June 2, 2022

JUNE 2, 2022

ARTS, CULTURE, POLITICS

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The Perseverance of Chinatown Businesses

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10 página 11

ICE PROSECUTORIAL DISCRETION, MONKEYPOX, COLLECTIVE STRUGGLE AND LIBERATION

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Volume 9, Issue 18 Editor-in-Chief Jacqueline Serrato Managing Editor

Adam Przybyl

Senior Editors Christopher Good Olivia Stovicek Sam Stecklow Martha Bayne Arts Editor Education Editor Housing Editor Community Organizing Editor Immigration Editor

Isabel Nieves Madeleine Parrish Malik Jackson Chima Ikoro Alma Campos

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Cover Photo by Elisa Xu

IN CHICAGO Protests at City Hall After the fatal shooting of sixteen-year-old Seandell Holiday on May 14 in Millenium Park, Mayor Lori Lightfood responded by tightening Chicago’s weekend curfew for teens. Residents across the city expressed concern amid fears police will further target and criminalize young people of color. More than twenty teens organized a “die in” on May 23 outside City Hall to urge the City Council to vote no. The young demonstrators laid down on the ground as if dead to symbolize Chicago youth who have died from violence. Teens said they want to be included in decisions around gun violence and additional programming. Chicago City Council approved Lightfoot's curfew ordinance by a 30-19 vote. The same day, a group of sixty-five community groups from across the city signed an open letter calling Lightfoot to address gun violence by looking at the root causes. Parents also criticized the mayor for pushing a casino, stating that she should “put priorities in place” with education and safety being at the top. Community members also demanded Lightfoot use COVID-19 federal relief funds to invest resources in communities.

Expect a smaller light bill Chicagoans could expect smaller light bills in the future because of the Carbon Mitigation Credit program, a part of the recent Climate and Equitable Jobs Act. The program provides support for nuclear power facilities in Illinois, which have a lower carbon footprint than power plants based on fossil fuels, until such time as Illinois is able to create more clean energy solutions. A provision of the program is that if electricity prices rise too much—as they have recently due to COVID-19 supply shortages and the Russian invasion of Ukraine—that consumers will receive credits to make up for it. ComEd submitted a filing with the Illinois Commerce Commission indicating that from June 1 of this year to May 31 of 2023, it will provide a credit to consumers equal to 3.087 cents per kWh, lowering bills by about $19.71 per month and saving the average family around $237 per year.

Lightfoot gets to appoint another alderperson Last week, 24th Ward Alderperson Michael Scott Jr. announced he would be resigning his post to work at Cinespace Studios, a movie and television studio within his ward. Scott Jr., who was elected to the position in 2015, told reporters that the job had been too consuming and that he wanted to spend more time with his family. His resignation allows Mayor Lori Lightfoot to appoint the alderperson for the ward, who will stay in the position at least until next year’s election. Earlier this year, Lightfoot appointed Nicole Lee for the 11th Ward following former Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson’s conviction for tax fraud. Though there will be an application and screening process, set to begin June 1, the final decision will be Lightfoot’s. Scott Jr. will be the head of community and industry relations at Cinespace, a company that has expanded in North Lawndale and Little Village despite protests from residents that important streets have been cut off and filming takes place on their blocks without consent, as well as lack of employment opportunities for Black and brown residents of the area. Cinespace has donated at least $17,000 to political groups affiliated with Scott Jr. in the last few years. Those interested in applying for the aldermanic position should email their resumes to aldermanicvacancy@cityofchicago.org or mail them to 24th Ward Vacancy Committee at City Hall, 121 N. LaSalle St., Chicago, IL 60602,

by June 7.

IN THIS ISSUE public meetings report

A recap of select open meetings at the local, county, and state level. documenters, scott pemberton, and olivia stovicek.........................................5 collective struggle

How we achieve our liberated future, together. alycia kamil..............................................6 ice continues to target illinois families

With prosecutorial discretion, ICE has the power to choose who to deport. alma campos.............................................8 ice sigue separando a familias de illinois

Con la discreción fiscal, ICE tiene el poder de elegir a quién deportar. alma campos...........................................10 the perseverance of chinatown businesses

Restaurant owners have expanded their online presence and offerings to stay in business. elisa xu...................................................12 developer forced out residents of historic drexel blvd coop during eviction moratorium

City didn't stop 312 Properties from effectively evicting tenants despite numerous complaints. emeline posner.......................................14 the exchange

The Weekly's poetry corner offers our thoughts in exchange for yours. chima ikoro and justin dismuke..........17 calendar

Bulletin and events. south side weekly staff........................19 public health authorities plan for monkeypox spread at dawn of pride month

Anyone can get the disease, but so far this outbreak has mostly affected men who have sex with men. aaron gettinger, hyde park herald...21

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Public Meetings Report ILLUSTRATION BY HOLLEY APPOLD

May 11 “Put an instrument in a child’s hand, or a paintbrush, or a basketball. That will keep a gun out of it,” Margaret Murphy-Webb, founder of the South Side Jazz Coalition, told the Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners at its meeting. “The more programs you have, the more kids you can bring off of the street.” The district is celebrating ten years of its Night Out in the Parks program, which started with free movies and concerts. It’s now an annual program that offers free cultural events in the parks, said event program director Krista Bryski-Richard. She also introduced Luna, the Night Out in the Parks mascot. The meeting also saw the Park District gain a permanent superintendent and CEO: the board voted to approve the appointment of Rosa Escareño. She has served as the interim parks chief since October 2021, when superintendent and CEO Michael Kelly resigned amid a lifeguard sexual abuse scandal; and was previously the commissioner of the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection. The board also heard praise and concerns from park advisory councils, including the need for more recognition of their work, the poor condition of Douglass Park (site of Riot Fest), a fourteen-year delay in acting on requests for a community center in Kells Park, gratitude for $10,000 to fund community gardens from the president of the Skinner Park Advisory Council (and a request for more), and a call to preserve the Japanese garden and koi pond in Jackson Park.

May 12 The Cook County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution at its meeting denouncing racially discriminatory real estate covenants; heard a request from Cook County Health (CCH) for the board to continue funding payments for staffing agency nurses; and requested a report next month from CCH CEO Israel Rocha Jr. about efforts to improve human resources operations. It also passed a resolution honoring physicians Dr. Rachel Rubin and Dr. Kiran Joshi, co-leads and senior medical officers at the Cook County Department of Public Health, for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic (they received standing ovations), and heard a statement from Commissioner Kevin B. Morrison supporting transgender rights.

May 13 Council members who spoke at the City Council Committee on Committees and Rules meeting expressed relief that a compromise was reached on competing ward map proposals. The agreement, which was then approved at the May 16 Council meeting, avoided a public referendum on the competing proposals. Several committee members argued such a vote would have been an unnecessary burden and cost. Alderperson Carrie Austin, who plans to retire next year, was widely praised for supporting a split of her ward, the 34th, in part to preserve nearby majority-Black wards. “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one,” she said, “and I was the one.” At least two public commenters disagreed with the map. “This map represents what is wrong with Chicago politics,” said Georgette Floss of United Northwest Side. Argued Evelyn Mix of West Ridge Community Organization, “The whole process to create the map is undemocratic.”

A recap of select open meetings at the local, county, and state level for the June 2 issue.

BY DOCUMENTERS, SCOTT PEMBERTON, AND OLIVIA STOVICEK May 17 Chicago Public Schools students will now automatically receive Chicago Public Library (CPL) accounts after a motion to establish a new CPL patron type for students was passed at the CPL Board of Directors meeting. Known as the CPS Student Success Account, it’s intended to address COVID-related student learning loss and build on new opportunities created by CPL’s decision to go fine free. The account will give students access to a limited number of physical items and direct access to CPL’s online services, including tutoring, databases, homework assistance, audiobooks, ebooks, streaming videos, and music. Two public commenters praised assistive technology and services at Harold Washington Library, and they pointed out ways in which neighborhood branches and certain resources were not ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) accessible. An employee asked whether the board has discussed restoring extended library open hours reduced by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2012. Library Commissioner Chris Brown said a newly hired chief data analyst would be reviewing this issue.

The City Council Committee on Housing and Real Estate recommended approval of several items during its meeting. Among them was an agreement to allow the Chicago Police Department to rent or use a helipad for its marine and helicopter unit, a church parking lot for driver training, and office space at McCormick Place for a bike unit.

The sale of City-owned land in Englewood to Beloved Community Family Wellness Center for parking space was also approved, as was continuing to contract with local firm DataMade for upkeep of the Large Lots website. The Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) ordinance went into effect about a year ago. It expanded the types of residences that can be built or rented to include garden units, attics, coach houses, and others. Despite some accessibility and financing issues, the ordinance has sparked increased interest in preserving such naturally occurring housing, the Department of Housing reported May 25 The City Council approved the Bally’s casino proposal, with more than forty alderpersons voting in favor, paving the way for Chicago’s first casino. The casino plan will now go to the Illinois Gaming Board, which oversees the regulatory and tax collection system for riverboat and casino gambling in the state. The vote came just over two months after the City announced three casino finalists and followed a May 12 town hall on the plan hosted by the Office of the Mayor and a May 23 meeting of the Council’s Special Committee on the Chicago Casino. If Bally’s receives final approval, its $1.7 billion casino is expected to open in River West in late 2025 or early 2026, with a temporary casino operating in River North starting in mid-2023. At the meeting, multiple members of the Progressive Caucus criticized the process of vetting the casino as rushed, but said the agreement to put an upfront payment from Bally’s toward pensions won their votes. When Alderperson Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th Ward), who voted against the casino, went further, calling the process “failed,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot yelled that he was a “liar.”

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

JUNE 2, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 5

PROSE

Collective Struggle How we achieve our liberated future, together.

BY ALYCIA KAMIL

G

rief is an everlasting emotion.

We encounter it in a myriad of ways, sometimes not even knowing grief is what’s consuming us in the moment. Throughout the day we are subjected to multiple instances of loss, negligence to different pockets of our lives, and most substantially, triggers that set off the internal mental and emotional dialogue that we’re too ashamed of to broadcast to others. Like the family member who just gets prayers sent in the midst of a mental health crisis, or the student that faces more suspensions than

to process something, we choose to ignore everything. We will ourselves to just trust in the universe that the following days will take an elevated change in direction and that somehow the baggage that’s rested untouched for months will unpack itself.

But there’s nothing more discouraging than feeling like that lonesome fallen tree in the forest, so caught up in our own misfortunes that we don’t look around and see the exposed roots of everyone else. We force ourselves to find comfort in isolated mourning because we fear we’re the only ones unhappy.

“No level of individual selfactualization alone can sustain the marginalized and oppressed.

We must be linked to collective struggle, to communities of resistance that move us outward, into the world.”

— bell hooks, sisters of the yam meetings with a school counselor, I’m starting to recognize grief as one of the cultural elephants in the room we’ve been told doesn’t need space for discussion.

We’ve been taught that the “bad” feelings are a waste of time to sit through, and that if you just press your palms tightly enough they disappear.

For generations, we’ve passed down the act of deflection. Why sit and cry over one thing, when we have a checklist of stressors to get through? What makes one disappointment more life altering than the next? Instead of taking the time 6 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

¬ JUNE 2, 2022

At the same time, we so eagerly want to share moments of celebration. You can easily formulate a list of people who can plan the best baby shower, the most abundant trunk party, an unforgettable birthday, or the most touching wedding.

You have a yellow page book worth of calls to make when you find out the news of a college acceptance, a new job, or even just to tell your friends about the occurrences in your day that made you feel good. Sometimes we hope that telling someone our good news will make them hopeful it’ll be their turn next. We

cling to the hope that when one person is finally coming up, it’ll be a relief to others that their bad luck is ending, too.

We’ve come to a place in life where gathering makes sense only if we’re discussing the light, that what we do when the switch is turned off doesn’t concern others: how we feel when that letter displays a rejection instead, or being notified that layoffs are happening next week is something we deal with on our own time. We’ll find out how to sort through these emotions without seeming like a bother to the same people we would call for our more appealing moments.

Do you find yourself reaching out more when your cup is full or when a drought is present and you need the water?

In her book, Jambalaya, Luisah Tesh touches on the importance of community and matriarchal figures when it comes to mending personal wounds: “Now I began to take special notice of the women in my community. It seems I had a mother on every block. This, of course, was a double edged sword. On one side, I would not go hungry or fall down sick without ‘Auntie, Cousin, Sister, or Big Moma’ So-and-So doing something about it. On the other hand, if I committed a transgression six blocks away from home, I could get at least five scoldings and two whippings before I got

ILLUSTRATED BY SHANE TOLENTINO

home to receive the final one.”

Tesh shares this story from her childhood to highlight how much of a difference it made to have people present in her life through the lows, the mediums, and the highs. While this is a distinct memory from her youth, age should not be a restriction on receiving and giving in-depth communal care. At what point in our lives do we lose the ability to empathize with someone? Why is it that once someone reaches adulthood it’s an innate societal norm to leave them to fend for themselves? The answer is that we’ve started to assimilate ourselves to the white supremacist vehicle that is individualism.

I often reflect on how the westernization of our livelihood has drastically impacted how we view leaning on one another. Black people across the diaspora are birthed from tribes. Our bloodrite and our first instinct is to make sure that everyone around us is supported; that everyone eats in the morning, the middle of the day, and at night–no matter how big or small the portion is; that everyone has clothes on their back and a place to lay their head when the sun goes down. When someone is sick, we have people blessed with the knowledge of healing herbs and their properties to come and tend to their needs. When

PROSE someone is injured and cannot fulfill their responsibilities, people step up to allow that person to rest.

A foundation of mutual aid and collectivity has existed long before its revival within the most recent uprisings.

The groundwork of checking in with one another, stepping in to allow someone to step back, and community programs that not only show you that you aren’t alone in your struggle, but that there’s people there to help you get back on your feet, has always existed throughout time.

Learning about the intention behind the work that members of the Black Panther Party (BPP) produced is what really started to shift my thinking toward a more collective way of living. From their widely known programs, such as providing free breakfast for children, and their community pantry, they cultivated over sixty survival programs. They offered health clinics that provided free medical and dental services, employment referrals, GED classes, martial arts classes, a maintenance program, tutoring sessions, legal aid and education, and— one of my personal favorites—the Intercommunal Youth Institute, which challenged the failures of public school system by providing proper care to young Black students. The BPP used these programs as not only a vehicle of political education, but to gather and tend to their community members.

In To Die For The People, Huey P. Newton perfectly describes the mission behind these survival programs: “All these programs satisfy the deep needs of the community, but they are not solutions to our problems. That is why we call them survival programs, meaning survival pending revolution. We say that the survival program of the Black Panther Party is like the survival kit of a sailor stranded on a raft. It helps him to sustain himself until he can get completely out of that situation. So the survival programs are not answers or solutions, but they will help us to organize the community around a true analysis and understanding of their situation. When consciousness and understanding is raised to a high level, then the community will seize the time and deliver themselves from the boot of their oppressors.”

These survival programs that the

BPP created helped me to gauge my understanding of the integral role collective struggle plays within our liberation movements today. When I learned about these programs, I thought of all the people who once felt they had to suffer in silence but were connected with the rest of their tribe and gained a sense of hope that it is possible to eradicate the problems that placed them in that deficit in the first place. You reach out for help in a world that typically gives you a slammed door to the face and you’re met with every resource you asked for and a community to bask in it with. These programs began to establish and normalize a muchneeded culture of feeling comfortable enough to call on others when in need of support.

What we often write off as personal hardships, instances that we feel others won't be able to even resonate with, are actually shared by many people around us. We seldom notice because we don’t let people know what we’re going through.

State entities put an abrupt stop to the programming that the BPP offered. What died with the end of these programs was this newfound willingness to confide in the community when a need arises.

We’ve now returned to the indoctrinated capitalist ideology that struggle equates to weakness— once you’re perceived as weak, you’re no longer desirable. We have reduced ourselves to feeling easier to be replaced, to be disposed of, and to be forgotten. That’s what drives us to feel like isolation is our only option.

My own relationship with grief was intensified and tested within this past year. I’ve lost friends and dealt with major life-changing transitions. Communal spaces I once felt welcomed in slowly started to become unrecognizable, and I was finally forced to deal with years of burnout and mental exhaustion that I let collect dust. I resorted to what many of us do in times of despair; I shut myself off from the rest of the world. I began to fall deeper and deeper into my depressive hole and ignored all the hands that were extended to pull me back up because I was too embarrassed to vocalize that I needed help. This cycle of isolation, which would end with a temporary revival, always landed me in the same spot months or even weeks after I tricked myself into

believing everything was fine.

Throughout my journey of participating in organizing efforts, I’ve been blessed to read the words of revolutionaries who have helped me craft my own radical thought. I had to decide it was finally time to not just listen to what they were saying, but to actually apply it.

Themes of collectivity have been brought up by organizers as one of the anchors we need in order to finally be in the position to truly tackle external forces that are pressing down on us.

Black people are grappling with multiple pandemics at once. In almost every direction we look, there’s some entity that’s preying on us, waiting for a moment of separation so they can infiltrate. At many marches and protests, one of the points myself and other freedom fighters always make sure to communicate to the crowd is that we’re more powerful when we’re together. The

able to grieve alone–it's not productive.

Collectivity is needed to push us towards liberation in an intra-communal sense, as much as it’s needed to help us combat external entities that are driving our need for freedom.

I urge everyone to practice calling on those who make you feel loved, supported, and needed in your moments where you feel most alone. Allow yourself to be vulnerable. Don’t feel ashamed to sit through the emotions we as a society have placed such a negative connotation behind. Learn to be honest about where your capacity is and to not be moved by what you see on social media and let that dictate whether the pace you’re moving on is correct or not. Most importantly, never forget the power that comes with numbers.

In sisters of the yam written by the late bell hooks, in just one sentence she perfectly touches on the importance of

A foundation of mutual aid and collectivity has existed long before its revival within the most recent uprisings.

The groundwork of checking in with one another, stepping in to allow someone to step back, and community programs has always existed throughout time. moment we’re apart from each other, the easier it is to bring us down. We tell people to link arms when needed, check in on those that are around you, even if you don’t know them, and make a friend. We emphasize the importance of togetherness throughout the entirety of the action.

I used to just apply this logic to address safety concerns, but now it’s something I’ve started to implement in my everyday life. Our problems feel easier to handle when we have people in our corner battling them with us. What we think we’re submerged in by ourselves could have very well been suffocating a loved one for a long time. I believe in the act of collective struggle. Sadly, while we exist in our non-abolitionist present, we don’t have the privilege of being

togetherness to help us move through challenges that are presented by outside forces: “No level of individual selfactualization alone can sustain the marginalized and oppressed. We must be linked to collective struggle, to communities of resistance that move us outward into the world.”

We achieve liberation through collectivity and all the sides that come with it. Alycia Kamil is a multimedia freedom fighter from the South Side of Chicago. This is her first contribution to the Weekly.

JUNE 2, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 7

IMMIGRATION

ICE Continues to Target Illinois Families

Father of four U.S. citizens faces deportation even though he qualifies for prosecutorial discretion.

PROVIDED BY OCAD

BY ALMA CAMPOS

I

nstead of celebrating Mexican Mother’s Day on Monday May 10, dozens gathered for a press conference and protest outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Field Office in Chicago at 101 W. Ida B. Wells Drive to demand that Octaviano Ortiz, a long-time Cicero resident and family man, not be deported. Advocates are requesting that the agency grants prosecutorial discretion so that Ortiz can remain in Illinois with his family. He was ordered to leave the U.S. on May 23 but appealed the decision.

Ortiz, forty-one, is a father to four U.S. citizen children and cares for them along with his partner Martha. Under U.S. immigration law, prosecutorial discretion refers to the power that U.S. immigration agencies such as ICE have to determine the outcome of an immigration case. It allows agencies to decide what charges to 8 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

¬ JUNE 2, 2022

bring and how to pursue each case. The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) could toss out his case because he is not a priority for deportation. But according to Karina Solano, the deportation defense coordinator at Organized Communities Against Deportations (OCAD), the BIA said “the impact [of deporting him] wouldn’t be extraordinary.”

In 2010, Ortiz was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, a charge that, according to advocates, was upgraded to “aggravated” because he did not have a driver’s license. He was initially placed in removal proceedings in 2010 and was released on an Order of Recognizance, an order which releases an individual who is awaiting a final decision in deportation proceedings under certain conditions. During this time, advocates said he complied with all his court hearings and enrolled in a substance

abuse program, per his probation terms.

In 2018, he applied for cancellation of removal with the BIA but was denied the opportunity to stay.

Solano has assisted Ortiz in filing his case. She added that new immigration enforcement guidelines do not make Ortiz a priority for deportation. She said there are plenty of mitigating factors that do not make Ortiz a priority for deportation such as that he is the sole provider for his four U.S. citizen children, Andrea (age fourteen), Alexandra (eleven), Ismael (seven) and Giovanni (two) and his partner.

Additionally, Solano said the twoyear-old needs constant medical care due to premature birth at five months. “[The child] needs to be seeing therapists about four times a week and it’s crucial for his development. Ortiz has also lived in the U.S. for twenty-three years and has never

left the country.”

Solano said Ortiz filed what is known as an application for stay, along with the mitigation documents, a filing fee of $155 and a petition with over 700 signatures from community members and supporters that OCAD collected.

She was ready to deliver his application in person to the Chicago field office the day of the press conference, but the office was closed. No one was given advance notice.

Solano said someone in the crowd told her the power was out and people who previously made appointments were sent back home by staff.

In 2010, when Ortiz was arrested, the Illinois Way Forward Act was not yet in place, and made it feasible for police and immigration to work together when detaining people who are undocumented.

The law went into effect in January 2021, dramatically restricting the way local

IMMIGRATION law enforcement cooperates with ICE. Additionally, the Illinois Way Forward Act banned immigration detention in Illinois.

“We need the Biden administration to deliver on the promises they made for fundamental due process and justice,” he said. “Under this administration,

“Under this administration, ICE is still arbitrarily punishing people, and a system like that benefits no one and only endangers communities and families, leaving them broken, hopeless and vulnerable.” — Cesar Elizarraraz Solano said that when Ortiz was taken by police in 2010, the police staff kept a list of people who were undocumented. “I don't remember if it was an ID or social security number…but [Ortiz] said that they would write down everybody that [they suspected] was not a U.S. citizen,” she said.

A

t the protest, community advocates and families held signs that read, “Sin papeles sin miedo” (Without papers without fear) and “Humans don’t belong in cages.” People chanted “Undocumented and unfraid” and “Chinga la migra” (Fuck ICE).

There, Ortiz said it would be difficult for his family if he was deported. “My wife would have to work and my baby would not have the care they have now,” he said. “My whole life is here. My children are here, my job is here, and I recently bought a house in Cicero, Illinois. If I were to leave and my children came with me, they would lose everything. It would interrupt their education and they would lose the opportunities that the U.S. has to offer them.”

Cesar Elizarraraz, a Mexico-born, longtime suburban resident who had been in ICE custody and detained at the McHenry County Jail since December 2019, spoke at the press conference.

Elizarraraz was detained by ICE for over twenty-one months at the McHenry County detention center and was released in June of 2021.

needs constant medical attention.

When the Weekly reached out repeatedly to the immigration office in Chicago to inquire about the reason for his application being denied, a spokesperson responded with the following statement: “Regardless of nationality, ICE makes custody determinations on a caseby-case basis, in accordance with U.S. law and Department of Homeland Security policy, considering the merits and factors of each case while adhering to current agency priorities and guidelines. ICE focuses its civil immigration enforcement priorities on the apprehension and removal of noncitizens who pose a threat to our national security, public safety, and border security.”

When pressed as to why they believe Ortiz is a threat to the country, and on what grounds his application was denied despite federal immigration guidelines that do not make Ortiz a priority for deportation, the spokesperson cited privacy concerns for the delay in providing additional information about his case. This story was first published online on May 22 and was updated for print.

Alma Campos is the Immigration editor at the Weekly. She last wrote about a South Side man who was illegally detained by ICE.

ICE is still arbitrarily punishing people, and a system like that benefits no one and only endangers communities and families, leaving broken, hopeless and vulnerable.”

“We need the Biden administration to be accountable to the promises they made regarding a more just and humane immigration process,” said Natalie Casal Alcaino, an organizer with OCAD. “As long as field officers like Sylvie Randa maintain their position, it will always be up to them their discretion to deny people like Octaviano.”

Randa is the field director at the ICE Field Office in Chicago who has the power to grant Ortiz prosecutorial discretion. The day after the rally, Ortiz and Solano submitted his application to stay. Solano said an immigration officer stated it would take “a few weeks” for a decision.

“That’s too long for Octaviano,” Solano said. “So we are working on uplifting his request through congressional support.” Solano said OCAD has received the support of Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky and Congressman “Chuy” Garcia, who both sent letters to ICE to inquire about Ortiz’ case. State Rep. Lisa Hernandez’ office said they will also be providing a letter.

On May 23, the day Ortiz was ordered to leave, he refiled his application on the grounds that his previous application did not include important mitigating information about his two-year old that PROVIDED BY OCAD

JUNE 2, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 9

INMIGRACIÓN

ICE sigue separando a familias de Illinois Un padre de cuatro ciudadanos estadounidenses enfrenta ser deportado a pesar de no ser una prioridad para la deportación.

POR ALMA CAMPOS

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n lugar de celebrar el Día de las Madres el 10 de mayo, decenas de personas se reunieron en una rueda de prensa y una protesta frente a la Oficina de Servicios de Inmigración y Aduanas de Estados Unidos (ICE, por sus siglas en inglés) de Chicago, ubicada en 101 W. Ida B. Wells Drive, para exigir que Octaviano Ortiz, un residente de Cicero y padre de familia, no sea deportado. Los defensores exigen que la agencia le conceda la discreción fiscal para que Ortiz pueda permanecer en Illinois con su familia. Se le ordenó salir del país el 23 de mayo, pero apeló la decisión.

Ortiz, de 41 años, es padre de cuatro hijos ciudadanos estadounidenses y cuida de ellos junto con su pareja Martha.

Según la ley de inmigración de los Estados Unidos, la discreción fiscal se refiere al poder que tienen las agencias de inmigración como ICE de determinar el resultado de un caso de inmigración. Les permite a las agencias decidir qué cargos presentar y cómo llevar a cabo cada caso.

La Junta de Apelaciones de Inmigración (BIA, por sus siglas en inglés) pudiera cerrar el caso de Ortiz porque él no es una prioridad para la deportación. Según Karina Solano, coordinadora en la defensa de la deportación de la organización Comunidades Organizadas Contra las Deportaciones (OCAD, por sus siglas e inglés), la BIA indicó que “el impacto [de deportarlo] no sería extraordinario” para la familia.

En 2010, Ortiz fue detenido por conducir bajo los efectos del alcohol, un cargo que, según los defensores, fue elevado a “agravado” porque no tenía licencia de conducir. Inicialmente Ortiz fue puesto en proceso de deportación en 2010 pero fue liberado bajo su propio reconocimiento, un tipo de orden que libera a un individuo en espera de una decisión final en el proceso de deportación bajo ciertas condiciones. Durante este 10 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

¬ JUNE 2, 2022

tiempo, Ortiz fue a todas sus audiencias judiciales y se inscribió en un programa de abuso de sustancias, de acuerdo con los términos de su libertad condicional.

En 2018, solicitó la cancelación de su deportación ante la BIA, pero se le negó la oportunidad de quedarse en el país.

Solano ha estado ayudando a Ortiz a presentar su caso. Añadió que las nuevas directrices de la ley de inmigración no indican que Ortiz sea una prioridad

y es crucial para su desarrollo. Además, Ortiz lleva veintitrés años viviendo en Estados Unidos y nunca ha salido del país”.

Solano dijo que Ortiz presentó lo que se conoce como una solicitud de suspensión, junto con los documentos de mitigación, $155 para la solicitud y una petición con más de 700 firmas de miembros de la comunidad que OCAD recolectó. Solano dijo que iba a entregar

indocumentadas. Entró en vigor en enero de 2021, y restringe drásticamente la forma en que las autoridades locales trabajan con ICE. Además, la ley prohíbe la detención de inmigrantes en Illinois.

Solano dijo que cuando la policía se llevó a Ortiz en 2010, el personal policial tenía una lista de personas indocumentadas. “No recuerdo si era un número de identificación o número de seguro social... pero [Ortiz] dijo que anotaban a todos los que [sospechaban] que no eran ciudadanos estadounidenses”, dijo.

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CORTESÍA DE OCAD

para la deportación. Dijo que también hay muchos factores atenuantes, como el hecho de que es el único proveedor de sus cuatro hijos ciudadanos estadounidenses, Andrea (de catorce años), Alexandra (de once), Ismael (de siete) y Giovanni (de dos) y su pareja.

Además, Solano dijo que el bebé de dos años necesita atención médica constante debido a su nacimiento prematuro a los cinco meses. “Necesita terapeutas unas cuatro veces a la semana

la solicitud en persona en la oficina de inmigración el 10 de mayo pero la oficina estaba cerrada. No les avisaron a nadie.

Solano dijo que alguien en la multitud le dijo que no había luz en el edificio y que el personal estaba enviado a casa a las personas que tenían cita ese día.

En 2010, cuando Ortiz fue detenido, aún no estaba en vigor la Ley Illinois Way Forward, la cual no permite que la policía y el servicio de inmigración cooperen a la hora de detener a personas

n la protesta, los activistas y miembros de la comunidad sostenían carteles en los que se podía leer: “Sin papeles, sin miedo” y “Humans don’t belong in cages” (Los humanos no deben estar enjaulados).

La gente coreaba “Undocumented and unafraid” (Indocumentados y sin miedo) y “Chinga la migra”.

Ahí, Ortiz dijo que sería difícil para su familia si fuera deportado. “Mi esposa tendría que trabajar y mi bebé no tendría el cuidado que tiene ahora”, dijo. “Toda mi vida está aquí. Mis hijos están aquí, mi trabajo está aquí, y recientemente he comprado una casa en Cicero, Illinois.

Si me voy y mis hijos se vienen conmigo, lo perderían todo. Interrumpiría su educación y perderían las oportunidades que les ofrece Estados Unidos”.

César Elizarraraz, nacido en México y residente de un suburbio de Chicago, que estuvo bajo la custodia de ICE y detenido en la Cárcel del Condado de McHenry desde diciembre de 2019, habló en la conferencia de prensa. Elizarraraz fue detenido por ICE durante más de veintiún meses en el centro de detención del Condado de McHenry y fue liberado en junio de 2021.

“Necesitamos que la administración de Biden cumpla con las promesas que

MAY 19, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 10

INMIGRACIÓN

hizo para tener un proceso justo”, dijo.

"Bajo esta administración, ICE sigue castigando arbitrariamente a las personas, y un sistema así no beneficia a nadie y sólo pone en peligro a las comunidades y las familias, dejándolas destrozadas, sin esperanza y vulnerables.”

siempre dependerá de su discreción para negar a personas como Octaviano”.

Randa es la directora en la Oficina de ICE en Chicago que tiene el poder de concederle a Ortiz la discreción fiscal, es decir, dejarlo permanecer en el país junto con su familia. El día después de la

“Bajo esta administración, ICE sigue castigando arbitrariamente a las personas, y un sistema así no beneficia a nadie y sólo pone en peligro a las comunidades y a las familias, dejándolas destrozadas, sin esperanza y vulnerables.” — César Elizarraraz “Necesitamos que la administración de Biden se responsabilice de las promesas que hizo sobre un proceso de inmigración más justo y humano”, dijo Natalie Casal Alcaino, organizadora de OCAD. "Mientras los oficiales de ICE como Sylvie Randa mantengan su postura,

manifestación, Ortiz y Solano regresaron para presentar la solicitud. Solano dijo que un oficial de inmigración dijo que les tomaría “unas semanas” para tomar una decisión.

“Eso es demasiado tiempo para Octaviano”, dijo Solano. “Así que estamos

trabajando para elevar su solicitud a través del apoyo del Congreso”. Solano dijo que OCAD ha recibido el apoyo de la congresista Jan Schakowsky y el congresista “Chuy” García, quienes le enviaron cartas a ICE para preguntar sobre el caso de Ortiz. La oficina de la representante estatal Lisa Hernández dijo que también entregaría una carta.

El 23 de mayo, el día en que se le ordenó salir del país, Ortiz volvió a presentar su solicitud debido a que su solicitud anterior no incluía información atenuante importante sobre su hijo de dos años que necesita atención médica constante.

Cuando el Weekly se puso en contacto con la oficina de inmigración de Chicago para preguntar por el motivo de negar su solicitud varias veces, una portavoz respondió con la siguiente declaración: “Independientemente de la nacionalidad, ICE toma las decisiones de custodia caso por caso, de acuerdo con la ley de EE.UU. y la política del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional, considerando los méritos y los factores

CORTESÍA DE OCAD

de cada caso mientras se adhiere a las prioridades y directrices actuales de la agencia. ICE centra sus prioridades de aplicación de la ley de inmigración civil en la detención y expulsión de los no ciudadanos que representan una amenaza para nuestra seguridad nacional, la seguridad pública y la seguridad fronteriza”.

Cuando se le preguntó por qué Ortiz es una amenaza para el país, y por qué motivos se le negó la solicitud a pesar de que las directrices federales de inmigración no hacen que Ortiz sea una prioridad para la deportación, la portavoz citó la preocupación por la privacidad como razón de su retraso en proporcionar información adicional sobre el caso. Esta nota fue publicada primero en línea el 22 de mayo y fue actualizada para impreso.

Alma Campos es la editora de Inmigración del Weekly. Escribió previamente sobre un hombre del sur de Chicago que fue detenido ilegalmente por ICE.

JUNE 2, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 11

BUSINESS

The Perseverance of Chinatown Businesses Restaurant owners have had to navigate threats of eviction, understaffing, and antiAsian sentiments, but expanded their online presence and offerings to stay in business.

BY ELISA XU

A

s a kid, Spencer Ng worked many roles at Triple Crown, a Chinatown dim sum restaurant his mother founded in 1995. Busboy, waiter, dishwasher—anything related to the restaurant, he did it.

During the Great Recession in 2008, Ng’s mother lost more than half of the nine restaurants she owned in Chicagoland. Her mental health suffered and she fell into depression.

She was never the same.

So Ng stepped up. Having gone away for school—becoming the first from his family to graduate college—he returned to Triple Crown, not as a busboy or waiter, but as the owner.

“Growing up, I thought my mom was invincible. But I didn’t know how vulnerable she was. I thought she was gonna come back,” Ng said.

His plan was to get this new location started and once his mother had recovered enough, she’d take over again, and he could live his life. Fourteen years later, and he was still running the beloved family-owned restaurant.

But then in March 2020, the pandemic was declared a national emergency. Looking back, Ng had no idea the extent of what was to come.

“I remember March 15, when they announced the shutdown [of in-door dining], I was like, ‘We should be fine because it’ll be a good break,’” Ng said.

“That break turned into a nightmare.”

It’s no secret that the restaurant business was hit hard by the pandemic.

385 food businesses closed in Chicago during the first year of the pandemic from April 2020 through April 2021, according to a UIC report about COVID’s impact 12 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

¬ JUNE 2, 2022

on Chicago’s food industry.

Restaurants in Chicago’s Chinatown are no exception. Chinatown restaurants lost an estimated fifty to seventy percent in revenue from the pandemic, according to Stephy Liu, Operations Manager at the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce.

After Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s executive order to shut down in-person dining at all Illinois restaurants, Triple Crown’s revenue dropped seventy percent overnight. While other restaurants were pivoting to carry-out orders and outdoor dining, Ng struggled to do the same.

As the owner of a banquet style restaurant, Ng was faced with 200 seats that he couldn’t fill, and he couldn’t match that volume from carry-out and delivery orders. Also, Triple Crown’s location on the second floor by the Chinatown gate on Wentworth Ave meant there was nowhere to set up outdoor dining.

Many owners had to apply for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund from the Small Business Administration to stay open.

“We got some government assistance.

Thank God,” Ng said. “If we didn’t, we wouldn’t be here today.”

Triple Crown was also facing eviction shortly after the shutdown began. Due to the loss in revenue, Ng couldn’t pay the full amount of rent to his landlord, which was around $20,000 per month at the time, according to the Tribune. To fight the eviction notice, Ng had to go to court and reach a settlement. He declined to share specifics about the case due to the non-disclosure agreement he signed with his landlord.

Kai Liang, owner of the Chinese restaurant MCCB in Chinatown Square,

also struggled with the shutdown of indoor dining. Shifting to only delivery and carry-out orders, Liang had to use his savings for employee salaries at first.

It was his loyal customers who sustained his business via outside orders. Even so,

with the high rent in Chinatown Square, MCCB was barely breaking even.

The anti-Asian sentiments spurred by racist reactions to the pandemic and fueled by former President Trump’s rhetoric, labeling the virus as the “China

PHOTO BY ELISA XU

BUSINESS Virus” and the “Kung Flu,” only added more stress.

Ng distinctly remembers an incident in January 2020, before the quarantine, when one of his Chinese employees asked him if she could wear a mask to prevent getting sick. He said yes. However, some customers at the restaurant, seeing her in a mask, assumed she had the virus.

“I remember vividly the table of ten just getting up and leaving. Just as they sat down, they freaked out,” Ng said.

There were also prank calls, such as people calling Triple Crown and asking for “a side of bat soup.” Amid these hateful calls, Ng remembers an employee who broke down crying. She quit afterwards.

Labor shortages have also plagued restaurants across Chicago. Jackson Chiu, the owner of 312 Fish Market, a sushi restaurant located in the 88 Market grocery store just outside of Chinatown, said the shortage of workers who can work for the pay restaurants can offer has caused what he calls a “labor war,” where restaurants are poaching other places’ workers.

If one place offers $4,000 a month, for example, another will offer $4,500 or $4,700. Chiu currently has around seven staff members, but ideally he’d like to

kids grow up and go to college, there are others that come and go.

“I got some new staff… and they’re kind of [doing] musical chairs,” Ng said.

“Looking for the next best thing.”

Now, more than two years after the first wave of the pandemic, many Chinatown restaurants have still not completely recovered. Even since the vaccine mandates were dropped in late February, Triple Crown is operating at sixty percent capacity, with twenty-one tables instead of the original thirty-six.

They used to have fourteen waitstaff, but now they only have five.

Ng said the toughest part about running a restaurant during the pandemic was the mental toll it took on him. During regular years, he could plan for May, June, July and August to be his busy months.

But with the virus, there was no planning.

Circumstances kept changing and new challenges kept revealing themselves.

The City’s vaccine mandates during the Omicron surge this past January caused Triple Crown’s business to drop by thirty percent. And for Ng’s workers, fewer dine-in customers meant fewer tips, making it harder for them to provide for their families.

And food costs have gone up,

have fifteen.

Ng noticed some of his workers leaving the restaurant industry for other jobs instead. He noted people want jobs that seem safer. As restaurant workers, they were technically “frontline” and were serving people every day. A study from earlier in the pandemic found that food workers, and line cooks in particular, were among the highest risk occupations for dying from COVID-19.

He’s seen previous employees now working at Costco and driving for Uber.

While he’s grateful some have been around long enough for him to see their

especially now with rising gas prices.

Other fees have also gone up—their dumpster service fee recently rose from $700 to $900. With many ingredients sourced from Asia, transportation costs have become even pricier given recent delays in the supply chain.

For 312 Fish Market, Chiu has also grappled with increasing prices.

He noticed that the price of fish went up and delivery companies are charging extra. The cost for 2.2 pounds of ikura, or salmon roe, doubled from $60 to $120.

“And it’s been crazy because it keeps going up,” Chiu said. “There hasn’t really

Ng said the toughest part about running a restaurant during the pandemic was the mental toll it took on him. During regular years, he could plan for May, June, July and August to be his busy months. But with the virus, there was no planning.

been a stable price.”

Despite all these challenges, Chinatown restaurants have done their best to adapt. For Liang, MCCB created their own online ordering platform a couple months into the pandemic. The site has its own loyalty program, so with each order customers get MCCB coins that they can redeem in future purchases.

This approach means they aren’t charged as much commission from third-party delivery services like Chowbus or Uber Eats.

Chiu said 312 Fish Market has focused on collaborations and support from his friends in the restaurant industry, whether it be through social media promotions or other joint efforts. Chiu has an upcoming marketing collaboration with Jugrnaut, a local Chicago streetwear brand, to create merchandise for his restaurant.

Ng has also emphasized the importance of collaborating with others.

He launched Triple Crown’s own beer at the beginning of the pandemic. Now he’s working on launching more products for customers to use at home, like chili crisp and dim sum that can be frozen for at home cooking.

PHOTO BY ELISA XU

He also hired local Chicago artists, Diosa and Chef Won Kim, to create Asian-inspired murals in the restaurant, including a dragon mural that takes up one of the restaurant’s interior walls. Ng wanted to support local Chicago artists who were also struggling to find work at the time.

For family- and immigrant-owned businesses, the restaurants represent more than just a business or a livelihood— they’re places to celebrate life. Ng had his wedding and has celebrated birthdays there. He’s seen families that used to come in with eight people, later coming in with thirty because their families grew over the years.

“For me, it’s family… Family is Triple Crown,” Ng said. Elisa Xu is a graduate journalism student at Northwestern Medill specializing in magazine writing. This is her first piece for the Weekly.

JUNE 2, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 13

HOUSING

Developer Forced Out Residents Of Historic Drexel Blvd. Co-op During Eviction Moratorium City didn't stop 312 Properties from evicting tenants despite numerous complaints.

BY EMELINE POSNER

This story is co-published with the Hyde Park Herald.

I

n the second summer of the pandemic, Melissa* was scrambling to find a new house for herself and her teenage son. Her on-and-off home over the past fourteen years, the Tudor Gables Building Cooperative, a grand, three-story apartment building that looms over the 4800 block of South Drexel Boulevard like a castle, had ​​sold in March with only a few months’ warning from the coop’s board. The new owners, up-and-coming area landlords 312 Properties, had given residents until early June to vacate their units. *Melissa is not the tenant’s real name. The Herald granted her anonymity to protect her job security and her family from accusations of endangering a minor.

Some shareholders and renters of Tudor Gables, one of the first Blackowned housing cooperatives established in the city, had a hard time finding new housing. The money from the sale was being disbursed to shareholders in segments and many, especially seniors, were on fixed-incomes. Some worried they wouldn’t be able to make it out of the building in time.

Initially, the sale of the building didn’t worry Melissa. One of a number of renters in the 114-unit building, she had just signed off with her landlord on another year-long lease in December.

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¬ JUNE 2, 2022

Her unit was in good shape, having been rehabbed and the appliances updated, sometime before she moved in the year before. Melissa did want to get out of the Gables, since the building had changed hands, but she assumed that her lease would give her some extra time to relocate.

She felt hopeful, even—earlier that spring, she had started a new job that was demanding, keeping her out of the house for long shifts that sometimes stretched up to fourteen to sixteen hours, but it was stable and well paying. She wanted to stay in the Hyde Park-Kenwood area in order to keep her son within his school’s attendance boundaries, and the new job’s higher, union wages would put that in reach, though the hours and the exhaustion that followed made it difficult to schedule viewings for the few units that were available and within her budget.

But as the deadline to move out, June 10, came and went, the building became a living nightmare for Melissa and several other residents, who remained in their units past the move-out date either because they could not afford to move or did not yet have anywhere to go.

“It was just terrible,” Melissa said.

“They (312 Properties) turned our water off, they cut the gas off, then they started gutting everything.”

“We were stepping over shards of glass just to go down the stairs. It was insane. It was unbelievable.”

In addition to Melissa and her teenage son, at least four shareholders and one young child remained in the building as the new owners removed the locks from all twenty front-door entrances and basement entries in June, an action that these residents allege was an all but open invitation to squatters and looters to break into units and take appliances, pipes and former and current residents’ possessions.

“They came in late at night, sneaking in, stealing the radiators, taking our doors off, people were breaking into apartments and stealing stuff…fridges, stoves,” said Derek Woods, a shareholder of six years, who remained on the property well into construction.

Woods was alarmed and worried that conflict between the scrappers and remaining residents might escalate. “I came in one day and caught guys taking my doors off,” he said. “They said ‘We were paid to take these doors off,’” but ran away after being confronted by him.

“People could’ve been killed.”

In desperation, Melissa posted a sign on her door reading, “We are still here, so please leave this apartment alone.”

Owners of 312 Properties, brothers Ariel and Raphael Lowenstein, did not respond to the Herald’s requests for comment.

Then, in mid-July, at the peak of Chicago summer, the water and gas utilities started to go on and off,

according to residents’ testimony and 311 complaints obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. On July 14, the Department of Buildings issued a permit for a full interior gut rehab of the building, worth an estimated $6 million, to 312 Properties and their general contractor, Asbridge Enterprises LLC. Woods was in tens of thousands of dollars of debt from rehabbing his unit several years prior, and he, like other shareholders, had received only a portion of what he expected to receive from the sale payout (the board withheld $3 million of the $11.5 million in sale proceeds from shareholders until December 2021, allegedly for tax liability purposes. No former board members would speak to the Herald on the record, due to a non-disclosure agreement.).

In debt and struggling financially, he delayed his move-out until the walls started coming down. Eventually, he was able to temporarily move in with family members.

Melissa and her son didn’t have that option, leaving them stuck in an active construction zone for the next month. As her long hours kept her out of the house for most of the day, she had no choice but to leave her son alone at home after school, and then all day once summer break began. All the while, construction proceeded around them. She felt relief from worry for his well-being only on the few days that her brother was able to

HOUSING come into the apartment to stay with her son while she was at work.

When Melissa’s sister, who the Herald granted anonymity to protect the tenant’s identity, came up from Atlanta for her nephew’s birthday in early August, she hadn’t realized how dire the situation was.

“I’ve lived in New York City for most of my life, and I’ve never, ever, ever seen a building [gutted] around a tenant and child.”

T

he actions of 312 Properties, which has bought up at least nine Bronzeville and Kenwood apartment and condominium buildings since its founding in 2014, likely amount to a constructive eviction, an indirect and unlawful eviction in which landlords effectively force their tenants out, typically by making the unit unlivable in some way.

Any action by a landlord that breaches the “warranty of habitability” of a housing unit is considered a constructive eviction. According to the Lawyers Committee for Better Housing’s (LCBH) website, common examples include illegal lockouts, utility shut-offs and intimidation of tenants, but can also look like “unconscionable” rent increases and coercive deals, such as offers to trade keys for cash.

Woods, the former shareholder, alleges that 312 Properties owners Ariel and Raphael Lowenstein had spoken with residents in June and offered $200 for keys.

The Lowensteins did not respond to the Herald’s requests for comment.

By law, evictions must be filed and enforced through the county’s eviction courts; there is no other legal way to remove people from housing. At the time, however, the state was under a COVID-19 eviction moratorium that prevented most eviction filings from being enforced. The moratorium was lifted on October 3, 2021.

“There’s no license under the law for a new owner to constructively evict lawful occupants or create hazardous conditions or nuisance situations,” said Mark Swartz, executive director of the LCBH. While he was unable to comment on the particulars of Tudor Gables or the legal

status of Melissaand other remaining occupants, he said, they were likely “known occupants, lawful occupants, and maybe a lot more—I’d say they were still tenants.”

LCBH specializes in active eviction cases, representing renters in eviction court and advocating for renters who are not receiving basic services or standard housing from their landlords. LCBH also provides a public-access eviction-tracking platform that pulls data from the courts.

The data show that Kenwood saw 348 eviction filings in 2019, the most recent year for which data has been reviewed and analyzed.

There were only fifteen evictions filed in Kenwood in 2021 from January to April 2021, according to LCBH’s preliminary review of 2020-2021 data. By comparison Hyde Park saw twenty-eight and South Shore saw ninety-nine in the same time frame.

Kenwood’s 2019 eviction filing rate, the number of evictions per 100 renter homes in an area, is 4.9% compared to the citywide rate of 2.9%. In the census tract that Tudor Gables is in, the eviction rate is more than double the city rate.

LCBH notes that for 2019 data, Black neighborhoods on average had a filing rate (6.1%) five times higher than majority white areas (1.2%).

Swartz notes that these rates also underrepresent the true number of evictions because the courts only report legally filed evictions; the total number of constructive evictions is untracked and unknown.

“All of this stuff does need to go to court so that there can be fair process,” Swartz said. “If there’s a dispute it needs to be dealt with in court. We want eviction court to work fairly.”

How does this happen?

According to 311 complaints, the Departments of Buildings and Water Management had been alerted to the unsafe conditions around the time that construction started on the building. A no-water complaint was filed on July 16—just days after the Dept. of Buildings issued a permit for a full interior rehab— and three other complaints about utility

shut-offs were filed on July 21.

The complaints filed on July 21 were directed to the Dept. of Buildings’ Plumbing and Conservation divisions.

One complaint was closed by August 27, citing an “active case”. Of the remaining two, one was not inspected until October 30; the other lists no inspection date.

Both were closed November 9, long after the last tenants had left.

The no-water complaint directed to the Dept. of Water Management on July 16 was closed the same day because it was a tenant-landlord dispute, notes on the work order read. “Spoke to tenant over the telephone…landlord and tenant keep turning the water off and on, landlord tenant dispute.” The activity outcome reads “Owner’s Responsibility.”

Nonetheless, on August 2, a water shut-off request was filed via 311 (identifying information of the entity that filed the request was redacted) at 4844 S. Drexel Blvd., one of the building’s total twenty addresses. The 311 request listed the property as “vacant” and the DWM arrived to turn off the water valve the next day. As of press time on May 27, 2022 the DWM did not respond to the Herald’s question about how the department verifies a building’s “vacant” status when responding to water shut-off requests.

Dept. of Buildings Public Affairs Director Michael Puccinelli confirmed that the building had not been registered as vacant in 2021.

Melissa alleges that the new owners were well aware that she and her son were still on the property as construction began.

“I kept telling [Ariel Lowenstein] that I was trying to get out of there, to please leave this particular building alone,” Melissa said. “There were three other buildings he could’ve started on, but… they started [construction] on my building. It was a nightmare.”

“I had been there a year and just signed a new lease, so that’s what I kept telling him—I understand that y’all bought this building but you can’t do what you’re doing because I have a lease.”

Tytus Cousins, another shareholder at Gables who remained in his unit through the construction for lack of funds to move, provided a text exchange

between himself and Ariel Lowenstein in which it is acknowledged that Cousins was still on the property as early as August 3. Cousins moved out on August 10, when he was able to secure a new lease.

In a text message dated August 3, Cousins writes to Lowenstein, “Good afternoon. I did not hear from you today.

I need to let my new landlord know if I’m good and I can move in on the 10th (of Aug) with the 3000…I started packing today.” (Cousins told the Herald that he had requested money in exchange for his returning his keys, and was written a check for $3500 on his move-out date on August 10.) Lowenstein responds, “Yes thanks for getting in touch…We will make that happen…I will be there on the 10th.”

For Melissa, there was no such deal.

She had found a new unit in a nearby Hyde Park apartment building, but it wasn’t going to be ready for move-in until around August 20, she told the Herald.

In the meantime, she and her son were living without water for toilets or showers or drinking water, and the construction work shook the building around them.

“Some days I would go to work and just cry,” she said.

One year later, the experience of living through a building under construction continues to weigh upon former Gables residents. Melissa says she’s exploring suing for damages over the constructive eviction and the distress she and her son experienced that summer.

“At this point, I thought it was over with, but every so often the nightmare comes back,” Woods said over the phone.

“For you to do something like that and don’t even care?” he said, referencing the disregard 312 Properties and their contractor displayed for the well-being of the people who remained on the property.

“Contractors and construction workers don’t do this—they don’t tear walls down around nobody.” Emeline is a former Weekly editor and current freelance reporter in Chicago. This story is the first of several about the historic Tudor Gables housing coop, which was dissolved and sold in 2021 after 71 years.

JUNE 2, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 15

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LIT

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Our thoughts in exchange for yours.

he Exchange is the Weekly’s poetry corner, where a poem or piece of writing is presented with a prompt. Readers are welcome to respond to the prompt with original poems, and pieces may be featured in the next issue of the Weekly.

THIS WEEK'S PROMPT: “HOW DO YOU STAY AFLOAT AMIDST THE STORMS AND WAVES?” THIS COULD BE A POEM OR A STREAM-OF-CONSCIOUSNESS PIECE. SUBMISSIONS COULD BE NEW OR FORMERLY WRITTEN PIECES. Submissions can be sent to bit.ly/ssw-exchange or via email to chima.ikoro@southsideweekly.com.

This section publishes creative writing submissions from the public that do not necessarily reflect the views of the Weekly or its editors.

BUTTER

BY CHIMA “NAIRA” IKORO

you could wake up one morning and realize the most lifechanging thing ever; you are out of butter. your spouse tells you that they’ll pick some up on their way back from work but you’ve retired and you’re having a lazy morning anyway so you need a task to keep you from collecting dust when you settle back in and get back to those tomatoes growing slow and steady or the strange show your grandchild insists you watch— you wanna go get the butter yourself. so you brush your teeth, press the silver lining that sits on your crown into your favorite shape, a jacket, for the windchill. a piece of gum, in case there’s traffic. whatever soft and folding thing your money is in. you drive to the grocery store. it’s so funny, you swear, every time you go to the store for one thing you leave with 10. then a man in the parking lot offers to give you his cart. you say no thanks, grab a basket this time instead, don’t wanna set yourself up for failure.

and when you’re picking out cereal your favorite stocker comes and ducks next to you to put granola on the bottom shelf. you call her by her name, ask her how her day’s going. it’s going. normal. today is just a regular slice of life. then man walks into the aisle, he asks where the cream cheese is, she says it’s in aisle duhduh-duh near the butter and you remember that you came here for butter. so you put the cereal in your basket and you walk down and grab a four pack of sweet cream unsalted butter and you make it to the checkout line, pat yourself on the back for not lollygagging for as long as you normally do and then you realize what was so life changing about this butter when you reach out to pay. a man walks into the store. among his many grievances, he has a toothache. and you are standing right at the register, as brown as your wallet. you have card and cash. he decides you need to pay for it with your life.

JUNE 2, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 17

LIT

18 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

¬ JUNE 2, 2022

BULLETIN Guided Tour of Historic Former Wabash YMCA

Former Wabash YMCA, 3763 S Wabash Ave, Every other Saturday, 10:30am– 11:30am. Suggested donation $20. bit.ly/ FormerWabash Every other Saturday, the Renaissance Collaborative is leading tours of the former Wabash YMCA, an historic center of Black social life. Built in 1911, in the heart of the Black Belt, it was the only Y in the city that admitted Black people for many years. In 1915, the Association for the Study of Negro Life was founded here and went on to create a precursor to Black History Month.

The tour uses archived newspaper articles and archival photos to tell the story of the building and the people who congregated there. (The link may say the event has ended, but if you click on 'View Details' it will take you to the page where you can select a different date. (Adam Przybyl)

Adler Planetarium Free Days Adler Planetarium, 1300 S Lake Shore Dr, Every Wednesday evening, 4:00pm– 10:00pm. Free. bit.ly/AdlerFreeDays

The Adler reopened March 4 and is once again holding free days for Illinois residents on Wednesday evenings.

Whether going on a date or taking your family, your ticket will let you watch a simulation of the Chicago night sky without light pollution, learn fun facts about the solar system, and examine old telescopes and sundials. You'll have the option to pay to upgrade your ticket to include sky shows, half-hour movies in the dome theater about the moon and a mysterious ninth planet, among other topics. (Adam Przybyl)

South Side Critical Mass Bike Ride Nichols Park, south end, 1300 E 55th St, Friday, June 3, 5:45pm–10:00pm. Free. bit.ly/CriticalMassBike

72nd St., Every Tuesday and Thursday, 5:30pm–7:00pm. $10 Registration fee. chicagoparkdistrict.com The Hamilton Park Cultural Center is hosting free skate sessions every Tuesday and Thursday. Bring your own gear.

There may be someone there to teach, but be prepared to be on your own. Must be eighteen years or older. Registration fee is $10. Sign-up in person or online at chicagoparkdistrict.com (Adam Przybyl)

We Walk For Her 5th Annual March 35th & King Drive, Tuesday, June 14, 5:00pm. Free. bit.ly/3zqdzRV

Do you want to bike around Chicago, but are worried about being the only cyclist on busy streets? At the critical mass bike ride, you can join a large group of cyclists and bike for around fifteen to twenty miles at a moderate pace. The organizers of the event remind attendees that you come at your own risk and to bring water, a bike lock, a mask, and to wear a helmet. The group will meet at the south end of Nichols Park and ride at 6:15pm. The event takes place on the first Friday of the month throughout the year except winter. Next dates are June 3rd and July 1st. (Adam Przybyl)

The 5th Annual We Walk for Her March calls for elementary and high school students and supportive adults to march for missing Black women and girls. The march starts at 35th & King Drive. For more information, call KOCO at (773) 548-7500 or email Tanisha at info@kocoonline.org.

(Madeleine Parrish)

Rollerskating at Hamilton Park

Friends of Big Marsh's new Wednesday night series will help bikers of all ages

Hamilton Park Cultural Center, 513 W.

Big Marsh Madness Race Training Series

Big Marsh Park, 11559 S. Stony Island Ave, Wednesday, June 15, 5:45pm. $0-15. www.instagram.com/bigmarshchicago/

ILLUSTRATION BY THUMY PHAN

and experience levels learn and train how to race mountain bikes. Helmets are required and those 17 and under must have a parent/guardian signed event waiver. There are sections for different ages and experience levels, starting at 5:45pm for those who are just learning to race. 6:15 is for Juniors (15-18) and Youth (9-14), 6:40 is for beginners, 7:10 for intermediate, and 7:45 for experts.

Expert and intermediate costs $15, everyone else can attend for free. Next dates are June 1, June 15, June 29, July 13, and July 27. Races will take place after training. (Adam Przybyl)

Family Bird Walk at Big Marsh Park

Big Marsh Park, 11599 South Stony Island Avenue, Saturday, June 11, 10:30am– 12:00pm. Free. bit.ly/3M3jxdZ Late spring is a great time to go birdwatching. Join the Chicago Ornithological Society at Big Marsh Park for a "family-focused bird walk."

According to the event page, the walk "will be a great opportunity to socialize with other families who are into birds and nature. The new environmental center is a great stop to learn a bit more about Big Marsh as well as take care of any bathroom/diaper-changing needs.

The walk will be on stroller friendly surfaces and conclude near the bike course where we'll hang out for a little JUNE 2, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 19

while and let folks run around (bring those scooters and bikes!) Binoculars will be available for those who don't have them. Feel free to bring snacks and beverages!" Attendees must RSVP in advance. Meet in the parking lot off of Stony Island Avenue. (Kate Gallagher)

Black Birders Week Webinars Virtual. Friday, June 3, 11:00am– 12:00pm. Free. bit.ly/3ayvnjg

The third annual Black Birders Week featured three webinars "exploring the social aspects of birdwatching." In the last webinar, the "panel will discuss the culture of birding as a whole, and what they would like to see shift to make it more accepting of the various cultural connections people have with birds. Panelists will share stories of how they bring their own culture into the birding experience, and how our cultural connections to birds can shape our birding journey." Deja Perkins, a South Sider, is one of the founders of Black Birders Week. Register at the link in advance. (Kate Gallagher)

After School Matters Summer Programs Various dates. afterschoolmatters.org

After School Matters's summer programs run from July 5 to August 13 and are mostly in-person with a few remote options. Chicago teenagers ages 14-15 can apply for apprenticeships that offer a paid stipend, and teenagers ages 16+ can apply for advanced apprenticeships and internships, which offer stipends or hourly pay at $15/hour.

Program opportunities fall into the four major categories of arts, such as dance, photography, painting; communications and leadership, like public speaking and community organizing; sports, like basketball officiating, martial arts, and bicycle repair; and STEM, like architecture, music production, and computer programming. Learn more at afterschoolmatters.org. (Adam Przybyl)

61St St. Farmers Market

Experimental Station, 6100 S. Blackstone 20 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

¬ JUNE 2, 2022

Ave., Every Saturday, 9:00am–2:00pm.

Free to attend. experimentalstation.org/ market

period artifacts. Tours are Thursday through Saturday afternoons. (312) 8081286 ( Jackie Serrato)

With spring in full gear, come find farm-fresh vegetables, seedlings, and other products from local farmers and creators. The 61st St. Farmers Market will kick-off fully outdoor markets next Saturday, May 14 at the Experimental Station. Vendors include Ellis Family Farms, Mick Klug Farm, Gorman Farm Fresh Produce, Faith's Farm, Mint Creek Farm, Stamper Cheese, The Urban Canopy, and others. As ever, the market accepts LINK and Senior Farmers Market Coupons, and will match LINK purchases up to $25 per customer per market day, as long as funding holds out.

Customers must wear masks while inside the building. The market will be every Saturday until October 29. (Martha Bayne)

Rudy Lozano Exhibit

ARTS Young Chicago Authors Wordplay Open Mic

Instagram Live, Every Tuesday, 6:00pm–7:30pm. Free. instagram.com/ youngchicagoauthors One of the longest-running youth open mics, Worldplay, is back every Tuesday on Instagram Live. The virtual open mic is hosted by DJ Ca$hera and showcases music, spoken-word performances, and a featured artist. (Chima Ikoro)

Chess Records Tours

Chess Records, 2120 S. Michigan Ave., Thursday through Saturday, 12:00pm– 4:00pm. $20 donation. info@bluesheaven. com Willie Dixon’s Blues Heaven, the foundation that owns the building formerly known as Chess Records, is resuming tours of the place that saw some of the most legendary Black artists in the '50s and '60s: Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, and Etta James, among them. The second floor is dedicated to Dixon, and the recording studio displays

UIC's Richard J. Daley Library, 801 S. Morgan St., Ongoing, 7:00am–9:00pm.

Free. Appointment required online Chicago's most well-known Chicano activist is the subject of a new exhibit at UIC’s Richard J. Daley Library, “A Search for Unity: Rudy Lozano and the Coalition Building in Chicago,” which runs until next fall. The exhibit is made up of papers, photographs, posters and other memories about Lozano, who was murdered in Little Village when he was 31, after losing a bid to become the city’s first Mexican-American alderman.

Saturdays closed. Check the library's COVID guidelines. ( Jackie Serrato)

Festival del Niño

National Museum of Mexican Art, 1852 W. 19th St., Saturday, June 11, 11:00am.

Free. bit.ly/3GpswF4 For over 20 years, the National Museum of Mexican Art has hosted a spring Family Festival that promotes healthy and active lifestyles in the Pilsen neighborhood. The familyfriendly day will include hands-on activities like cardboard world, music and dance performances on the main stage, carnival games and art activities, wellness education activities and health screenings, and physical activities like horse stick rodeos and obstacle courses.

(Madeleine Parrish)

Gómez-Peña’s Casa Museo

Jane Addams Hull House Museum, 800 S. Halsted St., Tuesdays through Fridays, 9:00am–5:00pm. hullhousemuseum.org/ reserve-your-visit Pioneering conceptual-performance Mexican artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña takes up residence in Jane Addams Hull House Museum. The exhibition layers one house museum on top of two others, located in San Francisco and Mexico City, highlighting the many affinities between the identities of Gómez-Peña. Following recent updates to UIC’s guidelines of COVID-19, guest reservations are limited to a maximum of ten visitors per hour, and all visitors must wear masks. Tuesdays through Fridays. ( Jackie Serrato)

The Art of Pride

Hyde Park Art Center, 5020 S. Cornell Ave., Sunday, June 12, 2022, 1:00pm– 5:00pm. bit.ly/3wMAtzC Join the Hyde Park Art Center for an outdoor Pride event with performances and art making with Artist Run Chicago spaces and local LGBTQIA+ artists.

(Madeleine Parrish)

SCAN TO READ ONLINE

HEALTH

Public Health Authorities Plan for Monkeypox Spread at Dawn of Pride Month

Anyone can get the disease, but so far this outbreak has mostly affected men who have sex with men.

BY AARON GETTINGER

I

n the past few weeks, health authorities have identified an outbreak of monkeypox in more than twenty countries, including the United States. The virus, which is endemic to western and central Africa, likely spread to Europe by someone traveling from western Africa. Since then, the unprecedented spread of the disease has been primarily linked to sex between men at raves, bathhouses, and Gay Pride events.

Monkeypox can spread through large respiratory droplets and bodily fluids, typically from close or intimate contact over long periods of time. The particular strain in this outbreak is likely one of the

less lethal versions, with a fatality rate of less than 1%. As of Thursday, May 26, there were nine cases of monkeypox in the US across seven states, including Massachusetts, Utah, Washington, California, Florida, Virgina, and New York.

Anyone can get and spread monkeypox. Its concentration among gay and bisexual men who have sex with other men at this point in the pandemic is due to several factors: the virus needs prolonged close contact to spread, such as sex, and gay men are more likely than other groups to have casual sex with multiple partners. They are statistically less likely to be tied down by children, and

in gay culture, casual sex is not tabboo and monogamy is less common. Because of PrEP, the miracle regimen that prevents HIV infection, alongside extremely effective antiretroviral cocktails that make HIV-positive men undetectable and untransmissable, condom use has declined significantly.

Thousands of gay and bisexual men who have sex with men are in Chicago for the International Mr. Leather conference, the first since 2019 because of the pandemic, oriented around BDSM interests. Many of the participants will have casual sex.

Millions of queer people will travel to different cities for Pride Month festivities

every June weekend, during which some will also have casual sex. Chicago has the biggest Pride parade in the Midwest, having attracted more than 1 million people in past years, scheduled this year for June 26.

During a May 23 press briefing, Dr. John Brooks, the chief medical epidemiologist of the Division of HIV Protection at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), euphemistically called the European “events that have been described where (men who have sex with men) gather” potential monkeypox super-spreading sites. “That’s another reason for us to really want to rapidly bring people’s attention JUNE 2, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 21

HEALTH to this risk so that folks are aware and they can take action appropriately.”

And the CDC reported on May 26 that there is now community spread of monkeypox in the United States, meaning that some of the people in this country known to have it do not have a history of travel to other countries with known outbreaks. “[We are] doing the hard work of public health, the epidemiology and contact tracing, that allows us to trace chains of transmission and hopefully cut them off,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a press briefing.

Monkeypox primarily spreads through skin-to-skin contact. That it spreads through respiratory droplets does not mean that it is airborne; it is unlikely that you would get it at a grocery store.

The CDC says you need to be in close contact with someone (i.e., six feet) for three hours or more for the droplets to be a risk.

The disease has about a two-week incubation period, though it can range from five to twenty-one days, between which a person is infected and can start showing symptoms. Those symptoms can include head and muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, and fevers.

The tell-tale sign of the disease is the rash. ​​The pox typically appear on the face before spreading to the rest of the body, bumping up, then filling with clear fluid and then pus. Then they burst and scab. Sometimes they merge to form big lesions. When they heal, the person is over the disease.

With this outbreak, however, the non-rash symptoms can be mild, and the lesions are appearing in other places: on the genitals, on and inside the anus, in the mouth and in the throat. When they present, they are fewer in number and more encrusted.

“It does infect the mucosal lining and patients are presenting with proctitis, or pain in the rectum like when they’re having a bowel movement, without necessarily visible lesions,” said Dr. Cathy Creticos, director of infectious diseases and medical director of clinical research for Howard Brown Health, Chicago’s biggest network of LGBTQ health care clinics.

Most of the lesions are outside of 22 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY

¬ JUNE 2, 2022

the area that a condom covers. (Creticos said she couldn’t say that condoms don’t reduce the risk, even though they don’t cover all the skin where rashes can be; of course, they substantially reduce the risk of STD transmission.)

People may think that if their partners don’t have open sores or a rash, it’s safe to engage in sex with them. While Creticos believes the rash must be present for skin-to-skin contact to spread the disease, she pointed out that monkeypox can still spread through respiratory droplets and bodily fluids if the other symptoms are present, such as fevers, head and muscle aches and swollen glands.

And those symptoms can be mild.

Many a gay man, among other people, has chosen a good time over staying home because of a little headache.

D

uring the past 50 years of our experience with monkeypox in Africa we’ve learned a lot about the virus, but I will say that we’re learning even more with this outbreak,” said U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps Capt. Dr. Jennifer McQuiston, the CDC’s deputy director of the Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, on a May 23 press call.

She said one of the best ways to deal with cases is to keep sick people isolated.

That’s going to be hard. Again, people are infectious until the lesions are gone and the scabs fall off, though people can cover the lesions up and not have sex while they have them. Creticos said people are being asked to stay apart from others in their household and to mask up if they do come into contact (they should also not share bedding or towels), but a twentyone-day illness is a long time to isolate.

“I don’t know how aggressive public health officials are going to be about isolating,” she said. “But the good news is that we are all very familiar with wearing masks, so if an individual with monkeypox decides to go out, first of all casual contact like going to a grocery store isn’t going to spread it, and covering up the lesions and wearing a mask seems like a very reasonable thing to do.”

While the overwhelming number of cases in this outbreak are affecting men who have sex with men, anyone can get monkeypox. Some of those men have sex

with women. Bedding, clothes and towels can spread it; last week, at least three cases turned up in Europe who did not get it through household spread, Creticos said: two people in the same household as someone who had it and one health care worker.

Every medical professional has stressed that the virus can affect anyone.

Brooks, the CDC HIV-prevention director, said, “If you’re feeling ill and you have a rash, it might be a good time to step back. And if you, after an event, find that you are a person who has developed some symptoms or rash that’s suspicious for possible monkeypox, seek evaluation.”

Unexplained rashes or other symptoms should result in a trip to the doctor or a sexual health clinic for those who do not have a primary care provider or health insurance. Brooks said those seeking care should tell their providers that monkeypox is being observed in other parts of the world with “a notable fraction of cases occurring among gay men.”

“Don’t hesitate to advocate for your health and inform your doctor of your concerns if you think you might have been exposed,” he said. “I want you to know that CDC is working to provide frontline health providers and public health officials with information about what the monkeypox infection looks like and how to manage the illness.”

not a sexually transmitted disease “in a typical sense” — STDs are those like chlamydia or HIV/AIDS that solely or predominantly spread through sexual contact — but he reiterated that “it can be transmitted through sexual and intimate contact.”

On May 27, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the Chicago Department of Public Health has “led the way” over the past two pandemic years, that it can track monkeypox, and that the city is on alert.

“We’re talking about it on a regular basis, and they’re making preparations,” she said.

On May 26, CDPH Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said the department is closely monitoring the outbreak and that she would not be surprised to see some cases here, though she stressed that that does not mean the disease is a big problem right now. She said clinicians are calling the department, and she, too, urged people with new rashes to visit doctors, adding that she hopes they would do that in any event.

“This at this point has not been an explosive kind of outbreak. We’re communicating, but one of my bigger concerns is that people could get mistaken for syphilis. There are also diseases that present, and I don’t want people thinking that this is for-sure sexually transmitted or even entirely in this population,” she said.

The disease has about a two-week incubation period, and symptoms can include head and muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, fevers, and the rash, which typically appears on the face before spreading to the rest of the body.

“We’re concerned enough of the pace at which the new cases are developing worldwide that we want to raise everyone’s attention and be very vigilant so we can try to control this as quickly as possible,” he said.

Without sufficient evidence of rapid spread, he said there is no need to recommend that large gatherings be shut down.

He additionally noted that it is

The same day, Dr. Raj Panjabi, an epidemiologist who heads the White House pandemic office, said the Biden administration is prepared to face the outbreak but that “a monkeypox outbreak of this scale and scope across the world has not been seen before.”

“We shouldn’t be more surprised to see more cases reported from the U.S. in the upcoming days,” he said. “It’s actually a sign that Americans are remaining

HEALTH vigilant and health care providers and public health workers are doing their job.”

Walensky said the CDC has been preparing for this type of outbreak for decades, with two preventive vaccines and two antiviral treatments that can be used against orthopox (the family of viruses that includes cowpox). One is approved for adults. She said the CDC can move the regimens across the country and is indeed already moving the vaccine to states with reported cases.

Creticos, with Howard Brown, said she thinks the CDC is trying to walk a fine line between emphasizing that monkeypox is primarily being spread between gay and bisexual men who have sex with men in this outbreak and making sure people understand that this is not a “gay disease.”

“And, boy, having gone through the HIV pandemic and seeing still how it’s kind of second-fiddle to other diseases, once it becomes labeled the gay disease, it’s not important to people,” she said. “It’s kind of like ’that’s a disposable element of our population, they don’t impact my life, it’s not my problem.’”

Like Panjabi, Creticos thinks there will be “a very rapid increase in cases.”

She thinks the disease has already spread.

“The incubation period is nine to 13 days,” she said. “Patients who are coming to health clinics now were infected maybe two weeks ago, so there’s clearly going to be more cases. It’s probably going to rise exponentially. The hope is that we’re going to be able to contain it, because we can identify it.”

The profoundly bad timing of this outbreak, right at the beginning of Pride Month, is a complicating factor.

“This is a community that has the strength and has demonstrated the ability to address challenges to their health by focusing on compassion and science,” Walensky said. “I urge everyone, those in public health, clinical providers and the community, to stand in solidarity with the LGBTQ community.”

Creticos noted that the scope of the disease is still limited in the U.S. at the end of May. “Probably the important thing is to know about it, to have some level of concern, and if you have suspicions or you’re worried about something, then take that extra step to try to protect

yourself to get care as soon as you can as soon as something’s going on.”

It will get worse over the course of June. “Is it going to stop at 1,500? Are we going to go up to 20,000? Are we going to round out at 500? I don’t know,” Creticos said. “I think we are all uncertain.”

“Gay men became really active about trying to be proactive about their health care and demanding that their health care needs be addressed, and that there be a level of responsibility both among their population and from health care providers,” she said.

M

eanwhile, there is a meningitis outbreak going on among gay and bisexual men who have sex with men in Florida right now, bad enough that the CDC and the Florida Department of Health are encouraging men who have sex with men there to get vaccinated against the disease.

Meningitis causes swelling of the membranes around the brain and spinal cord; symptoms are headaches, fevers and stiff necks, and it can be fatal. But the bacteria that causes it typically sits in the throat and doesn’t do anything; Creticos said up to six percent of people can carry it. People come into contact with it through kissing, sharing utensils, etc. But sometimes there’s a more infectious strain that gets established in the population, and authorities vaccinate everyone who is at risk and treat close contacts with a short case of antibiotics when that happens.

“It’s nothing special about gay men,” Creticos said, noting that outbreaks occur among military recruits, college students living in dormitories and pilgrims doing the hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia: “Wherever you have congregations of very intense physical interactions, especially where you have people either eating and drinking together or kissing.”

Even though the outbreak is in Florida, contacts of infected people who become colonized with the same strain can and have come north and begun infecting sexual partners. Howard Brown is actively vaccinating anyone traveling to Florida—it’s a one-dose sequence for most people and a two-dose sequence two months apart for HIV-positive people.

The vaccines are good for five years.

“It’s a very safe vaccine. It doesn’t cause any side effects,” said Creticos.

“You can give it to people who are immunocompromised. It’s not new technology, like mRNA (which the PfizerBioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines use). There’s really no reason why people should have concerns about taking the vaccine.”

She said there’s no reason why men who have sex with men in Illinois shouldn’t get vaccinated with the MenACWY vaccine.

Asked about the meningitis outbreak in Florida, Arwady said Chicago has a good surveillance system in place for the disease and is used to responding to it.

She does not have a high level of concern at this point, but if people are worried, she encourages people to learn about the symptoms and if symptomatic, to see a health care provider.

Ald. Maria Hadden (49th), the lesbian City Council member from Rogers Park, has sprung into action in response to the monkeypox threat, including the council’s LGBT Caucus on messaging to the city and CDPH about the outbreak and getting information out about the disease on her social media pages and to LGBTQ-serving businesses on the North Side.

Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th), the only openly gay alderperson on the South Side, noted Arwady’s past CDPH work with controlling Chicagoland’s summer 2015 meningitis outbreak among men who have sex with men. The Tribune reported that Black men were disproportionately affected by that outbreak; to counter it, the CDPH did mass vaccination events at the Center on Halsted in Lakeview, 3656 N. Halsted St., Jackson Park and the rocks at Montrose Beach during that year’s Pride parade.

Lopez noted that CDPH utilized apps like Grindr, the omnipresent gay social networking and hookup app, to do outreach against the meningitis outbreak.

“Monkeypox isn’t technically an STD, but it’s a virus of proximity,” he said.

“That is something that we should again look at reactivating on a broader scale, but specifically as it relates to the LGBTQplus community, making sure that we are engaging with these apps to identify who are the spreaders of this and who are most

in danger of contracting it.”

“I’m hopeful that many of the same policies that we used last time to address meningitis can be activated and incorporated in preparation for the spread of monkeypox, particularly amongst LGBTQ people.”

Dr. Anu Hazra, an assistant professor of infectious diseases at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, said monkeypox’s long incubation period between infection and someone showing symptoms, when the person is not infectious, allows authorities a lot of time to trace contacts and tell them they have been exposed. Those contacts can be instructed to avoid contact until they’re out of their own incubation period, when it will be known whether they’ve gotten monkeypox themselves or not.

Hazra said information needs to get to people who need it in a nonstigmatizing way. "The last thing you want to do is stigmatize this illness as a gay illness or an illness of promiscuous people, and then people will be afraid to come forward with symptoms because they don’t want to be labeled as such either," he said.

“Right now in this initial part of this outbreak, what we’ve been seeing is that it’s spreading in sexual networks, and specifically sexual networks of gay and bisexual men who have sex [with men],” he said. “If you are in that community, population or identify as someone who has sex with men or has sex with more than one partner who is a male, you should think about this. You should know about this. You should know what to look out for, specifically anal and genital symptoms. And you should know where to go to get testing done if that happens.” Aaron Gettinger is a staff writer at the Hyde Park Herald. He last wrote for the Weekly about the 2019 aldermanic election in the 20th Ward.

JUNE 2, 2022 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 23