June 29 - July 5, 2020 Vol. 28 No. 26
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We ARE STILL HERE and Stronger Than Ever! What a long strange spring it's been. We are still here and stronger than ever!! Here we are, just past midsummer. It’s hard to believe what our lives looked like coming out of winter, ready to embrace spring in Chicago. That was back before StreetWise merged with YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, moved from Uptown to the South Loop, and completely shifted our operations online to support the vendors who all lost their jobs in the blink of an eye. Unfortunately, this sudden loss, sudden change, and sudden shift to a new normal is, well, normal for many of our vendors. Because of you, our readers, supporters, and loyal customers, our vendors ARE STILL HERE! “I am getting most of my meals here so I can save the money to pay rent.” StreetWise has served over 3,000 meals with the help of World Central Kitchen. “This cash assistance means the difference between sleeping in a bed and sleeping on the street.” StreetWise has distributed over $23,000 in emergency cash assistance. “It’s scary out there. I gotta have a mask so I don’t get sick.” Provided essential PPE including 250 masks, hundreds of pairs of gloves, and containers of hand sanitizer.
I WANT TO WORK: From Magazine Sales to U.S. Census Outreach Workers Like many, our vendors and job seekers are getting anxious to get back to work. The dignity of employment at the heart of the StreetWise mission to give a hand up, not a handout, is at the core of our hard working folks. Until our vendors can come out of furlough to do what they do best, StreetWise is offering another opportunity to earn an income. In partnership with the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, StreetWise has received a grant to provide stipends to vendors and job seekers to conduct street outreach with homeless individuals throughout the city. This partnership gives vendors a chance to get back to work, perform important civic engagement work, and earn a living. Please stay healthy,
Julie Youngquist
Executive Director | StreetWise
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SportsWise
The SportsWise team discusses the return of the NBA.
Cover Story: CNDA AWArds 2020
LISC's Chicago Neighboorhood Development Awards recognize outstanding achievement in neighborhood real estate development and community building, especially the achievements of community development corporations (CDCs), other community-based organizations and for-profit developers working to build healthier neighborhoods in the Chicago metropolitan area.
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From the Streets
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Inside Streetwise
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City leaders rally for unity. Also, a Trump appointee guts the redlining law, Chicagoans from all over the city unite in cleanup after vandalism across the city, and fast fashion corporations forced to slow down in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. Vendor Lady David Tillman has been spending her time at home writing poetry, and shares 2 poems with us here.
The Playground The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Award for Architectural Excellence in Community Design first place went to John Ronan Architects LLC for Independence Library & Apartments, 4024 N. Elston Ave. (Photo by James Florio, Courtesy of LISC Chicago).
Dave Hamilton, Creative Director/Publisher
dhamilton@streetwise.org
Suzanne Hanney, Editor-In-Chief
suzannestreetwise@yahoo.com
Amanda Jones, Director of programs
ajones@streetwise.org
Julie Youngquist, CEO
jyoungquist@streetwise.org
Office: 2009 S. State St., Chicago, IL 60616
StreetWiseChicago @StreetWise_CHI LEARN MORE AT streetwise.org
Vendors Russ Adams and John Hagan chat about the world of sports with Executive Assistant Pat Edwards.
Gearing
up for the return of the
NBA
John: The NBA is back! At the end of July, the NBA is returning to finish off the season despite COVID-19’s shadow—Russ, what do you think? Russ: Glad to talk with you guys today…and with something big to discuss. Am I looking forward to this? Although I love basketball—especially the NBA—I don’t believe risking the players’ health is worth the trouble. Though the format and the safety regulations are in place, I don’t believe the season should be played. Many of the NBA players are not even planning to participate; in fact, some want to form a new league. I say cancel the interrupted season and start over in October when we should have a better understanding of the true depth of COVID-19.
Patrick: Right. John: --and we lose our worried thoughts for a bit. Now, we may remember the bad we’re dealing with when we’re streaming from the stadium, but the prior three hours gave us a moment of peace.
Russ: Yeah, John, but are those three hours worth risking players’ health over a game that consists of tossing a basketball through a hoop? I mean… John: I say yes. Pat: The more we talk, the more excited I get. As long as health precautions are maintained and the players feel safe, I’m in. I’m hungering to see what LeBron James and James Harden and Giannis Antetokounmpo have in store for us. They’ll be excited to be back on the floor; to have the opportunity to have closure on this season—I understand that. And though it feels slightly fake, it’s still NBA basketball. I almost wish they’d just begin now and we see what’s what…but I do understand the reasons behind the more-than-a-month “training period.” It not only allows the players to get into
basketball shape, but also to get further in the trenches of ousting COVID-19—at least in regard to the high-level alert we’re on. Russ: I feel that. My only thing is that—and, Patrick, you mentioned it earlier—it feels as if it’ll be a sham of a season—almost like a summer league. No disrespect intended; it’s simply not the NBA. So, I say No. John: I say Yes. Patrick: I’m in. Russ: Well, I’m taking my ball and going home. How y’all like that? Patrick: (Laughing) Russ, you ain’t right. We were this close to turning you. Russ: I can admit, I’ll be watching, so maybe it won’t be so bad.
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SPORTSWISE
Patrick: Look, I’m a huge fan and was anticipating a hell of a regular-season end and a wild playoff run, so I’m somewhat torn. A couple of my teams were doing very well, so I’d love to see them get back to it and finish what they started. On the other hand, it does make me wonder about the necessity of something that appears so unnecessary in the face of this crisis we now face.
John: I feel it’s good because we need a mental break from the daily stress of the news reports and, of course, George Floyd—and others like his— situation. Live sports as we know it is important because it brings society together. No matter what’s happening, a game-winning bucket creates a group wave of emotion. Your team wins and all hell breaks loose—it never fails. Lose, and hell breaks loose at the other extreme. We become united as one- or twodepending on how we look at it.
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CHICAGO NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT 2 AWARDS 2020 by Suzanne Hanney / photos provided by LISC Chicago
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COVER STORY
Between disparities revealed by COVID-19 and new, young leaders elected to public office – like Mayor Lori Lightfoot – the stage was already set for innovation at the 26th annual Chicago Neighborhood Development Awards (CNDAs) last month. The CNDAs are known as the “Oscars” of neighborhood development and architectural design, with poignant presentations and acceptance speeches by activists, architects, bankers, developers, leaders of businesses and non-profits. Because of social distancing required by the pandemic, this year’s CNDAs shifted to their first-ever online presentation over two nights. ABC7 Chicago’s Samantha Chatman and Val Warner respectively emceed the May 6 and 7 virtual events, which featured video scenes of the Chicago lakefront and riverfront interspersed with shout-outs by Mayor Lightfoot and by celebrities John Seda and LaRoyce Jenkins of Chicago P.D., Matt Walsh of Veep, Maxwell Jenkins of Netflix’s Lost in Space, former Chicago Bear Israel Idonije and musicians Jeff Tweedy and Common. There was also entertainment by local artists Ida y Vuelta, which fuses African, Spanish Arabic and Mexican indigenous music and poetry; by blues guitarist Toronzo Cannon; by ragtime pianist and MacArthur Award winner Reginald Robinson; by Young Chicago Authors winner E’mon Lauren, by Mikele Deville and by Jamal Oliver of Open the Circle. But in between the Chicago-centric entertainment and the acceptance speeches, the screen kept returning to the theme, “Creating a Balanced City,” with emphasis on “growth,” “business,” “power,” “race,” “equity,” “jobs,” “integrity” and “access.” The CNDAs ask questions about equitable investment: how every neighborhood can have the necessary stores, public facilities and housing without pricing out long-time residents? and how the city work can together as a whole for both equity and global competitiveness?
“This year’s CNDA winners remind us that, when we strengthen one community – by creating integrative housing, improving healthcare or creating a new public space, we also strengthen the city as a whole,” LISC Chicago (Local Initiatives Support Corporation) officials noted in the program book. In presenting the Outstanding For-Profit Real Estate Development Award to DL3 Realty and Terraco for the Jewel-Osco in Woodlawn (1), LISC National President Maurice Jones said, “if you are going to do community development and do it well, it’s a team effort. You need government, nonprofits, philanthropy and for-profits, all working together as a highfunctioning team to really pull off a transformative project.” “You need a first mover in every market when you have a historically stagnant neighborhood,” DL3 Managing Partner Leon Walker said of the first full-service grocery store in Woodlawn in nearly 50 years. Walker also credited Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH), which arrived in Woodlawn more than a decade ago and began to make vacant lots on Cottage Grove productive after years of population loss and real estate decline. The Jewel-Osco employs 300 people, 4 out of 5 of whom live in the neighborhood. “When it comes to affordable rental housing, there is no more economically prudent and environmentally sound activity than housing preservation. When it is carried out in a changing community, there is also a critical element of social justice,” Polk Bros. Foundation CEO Gillian Darlow said in presenting the Polk Bros. Affordable Rental Housing Preservation Award to Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation for its West Town Preservation Project (2) : 318 units in 68 buildings in the three rapidly gentrifying communities of West Town, Humboldt Park and Logan Square. The award also recognizes the
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James Florio photos
complex challenges of financing, owning and meeting government requirements to preserve affordability in a changing community, said Deborah Bennett, senior program officer. Bickerdike CEO Joy Aruguete said that when the nonprofit started its work 53 years ago, no one was building in its communities. But by 2017, even before the 606 Trail opened, property values and real estate taxes had risen faster than in any other part of the city, forcing out lower income families. When its two for-profit partners wanted to get out of the deal (and build high-rises on the property), Bickerdike bought them out, recapitalized and rehabbed the buildings. Bickerdike has 650 units that are beyond year 15, but there are many more nonprofits with the same problem across Chicago and Illinois. “It is a problem we must all face together and find a solution before any badly needed affordable housing units are lost forever,” Aruguete said. The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Award winners for Architectural Excellence in Community Design must exhibit a creative design solution that could become a model for projects in other neighborhoods, among other criteria. The first place Driehaus Award went to John Ronan Architects LLC for Independence Library & Apartments (3), 4024 N. Elston Ave., “a truly creative and attractive design that meets public and private needs and respects a public budget.” Ronan credited Mayor Rahm Emanuel for proposing the combination of library and affordable housing in a single structure. Ronan said he aligned the 16,000-square-foot library on the first two floors to the property line as he would for retail space, but he set back the upper four residential floors (44 one- and two-bedroom apartments for seniors) and created a second floor park that could be used by both residents
4 and library patrons. A design objective was to stress the individuality of residents in contrast to the “warehouse efforts” of Chicago’s past, he said. If they integrated affordable housing into the overall community, they would have accomplished their mission. Partners included Evergreen Real Estate Services, the Chicago Public Library and the Chicago Housing Authority. The second place Driehaus Award went to JGMA for the KLEO Art Residences (4), 5504 S. Michigan Ave., a dream of community activist Torrey Barnett, who founded a community center in memory of his sister and who wanted a home for artists and community residents. Mayor Emanuel introduced Barnett to Juan Moreno of JGMA, whose first-ever use of polycarbonate curtain walls in Chicago amplified natural lighting while saving on utility bills. The ground floor of the L-shaped building offers 5,000 square feet of rental space, community rooms and artist studios, with roll-up doors facing Michigan Avenue that let artists share their wares with the community. When the 58 rentals opened, there were more than 1000 applications from all areas of the city. The third place Driehaus Award went to Landon Bone Baker Architects for LaCasa Norte Foundation Center (5) at 3533 W. North Ave. The ground floor features community facilities such as a food pantry and café, federally qualified health center and drop-in facility for youth experiencing homelessness. The second floor has La Casa Norte’s offices for administrators and social workers. Because the new building would be much taller than the 1930s-era buildings around it, architect Jeff Bone terraced floors three, four and five, which provide 25 one- and two-bedroom apartments for formerly homeless youth and their families. He also created an interior courtyard to bring in more light.
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6 7 The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Award for Outstanding Non-profit Neighborhood Real Estate Project went to Accion Chicago and the Industrial Council of Nearwest Chicago (ICNC) for The Hatchery (6) at Lake Street and Kedzie Ave. Accion and ICNC realized that just as Chicago was producing an ever-more-diverse and growing group of food entrepreneurs and aspiring chefs, there were few locations for them to cook or store food affordably. In The Hatchery, they sought to grow local food businesses, to help local producers sell food, to help adults find jobs in the food industry and young people careers as chefs. On the site of a former bakery, The Hatchery provides 54 private kitchens leasable by the year and six shared kitchen spaces available by the hour, as well as dry/ cold storage, loading docks and meeting space, workshops and education seminars that help entrepreneurs “grow in place.” Renowned Chicago chef Rick Bayless spearheaded its on-site culinary training program that places aspiring chefs in the best restaurants. “I’ve never seen a place where likeminded entrepreneurs can come together and thrive; that’s what The Hatchery provides,” he said. The Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBS) Healthy Community Award went to Enlace Chicago for Community Health Workers-Health Equity Initiative (7), “groundbreaking work to prevent chronic disease, promote access to care and healthy foods for residents of Little Village,” said Harmony Harrington, BCBS vice president of community relations. Enlace Executive Director Katya Nuques said that the
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nonprofit hired Community Health Workers who overcame two barriers, language and immigration, to connect virtually all Little Village residents to health insurance via the Affordable Care Act. With an 84 percent Latinx and 39 percent foreign-born population, Little Village previously had the lowest insured rates as well as childhood obesity and untreated mental health issues. The Woods Fund Chicago Power of Community Award went to the Logan Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA) and the Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP) for the Parent Engagement Institute (8). In 1994, LSNA started first Parent Mentor Program, which was replicated by SWOP in 2004 in Chicago Lawn. In 2012, they jointly started the Parent Engagement Institute, which in its first year used $1 million in state funding to expand to 13 organizations in 62 schools, including 20 outside Chicago. There are now 1,150 mentors who spend two hours daily helping teachers in 148 schools across 23 school districts and 50 legislative districts. The Chicago Community Trust Outstanding Community Plan Award went to Austin Coming Together for the Austin Quality of Life Plan (9). Executive Director Darnell Shields said the community started with a summit of 300 individuals – parents, small business owners, government officials – discussing the transformation they wanted to see. Their first initiative was helping Michele Clark High School offer the first In-
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11 ternational Baccalaureate on the West Side. They have since embarked on a two-year process involving 500 stakeholders around seven areas they see as impediments to success. The group has attracted $14 million investment and its Aspire Initiative, intended to build a stronger cradle to career pipeline, is a semifinalist for the $10 million Pritzker Prize. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Creative Placemaking Award went to the El Paseo Community Garden (10). Local residents Paula and Antonio Acevedo planted raised beds on the former industrial site on Sangamon between Cullerton and 21st Street, and the Environmental Protection Agency removed contaminated soil. Now the garden yields vegetables, flowers, peaches, grapes, and features an herb spiral. Its outdoor space offers weekly programming in yoga, meditation, kids’ gardening, and space for community potlucks where old and young share stories. The most recent addition is a mural that shows Pilsen history and Latinx culture. The Richard M. Daley Friend of the Neighborhoods Award went to Marca Bristo (11), who died last September. A registered nurse, she became disabled as a result of a diving accident at age 23 and soon afterward became president of Access Living, which over three decades won landmark lawsuits to enforce the civil rights of people with disabilities, such as wheelchair accessibility to Chicago transportation. Bristo also helped draft and pass the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Fair Housing Amendments of 1988.
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As president of the U.S. International Council on Disabilities, she worked for the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which the U.S. Senate has twice refused to ratify, apart from 180 other nations, despite President Obama’s signature. Sitting at the bottom of her stairs soon after she became disabled, Bristo realized accessible housing was her greatest barrier, said her husband, Bob Kettlewell. Today she would be in the same fix because the City of Chicago has failed to meet its obligation for 5 percent affordable, accessible housing. “The costs are marginal. All it takes is people caring enough to get it done,” Kettlewell said. The CIBC Norman Bobins Emerging Leader Award went to Deon Lucas (12). Lucas studied drafting at the West Side’s Westinghouse High School all four years and his teachers persuaded him to go to college rather than the Marine Corps. Lucas received an undergraduate degree in architecture and an MBA, spent years in a leading design firm and as a sole practitioner and then came to Englewood, where he created Beehyyve, a collaborative of independent architects, designers, engineers and contractors who can join forces to bid on government or large private-sector projects. More recently, he started E.G. Woode, an incubator that reinvests profits into new minority businesses in Englewood.
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Government Leaders hold rallies for unity by Suzanne Hanney
Dr. Stephanie Johnson-Brown was calm in the wake of May 30-31 weekend violence that followed the death of George Floyd and hit all of roughly 30 stores at Grand Boulevard Plaza. “She said that while she was sad for the destruction, she realizes that material things can be rebuilt, but the lives taken by police violence and the killing of unarmed black people triggered the violence overall,” state Rep. Sonya Harper (D-Chicago) said of Johnson-Brown, of the Plano Optometrics Center at 5401 S. Wentworth Ave. “Of course, she’s never seen anything like it. It was heartbreaking, the damage they sustained. Some stores were vacant but every single one was hit. It’s what a lot of our shopping centers look like when I go further south and further west. Not one shopping center has not been hit. “But you could just tell by the way she was speaking – so calm – that something had warmed her heart during this experience,” Harper said. “And one thing that was hopeful and encouraging was that the very next day, there were young people at her door helping her to clean up.”
FROM THE STREETS
Harper brought 20 members of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus to Grand Boulevard Plaza June 2 to discuss recommendations and emergency demands on behalf of communities in Chicago that are most in need of resources and healing. She was compiling a list of organizations for a day of action and looking to the future, “using this as a time to not just deploy them where they need them to clean up from the riots and looting but to connect and engage them permanently in ways they can be involved in community issues.” Harper called for more coordination between state, local and federal government.
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U.S. Reps. Danny K. Davis and Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, both Chicago Democrats, made intergovernmental and interracial relations personal in a West Side rally June 5 in the wake of Latino-on-Black violence that followed the death of George Floyd, peaceful demonstrations, and then looting across the city. “The people, united, will never be defeated,” Davis said, flanked by more than 20 African American and Latino officials from the Chicago City Council and Illinois General Assembly. Davis said that because of the violence, they were seeking new funding for summer jobs and training programs this summer for teens and young adults. “Can you imagine what $20 million would do for young people in Cook County? Our ask is not going to be little because these are big problems.” “I’m in full accord with the mass gatherings, the peaceful demonstrations,” Davis said. “I abhor and disagree with violence, looting and pillaging. I have some understanding with the feeling of helplessness and homelessness, being unemployed, not having a job, not knowing what is going to happen next
week…no real hope for the future.” “We come together because Black Lives Matter, solidarity matters, especially now, given the national crisis the murder we saw has caused,” Garcia said. “We are at a crossroads. We must find common ground. Unity is essential if we are to progress as a nation.” Garcia said afterward that earlier in the week, he had reached out to Davis, who had already planned a West Side gathering of officials because of interracial violence Sunday night, May 31 on Cermak Road – the boundary between the mostly black 24th ward and the mostly Latino 22nd ward. A car with four black women and a child driving through Little Village was struck with a baseball bat three times at Kedzie Avenue and Cermak Road, for example, according to Block Club Chicago. “My constituents said, ‘Why can’t we ride down 22nd Street?’ The city belongs to the citizens of Chicago, not just one neighborhood. We’re intertwined, Black and Brown living side by side,” said Ald. Emma Mitts (37th ward). State Rep. LaShawn Ford (D-Chicago) said he had supported the DREAM Act for immigrant youth and helped immigrants get the right to drive, despite pushback from his own African American community. “It’s hard to support when I see people not respecting my people. Stop attacking Black people.” Gangs in both Little Village and North Lawndale have come to the realization that violence between them is mutually destructive, so the community needs the same message, Garcia said. “It’s urgent that we have an understanding, that we work with local churches, schools, have a conversation and not let people be misled,” Garcia said. Ald. Michael D. Rodriguez, (22nd ward), who cited his 20 years in violence prevention with Ceasefire and other groups, said that investment in mentorship and jobs works – and that Los Angeles was spending $150 million for such programs. “Our community has open arms for everyone, but…a few bad apples targeted our Black and Brown brothers and sisters. It’s not going to happen again.”
Trump appointee guts redlining In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, a federal banking regulator issued new rules May 20 to weaken regulations against redlining without the support of the other two banking regulators: the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Federal Reserve. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) action weakens the Community Reinvestment Act, a critical tool for promoting bank investment in low-income communities and communities of color. OCC Comptroller Joseph Otting, a Trump appointee, announced his departure from the agency two days after publishing the final rules.
People in the community are now writing “Black Lives Matter” on doorways, Rodriguez said. “It’s three steps forward, one step back.” “We are 66 percent of the city of Chicago,” Ald. Michael Scott (24th ward) said of the city’s minority population. “We need to bring back 66 percent of the pie because we desperately need it.”
Black and Latino legislators from the city, state and federal level hold a press conference to call for unity in the wake of violence prompted by George Floyd’s death as well as money for youth jobs and training. From left are state Rep. LaShawn Ford in blue shirt, U.S. Reps. Danny K. Davis (in jacket) and Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, state Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightfoot (Hillside) in color block, Ald. Walter Burnett Jr. (27th ward) in hat and state Senate Majority Leader Elizabeth Hernandez, in black and grey. (Suzanne Hanney photo)
“We are 20 and 12,” Ald. Jason Ervin (28th ward), chairman of the Chicago City Council Black Caucus, said of the 32 respective Black and Latino numbers in the 50-member City Council. “Divided we can’t do anything, but together we can control the legislation, demand and deliver. We have the numbers to make it happen. Do we have the courage?” Assistant Majority Leader Elizabeth Hernandez, a Democrat whose state House district includes Little Village and Cicero, where two bystanders were fatally shot after looting at a nearby liquor store, said it was necessary to see elected officials come together at the rally. “The pain is deep to see our community unravel the way it did. There is so much work to be done in Springfield. We have to come together so those dollars reach our community fairly and with justice.” There is precedent for this work, Hernandez said. State Rep. Emanuel Chris Welch (D-Westchester), an African American, was the primary sponsor of the Illinois TRUST Act, which prohibits law enforcement from stopping anyone solely on the basis of immigration status.
Chicago Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot commented on the rule proposal in March and again explained her concern about the future of this civil rights law. “While Chicago is battling against an historic threat to our health and economy, the Trump administration is busy attempting to gut laws meant to drive resources to lower-income families – the very families that need our help the most. It is another example of this administration’s misplaced priorities. This great city, whose activists birthed the movement against redlining, will continue to fight so that banks meet the needs of all our neighborhoods, not just the wealthy ones.” Interim Director of the Woodstock Institute Jean Pogge, a former banker, said Otting’s actions “create an unprecedented mish-mash of bank regulations at the least opportune time—a time when the financial sector seeks stability as it is called upon to fight COVID-19.” The Community Reinvestment Act was passed in 1977 as part of a movement by Chicago activists such as Gale Cincotta and the Woodstock Institute to address discriminatory bank policies blocking non-white neighborhoods from bank loans, a practice known as “redlining.” Numerous organizations in Chicago united to oppose the OCC’s proposed action, including the Woodstock Institute, Housing Action Illinois, Chicago Community Loan Fund, IFF, The Resurrection Project, the Chicago Community Trust, and others. Roughly 15 percent of the comments critical of the proposal came from Illinois. - Suzanne Hanney, from online sources
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Chicagoans from across the city gather to aid in cleanup after vandalism by Suzanne Hanney
Vandalism to the 40th ward on the North Side in the wake of George Floyd’s May 25 death and peaceful protests was minimal, so on June 6, Ald. Andre Vasquez instead took volunteers to the 24th ward on the Southwest Side, where they were among nearly 500 people who knelt for eight minutes and 46 seconds to honor Floyd. “It was pretty cool,” Vasquez said. “If Chicago can do what Minneapolis and L.A. are doing to really change policing, it will be something good that comes out of this tragedy.” Floyd died during a nearly nine-minute police chokehold in Minneapolis that has sparked peaceful protests, looting and soul-searching across the U.S. “Because our ward wasn’t as hit as hard as others, I’ve reached out to my colleagues on the City Council who needed help,” Vasquez said. “We’re a segregated city, and people on the North Side don’t understand the reality of what occurred in other parts of town, so I organized a cross-town cleanup where neighbors could see what their environment was like.” The 24th ward had organized a cleanup of litter and debris on Roosevelt Road between Homan and Kedzie Avenues, so Vasquez put his people under the direction of Ald. Michael Scott, Jr. Roughly 60 people had met at 10 a.m. at the Streets and Sanitation office at Western and Foster Avenues, and then headed to North Lawndale. “We want to be sure we are breaking down the walls of segregation by having our neighbors go visit other parts of town and help out,” Vasquez said. He was planning another trip on Saturday, June 13, to help Ald. Jason Ervin (28th ward) at Tilton Park Fieldhouse, 230 N. Kolmar Ave. on the West Side. Ald. Vasquez estimated damage in his ward at perhaps 10 businesses: the Walgreens on Catalpa Avenue and AKIRA in Andersonville, a dollar store where people could smash and grab quickly, and some businesses in Lincoln Square. People broke into the Target store at 2112 W. Peterson Ave., but not much was taken. Because of social media chatter, shopping carts had been placed as obstacles. “Citywide, we kind of saw the activity was beginning and there was some social media about burning the North Side, but it wasn’t as severe as other wards across the city had experienced,” Vasquez said. “The North Side looting was not by people of color. My gut tells me it was more fascist groups that were trying to incite people of color or people who are just justifiably angry to get there to be more chaos in an environment that was already unstable.”
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Community groups around 112th and Michigan in the Roseland neighborhood had posted requests for volunteers in Block Club Chicago, but they referred comments to Ald. Anthony Beale (9th ward). “I was so proud of my community organizations that came out with rakes and shovels and brooms on Monday [ June 1], the very next day,” Ald. Beale said of efforts to clean up damage to between 40 and 50 businesses in the ward. “Today [Wednesday, June 3] we had about 100 more volunteers out. That’s what keeps you going: the good heart and good nature of people stepping up to the plate to do the right thing.” Groups included The Firm Marketing Group and Unity Chi Breakfast Club, Beale said. Businesses that were damaged in the 9th ward were a mix of Black-owned and other businesses: cell phone stores, Old Fashion ed Donuts, City Sports, Popeyes and Subway, Beale said. However, the Walmart Supercenter at 10900 S. Doty was not damaged. “I was extremely blessed to be able to save Walmart,” Beale said. “It’s the only grocery store on the South Side that did not get hit, the only pharmacy on the South Side that did not get hit. We need to get it open so people can get prescription drugs, diapers, milk, and whatever else they need. “I am looking at continued help from the City to make sure my Walmart stays viable and doesn’t get looted. It’s too valuable of a store right now,” Beale said in the early June interview. “I personally went out there Saturday morning and quarterbacked the shutdown. I got resources from the county, from the Special Service Area police to work with Chicago Police and then I got some resources from [the Department of ] Streets and Sanitation to close the streets off with salt trucks.” The Chicago Aldermanic Black Caucus (CABC) issued a statement June 3 that first of all said it was “saddened by the senseless murder at the hand of a police officer of Mr. George Floyd,” but also that after months of COVID-19 isolation, deaths, loss of income, and historic disparity, their South and West Side businesses “bore the brunt of the looting and mayhem” because of the decision to transfer police resources to the Loop, River North and the Gold Coast after the peaceful protests Saturday, May 30. Pleas for extra police protection by several South and West Side aldermen went unanswered. At least 45 businesses on State Street and on Wabash Avenue – Walgreens, Bank of America, AKIRA, theWit, Chicago Jewelry Mall, Central Camera, as well as lightscapes and the Gateway art installation – sustained damage on Friday and Saturday, May 29 and 30, according to officials at Chicago Loop Alliance (CLA).
The City’s Building Department boarded up damaged Loop windows. CLA CEO Michael Edwards, and CLA Membership Relations and Events Director Sarah Morse, assisted in cleanup. Morse, who lives in the Loop, also saw as many as 75 people helping on Sunday, the day after the looting. “In the end, it was the folks who live in the Loop who lent their time to clean up,” CLA PR and Communications Manager Jessica Cabe said. “We don’t often think of the Loop as a neighborhood, but it is home to over 20,000 residents” and 370,000 jobs.
Damage downtown to theWIt hotel (photo provided by Jessica Cabe / Chicago Loop Alliance).
Ald. Emma Mitts (37th ward) said she was unsure if damage to her West Side ward was because disproportionate members of police were downtown or that they were simply outnumbered and caught off guard by daytime violence. “It started early Sunday morning at 9 o’clock and went all day. When I called 911, I couldn’t get through and several of my colleagues said the same. They [vandals] jammed the signals to allow the hours of looting.” Ald. Mitts said police would arrive at one call and immediately receive another; liquor stores, gas stations, pharmacies, banks, dollar stores and big box stores were hit, especially around North and Cicero Avenues. The Walmart superstore at 4650 W. North Ave., temporarily closed now, donated its produce to the community and on Wednesday, June 3, people were picking up these food items at her ward office, 4926 W. Chicago Ave. Ald. Mitts said she sent Walmart officials a video of herself standing in front of the superstore, pleading with the company to stay. “I told them, ‘I was there for you when you wanted to come in 2006, you need to be there for me.’” She approached Walmart about opening its first store in Chicago and she solicited approval for it individually from City Council members. Cleanup volunteers came from Healing Temple Church of God in Christ, New Hope MB Church, whose pastor also chairs the faith-based work of the 15th District Police; from BUILD (Broader Urban Involvement & Leadership Development), Austin Coming Together, West Side Health Authority, Austin African American Business Networking Association, 48th Ward Ald. Harry Osterman’s office, Rush University Medical Center and the community at large, Ald. Mitts said.
The Wicker Park neighborhood sustained some damage on Milwaukee Avenue Sunday night, May 31, between North Avenue and Division Street, while West Town had vandalism to about three to five stores on Chicago Avenue between Damen and Ashland Avenues, said Allison Carvalho, community development director in the office of Ald. Daniel LaSpata, (1st ward). Streets and Sanitation crews power-washed Milwaukee Avenue Monday morning, volunteers cleared debris by noon and the West Town Chamber boarded up the damaged businesses. Roughly 200 people volunteered through LaSpata’s office and 100 people showed up to Wicker Park on Monday, when Chicago Park District employees were not working. In the following week, the office continued to get 10 phone calls or emails daily from people asking what they could do to help or how they could support food-insecure families. “It’s really inspiring during this time how much people care,” Carvalho said.
www.streetwise.org
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Fast Fashion companies criticized for financial burdens placed on garment workers by Molly O'Mera
Chicago, the city of Broad Shoulders, has a strong legacy of working rights. So, it shouldn’t surprise that our city normally hosts the largest annual World Fair Trade Day (WFTD) event. This year, however, WFTD attendees met on a crowded Zoom call rather than the bustling Daley Plaza. The message of this year’s meeting was a bit different, too. Normally we’d take this time to discuss the increasingly disposable nature of western consumerism as it relates to our closets. But, like a lot of things since COVID-19, issues that were urgent just a few months ago are being shelved by a global event and its unexpected consequences.
Elizabeth Cline courtesy photo.
Fast fashion has been forced to slow down amidst the global pandemic. In the first two weeks of May alone, J. Crew, Neiman Marcus, ALDO and True Religion filed for bankruptcy, with J.C. Penney and Victoria’s Secret following suit. Many retailers are unsure if they will be able to reopen following this pandemic. Elizabeth Cline, acclaimed author of “Overdressed” and “The Conscious Closet,” spoke at the World Fair Trade Day fashion seminar about the impact of retail closings on garment workers. “The fashion corporations are trying to offload these financial burdens onto their factories and garment workers,” Cline says. Cline, one of the leading voices in sustainable fashion, has been interviewing factory owners in Bangladesh. Here, big brands and department stores have stopped ordering the manufacture of new clothes. As a result, entire factories are out of work and warehouses are full of product they are no longer able to sell. Like their counterparts across the globe, undocumented garment workers in the U.S. are also facing a perilous and uncertain situation. In Los Angeles, there are 100,000 employees in the garment industry; the majority are undocumented, and estimated to be mostly Latino and Asian women. They are employed by brands like Fashion Nova, Forever 21 and Ross Dress for Less, usually working overtime and for less than minimum wage. Lacking proper documentation, these workers will not be able to receive federal stimulus checks or file for unemployment. “They have no safety net,” says Cline.
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Seeing the vulnerability of this workforce is what led Cline to start the PayUp campaign in April. PayUp has compiled a list of brands which have made commitments to pay, in full, for orders that have been completed or are in production. Those brands include Nike, UNIQLO, Adidas, H&M, and Target. By putting pressure on brands and stores, PayUp has successfully unlocked $7 billion in potentially lost payment. Among the brands who have not pledged to pay workers are ASOS, Kohl’s, JCPenney, Gap, Sears and Urban Outfitters - some of whom are experiencing their own financial woes. For fair trade garment workers, the crisis hasn’t disrupted their work in these same ways. Pushpika Freitas is the founder of MarketPlace, a company that employs female artisans in India to design fair trade clothing. Her workforce consists of women in the Mumbai area who are assigned projects that can be completed from home. This allows mothers to be able to earn a living wage while still caring for their children, which they’ve been doing since the founding of Marketplace in the 80s. “We were working from home before it was cool!” she says. Jamie Hayes, a local shop owner credited with helping introduce the slow fashion movement to Chicago, said it best: “Fashion is all about staying relevant, and fast fashion is the most irrelevant thing to people right now.” As fast fashion brands struggle to keep the momentum of trend cycles going, garment workers are realizing their skills and talents can be utilized for a much more relevant and necessary purpose: providing medical gear. While her Logan Square shop, Production Mode, has been closed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s shelter-in-place order, Hayes has helped her store’s seamstresses and garment workers pivot to making PPE and reusable masks for essential workers, some being sold and some donated to frontline workers. “It’s a virtuous cycle,” she says, describing how a need for PPE ensures employment for undocumented garment workers who otherwise would have no governmental safety net, and it allows her to maintain her independent business without cancelling orders. The pandemic has provided us all with a chance to reflect on what our needs are and who benefits from our consumer decisions. It’s critical that when we return to business, we don’t just return to business as usual.
two poems by streetwise vendor lady david tillman All Lives Matter Funnier Than A Richard Pryor Joke You Say You Work Too Hard
When You See A Black Man, In A Hold That Chokes.
That I Know Is Pig Lard If I Let You In My House, You Be A Rodent Mouse! Even Though We Never Dated I Thought You Never Hated Now My Heart's Been Splintered, Almost Didn't Make It Thru Winter!
All Lives Matter Sounded Quieter Than A Mouse When Breonna Taylor Got shot and killed in her own house All Lives Matter
Last Semester Of School
Oh drink a Corona
Nothing In My Mind Is Cool
When Black On Black Violence
So I Bought Disney, Don't Like It Miss Me
Gets Less News Than The Corona
My Favorite Aunt Died All Lives Matter
Couldn't Go To The Funeral Not Even Cry
Tell Me This
So Yes I Popped Pills, Not Gonna Lie
Can You Identify The Bodies
This COVID-19 Nonsense
Swimming With The Fish
People Don't Use Common Sense 6 Feet, Wear A Mask, Is That A Hard Task
All Lives Matter Do You Look At The Pages
Numbers Are Rising
Of All The Immigrants
Riots Feel Like Advertising
Locked In Cages
Don't Go After The Cops, Burn Down Your Shops
All Lives Matter
INSIDE STREETWISE STREETWISE INSIDE
I Write Lines
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Do You Let It Slide
I Write Rhymes
When Native American Teens
Coffee Drink Yes I Think Won't Paint My Nails But I Might As Well Make My Bed So I Lay My Head Ain't Gone Lie So Sad I Can't Even Cry 6/17/2020
Are Number 1 In Suicide All Lives Matter Don't Tell A Lie You Just Started Your Movement When The Flags Of No More Injustice Started To Fly Black, Brown, Red, Yellow and White If All Lives DID Matter I Wouldn't Have To Write 6/10/2020
Both poems © David Anthony Tillman. Used by permission.
Streetwise 6/15/20 Crossword To solve the Sudoku puzzle, each row, column and box must contain the Sudoku numbers 1 to 9. ©2020 PuzzleJunction.com
12 Timber wolf 39 Malarial fever 16 Postal creed 41 Antigone’s word cruel uncle 21 Choleric 44 Prefix with 25 Witch system whammies 47 Thawed 26 “So that’s it!” wn 48 Wobble 27 Feminine suffix 49 To the point 28 Units of work “Enchanted 51 Leg bone 29 Trying April” setting 52 “Reversal of Free-for-all experience Fortune” star Factory 30 “The Last of 53 PovertyNarrow opening the Mohicans” stricken Jack-tar girl 54 Ewe’s mate Spa spot 31 Reunion 55 Heroic poem It needs attendee, 56 Empty refinement briefly 58 Hefty volume Car wash option 32 Tubers 60 Apply gently Death Valley 33 Crowning point 61 Curling 34 Blessing locale surface 35 ___ and for all Habituate 62 Bard’s 37 Refrigerate Life’s partner “before” Copyright ©2020 PuzzleJunction.com Farm division Intellect Spring purchase Brewski “Piece of cake!”
©PuzzleJunction.com
Copyright ©2020 PuzzleJunction.com
LastSudoku Week’s Puzzle Answers Solution
Solution
Sudoku Solution
Find your nearest StreetWise Vendor at www.streetwise.org
Crossword Across 1 Detailed account 5 Stooge 9 Place for sweaters 12 Simpleton (Yiddish) 13 “Sure, why not?” 14 Sacred 16 Calls for, like a cab 17 Fertilizer for soils deficient in lime 18 To be, to Brutus 19 Heavenly body 20 Before, in poetry 22 By hook or by crook 24 Kind of 65 Farmer’s proportions calendar 26 Little toymaker 69 Great deal 28 Postal creed 71 Country club word figure 29 Provide 72 Mouth part 32 Kicked off 73 Used up 36 Exaggerate 75 Banana oil, e.g. 39 Offbeat 77 Baby elephant 41 Have supper 42 Office machine 78 Redact 79 Static 43 Usher’s 80 Emolument offering 45 Tout’s offering 81 Grade 47 Chest protector 82 Water carrier 48 Pole topper Down 50 Tourist’s aid 1 Tacky? 52 Ledger column 2 Cover story? 54 18-wheelers 3 Solidify 56 Morsel 4 Church 58 Regret projection 60 Unagi, at a 5 Big citrus fruit sushi bar 6 Alias inits. 61 Cry of pain
©2020 PuzzleJunction.com
7 The “W” in V.F.W. 8 Parachute material 9 Swerved 10 Upscale 11 To boot 12 It’s about a foot 15 Bow wood 21 Go straight 23 Throng 25 One for the road 27 To and ___ 30 Kind of approval 31 Banned pesticide 33 Wisecrack 34 Condo division 35 Bills 36 Switch positions 37 Sheltered spot 38 Test
40 44 46 49 51 53 55 57 59 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 70 74 76
Spanish devil Yoga class need Greek letter Ruminant Cobbler Piggery Bright star X out Zealous Vision-related Extract Elders’ teachings ___ de Triomphe Vegetate Spicy Mexican sauce Musical finale Watch Tiny criticism Old French coin
How StreetWise Works
Our Mission
Orientation Participants complete a monthlong orientation, focusing on customer service skills, financial literacy and time management to become a badged vendor.
Financial Literacy Vendors buy StreetWise for $0.90, and sell it for $2. The profit of $1.10 goes directly to the licensed vendor for them to earn a living.
Supportive Services StreetWise provides referrals, advocacy and other support to assist participants in meeting their basic needs and getting out of crisis.
S.T.E.P. Program StreetWise’s S.T.E.P. Program provides job readiness training and ongoing direct service support to ensure participants’ success in entering the traditional workforce.
THEPLAYGROUND PLAYGROUND THE
To empower the entrepreneurial spirit through the dignity of self-employment by providing Chicagoans facing homelessness with a combination of supportive social services, workforce development resources and immediate access to gainful employment.
Puzzle
Solutio
15 17
50% O
PREV
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REET
WISE
THE CHICAGO PREMIERE
THE MOST SPECTACULARLY LAMENTABLE TRIAL OF
MIZ MARTHA WASHINGTON James Ijames Directed by Whitney White By
The recently widowed “Mother of America”—attended to by the very enslaved people who will be free the moment she dies—takes us deep into the ugly and thorny ramifications of America’s original sin.
RADICALLY VULNERABLE, OUTRAGEOUSLY HILARIOUS
APRIL 2 – MAY 17 | steppenwolf.org | 312-335-1650 MAJOR PRODUCTION SPONSOR
2019/20 GRAND BENEFACTORS
2019/20 BENEFACTORS
