Alex Argianas told Slate in 2021.

In the past several years, legislators have introduced bills that would limit investors’ ability to pursue unsolicited deconversions, but only a handful have passed.

In 2019, 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly filed an ordinance that increased the threshold for a vote on a condo deconversion to pass, from seventyfive percent (as required by state law) to eighty-five percent.

The ordinance, which passed, was not designed to block condo associations from deconverting, but to ensure that a majority of condo owners are on board with the sale.

“We had seen a rash of deconversions going on downtown where the developer was looking to scoop up condo buildings, and some of their tactics were questionable at best,” Reilly said.

One 2021 bill would have required all condos in Illinois to restrict board membership to resident owners. That bill didn’t pass—but an amended version did, which guaranteed condos the right to amend their by-laws to require that a majority of board members be residentowners.

“When a condominium board is made up of off-site board members, residents’ needs may not be accurately represented,” wrote the bill’s sponsor, Senator Laura Murphy (D-28), in a press release. “This legislation gives condominium associations the chance to ensure decisions are being made by the people who live there.”

Protecting condo owners has been a large part of a yearslong campaign by the Community Benefits Agreement Coalition to battle displacement spurred by the development of the Obama Presidential Center.

Though neighborhoods like Lincoln Park, the Near North Side, and Lakeview have lost the most condo units through deconversion, no neighborhood has seen more total building deconversions than Woodlawn (forty buildings), an analysis of Recorder of Deeds filings shows. South

Shore follows not far behind with thirty buildings.

As of 2019, South Shore had the highest eviction filing rate of any neighborhood in Chicago; in the third quarter of 2022, the neighborhood led the city in investor purchases of homes, according to the Illinois Answers Project.

Members of the coalition have said that rising infrastructure repair costs and property taxes have stressed their condo buildings’ finances, making them more vulnerable to deconversion.

The Woodlawn Housing Preservation ordinance, passed in 2020, created loan funds and grant programs to benefit longtime homeowners, as well as tenant protections and affordable housing development requirements for the neighborhood.

In 2022, then mayor Lori Lightfoot passed a pilot program that would provide grants and low-interest loans to South Shore condo and co-op owners.

The CBA Coalition says that more protections are needed for South Shore, which was cut out from the Woodlawn ordinance during City Council negotiations. Their demands, which include tens of millions for homeowner grants and a Right to Return for current and former South Shore residents, have the backing of newly elected 5th Ward Alderman Desmon Yancy and 20th Ward Alderwoman Jeanette Taylor.

Together, these measures could help longtime condo owners stabilize their buildings and protect against unwanted deconversions—though it’s not clear whether any of these programs would immediately benefit buildings like the Silver Coast Citadel, where one company already owns a significant percentage of the building.

Litigation remains as a last option for owners who feel their board—whether investor-run or not—is not acting in the building’s best interest.

Condo boards have a fiduciary duty to all members in the building. It’s a responsibility, enshrined in Illinois law, for a board to protect and act in its members’ best interests.

If individual owners can prove that their board is acting against their best interests, or that it has conflicts of interest, they might stand a chance in a lawsuit.

In June, owners of a Bronzeville condo filed suit against a majority investor-owner in their complex for breaching that duty.

In the complaint, the plaintiffs accuse the company, which holds three of five board seats, of forcing special assessments as a means of pushing people out and deconverting the building into rentals, Crain’s reported. The suit is still ongoing.

If the Silver Coast Citadel had received an offer when it went on the market last fall, the board would have had to call for a vote on the deconversion, per state law. For that deconversion to go through, eighty-five percent of the building’s owners would have had to vote in favor of selling.

Though Icarus has fifty-six percent of the vote, Foster thinks that they would have had trouble getting up to the eightyfive percent they would need to convert the building.

“The owners that I’ve talked to and that I know are people who log into these Zoom calls [board meetings], none of us plan to sell,” Foster said.

Part of that is because of a lack of trust in Icarus’s leadership, she said, but part of it is because for her and others, the building is home. “You can’t put a value on that,” she said. “And I can’t guarantee that you’ll have my best interest in mind when you sign those papers.”

Even if remaining owners chose to sell, it would be hard to get a fair price for their unit with a pending city lawsuit. The lawsuit places a lien on the building and each individual unit. Any buyer of an individual unit or the whole building would assume responsibility for the lien, and any costs associated with the lawsuit and building repairs.

According to a May 23 court filing, the city is petitioning the court to appoint a receiver for the building. If approved, that receiver would assume control over the building and have the power to enforce building repairs.

Despite the predicament, Foster remains optimistic about her and others’ fight for the building. “I think they felt like [Icarus] could come in and then leave whenever they wanted to, without really having to answer or respond to us,” Foster said. “But the few of us are very mighty, and we’re not letting up.” ¬ Emeline

Note: This story was originally published on July 24

Woodlawn Tenants Unionize, Demand Repairs From Landlord 312 Properties

BY EMELINE POSNER

After months of mounting health and safety concerns—rodent infestations, electrical outages, leaks and poor building security—residents in a Woodlawn building have formed a tenants union to push their landlord to make repairs.

At a press conference on July 29, residents from a 312 Properties building, 6610-6618 S. Kenwood Ave., alleged that the company has allowed poor conditions to persist in the thirty-five-unit building despite repeated requests over months for repairs.

In the last two weeks, the fourteen members of the newly formed 312 Tenants Union have filed fourteen-day notices. If the company does not complete repairs within that time frame, tenants will begin withholding a portion of their rent.

“We are demanding that our building is repaired and restored to safe conditions,” said Megan Franklin, a tenant of ten years. “We are the people that make Woodlawn, yet we are the people being pushed out and being hurt the most.”

In an emailed statement, 312 Properties co-owner Ariel Lowenstein wrote that “work is already in process.”

“Management views this as a great opportunity to invest in the property. We will handle each resident's needs with care,” the statement reads.

City records show that the building has failed its last two building inspections, one as recently as July 21. The inspectors issued citations for missing bricks, washed out mortar and missing supports in the building’s rear porches but were unable to verify interior building conditions.

Franklin, a teacher who is raising two young children in the building, alleged that rents have risen but conditions have deteriorated since 312 Properties took

ownership in 2019. Previously, the building was a condominium.

Last winter, Franklin said, management did not respond for days after a sewage backup in her unit forced her and her family to find alternate lodgings. Since then, she alleged, she has found a dead rat in her oven and injured herself on a cracked floor tile, leaving her unable to work for a time.

“While my family and I love this neighborhood, it’s been a struggle to remain here since 312 Properties acquired the building,” Franklin said.

In a statement, Lowenstein acknowledged increasing the rent upon buying the building in 2019, but denied that the company has increased rent in the following four years. He also wrote that the company “handle(s) issues as efficiently and effectively as possible.”

Rents in the building currently range from $1,495 to $2,200 for one- to threebedroom units, tenants said.

Aruna Kumaran, a nurse and tenant of four years, said that around two years ago, water started coming in through

the ceiling of her son’s room—and that the leak returned even after repairs were made. Now, lights flicker constantly in the room, she said, and she is concerned about electrical hazards and the possibility of mold growing in the unit.

“We asked (Lowenstein) to test for mold because now my son has severe allergies, severe eczema, continuous ear infections,” Kumar said. She said that she and her spouse have missed work to care for their son’s health.

Other tenants said they’ve experienced outages in heat and air conditioning, roach infestations, plumbing issues and building security issues that they say have left them feeling unsafe in the building.

“We have had numerous break-ins to the building, to the point where our mailbox got ripped out of the wall,” said Brandi, a tenant who asked to be identified only by her first name.

Tenants said that the building’s courtyard entrances use common keys and are worried that many non-residents may have access to the building. They are asking 312 Properties to install different locks to

common doors and to fix broken doors and doorbells, in addition to making specific repairs in each unit.

Lowenstein said that 312 will explore different solutions to residents’ concerns about building security, adding that the company sees the “key to success” as having strong communication with residents.

The affordable housing crisis has stressed relations between tenants and landlords, he said. “Apartment owners, property managers, and residents in the near southside are going to have to navigate what is increasingly becoming a more unaffordable housing market. Residents are being stretched financially, which only exacerbates the landlord-tenant relationship.”

312 Properties, owned by brothers Ariel and Raphael Lowenstein, has purchased around twenty buildings in Woodlawn, South Shore, Bronzeville and Kenwood over the last eight years.

Tenants across 312 Properties buildings have previously spoken out about similar issues, including leaks, sewage backups, infestations and inadequate responses from management.

The tenants’ union said they hope to see the necessary repairs made within the two weeks. If not, they are prepared to withhold a portion of their rent until repairs are made, they said.

“We deserve quality service for what we pay,” Franklin said. “We know that this was quality housing and we still deserve it to be quality housing today.” ¬

Emeline Posner is a contributor to the South Side Weekly and Hyde Park Herald

Tenants share their experiences at the 312 Properties building 6610-6618 S. Kenwood Ave., on Saturday morning, July 29, 2023.

PHOTO BY KAYLA BICKHAM

Tenants said they’ve experienced outages in heat and air conditioning, roach infestations, plumbing issues and building security issues that have left them feeling unsafe in the building

Reclaiming Community Stolen by War

Local Bosnian and Herzegovinian diaspora and allies honor the lives lost during the 1995 Srebrenica genocide.

BY ERMINA VELJACIC

Irecently bumped into an ex-classmate at a concert, and to my surprise, she began sharing her initial thoughts about me when we first met in 3rd grade: “Look at that American girl,” she admitted thinking. My husband and I gave each other a look and made our way back to our seats. “Only thing ‘American’ about you is your white skin,” my husband said. We shook our heads laughing—I was a refugee from Bosnia, though I don’t hold it against her for being unaware.

In the summer of 1999, my family resettled on Chicago’s far Southeast Side. Following the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995, Chicago became the most popular U.S. destination for Bosnian refugees. However, we were the only Bosnian family in the East Side neighborhood, a community of working class Black residents, Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans, and Balkan ethnicities, such as Serbian and Croatian, whose emigrated ancestors worked in the major steel producing area.

In a desperate attempt to fit in, my family would attend events at St. Simeon Mirotochivi Serbian Orthodox Church, founded in 1969, featuring a gated compound sitting on a stretch of fortyeight lots housing the church, a hall, and pavilions, located at 114th and Avenue G.

Based on materials on file at the Southeast Historical Museum, in 1904, the South Chicago neighborhood nearby was designated as a parish district named “Serbian Orthodox Parochial District of St. Elijah.” In 1919, a formerly Danish Lutheran church was designated as a Serbian church named St. Archangel Michael. The church relocated after

purchasing five lots on the 9800 block of Commercial Avenue, serving the Serbian community for over seventy-five years until relocating a third time in July 1998 to Lansing, a south suburb.

Croatian influence is prominent on the Southeast Side and can be traced back to the early 1900s. Located at the intersection of 96th and Exchange Avenue, the Sacred Heart Croatian Church held its first service on Christmas Eve of 1913 and was operating as a full-fledged church, school and parish hall by 1914. Edward R. Vrdolyak, the son of Croatian saloon keepers, was elected 10th Ward alderman in 1971.

Growing up, I had become accustomed to being the first Bosnian person folks met. There were countless times when kids at St. Simeon picked on me, claiming I sounded “weird” when communicating in Bosnian, not realizing the dialect differences in word

choices between Bosnian and Serbian, or they’d tease that I must be poor for not wearing gold cross necklaces like them.

During my sophomore year in high school, I found myself in the same gym class as a Serbian girl I had previously met at the church. She and her sister, a year younger, were the only Serbians in the school. I understood that loneliness and put in a lot of effort to build a friendship with her, clinging to small moments of connection like singing well-known Balkan songs or sharing secret laughter and jokes in our shared language, a language unfamiliar to the rest of the class. We bonded over our shared dislike for having to run endless laps around the track behind the school building. I lost touch with her and reconnected on social media years later.

By this time, I was informed about the Bosnian War and having volunteered with organizations to combat genocide

denialism, witnessing her and her younger sister sharing Serb-nationalist propaganda was shocking. When I tried to have a conversation about the issue, they seemed indifferent, outright ignoring and showing a total unwillingness to engage in any kind of conversation about the inaccuracies of their posts and the harmful effects of sharing misinformation meant to divide. Ultimately, I recognized that in order to preserve my mental health, I needed to block them from social media. How could I possibly stay friends with anyone who shows they care more about nationalism than the truth?

My first encounter with Croatians in the neighborhood happened when I was a high school student. It came about through friendships with students who commuted from different Southeast Side neighborhoods, like Slag Valley, to attend George Washington High School on the East Side. It was then that I also met friends of friends who went to Catholic schools such as Mother McCauley, Brother Rice, and Mount Carmel. In those early memories, I recall Croatian boys who were upfront about flirting and “kicking it”— slang for hooking up—with me, but their mothers had clear expectations for them to date Croatian girls. They made it clear that pursuing a relationship with me wasn’t an option.

Even within the Balkan community, I felt a sense of isolation and gradually distanced myself. We didn’t have a Bosnian džámija, a place of worship, that we attended for prayer services like other Bosnian families did. My father worked as a long-haul truck driver, often spending weeks on the road, while my mother, who

Walk to Remember attendees gather for a group photo at the end of the walk in front of Lake Michigan.

PHOTO BY BELMA RAMIC

didn’t start driving until I was an adult, had no means of transporting all seven children from the far Southeast Side to the Bosnian mosque located on the North Side. This meant we had no choice but to miss out on being in community with other Bosnians.

When I had the opportunity to attend Bosnian events with my parents, like once a year for concerts or weddings, I couldn’t help but notice the strong bonds that were present among others my age in the community. They were childhood friends, had shared experiences, and saw each other regularly. I felt like I was on the outside looking in, and that was solidified when I was called a “ghetto Bosnian” for hosting a weekly teen radio show called True Star Radio, powered by a youth media organization, True Star Foundation, on Power 92.3FM, and for being from the far South Side—what might as well have been a different planet to them for speaking slang they weren’t accustomed to and not having the same socioeconomic accessibility to travel back to Bosnia every summer.

The rejection I faced was confusing because many of the teenagers in the community eagerly embraced elements of urban culture, such as fashion trends and hip-hop music. So I wondered why I was excluded and outcasted for just being myself. Because my parents hardly ever spoke about the war that had shaped our voyage to America, my understanding of my own existence was very limited. It wasn’t until I stumbled upon two measly paragraphs in my 6th grade social studies book that I got a glimpse of the breakup of Yugoslavia, the independence of its republics, and the chaos that followed.

I found solace in the friendships I formed with a few Mexican peers. They welcomed me with open arms, without prying into my origins or demanding explanations of cultural differences. And honestly, that was a relief. I didn't have to answer questions about where I came from, and it was easier to just blend in and be accepted for who I was without the weight of trying to fit in.

Fast forward to 2021, at thirty years old, I finally found a sense of belonging within a community of Bosnians called JednaBiH, an independent coalition of activists and organizations working to preserve the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina and championing for a united and multiethnic country. Members

were kind, welcoming, and empathetic to my unique life experience of growing up away from Bosnian traditions and community. I finally found a space where I could truly be myself and feel a deep connection to my roots—something I had never imagined possible.

Together we planned the largest direct action event in BiH Diaspora history, the March for United BiH, held in February 2022. Although it was of historic significance that the Bosnian flag was raised at Daley Plaza for the first time, the event received no media coverage in Chicago. Despite our best efforts to engage with local outlets and share the importance of this moment, it seemed that the media overlooked or neglected to recognize its significance. This lack of coverage highlighted the ongoing challenges of visibility and representation faced by Bosnians, who are only a generation removed from surviving war. Nevertheless, we persisted in our work to amplify our voices and ensure that our stories and experiences were heard and acknowledged.

As a result of our continued efforts, for the second year in a row, Governor J.B. Pritzker issued a proclamation recognizing Bosnia and Herzegovina’s independence day, happening March 1, as Bosnian American Day. “Bosnian Americans migrated to Chicago in the late 19th century as a community that still embraces multiculturalism as a fundamental principle of Bosnian and Herzegovinian culture,” the proclamation declared.

It reads: The Bosnian American community has contributed their rich culture to the American way of life; and the contributions in research, technology, medicine, architecture, sport, literature, art, film, music, and customs of Bosnia and Herzegovina [expressing] creative interaction between different religions, ethnicities and traditions.

On Sunday, July 9, supporters and members of the diaspora joined in a walk to commemorate the Srebrenica genocide in which, on July 11, 1995, 8,372 Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks), mostly men and boys, were brutally killed with remains scattered into numerous mass graves in the city of Srebrenica, a United Nations (UN) Security Council-marked safezone.

The Bosnian war that unfolded from 1992 to 1995 was part of a deliberate

attempt to annihilate non-Serbs under the direct order of Bosnian Serb forces led by commander Radovan Karadžic, with the backing of the Serb-dominated Yugoslav army under Serbian president Slobodan Milošević—via methodical torture, imprisonment in concentration camps, rape, forced birth, and land theft. Twentyeight years later, graves are still being uncovered and bodies identified.

According to the International Commission of Missing Persons, of the 8,372 who were murdered in Srebrenica, 7,017 have been identified, while there are still over 1,000 missing. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), a UN court tasked with prosecuting war criminals, reported that the genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina as a whole displaced two million people and ended the lives of over 100,000 people, eighty percent of whom were Muslims. Between 20,000 and 50,000 women were sexually assaulted and over 30,000 people, primarily men, were imprisoned in concentration camps across the country.

Heightened political and cultural tensions rising in BiH today are a result of ethno-nationalism and rampant genocide denialism enabled by the U.S.-brokered Dayton Accords peace treaty signed in 1995, essentially rewarding genocide perpetrators by establishing two separate entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina: a Serbled Republika Srpska and the Bosniak and Croat-controlled Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It’s worth noting that Republika Srpska is left untranslated in the peace treaty, which was written in English, a significant acknowledgement of the genocide-created entity.

The recognition of genocide holds a powerful significance this year as we witness the alarming spread of genocide denialism, misinformation, and the recent illegal attack on Ukraine by Russia, whose disregard for sovereignty echo the haunting memories of the brutal siege that unfolded in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

A crowd, estimated by Chicago police onsite as approximately 1,000, came out to the fourth annual Walk to Remember at Foster Beach on the city’s North Side. The purpose of the event was to commemorate the Srebrenica genocide co-organized by Lilies of Hope, a not-for-profit whose mission is to uplift families across the world by providing financial assistance through

the strength of Bosnian communities in the United States, and JaBiH, a nonprofit organization working to build and strengthen the Bosnian American Chicagoland community. “We actually [had] a lot of young people [come out]. And when I say young, I mean ages of five to twenty [years old], said Semir Delić, founding member and president of Lilies of Hope. “It means people care, people do want to come and support community efforts.”

Delić’s family resettled in Chicago in May 2002 from Srebrenica. What brings him joy is the diversity of attendees, including folks from all across Bosnia who were eager to participate and contribute to the cause, demonstrating the significance of this day to the entire community. A gentleman who traveled from Fort Wayne, Indiana for the walk connected with Delić regarding sponsorship for next year. “This is open to anyone, whoever wants to be part of it. Hey, come on. Join us,” said Delić. Thanks to sponsors, the event was free of charge and folks who registered in advance received a commemorative T-shirt, a drawstring bag filled with sunscreen, sunglasses, a fan, a map of BiH in Bosnian and English outlining the genocides that took place and treacherous terrain labeled “death road to freedom” that Bosniaks were forced to walk to retrieve food, medicine, and other supplies. People also got arm bands that resembled the white arm bands Muslims in Prijedor and other cities had to wear as identifying markers, and a Srebrenica crocheted flower pin made in Bosnia. The flower’s shape represents burials of genocide victims and has eleven petals representing the date the genocide took place in the color white symbolizing innocence with a green center representing hope.

Banners across the lawn area of the beach featured the names of the 8,372 victims, and signs posted along the walking course listed milestones after every 2,000 steps. Attendees were provided with refreshments, snacks, and encouraged to rest when necessary. After welcoming remarks, the names of thirty Srebrenica victims were read out loud, whose remains have been identified and will be properly buried this year, followed by a moment of silence.

“This is why we're doing this,” said Delić as he reflected on the moment. “People [cried] in the crowd and you [could] see the sadness in their faces…

that’s kinda when it hit me… So let's just keep pushing, let’s keep doing this. Let's do even better next year,” said Delić.

“[Genocide commencement] is important because we’re still burying our family members,” said Tea Sefer, a Walk to Remember volunteer and founding member of JednaBiH and the BiH Diasporic Conference, who has dedicated their efforts to genocide education for over a decade. “There are still people missing from my hometown in Bosanski Novi, while war criminals are glorified with plaques in our police station.”

“I hope attendees feel community. I hope young people will learn from what happened. I hope survivors will know we stand in solidarity with them and are here to heal with them,” Sefer told South Side Weekly

Sanela Ovnović, a member of the Bosnian diaspora living in Chicago, and founder of local non-profit organization Helping Hearts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said she felt a mix of emotions, including a deep sense of pride seeing her community come together to pay tribute to the victims.

“It was heartwarming to witness the unity and solidarity among the people. At the same time, I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by a wave of emotions. The event served as a powerful reminder of the war and the atrocities I personally witnessed and endured. Each step I took carried the weight of the innocent lives lost.”

“By educating and informing people about these atrocities, we can work towards preventing similar occurrences and fostering a more compassionate society,” she added.

Having attended the event, I am filled with even more gratitude for now having the community support I lacked growing up. ¬

Ermina Veljačić is a writer, improviser, and somatic scream facilitator who was born in Bosnia and bred on Chicago’s Southeast Side. She last wrote about the East Side and South Chicago for the Weekly’s 2021 “Best of the South Side” issue.

Note: This story was originally published online on July 18.

Public Meetings Report

ILLUSTRATION BY HOLLEY APPOLD/SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

A recap of select open meetings at the local, county, and state level.

BY SCOTT PEMBERTON AND DOCUMENTERS

July 6

Three members of the five-member Illinois Pollution Control Board were present at a meeting and voted to approve several motions unanimously. The board accepted the filing of a petition contesting an administrative citation of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) against the Robert C. Crowder Trust, the Mary E. McClelland Trust, and Max McClelland. The citation stated that the owners allowed open dumping of waste, resulting in litter and open burning in connection with the demolition of a house reported by an IEPA inspector. The board authorized the reimbursement of $20,054 in legal fees to Parker’s Gas & More, Inc., by the IEPA. The board approved a settlement of $5,000 by the BP AM PM Gas Station, without BP admitting violations, in connection with the station failing to properly test vapor emissions and to provide pollution reports.

July 10

At its meeting the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability 8th Police District Council–Chicago Lawn took questions about the treatment of migrants being housed in police stations. The meeting took place just days after there were reports that police officers were being investigated for having improper sexual relations with immigrants sleeping in police stations. In response, at the meeting, Chair Jason Huff said the council is trying to support the process to expedite work visas and will try to provide an update at next month’s meeting. While the misconduct reportedly took place in the 10th police district, a community member said that it should be considered an issue of public safety across the city. CPD Commander Bryan Spreyne said he wants to “improve communication” and “bridge gaps” and encouraged community members to get involved with Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS). Community concerns included police response times and the possibility of a community survey being provided in languages other than English.

July 11

During the Chicago Low-Income Housing Trust Fund Board (CLIHTF) meeting, members heard the latest updates on housing data and strategy. A nonprofit that seeks to meet the housing needs of Chicago's lowest income residents, at the end of the first quarter the CLIHTF had 2,815 units nearly evenly split between the South and North Sides, with a smaller proportion on the West Side. A board member said that in the future, the trust fund should collect data on landlords and tenants lost as well as those gained. The trust fund provides long-term financing for new rental housing for low-income households. One program—Multi-Year Affordability through Upfront

Investment—supplies “interest-free forgivable loans” to replace up to fifty percent of a specified type of a developer’s mortgage. Tenants making less than thirty percent of an area’s median income are eligible for CLIHTF units.

July 13

A report delivered at a meeting of the Cook County Health and Hospitals System Finance Committee and Quality & Patient Safety Committee noted that the system’s budget and patient intake operating numbers have returned to pre-pandemic levels. Responding to a surge in overdoses in the county, Chief Recruitment Officer Charles Jones requested an increase of $115,000 in a contract with Lochness Medical Supplies. Lochness provides medical supplies such as testing strips for xylazine (“tranq”), a horse tranquilizer; fentanyl, an opioid; and benzodiazepines (“benzos”) in connection with “harm reduction” practices, according to its website. It offers mobile drug screening services as well. A grant from the federal government covers the contract.

July 15

The Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability 3rd Police District Council–Grand Crossing heard concerns, complaints, and public service announcements from community members at its meeting. Grand Crossing, Woodlawn, and South Shore residents voiced concerns over displacement, carjacking, flooding, gentrification and displacement, and an overall lack of communication from police. One resident related an incident in which an individual claiming the rights to her property called police when she resisted. The individual was eventually removed, but the resident said that police officers must be knowledgeable about more than protecting the community in traditional ways: “They need to be educated on property rights.” Alleged lack of access to the district’s calendar prompted five separate community complaints. Preparing community calendars falls to a district’s community organizer, who is generally responsible for facilitating communication between a community and the police as well as planning events. This role has not been filled in the 3rd district since February 2022. Community members want filling the position to be a priority. The council is struggling with basic administrative issues that affect its ability to function, including the lack of a budget. Council members paid for refreshments for the community attendees at this meeting.

July 18

The pace of construction in sixteen housing developments slated to create 1,800 mixed-income apartments has increased, Tracey Scott, CEO of the Chicago Housing Authority told the CHA’s Board of Commissioners at its meeting. Other issues included roaches in some units, the presence of migrants in a parking lot, and one individual landlord, who a community member said has “constantly harassed [his family] to move and threatened” them. Several attendees complained about this landlord. CEO Scott asked the affected residents to meet separately with her staff after the meeting. Cheryl Burns, the CHA’s chief housing choice voucher (HCV) officer, reported that inspection contracts related to HCV, project-based vouchers, public housing, and other programs total about $55 million over five years. With 47,000 vouchers, the CHA program is the second largest in the country. One contract she summarized was for plumbing to replace galvanized steel risers for 134 units at the Maria Diaz Martinez Apartments. Some residents will be temporarily displaced. Another was for a security management information system to track incident reports, visitor management, video for police and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, and other services.

This information was collected and curated by the Weekly in large part using reporting from City Bureau’s Documenters at documenters.org.

BULLETIN

Bud Billiken Parade

Starts at 35th Street and Martin Luther King Drive. Saturday, August 12, 10am–2pm. Free. bit.ly/budbillikenparade

The 94th annual Bud Billiken Parade will usher in the end of summer break next week with a back-to-school processional down King Drive. Established by Chicago Defender founder Robert Sengstacke Abbott, the parade continues this year under fourth generation leadership, and will feature lots of floats, dance teams and post-parade festivities in Washington Park. (Zoe Pharo)

Gentrification Teach-In

South Shore Library, 2505 E. 73rd St. Sunday, August 13, 2pm–3:30pm. Free. bit.ly/gentrificationteachin

Not Me We and the Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) Coalition are hosting a gentrification teach-in. Join to learn more about what gentrification is, what players are involved, why the city allows it to happen, why people are offered false choices and what to do to stop it. (Zoe Pharo)

Public Newsroom 151: Black, Young and Missing

City Bureau, 3619 S. State St. Thursday, August 17, 6pm–8pm. Free. bit.ly/citybureaupublicnewsroom

City Bureau is hosting its next public newsroom in partnership with the Invisible Institute, about how Chicago police handle missing missing person cases and the impact on families, which coincides with an investigative story on the issue slated to be published in August. Reporters Trina Reynolds-Tyler, with the Invisible Institute, and Sarah Conway, with City Bureau found that Black people have made up two-thirds of all missing persons cases reported to the Chicago Police Department over the last twenty years, and fifty-seven percent of these cases were for children under the age of twenty-one. The public newsroom will address the prevalence of missing Black teens and short and long-term solutions for this systemic problem.

(Zoe Pharo)

FOOD & LAND

Out in Nature: South Shore Nature Sanctuary

South Shore Nature Sanctuary, 7059 S. South Shore Dr. Saturday, August 19, 10am–2pm. Free. bit.ly/OutinNatureSouthShore

Join the LGBTQ community for a day of stewardship and picnicking at the South Shore Nature Sanctuary. The day begins with volunteer stewardship including trash cleanup and pulling invasive species in the 6-acre Chicago Park District natural area, followed by queer community building with a picnic and swim. Participants

should bring their own lunches, snacks and some drinks will be provided. (Zoe Pharo)

Chicago Caribbean Carnival

Midway Plaisance Park, 1130 Midway Plaisance. Saturday, August 19, 10am–9pm. Free.

bit.ly/ChicagoCaribbeanCarnival

The Chicago Caribbean Carnival, always on the third Saturday in August, is a family-friendly event featuring a selection of food, drinks, arts, clothing, jewelry, soaps, body butter and oils, as well as a parade of mas bands with live music.

(Zoe Pharo)

Jollof Festival Chicago 2023

The Promontory, 5311 S. Lake Park Ave. Saturday, August 19, 2pm–7pm. Tickets range from $25 to $55. bit.ly/jolloffest

Jollof Festival, a day-long celebration of the many variations on jollof, a one-pot rice dish native to many countries in West Africa, returns to Hyde Park. Considered the predecessor to jambalaya, attendees will get to sample these dishes and vote to determine the winner of “Jollof Wars,” a head-to-head battle that pits one representative per country against each other for the title of Best Jollof Rice.

(Zoe Pharo)

ARTS

Vocalo Presents: Summer Skate McKinley Park, 2210 W. Pershing Rd. Friday, August 11, 6pm–9:30pm. Free, but donations are encouraged at www.vocalo. org/donate. bit.ly/vocalosummerskate

Vocalo is collaborating with the Chicago Park District’s Night Out in the Park for a special skate session at McKinley Park where the seasonal ice rink will be transformed into “the retro roller rink of your dream.” Featuring DJ sets by Vocalo’s Ayana Contreras, Nudia Hernandez & DJ Ca$h Era. Skates provided on a first come, first serve basis, or bring your own! All ages are welcome, a signed waiver is required to participate. (Zoe Pharo)

My House Music Festival

Harrison Park, 1824 S. Wood St. Saturday, August 12–Sunday, August 13, 1pm–10pm. Tickets are $35 or $49 for a single day, $79 for the entire weekend.

bit.ly/myhousemusicfest

Organized by Tribú Presents, a grassroots organization based in Pilsen, this two-day festival raises money for local charities and pays tribute to the city’s tradition and founding of house music. Expect to find talented local producers and DJs on the lineup such as Derrick Carter, Karl Almaria, Bad Boy Bill and Gino Rockin Romo. (Zoe Pharo)