chinatown

Compiled by Tammy Xu Neighborhood Captain

SARAH JOYCE

Anita Gist-Jones’s family has called Archer Court home for three generations. She served on the Local School Council and sat on the board that successfully fought for a new Chinatown library. Anita was honored in People Matter’s “Black Heroes in Chinatown” celebration in January for her work as a parent volunteer, bus monitor, and lunchroom supervisor at Haines Elementary School, where students are currently doing remote learning.

My mom, she brought me and my brothers up here, in Archer Court. As kids, we loved to go to all the festivities they had going on in Chinatown. We just loved Chinatown—just walking through, looking at the different gift shops, being able to purchase the little toys and little snacks.

It’s a place that you wouldn't want to leave. So as we got older, my mom moved, and I was able to still hold the unit at Archer Court, so that was great. Then of course I began to have my family. I have two girls and a boy, they all attended Haines school here in Chinatown, myself too a graduate from Chinatown.

I kind of built the same foundation with my family and my children. We began to come through Chinatown—I go there for the parade, and just to be a part of where we live, because we always wanted to know our neighbors. That's what I feel about Chinatown, I feel that it's a place that you can get to know people, people who will connect you with different people. Just to be able to walk from your building, walk right into a place where you feel like you're in China, but you're really still in Chicago—the attractions for me as a little girl was out of sight, so I knew that I wanted to introduce it to my family.

When I was pregnant with my youngest daughter, I came to Haines school to volunteer. I was able to connect with the principal and assistant principal, which gave me a position which I still hold today. I've been here seventeen years plus, so I'm so proud of that. It was always my dream as a little girl to be either a teacher or a daycare provider, so working at Chicago Public Schools has been a great opportunity for me to start that later on in life when I am blessed with a home that I can do so.

My best part of Chinatown is Haines school, and also marching with Haines school through Chinatown during the parade. I love it, that's my favorite.

It has been a little sad. Walking there now, it kind of just looks like we are just at a standstill right now. I never saw Chinatown as not busy as it is now. It kind of makes you feel, “Oh wow, will we ever get back to our old selves?”

We love to go up there and get coffee, and I always see all the seniors there sitting down, eating their breakfast. You kind of miss those things. You see the parents there and the kids, and they're like, “Hey, Ms. Jones!” So yeah, that's kind of been missed.

At this point, in this time, you need some uplifting. With Chinatown, we live in a community where you kind of want to get involved. You don't know what you're getting involved in unless you get in there. Like my grandma used to always say, you will never know until you just step out on faith and go for it. (As told to Tammy Xu)

Neighborhood Captain Tammy Xu is a contributing editor and fact-checking director for the Weekly. She lives in South Loop with her husband and plants and writes about software development for Built In.

BEST CROSS-TOWN UNITY MARCH

Asian American Christians for Black Lives and Dignity March

On June 28, 2020, marchers gathered in Ping Tom Park for the Asian American Christians for Black Lives and Dignity march. Raymond Chang, president of the Asian American Christian Collaborative and campus minister at Wheaton College in the western suburbs, initially approached Chinese Christian Union Church (CCUC) and Bronzeville’s Progressive Baptist Church with the idea to hold a prayer march as a response to the killing of George Floyd. In each of their hundred-plus year histories, CCUC and Progressive Baptist had never collaborated, but Chang wanted the march to show that the divide between the Asian and Black communities could be bridged. Chris Javier, a deacon and youth counselor at CCUC, said, “The heart of this was that Asian Americans were not going to be silent anymore, that we were going to be more supportive….We wanted to demonstrate that support to the Black community.”

News of the upcoming march generated a mixed reaction in the Chinatown community. Many people were excited, but within the CCUC congregation, Javier said, “People were asking, ‘Do we hate the police now? Is this what we’re saying now?’ ” And in the greater Chinatown community, people brought up Huayi Bian and Weizhong Xiong, who were killed in Chinatown in February by a young Black assa-

SARAH LAM

iant during an attempted robbery—an incident that had angered many people in the community. Javier continued to hear the questions: “Where was the church when the two were murdered? Do you love Black people more than your own people?”

The organizers of the march carefully planned the procession in acknowledgment of the community’s range of responses. The prayer march consisted of four prayer stations to pause, reflect, and pray together: the march started at Ping Tom Park, continued to the Wells and Cullerton parking lot near the site of where the two men in Chinatown were killed, then to CCUC and the Progressive Baptist Church.

Around one thousand marchers and over one hundred congregations united the day of the march. The prayer march at Ping Tom Park started with a prayer, a speech from Chang on the problem of the insufficient progress around racial justice, and ended with an eight-minute and forty-six second kneeling in remembrance of George Floyd. Silently, marchers walked to the Wells and Cullerton parking lot.

Grace Chan McKibben, executive director of the Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community (CBCAC), a non-partisan, non-religious nonprofit that focuses on civic engagement and community mobilization, led a prayer at the parking lot with Ally Henny from The Witness: A Black Christian Collaborative.

Then the march traveled down Wentworth Avenue towards Chinese Christian Union Church. As the marchers chanted “No justice, no peace” through the Chinatown Gate, there were mixed responses from onlookers.

Javier noted, “There were three experiences happening here. Some were terrified by the march. Some saw it as a chance to voice their support—I’m looking at teenagers, young kids, people from all walks of life chanting together. And it was a day that others felt supported.”

Jamal Johnson, an associate pastor from Progressive Baptist Church, spoke at the CCUC station. He felt frustrated by being “yet again in this position of having to grieve more Black lives,” but felt the march was a positive experience.

“The event was an opportunity to call into accountability in the church,” Johnson said. “So many times when these things occur, as a Black man, as a Black preacher of the gospel, it can seem as if we’re in this alone, and it didn’t feel that way that day.”

At Progressive Baptist Church, the final station, marchers heard from Pastors Charlie Dates of Progressive Baptist Church and Watson Jones III of Compassion Baptist Church.

Reflecting on Chicago’s history of redlining and segregation, Chang said, “We wanted to say no more to these artificial divides. This is the first step of many, which we hope will continue to bridge our communities.”

Johnson continues to feel optimistic about the unity between the communities. “I believe there is still a lot of work to do, as far as achieving the goal of racial reconciliation in the church,” said Johnson. “To see other believers of other ethnicities, backgrounds, and cultures lock arms with African American Christians to march symbolically in unity—not in the name of politics or culture, but in the name of our Lord Savior, Jesus Christ—that’s where my optimism comes from.”

“We need to be in community [together], to go outside our community to build bridges, so we can go learn,” Javier said. “It was powerful.”

Chang, Chan McKibben, Javier, and Johnson all agreed that building relationships is key in continuing the conversation. Javier is in the process of connecting with The Chicago Partnership, a group dedicated to building relationships between churches in Chicago’s deeply segregated city.

CBCAC is organizing and facilitating anti-racism workshops geared to first-generation Chinese American adults, which cover topics such as the differences between prejudice and structural racism, the historical discrimination of Asian Americans and other races, and how to build solidarity. Chan McKibben said, “This is important to start building an understanding of other races and to build solidarity while explaining the historical and systemic racism in the U.S.”

The march sparked a dialogue within the Chinatown community about the complexities of race. “Working with Chinatown on racial issues, it’s been a heartbreaking, painstaking process,” Javier said. “Where the change can start is by hearing people out, seeing where their needs are, and addressing those concerns.” (Mallory Cheng)

Chinese Christian Union Church, 2301 S. Wentworth Ave. (312) 842-8545. ccuc.net

Progressive Baptist Church, 3658 S. Wentworth Ave. (773) 268-6048. progressivechicago.org

Coalition for a Better Chinese-American Community. cbcacchicago.org

BEST ESSENTIAL DELIVERY SERVICE Chinese American Service League

Unlike nearly all of Chicago, the Chinese American Service League (CASL) wasn’t caught off guard by the pandemic. In January, weeks before the first known coronavirus death in the States, the organization was already preparing for potential scenarios, says Winnie Lam, CASL’s manager of senior wellness and independence.

We’re lucky they did. Over the past forty years, CASL—named the Best Multifaceted Cultural Center in 2015 BoSS—has come to play an indispensable role in Chinatown, supporting residents with employment, housing, childcare, and healthcare. In March—when businesses closed, workers went on furlough, and public life came to a standstill—CASL’s foresight allowed it to maintain this dizzying array of public services without interruption.

Since the first lockdown, the organization has operated completely remotely, offering programs such as Zoom dance classes and a virtual gala. In recent months, CASL has ramped up their presence at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center, hired new staff, and spearheaded an Alzheimer’s support program. But the full impact COVID-19 has had on the elderly was something that couldn’t be anticipated.

Before the pandemic, CASL’s adult day service program provided about a hundred seniors with meals. But the caregivers who did wellness checks and home visits elsewhere saw firsthand how seniors’ quality of life had declined. “The need be-

came very apparent—that there are hundreds of Chinese seniors that are going hungry, are terrified, that won’t open their doors,” says marketing and communications officer Elizabeth Bishop.

So on April 13, CASL launched the senior meal program, which provided three meals every weekday to an additional 300 seniors. With support from volunteers, staff, and local businesses that dropped off “pallets full of bok choy” and other supplies, CASL has managed an incredible feat: by its estimates, delivering 4,500 traditional meals to seniors every week for the past thirty-two weeks.

An undertaking of this scale required as much help as possible. Fortunately, CASL was able to hire alumni from their own culinary training program for support. This was a bit of a role reversal: CASL’s cooking classes usually teach western cuisine in tandem with English courses, in order to help students land jobs in kitchens outside Chinatown. But with the students’ help, hundreds of seniors received “fresh, healthy, and culturally appropriate meals during a time of widespread food insecurity,” said Phillip Thigpen, the head instructor of the culinary training program.

According to Bishop and Lam, Chinatown residents’ fear was palpable at the start of the pandemic. “We thought there was paralysis before, when people didn’t want to leave the community—now they [wouldn’t] even open their doors, and understandably,” said Bishop.

But thanks to workers’ efforts, CASL hasn’t just gotten through the pandemic, but brought new neighbors into the loop. According to Thigpen, the senior meals program will be a permanent part of CASL going forward.

CASL came into existence with a potluck nearly forty years ago, and even now, continues to change lives with food. It’s essential work if there was ever such a thing. (Christopher Good)

The Chinese American Service League, 2141 S. Tan Ct., (312) 791-0418. For more information see caslservice.org.

BEST PANDEMIC UNEMPLOYMENT HOTLINE IN A CHICAGO LANDMARK

Pui Tak Center

For more than a quarter century, the Pui Tak Center, located beside the neighborhood’s iconic gate, has served new immigrants and the Chinese community in the historic city landmark On Leong Merchants Association Building that has been described as Chinatown’s city hall. The church-based community center offers a number of programs, the most popular of which are its English-as-a-second-language (ESL) classes.

But when the coronavirus pandemic spread around the world, the community it served faced new challenges.

“Our students were losing their jobs at Chinese restaurants and at hotels downtown,” Pui Tak Center executive director David Wu said. “They were getting laid off and at risk of losing their houses.”

But the Illinois Department of Employment Security online application for unemployment benefits only has built-in language support for English, Spanish, and Polish. "Speakers of other languages struggled with being able to apply,” Wu said.

He asked ESL transition coordinator Grace Jin to launch a program to help Pui Tak Center employees apply for unemployment insurance benefits.

Initially, during the lockdowns at home this spring, much of the Pui Tak Center’s unemployment assistance efforts were online. The center held webinars to help its already registered clients apply for benefits and posted translations of the state’s online unemployment filing process on its website. Jin recruited and trained volunteers

SARAH JOYCE

to help people with their online applications, troubleshoot issues, and guide those without any devices to file claims using Pui Tak Center computers.

“Basically, we translate as much as we can so they can apply on their own,” Jin said. “But if they still have problems they can call us.”

Thus far, the program has served 717 clients. Wu estimates it’s helped them claim $8-10 million worth of benefits during the pandemic.

“We also provided 450 households with food and groceries,” he said. “But we could never provide the millions of dollars for food and groceries that unemployment [benefits] did. The unemployment [benefits] really helped with rent, utilities, and groceries, to ensure the people here in Chinatown will survive.”

Chinatown has been especially hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic, Wu said. The number of unemployment claims filed by Asian Americans in Illinois skyrocketed from 2,473 in February to more than 38,419 in May, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

“That’s a jump of 1,550 percent. That’s higher than every other ethnic group,” Wu said. “So many Asian Americans work in the most vulnerable industries, in hotels and restaurants.”

Jin said that in many cases, both husbands and wives lost jobs while raising children. Lately, more people have been returning to work, but high unemployment remains a stubborn issue.

“A lot of the restaurants and hotels are not hiring back very quickly,” Wu said. “Unemployment is still going to be a problem.”

The Pui Tak Center has just been adapting its services to the needs of the community during these times.

“We help our community with the different problems they face, but this was not a very common service that was needed until the mass layoffs during the pandemic,” Wu said. “But every nonprofit has pivoted some services during the pandemic, such as by moving classes online. It’s important to be a safety net for the community—and that can mean shifting your program model.” (Joseph S. Pete)

Pui Tak Center, 2216 S. Wentworth Ave. Monday–Thursday, 8am–7:30pm; Friday 8am–5pm; Saturday 8am–5:30pm. (312) 328-1188. puitak.org

BEST CLASS FOR LEARNING TO TALK TO FAMILY MEMBERS

People Matter

This summer, People Matter held its first Community Language Program, offering classes in Cantonese and English to the Chinatown community. People Matter, which is based in multiple Chicago neighborhoods, is an organization working toward uplifting communities through civic education, service, and advocacy. Their six-weeklong pilot language program attracted thirty-two students from different age and ethnic groups and was led by teachers born and raised in the community. In addition to teaching the languages, the People Matter program also helped connect students from different generations and cultures. The students built a close-knit community, where senior students learning English would talk with younger students in the Cantonese class about topics as diverse as shopping, how to write to elected officials, and communicating with their family members.

Aside from cross-generational connections, People Matter’s programming also seeks to build cross-racial conversations. In Chinatown, People Matter’s Tackling Anti-Blackness in Chinatown (TACC) subcommittee held a variety of programs to educate community members about anti-Blackness within the Asian American community. In late June, People Matter held the first ally-led march for Black Lives in Chinatown. People Matter organizers, in collaboration with local college students, strategically planned the route within neighborhood residential areas so that Chinatown residents and local shopkeepers were able to interact with the marchers and learn more about the movement. Since People Matter’s founding in 2019, it has also been celebrating Black community members in Chinatown ceremonies, with the next celebration slated for January 2021.

As part of the civic education work, TACC also offers anti-Blackness workshops, including comprehensive teach-ins about addressing anti-Blackness for schools and corporations, and recently held a five-week anti-Black racism class for individuals and organizations in Chinatown.

Along with their regular programming, People Matter also adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic in innovative ways. They have surveyed Chinatown residents about initiatives the community wants to see by canvassing and phone banking—as of September, they have gathered more than one hundred responses. To help members address their concerns during the pandemic, People Matter is also holding free COVID-19 testing in three sites in Chinatown, Pilsen, and Bronzeville. People Matter’s mission is to “address the problem of people not having input in their own community’s future,” and the organization’s future programming is helping to uplift the community through continued education, service, and engagement, both in-person and virtually. (Yiwen Lu)

People Matter. peoplematter.one

BEST FOOD DRIVE FOR BUILDING SOLIDARITY

Chinese Christian Union Church Food Drive

On April 14, 2020, Chinese Christian Union Church (CCUC) set up a COVID-19 Response Fund to provide its members, the Chinatown community, and surrounding neighborhoods with PPE, food, and other material items. The initial goal was to raise $10,000, but they have so far raised over $18,000.

“It’s a beautiful picture of Chinatown coming together and taking care of our people and ministering to them in one of the darkest times,” said Chris Javier, a deacon and youth counselor at CCUC.

Initially, the food distribution program packaged 250 bags at each food drive. With the collaboration of local nonprofits and others such as the Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community, Economic Strategies Development Corporation, state Representative Theresa Mah’s office, Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, Pui Tak Center, and local Chinese grocers such as Phoenix Bean Tofu Starlight Market, now over 450 bags are distributed during each food drive. Most recently, under a partnership with Molina Healthcare, the food distribution has served as sites to receive flu shots and COVID-19 tests. CCUC is also establishing a permanent COVID-19 testing site in Allen Lee Plaza, directly outside the church.

Grace Chan McKibben, executive director of the Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community, noted that volunteers came from the greater Chinatown area and from the Pilsen community.

“This is one of the first times different folks from these communities were working on a common project,” Chan McKibben said. “This was great in building solidarity and an understanding of each other.”

At the time of publication, CCUC has stopped food distribution and will be focusing on next steps in supporting Chinatown community members. (Mallory Cheng)

Check CCUC’s Facebook page, facebook.com/ccuc.chitown, for future updates. You can donate at ccuc.churchcenter.com/giving, under COVID-19 Relief. For general inquiries, visit english.ccuc.net.

Compiled by Rob Bitunjac Neighborhood Captain

CLEARING & GARFIELD RIDGE

Clear-Ridge, the hyphenated moniker for the two outlying communities of Clearing and Garfield Ridge, is the perfect representation of the shared nature of both areas. Sticking out of the southwestern edge of Chicago, Clearing and Garfield Ridge not only share the once-busiest airport in the world, Midway, but share a common history.

Both were annexed to the city in 1915, much to the chagrin of what used to be Stickney Township. In fact, stories abound of political trickery, voter fraud and lost paperwork regarding the annexation. Both also take their name from historical elements located in each community.

Clearing took the name from a great rail yard named the Chicago and Clearing Rail Yards, originally built by the railroad magnate A.B. Stickney and later bought by the Belt Line, which still owns it to this day. Garfield Ridge took its name from Garfield Boulevard, which runs through the community, and the ancient ridge that was originally a shoreline for the famous Mud Lake, which existed for thousands of years just north of what is now South 53rd Street.

Clear-Ridge has always been considered the “boonies” to old Chicagoans, and many longtime residents will regale you with stories about farms in the area through the 1950s. City utilities were slow to come to the community, as well as public parks

SARAH DERER

(not until the late 1940s), and of course no “L” service existed until the Orange Line began operations in 1993.

This isolation came at a cost. While it helped shape the close-knit nature of both communities, it also contributed to segregation, as evidenced by the negative community response to the creation of the LeClaire Courts CHA development in the 1950s. While it was part of Garfield Ridge, the housing project remained highly segregated from the rest of the community until it was razed in the 2010s as part of their Plan for Transformation.

The moniker Clear-Ridge came into popular usage in the 1950s as the area, like most others, experienced a population boom. It’s been used as the name of the various local newspapers, most popularly the Clear-Ridge Reporter and its famous Little League, the Clear-Ridge Little League, which has won titles in the Little League World Series several times over the years.

Both communities are home to many city workers, especially police and fire department employees. Due to their proximity to the suburbs they offer residents the best of both worlds: city amenities as well as choices in eating and retail that the nearby suburbs offer.

While some rivalry does exist across the borders of Garfield Ridge and

Clearing, you would be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn’t claim to have hung out, shopped, and lived their lives equally in both areas. Perhaps it is this close kinship that has helped form a sense of togetherness during the difficult months of the pandemic. Across both neighborhoods, local businesses and organizations have banded together to give people a sense of normalcy. (Rob Bitunjac)

Neighborhood Captain Rob Bitunjac, and his wife and three children, are lifelong residents of Garfield Ridge where their family has lived for the past hundred years. He has worked for the Chicago Public Library for the past twenty-nine years and is currently the branch manager for the Clearing Branch Library. In 2011, along with a group of other local historians, he formed the Clear-Ridge Historical Society and has served as the president since its inception. The Clear-Ridge Historical offers tours, free programs at the Clearing Library, has written three books on local history, and maintains a local history file at the Clearing Library. SARAH DERER

BEST ROCK GROUP

Clear/Ridge Rocks

Kerry Gollogy loves rocks—but no, she’s not a geologist. She was in Florida with her son and came across a painted rock. It made her smile. Instructions on the rock directed her to a Facebook group that encouraged her to rehide the rock for someone else to find. She immediately thought that this would be a great idea for her neighborhood of Clearing and Garfield Ridge. Along with her friend Lisa Robinson, she set up a Facebook group called Clear/Ridge Rocks this June.

The idea is for people to paint or otherwise decorate rocks, hide them, and encourage anyone that finds the rock to post a picture on the Facebook group and either rehide it or paint a new one. The idea took off, and the group currently has 2,200 members.

Why is it so popular? “I think people needed something to make them smile in these times,” said Gollogy. “Talking and walking and looking down and seeing a rock makes you feel happy. People are getting out of the house, it makes walks more enjoyable. It’s a small act of kindness that is so important right now. I have met neighbors that live on my block that I was unaware of. It gives everyone a little bit of hope. Also, kids love to paint and create.”

And it’s not only kids that are enjoying the site. It has brought out the artistic talents of many adults in the area that just love to paint and hide rocks for the kids to find. A frequent contributor, Jennifer Lody, said that painting the rocks is therapeutic and that she loves seeing the ideas that others have come up with. They have even created “Rock Trees” where people can hide their rocks and display their ideas. Another member, Dave Koz, is known for his rocks painted like mice, and people fight to find them.

In these times of social distancing and quarantine, this has proven to be a perfect activity for the whole family. (Rob Bitunjac)

Clear/Ridge Rocks. facebook.com/groups/28941870244203

BEST PUBLIC HISTORY

Chrysler Village

Most lifelong Chicagoans are aware that the city is laid out along a giant grid. Map enthusiasts and amateur and professional historians are often interested in deviations from this grid because these anomalies tell small stories about the development of the city. Whether it be a diagonal street or an oddly shaped group of streets, these breaks in the grid never cease to pique curiosity.

So it is no surprise that within the outlying community of Clearing, there lies an oval-shaped subdivision that catches the attention of most of these folks.

Unofficially called Chrysler Village, this subdivision is located near the southeast corner of Clearing, bounded by West 63rd and 65th Streets and South Long and Lavergne Avenues. It was designed in the 1940s by the J.E. Merrion Company, which later lent its name to the southwest suburb Merrionette Park.

Built primarily for World War II-era workers who were employed by the nearby war defense plants—the Dodge Plant (which became the shopping mall Ford City) just to the southwest, and the Studebaker Plant to the north near Archer and Cicero Avenues—the houses of this subdivision, largely underwritten by the Federal Housing Administration and originally subject to restrictive racial covenants, have a utilitarian style. The homes are distributed in an oval shape, forming a ring with Lawler Park at its center. The semicircular street layout has given rise to conspiracy theories about a covert military meaning behind its design and rumors of underground tunnels to Midway Airport and Ford City Mall.

The circular layout also fostered a close-knit community. Former and current residents recall giant block parties and neighborhood events centered at Lawler Park. People who lived there used to distinguish themselves as being from “the village,” as opposed to the rest of the Clearing community. Over time, as the defense plants closed, residents no longer shared a common workplace but the close-knit community feeling persisted.

In 2014, at the urging of 13th Ward Alderman Marty Quinn, and with the help of residents and a group of doctoral students at Loyola University Chicago’s Public History Lab, Chrysler Village was named to the National Register of Historic Places. A community event was held in August 2016 celebrating past and present residents along with activities, history booths, an oral history project, and an honorary “Chrysler Village Way” street sign unveiling. Current residents are proud to be part of a historic place and many have purchased plaques that adorn their residences and attest to the historic importance of the community. (Rob Bitunjac)

Chrysler Village, bounded by W. 63rd St. to the north, S. Lavergne Ave. to the east, W. 65th St. to the south, and S. Long Ave. to the west. To find out more about the area and the Chrysler Village History Project, visit chryslervillageproject.wordpress.com.

EAST SIDE & HEGEWISCH Compiled by Maria Maynez, Neighborhood Captain

THE SOUTHEAST YOUTH ALLIANCE. PHOTO BY JULIA HUNTER

Oscar Sanchez is a cofounder of the Southeast Youth Alliance

The Southeast Side is historic. It is a catalyst. It is a resistance. It is embracing. And it is changing. The Southeast Side is a beautiful home where people can raise their families, where people can enjoy themselves and have a long life— but over time, we’ve been stripped of that, because of all the damage done through environmental racism and harmful development here.

It’s a growing dynamic, and folks wanting to raise a family here are now saying, “We don’t necessarily need heavy industries here.” We need change. What really makes us so different, and why the community is a catalyst, is because all the things we’ve been dealt or handed in our life that have created a negative experience for us—for example, the pollution, or the violence, or being part of a low-income area—have allowed people to not only have a mentality to say they can change it, but to join others in collectives of people wanting to create change for the community.

Growing up in my house, there was this idea of, if we don’t take care of us, who will? My parents are from Mexico, and they didn’t trust the police or government, and they had a pick-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps kind of mentality—but when they came to America, they kind of changed. They saw how a community can actually lift you, whether it’s friends or family members, and how at the end of the day, we have to keep ourselves safe.

At the end of the day, it has to do with love, unconditional love towards wanting to see your community brought up. Because during this pandemic, let’s be very candid— if we didn’t take care of our community during this pandemic and didn’t watch out for each other? I can’t even imagine how much harm would have been caused if we just stood by and let this catastrophe happen.

As a community, we have come together during these difficult times wanting to take care of one another because we deserve better. (As told to Maria Maynez)

Neighborhood Captain Maria Maynez is a freelance journalist and community organizer based on the Southeast Side.

BEST NEW OLD BAR

East Side Tap

Once one of the sixty “tied houses,” or brewery-owned bars, for the Schlitz brewing company, the building this tap house occupies is an ode to East Side history. Built in 1907, the exterior is a remnant of a time when steelworkers would spend their afternoons at the bar socializing and relaxing.

“We wanted to restore and preserve this tavern not only because it is a beautiful and architecturally interesting building, but also because it is a small part of a bigger history,” said owners Michael and Laura Medina in a statement.

Despite its changes, the bar has always been a place for the community. Shortly after Schlitz closed down, it was known in the forties and fifties as Club Selo, and in the seventies as the Bamboo Lounge. The Medinas, who bought the building in 2019, weren’t looking to give it a modern face, but instead have been working to renovate this prime jewel, which is set to open in 2021 as the East Side Tap. In October, the building was designated a Chicago landmark, making it the tenth former tied house in the city to be designated as such, and the fifth city landmark in the East Side.

“The East Side is a tight-knit community, and many neighbors have fond memories of the tavern, the people in it, and the times they had there. Those memories are meaningful,” said Medina. (Maria Maynez)

East Side Tap, 9401 S. Ewing. Hours TBD. facebook.com/eastsidetap

BEST LONGTIME MARSH DEFENDER

Peggy Salazar

Peggy Salazar, the executive director of the Southeast Environmental Task Force (Best Environmental Activists, 2019 BoSS), has recently been battling against scrap metal shredder General Iron’s plans to relocate from the tony environs of Lincoln Park to the border of Hegewisch and South Deering on the Southeast Side.

It’s just the latest skirmish in her ongoing fight to save the Southeast Side from pollution and environmental degradation after the collapse of the steel mills that once cranked out metal there. Salazar has been working since first volunteering for the Southeast Environmental Task Force to reinvent the neighborhood in a greener way that would protect the environment and health of its longtime residents.

“I’m a lifelong resident who saw the steel mills disappear in the 1980s,” she said. “Some residents were extremely disappointed the community lost so many jobs. So was I at first. But I saw how it could be a new dawn for the neighborhood. We’ve been fighting pollution and these companies. I want to pass this community off to my children so they want to continue to live here with the same quality of life that’s beneficial and not detrimental to them.”

The steel mills giveth and the steel mills taketh away.

“We’ve been instrumental in conservation and preservation in the neighborhood,” Salazar said. “The steel mills were a double-edged sword that brought jobs and opportunity. They were economic drivers that were ultimately detrimental, resulting in shuttered businesses and jobs lost by the thousands. Over time, I realized we gained open space. It was not pristine because of the heavy industry, but it was priceless to have thousands of acres of green space in an urban environment like Chicago. We had assets to capitalize off of after we lost all the industry.” She became executive director of the Southeast Environmental Task Force, which was started in 1989, in 2010 after joining the board in 2005.

Salazar’s first challenge was protesting an attempt to develop townhouses on a wetland.

“What a lot of people don’t know is that the Southeast Side is home to [some] of the only trailers in the city of Chicago,” she said, referring to the Harbor Point Estates just west of the state line with Indiana. “With the housing boom, they evicted [some] trailer residents to build high-end townhomes on [parts of] the property. Initially, it was getting them to agree to a conservation easement. But after the collapse, the townhomes on the wetland never got built, and now it’s a part of the Cook County Forest Preserve.”

The group then fought the city’s efforts to build an outdoor firing range for the Chicago Police Department across from the public park at Hegewisch Marsh.

“It didn’t make sense to have this firing range for municipal officers across from the park, where the purpose was to be able to escape urban living, enjoy natural respite, and take advantage of this kind of environment. It didn’t make any sense to have officers shooting from sunup to sundown,” Salazar said.

A pair of nesting bald eagles helped the cause of the neighborhood activists, who ultimately prevailed in dashing the city’s plans for the shooting range.

“There were safety and noise pollution issues,” she said. “It was happening across the river, and the river was not wide at that point. The scary thing was they wanted to have constant shooting in a neighborhood where you have issues with drive-bys and gang-related shootings. You want to have a nature park where guns are shot off in the distance in total disregard to residents?”

Next, the group fought a coal gasification plant and convinced the city that petroleum coke (petcoke) should be stored in enclosures instead of in piles that stood two to three stories high along the banks of the Calumet River.

“[The plant] would have brought more open storage of petcoke, more emissions that we didn’t want any more of, and only a handful of jobs,” she said. “The way we saw it, it was no win, no gain.”

The depth of the petcoke problem first sank in for Salazar when she was enjoying her first summer barbecue three blocks from the industry in the river.

“There was fine black dust floating in my soda that I never would have connected with the industry three blocks away,” she said. “I never realized how far that stuff traveled. What people don’t realize about the Southeast is that you have a residential neighborhood half a block away from the industry. I can’t imagine what they experienced by the industrial corridor if I had fine black dust in my glass of soda three blocks away.”

The Southeast Environmental Task Force has repeatedly sparred with the city over high levels of manganese, heavy metals, and emissions in the air, but has often found Chicago more interested in industry, jobs, and the tax base than residents’ wellbeing, Salazar said.

“We made progress on petcoke but are still concerned,” she said. “It’s being stored in open train cars headed to the BP Refinery. A resident expressed concern why it always operated at night. He felt it was so we couldn’t see the dust. When you’ve been living with open piles of coal and petcoke for so long, it’s hard to get residents to speak out. They feel disenfranchised and that there are no real solutions.”

Black soot from the petcoke pikes and horrible odors from local industry have permeated the whole neighborhood, Salazar said.

The group has proposed guidelines for responsible development that the city has ignored. Instead, today it’s fighting the General Iron scrap metal yard it fears would bring more pollution.

“They want to do it without any input from the community,” Salazar said. “We’re already breathing in more than our fair share of pollution without any more polluters. They’re forcing an unwanted business out of the North Side and moving it to a less affluent area without expecting any pushback. The injustice of that should not be tolerated.”

The Southeast Environmental Task Force filed a civil complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development over the prospect of more dirty industry in the neighborhood—which resulted in a letter from the federal government to Mayor Lori Lightfoot in opposition to the General Iron project—and is also staging rallies to combat the project.

“I believe we have brought awareness to the total disinvestment in communities like ours,” Salazar said. “If you live in the midst of something, you don’t often stop to think of what could be different or what needs to change. But the city of Chicago still wasn’t listening to the community about what they wanted.” (Joseph S. Pete)

Find out more about the Southeast Environmental Task Force’s work at setaskforce.org

BEST YOUTH MOVEMENT Southeast Youth Alliance

The Southeast Youth Alliance started up in August of 2018 to get young people— ranging from students at George Washington High School to fledgling adults in their early twenties—to change the narrative of the Southeast Side.

The group of activists is by the youth, for the youth.

“We gear our programming to young people from high school to post-grads,” said co-founder and environmental organizer Luis Cabrales. “We want to be part of the change in the neighborhood and not just sit back and complain. From the beginning, we wanted to be action-based on the ground and to be part of the solution.”

Though small and still recruiting, the group has quickly made a name for itself through its activism. The Southeast Youth Alliance has been involved in a number of rallies and marches, including organizing the first Black Lives Matter march on the Southeast Side.

“We’re doing a lot of programming on environmental justice,” Cabrales said. “But we haven’t been as active this year because of the stay-at-home orders and because we do not want a rise in COVID-19 positivity rates.”

Despite adjusting to the pandemic, the group’s work this year has been wideranging. It has solicited public feedback on the 100th Street Calumet River Access Plan, set up a Día de los Muertos community altar at St. Francis De Sales High School, hosted virtual movie watch parties via Netflix, encouraged people to get out and vote, and urged high school students to apply for scholarships and sign up for a college prep program at the University of Chicago. It gave away masks, toys, and school supplies to students at a youth rally in September. It hosted an art market for local artists and helped start a community mutual aid fund that helped those in need pay for rent, utilities, and groceries. It lobbied to remove the Chicago Police Department from George Washington High School, staged a Black Lives Matter march in Hegewisch, organized community cleanups, and promoted COVID-19 resources to the community.

The Southeast Youth Alliance also took part in the November 14 protest near Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s house to try to stop General Iron from moving into the neighborhood.

“We went up north to protest the permit,” Cabrales said. “It would be devastating to the neighborhood. Some people still sort of live in the heyday when we still had U.S. Steel and steel factories, but they left behind toxic soil, contaminated soil, and a contaminated Calumet River.”

The Southeast Youth Alliance offers an array of programming.

“We do environmental justice and food, raising awareness about being vegetarian,” he said. “We have a student volunteer series where we get people to come out to Big Marsh and take part in stewardship and restoration.”

Cabrales, whose background is in community conservation, said the group hoped to change perceptions about the entire Southeast Side, including the East Side, South Deering, and Hegewisch neighborhoods.

“We want to change the neighborhood, to tell young people that don’t have to leave, that they can live there and not be ashamed,” he said. “You can be proud of where you came from.”

The group envisions a future with more green space and a more vibrant bike culture on the Southeast Side.

“We plan to live here long-term and want to organize events and programming to cause change so we’re part of the solution and not just complaining,” he said.

The Southeast Side has many bike trails but needs more bike lanes and improved access to natural areas like Big Marsh, Cabrales said. “A big problem is accessibility. If you go down a major street, you can barely avoid being hit by a semi-truck.”

“We’re like the Southeast Environmental Task Force tackling petcoke and manganese and lead in our soil,” he said. “We also have a passion for the big issues. We just want to give the young people a seat at the table.” (Joseph S. Pete)

Southeast Youth Alliance, facebook.com/southeastyouthalliance

BEST SYMBOL OF INSTITUTIONALIZED POLLUTION THAT’S BEEN NEGLECTED TOO LONG

The Schroud Property’s coal hills

The Coal Hills on the long-neglected Schroud Property have dated back to at least the 1970s. The landmark at the entrance of Hegewisch, at 126th Place and Avenue O, consists of slag, garbage, and construction materials piled high. ATV riders often rip across a post-apocalyptic man-made landscape that no one has moved to clean up after a half-century. The unsightly dump rises above desolate prairie grass splayed under power lines stretching off infinitely into the horizon.

PHOTO BY MARIA MAYNEZ

Over the years, the Coal Hills have raised concerns in the far South Side about black tar leaking into Indian Creek, basements, the Babe Ruth baseball field, and soil in the neighborhood, leading residents to question whether they can even safely plant gardens in their backyards. But kids have still flocked there to ride dirt bikes, play paintball, and sled on slag piles in the winter despite a quicksand-like suction. People have come to Coal Hills to walk their dogs, hunt ducks, hang out in tree houses, or swim or fish in Indian Creek and nearby Wolf Lake.

The former wetlands site, once owned by the long-bygone Republic Steel, was supposed to be turned into a sports complex but was revealed to be contaminated with lead, chromium, and manganese, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The local landmark has long been an illegal site for dumping, including mattresses, refuse, and empty beer bottles, in addition to the waste that introduced the contaminants. Community residents have told the EPA they would like to see it eventually repurposed as a park, natural area, playground, or access point to Wolf Lake, according to a recent EPA Community Involvement Plan. (Joseph S. Pete)

Schroud Property, southwest intersection of E. 126th Pl. and S. Avenue O. For information on its status as a Superfund site and its potential cleanup, visit cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/ cursites/csitinfo.cfm?id=0505540.

ROUTE 66 PIZZA. PHOTO BY MARIA MAYNEZ

BEST ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSFORMATION

Big Marsh Park

Since its grand opening in 2016, Big Marsh Park has become a staple for the neighboring communities in the Southeast Side and Far South Side. Built in what had been a waste and slag dumping ground since the late 1800s, Big Marsh is more than an area to bird watch. Compared to more staid activities at other parks in the area, Big Marsh offers walking and biking trails, a pump track, BMX jump lines, and soon the Ford Calumet Environmental Center, which will allow the implementation of nature-based events and activities.

“Big Marsh offers plenty of opportunities for the public to spread out, discover, and reconnect with nature. Families can explore the park safely by riding their bikes through the dirt courses, bird watching along the marsh or taking a leisurely walk around the gravel loop that circles the southern half of the park,” said Joel Zavala, Big Marsh’s program and event facilitator.

Big Marsh is quite literally a hidden gem: it’s located in the Calumet Corridor, where there are only two roads that are used for access. It is a stark contrast against the nearby factories and industrial buildings. Big Marsh has caught the eye of many bike aficionados and offers kids and teenagers an opportunity to immerse themselves in nature and bike culture.

“The importance of having equitable access to spaces like these in the Southeast side has only been highlighted by the ongoing pandemic. The Chicago Park District and its partners hope to continue serving the Southeast side by offering safe and free programming that help facilitate the connection between these natural spaces and the surrounding communities,” said Zavala. (Maria Maynez)

Big Marsh Park, 11555 S. Stony Island Ave. Weekdays, dawn to dusk; weekends, 8am–7pm. (312) 720-0940. chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks-facilities/big-marsh-park-park-no-564

BEST STATE LINE PIZZA

Route 66

Owned by Alberto, a long time resident of the East Side who declined to provide his last name, Route 66 is a go-to favorite for many community members. As a staple of the community, it serves the East Side, Hegewisch, South Deering, and Whiting North Hammond in Indiana. It transcends Chicago and is a fan favorite across the state line with their famous jalapeño pizza. Throughout the years, Route 66 has been known to make generous donations and has always made an effort to reward students for their good work through free pizza slices.

Things have not always been easy but despite the adversities, the owner is known to bounce back and continue to provide the same hospitality and service that frequent customers know him for. Just last year, the immigrant-friendly business was raided by ICE, leading to the arrest of five workers. This led to the pizzeria closing for more than three months. It was with the efforts of the community and organizations like Centro de Trabajadores Unidos, that the cherished business made its comeback. (Maria Maynez)

Route 66 Pizza, 10180 S. Indianapolis Ave. Monday–Thursday, 10am–10pm; Friday, 10am–11pm; Saturday, 1pm–11pm; Sunday, 1pm–10pm. (773) 734-2032. facebook.com/ route66pizza