Austin Weekly News 012021

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Vol. 35 No. 3

29th Ward participatory budgeting projects outlined,

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January 20, 2021

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austinweeklynews.com

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Also serving Garfield Park

@AustinWeeklyChi

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@AustinWeeklyNews

Meet Jeremy, West Side father, PAGE 2

West Side groups working to redesign Sears Sunken Gardens Their redesign will be a walk back in history that will allow residents to envision a new future for their community, organizers said

By PASCAL SABINO Block Club Chicago

A historical garden on the West Side is getting a makeover, and organizers want residents of the surrounding area to decide the look and feel of the upgrade.

The redesign of the Sears Sunken Garden is led by the GROWWS Committee, a neighborhood group dedicated to urban agriculture and beautification that’s affiliated with the North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council. The group plans to revamp the garden as a way to showcase the neighborhood’s history and attract visitors.

Community meetings will give residents a chance to hear about the history behind the Sears Sunken Garden, learn about landscape design practices and share their opinions what they want from the redesigned garden.

The virtual meetings are scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Wednesday and Jan. 27.

Opened in 1907, the Sunken Garden at 899 S. Homan Ave. was built by Sears, Roebuck and Co. as leisure space for employees who worked on the sprawling 40-acre complex when the company was headquartered in Lawndale.

But Sears began pulling out of the West Side in the ’70s, first by relocating its corporate headSee SUNKEN GARDEN on page 8

JUSTIN L. FOWLER/State Journal-Register

MR. SPEAKER: Austin Rep. La Shawn K. Ford holds the Bible during the Jan. 13 swearing-in of Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch as the state’s first Black House speaker.

Austin lawmaker participates in historic swearing-in

Rep. Ford held Bible for Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch, sworn-in as state’s first Black speaker of the House last week

By BOB SKOLNIK Riverside-Brookfield Landmark

State Rep. LaShawn Ford (D-8th) was front and center at the historic Jan. 13 swearing-in of Emanuel “Chris” Welch (D-7th) as the state’s first Black speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives.

“It sends a message,” said Ford, who held the Bible for Welch last Wednesday, when Welch was sworn in at the Bank of Springfield Center.

“Chris Welch being the first Black speaker of the House from Illinois is a strong message for the nation. I mean it’s unbelievable,” Ford said.

Welch succeeds Michael Madigan who had been speaker for 36 of the last 38 years and was the longest serving leader of a legislative chamber in the nation.

State Rep. Michael Zalewski (D-23st) agreed that selecting Welch as speaker See CHRIS WELCH on page 8

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Austin Weekly News, January 20, 2021

West Side Lives

Jeremy, 34, on raising his son in his native Austin

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor

Jeremy, a lifelong Austin resident (he declined to use his last name for privacy concerns), said having his 8-year-old son, Amaru, changed his life. Since then, he’s thought a lot about what it means to be a father — particularly a Black father raising a Black son in Austin.

Jeremy, who shares custody of his son with his son’s mother, reached out to Austin Weekly News a few months ago to tell his story.

What prompted you to reach out to us to talk about fatherhood?

I have conversations with a lot of people, especially women, and many of them have these negative ideas about what it means to be masculine. I imagine they’ve never really seen any other healthy relationships in the neighborhood, because [fathers] are largely absent.

What it means to be a father and to be masculine in a healthy way is not something that’s consistently represented — not even in our own local paper.

I know there are other people doing what I’m doing, as far as being an adequate father — being there, being available emotionally and physically with your time, your money, your ideas, what have you — there are dudes out there doing this.

Who were adequate fathers when you were younger?

My dad [who recently passed] was largely quiet, but he was always a provider and a teacher. So, I mixed that in with role models I saw on TV — Uncle Phil from “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and Carl Winslow from “Family Matters” and Will Smith from “Independence Day.” I know it sounds silly, but I’m serious. I mixed those examples I saw on TV with the example set by my own father. I also incorporated

Provided

FATHER AND SON: Jeremy, an Austin native, and his son Amaru on vacation in Mexico.

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stuff I saw women doing that I thought I could do with my son.

Do you worry about raising your son in Austin?

I worry about him sometimes because he’s not overly aggressive and I think there’s an edge you have to have in impoverished communities like Austin. That’s just a feeling.

It may not even be true, because I exist in Austin and I’m not the most brash, brazen individual.

But I do fear for him. I don’t shield him too much, because of the fact that he spends the bulk of his life in two houses. That gives him different perspectives of the city. When he’s with me in the summertime, at least before COVID, there was some fear in the summer when we’d go to certain parks and I’d be like, ‘Those kids are a little too rough.’ I do try to shield him a little from those individuals.

We would actually go to Oak Park a lot to try to maintain the sanctity of childhood, which is the most disheartening thing — the fact that I have to leave my neighborhood to ensure his safety.

Oak Park is only a three-block walk from my house, but there’s a real difference — just in the way people drive.

Why did you decide to live in Austin?

One, I couldn’t afford to live in Oak Park.

And two, I believed the community would change. On my block, there are three Hispanic people and two white people who have moved in, they just don’t come outside. I imagine that the change is probably 10 or 15 years away and

I just caught it before the curve.

What does Amaru mean?

It means strong. It’s supposed to be Aztec. I Googled it and liked it. I also thought it would be something me and his mother could agree on.

What advice would you give to your younger self, before you were a father, in anticipation of fatherhood?

I’d tell my younger self to learn how to cope better. Be patient and trust the process, because it’s a long process. Learn how to forgive yourself, because you’ll make mistakes.

What is something true and something false about Black fatherhood?

The assumption that Black men don’t want to be good fathers is a fallacy. There are systems in place that stop us from being the fathers we want to be and can be, one being the court system.

When you enter a court system, you’re already predisposed to the fact that the kid came from the woman and the court automatically assumes she’ll raise it. There’s always a question of whether you’ll even be around. That blocks some fathers from taking the first steps toward being there.

If people want to know the reality of what it means to be a Black father, they should just ask Black fathers. We exist. There are a lot of us.

CONTACT: michael@austinweeklynews.com

Austin Weekly News, January 20, 2021

City to study environmental impact of West Side industry

Pollution study planned for this year includes southwest cluster encompassing North Lawndale, southwest Austin

By IGOR STUDENKOV Contributing Reporter

This year, city of Chicago will study the impact of pollution on areas surrounding an industrial corridor that includes all of North Lawndale and the southwest edge of Austin.

Officials with the Chicago Department of Planning and Development and the Chicago Department of Public Health summarized a plan for studying pollution in the area during a hearing on Jan. 14 that was organized by the Chicago City Council’s Committee on Environmental Protection and Energy.

The hearing took place as several North Side businesses move to the South Side, leading renewed concerns that Black and Brown neighborhoods are disproportionately impacted by pollution, and in the wake of the fallout from the April 11, 2020 demolition of the former Crawford power station smoke stack, which sent a cloud of dust across the surrounding Little Village neighborhood.

Chicago has 26 officially designated industrial corridors. Many of them overlap with one of the 14 Planned Manufacturing Districts (PMDs) – special zoning districts that were created to preserve industrial jobs by making it harder to add any non-industrial uses nearby.

Austin Weekly News’ coverage area has six industrial corridors and four manufacturing districts. The southwest cluster the city is studying will include North Lawndale, Little Village and several

neighborhoods further south, as well as the Roosevelt/Cicero and Western/Ogden industrial corridors.

According to a 2020 study by the planning department, as of 2017, the Roosevelt/Cicero industrial corridor had 3,384 jobs that paid an average of roughly $57,000 a year. Between 2010 and 2017, employment in the corridor grew by only 0.8 percent, and it remained virtually flat between 2014 and 2017.

Between 2010 and 2017, the Western/Ogden industrial corridor has generated 1,224 jobs, which represented a 0.4 percent decline compared to the prior decade. The jobs generated an average wage of roughly $51,000.

Unlike the Roosevelt/Cicero corridor, where there is no single dominant job category, a significant portion of the Western/Ogden job includes rail and truck freight. The corridor is also home to Cinespace Chicago film studios, which is why, as of 2017, jobs related to “entertainment” services shot up dramatically, while other categories were either flat or declining slightly.

It is not clear how many of the jobs in both corridors were filled by people who lived in the surrounding neighborhoods. The planning department’s presentation shared during the Jan. 14 hearing broke down where the employees working in the industrial corridors within the Southwest cluster live, and all of North Lawndale zip codes had more than a 1,000 employees living there, but it didn’t break down which industrial corridors they’re employed in.

Kathy Dickhut, the planning and development deputy commissioner, said that her department chose to cluster the corridors together because those corridors have seen growth in the fields of transportation and logistics.

Jamie Osborne, the department’s coordinating planner, said that there are two major factors that they will be considering: how the corridors can continue to generate jobs and how the industrial corridors impact pollution in the surrounding area.

He shared a slide from CDPH’s 2020 Air Quality and Health Report, which looked at the “air pollution, health, and social factors to identify the areas in our city that are most vulnerable to the effects of air pollution” and broke down the data by census tract.

The census tracks within North Lawndale and the portions of Austin closest to the Roosevelt/Cicero corridor were all marked as the most vulnerable.

Dickhut said that, as part of addressing the impact of pollution, they wanted to figure out how to “get the trucks out of the neighborhoods [and to make] sure that semis aren’t getting too close to the neighborhoods.”

The high volume of trucks along Cicero Avenue has been an ongoing concern among residents in North Lawndale and Austin.

During the hearing, several aldermen questioned whether the industrial businesses alone were responsible for all the pollution.

Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd), whose North Side ward included the recently discontinued Clybourn Planned Manufacturing District, questioned the validity of the air quality report itself, saying that his own research suggested that pollution caused by longtime businesses such as the General Iron scrap metal recycler, was worse than the map.

Public health commissioner Allison Arwady repeatedly defended the report’s numbers, noting that they are based on Environmental Protection Agency data.

“The EPA measures around air pollution burdens are used across the country,” she said. “And that is the best data.

CONTACT: igorst3@hotmail.com

AIR QUALITY: An air quality chart from the city’s 2020 Air Quality and Health Report. Areas shaded dark indicate places where residents are more vulnerable to air pollution.

City of Chicago

AUSTIN WEEKLY

news Editor Michael Romain

Senior Editor Bob Uphues Contributing Reporters Bonni McKeown, Igor Studenkov Reporting Partners Block Club, Austin Talks Columnist Arlene Jones Staff Photographer Alex Rogals Design/Production Manager Andrew Mead Designer Debbie Becker Sales & Marketing Representavies Lourdes Nicholls, Marc Stopeck Sales & Development Mary Ellen Nelligan Circulation Manager Jill Wagner ≈ Publisher Dan Haley Business Manager Joyce Minich ≈ GROWING COMMUNITY MEDIA Board of Directors Chair Judy Greffin Treasurer Nile Wendorf Deb Abrahamson , Gary Collins, Darnell Shields, Sheila Solomon, Eric Weinheimer ≈ HOW TO REACH US 141 S. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, IL 60302 PHONE 773-626-6332 FAX 708-467-9066 CIRCULATION Jill@oakpark.com ONLINE www.AustinWeeklyNews.com TWITTER @AustinWeeklyChi Austin Weekly News is published digitally and in print by Growing Community Media NFP. It is distributed free of charge at locations across Austin and Garfield Park. Our hours are Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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Austin Weekly News, January 20, 2021

29th Ward participatory budgeting projects revealed

TAKE YOUR PICK: Residents may choose a variety of projects during this year’s participatory budgeting process, including adding an outdoor fitness course at Austin Town Hall Park, 5610 W. Lake St. Chicago Park District

Residents can choose from murals, outdoor fitness courts, more

By IGOR STUDENKOV Contributing Reporter

Residents of the 29th Ward who are older than 14 have until Jan. 29 to vote on how Ald. Chris Taliaferro will spend around $1 million in aldermanic menu funds.

Every year, each alderman gets $1.4 million in city funds to spend on infrastructurerelated projects, which include anything from fixing up sidewalks to painting murals.

While most aldermen spend the money however they want, Taliaferro has been among a handful of aldermen, and the only West Side alderman, to give his constituents a say in the process through participatory budgeting.

The ballots were officially released on Jan. 11. As it has been the case since Taliaferro started doing participatory budgeting five years ago, the ballot is divided into two parts: how much money the residents want to spend on street resurfacing and what projects they want to spend the remaining funding on.

This year, the projects include neighborhood identification signs in the Galewood portion of North Avenue; murals in Sayre Language Academy elementary school, 1850

N. Newland Ave., and the Columbus Park field house, 500 S. Central Ave.; adding speed bumps and four-way stop signs; community garden improvements; adding an outdoor fitness course at Austin Town Hall park, 5610 W. Lake St.; and adding bike lanes to portions of Roosevelt Road and Austin Boulevard. The projects were outlined in Taliaferro’s most recent newsletter.

As has been the case in the past, 29th Ward staff will choose which streets get resurfaced based on resident input, research by the ward’s Street and Sidewalks Committee, as well as information from the Chicago Department of Transportation.

Resurfacing would be specifically limited to residential streets and sidewalks. Residents will be able to vote on what percentage of the menu money would be used toward resurfacing, choosing either 60 percent, 70 percent, 80 percent, 90 percent or all the menu money.

The spending of the remaining money will be based on both which projects get the most votes and how much money is available.

There are also some unexpected factors that can interfere with the project.

The most expensive item on the project list

“The” Friendship BAPTIST CHURCH Rev. Dr. Reginald E. Bachus, Pastor 5200 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL 60644 773-378-6600

is installing metal neighborhood identification markers on the Galewood side of North Avenue, between Austin Blvd. and Rutherford Ave. The project would cost around $168,000 and would encompass most of Galewood’s southern border. The project would only be possible if 29th ward residents vote to allocate no more than 80 percent of the funding toward infrastructure.

Another major item would be putting a mural or a mosaic on the Columbus Park field house wall facing Central Avenue. The project would cost around $60,000. The artwork would be designed by an artist contracted by the city with input from local youth.

The Sayre Language Academy mural would be created by students working with a teaching artist, who would come up with the design and install the mural. This mural would be cheaper than the Columbus Park project, costing round $25,000.

Another major item would be adding outdoor fitness equipment to Austin Town Hall grounds. The information provided by the ward office doesn’t elaborate where it would be located, but there is some potential space in front of the field house, as well as to the

west and the north of the building. This project would cost around $60,000.

As has been the case in the past participatory budgeting ballots, one of the choices is community garden improvements. In this case, around $20,000 would be spent on a community garden in Columbus Park, as well as the Harambee Community Garden at 455 N Waller Ave., near Douglass High School, and Austin Green Team community gardens.

The remaining choices on the ballot are infrastructure projects, including spending $30,000 on speed bumps and stop signs, or spending $150,000 to add bike lanes on the portions of Austin Boulevard and Roosevelt Road.

Because the staff has been keeping inperson interactions to a minimum to reduce the spread of COVID-19, the voting is taking place entirely online this year using a twotier process.

First, residents must register to vote at https://go.uic.edu/PD29vote. Once registered, they will be sent a unique link which will allow them to fill out a ballot.

CONTACT: igorst3@hotmail.com

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Austin Weekly News, January 20, 2021

City grant to help business owners seeking to remodel

Small Business Improvement Fund provides grants businesses can use to pay for building repairs, interior renovations and other projects

Improvement Fund is directly reinvesting tax revenue in the area where those dollars were collected.

“That money will stay in the area it was generated from.

That in and of itself is very important, because you’re not able to take that money somewhere else,” said Bernard Jennings, head of the Lawndale Business Renaissance Association.

That reinvestment is essential right now since many businesses are losing revenue due to the pandemic, Jennings said.

Lost revenue makes it difficult for businesses to finance key

By PASCAL SABINO projects that can help them stay afloat. Getting grants to pay Block Club Chicago for those projects can free up resources better spent on hiring A round of city funding has opened up to support business workers, Jennings said.

“Let’s say you have a leaky roof, and you have to fix that owners in North Lawndale, Austin and East Garfield Park roof.

Maybe that $200,000 could have gone to hiring other peowho want to remodel or make critical repairs.

The city is accepting applications to the Small Business Im- ple that you need right now,” Jennings said. “There are direct provement Fund, which is supported by revenues from Tax impacts and indirect impacts.”

A past grant winner, Gold Leaf Design Group, is still indiIncrement Financing districts. The grants — which max out rectly reaping rewards from upgrading its building. at $150,000 for commercial buildings and $250,000 for indusThe company used some of the funds to replace an aging trial properties — can help businesses pay for façade repairs, interior renovations, roofing, windows, floors, heating and roof on its warehouse, which helped lower heating costs in the cooling systems, plumbing, electrical and other construction winter. They also redid the lighting in the building with more energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs, “which saved us dramatiprojects.

Applications are being accepted until Feb. 8. The fund is cally on the electricity bill,” said Darren DeMatoff, the design company’s principal. open to businesses located within these TIF districts: “We had really old lighting. Not only was it horrible to see, but it also ate up the electricity,” DeMatoff said.

■ Roosevelt/Cicero in North Lawndale: Mostly runs along The funds helped Gold Leaf finish several other projects, inRoosevelt Road, but the district is roughly bounded by the Eisenhower Expressway, Springfield Avenue, Cermak cluding creating a kitchen, repairing the bathroom, replacing gaRoad and Menard Avenue. It includes the industrial corri- rage doors and building an awning in front of the building. Some dor spanning the western edge of North Lawndale and the of those are projects the company had needed to get done ever since moving into their 1300 S. Kostner Ave. warehouse, but they southern tip of Austin had been put off year after year due to a lack of extra cash.

■ North/Cicero in Austin: Bounded by Concord Place, Keat“It’s really things that you’re putting up with that you don’t ing Avenue, Hirsch Street and Lavergne Avenue. realize were dragging down the morale. Once you’re able to ■ Kinzie Industrial Corridor in Humboldt Park, West Town, Near West Side and East Garfield Park. Bounded roughly fix it, you realize they make all the difference in the world,”

by Grand Avenue, the Kennedy Expressway, Washing- DeMatoff said. “There’s never money lying around, so this money goes back into ton Boulevard and keeping the business Kedzie Avenue. going.”

This program has The round is also been enhanced since it open to businesses in was last offered in the the Peterson/Pulaski Roosevelt and Cicero TIF district in North industrial corridor in Park and in the Pilsen 2016. The maximum Industrial Corridor. grant amounts have Another stage of applibeen boosted by 50 percations targeting the cent and 66 percent.

West Side will include Additionally, up to 90 businesses in West percent of project costs Garfield Park, North can now be covered Lawndale and South by the grant for comLawndale. mercial businesses, The program is ideup from 75 percent in Provided al for local businesses previous years. that want to expand GETTING SUPPORT: Limitless Creative Co. was a past winner of the Small The city’s planning but don’t have the capBusiness Improvement Fund, which redirects TIF dollars into grants busi- department is hosting ital on hand, said Ald. ness owners can use to renovate their buildings. an informational weMichael Scott (24th) binar Feb. 3 for busi“In our community, we need every business to be stable so they can create more nesses interested in applying. Registration, applications and jobs, so that our community becomes more whole. There’s a past webinars are available on the city’s Small Business Imlot of things that we’re lacking, and for the city to step up and provement Fund webpage. help with that is really important,” Scott said.

Pascal Sabino is a Report for America corps member coverLimitless Creative Co. was a past winner of the Small Busi- ing Austin, North Lawndale and Garfield Park for Block Club ness Improvement Fund.

Chicago.

TIF funds are generated from developments in the district and property tax revenues. That means the Small Business CONTACT: pascal@blockclubchi.org

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WTTW documentary features North Lawndale resident New 15-part digital series debuted online Jan. 18

By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor

A new 15-part documentary series that explores the experiences of five people, including a North Lawndale resident, as they confront intergenerational poverty aired online at wttw.com/firsthand on Jan. 18.

“The recent COVID-19 crisis is both exacerbating – and drawing attention to – income inequality in Chicago,” said executive producer Dan Protess.

“But the reality is that social mobility has been declining in America for a half century and there are vast swaths of our city where the American Dream has long been out of reach,” he said. “That’s why it is so important to share firsthand accounts from people who seldom get a chance to tell their stories, to spotlight the challenges they face, and suggest how we might meet these challenges.”

The new digital series, DOMINETRIUS called FIRSTHAND: Living CHAMBERS in Poverty, follows five Chicago residents during the summer and fall of 2020.

One of the individuals, Dominetrius Chambers, is a lifelong resident of North Lawndale.

“She seemed to be poised for success: the 20-year-old graduated third in her high school class,” according to a synopsis of the documentary series.

“But the next steps that a middle-class woman her age might take – college, career, an apartment – have proven elusive. Then Dominetrius was introduced to My Block, My Hood, My City, a nonprofit that introduced her to mentors and exposed her to neighborhoods around the city. Will the excitement of new people and places lead to greater opportunity?”

The series is accompanied by a range of articles, expert video talks, community dialogues, and discussion guides designed to prompt conversations and analysis on the city’s poverty, according to WTTW representatives.

You can visit wttw.com/events to reserve a spot at an upcoming community discussion.

CONTACT: michael@austinweeklynews.com

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Austin Weekly News, January 20, 2021

Printmaking for Seniors 8-Week Online Series

for ages 55 years and older

Mondays, February 8 - March 29 from 10:00am - 12:00pm Learn about different printmaking styles in this hands-on class hosted by Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance and Teaching Artist Sarita Garcia.

Full Series Price $240* | Member Price $192 *Full and partial scholarships available.

Register online at garfieldconservatory.org/events or call Mattie Wilson at 773-638-1766 x.16 This program is supported with grants from Aroha Philanthropies and Illinois Arts Council.

*Move In 15th 15th *Move Inby ByJanuary February

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The city needs to address the address

he city is cracking down on drivers going 6 miles over the speed limit.

Drivers are always the easy target whenever there is a need to generate revenue. But I want to encourage the city to crack down on some violators who are an even easier target. And that is the number of buildings in this city where the property owner fails to have an address visible.

Best of all, I am sure there is already a city ordinance requiring us to display addresses, but who is responsible for fining and then finding the property owners?

Addresses are important for a number of reasons. I work as a delivery driver part-time and can attest that package/grocery delivery is here to stay. There is nothing more frustrating than not being able to figure out what the address for a building is. There’s also the inherent danger of someone slowly cruising down the street trying to find an address and their behavior being mistaken as a possible drive-by shooting situation.

I delivered to a huge six-flat where the numbers were 2-inches tall and black and placed against an already dark part of the building. At night, it was literally impossible to see the address. I don’t know what the city code is, but the addresses need to be a minimum of 6-inches tall. There’s also no consistent placement of the numbers on the building. I believe it should be mandatory for single-family homes to have the address right next to the door. I would love to see the addresses stenciled in reflective paint on the curb or stairs, so that at night we could hit it with a flashlight and it would show.

ARLENE JONES

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Then there is the situation in high-rises, where there is no indication when you get off the elevator which way the apartment is located. After the murder of Botham Jean, it would seem an initiative should be mandated to ensure that there are readily identifiable markings on every floor distinguishing it from another floor.

I’m sure the fire department and the EMTs would appreciate it too.

I delivered to a major grocery store that did not have an address on it. How can that be allowed? Then there are the buildings downtown that do not use the address as they try to label themselves as “highfalutin’” square, or “who gives a damn” plaza. Yet the residents of the building use the legal address as the delivery location.

I am so glad the Christmas season is over and most decorations have been taken down. Nothing is more aggravating than to see a note from a customer telling me that their address is visible on the front of the building, only to find it hidden behind garland and wreaths. And while we’re at it, there also needs to be addresses on every garage.

Normally in the city, addresses are usually two numbers apart. However that assumption doesn’t work when you run into situations where the numbers jump from two numbers apart to four apart. On my block, the addresses start off two digits apart but then all of three houses later, it jumps to four digits apart.

I hope Chicago takes heed and begins to address this basic housekeeping need — figuratively and literally!

FLA

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SUNKEN GARDEN Revival coming? from page 1 quarters to the Sears Tower Downtown, then by closing its warehouses and distribution centers at the Lawndale campus in the ’80s.

When Sears left North Lawndale, thousands were left unemployed. As the area struggled economically, the beauty of the Sunken Garden also began to fade, organizers said.

“Let’s bring it back to its beautiful state … so it can be a place in the community that is looked upon as a tourist attraction,” said Reshorna Fitzpatrick, pastor of the historic Stone Temple church and a member of the GROWWS Committee.

“We’re trying to reimagine the Sunken Garden, and we want to do it with the community.”

The garden is meant to be a place of refuge for residents, so it is essential for them to participate in its development, Fitzpatrick said.

“If you get community buy-in, then people become a part of it. They take care of it, they love it, they embrace it, they spend time there and they take ownership,” Fitzpatrick said.

Feedback from residents will be incorporated into the plans for the garden by landscape designers Roy Diblik and Piet Oudolf, who helped design the 2.5-acre Lurie Garden

CHRIS WELCH

Historic swearing-in from page 1 was transformational.

“It really was a global moment for either a Black or woman speaker,” Zalewski said. “It just was. I was in the room for four days and I know what was being expressed and there needed to be a clean break.”

Welch was selected as speaker after Madigan couldn’t get the required 60 votes when 19 members of the House Democratic caucus refused to support him. Welch, a Madigan loyalist, parlayed support from the Black Caucus and then received the endorsement of the Latinix Caucus to emerge victorious after multiple ballots and Madigan’s withdrawal from the race after getting only 51 votes on Jan. 10, in the first round of voting among Democratic House members who met behind closed doors.

Zalewski, who had committed to vote for Madigan on the first round of voting, declined to say how he voted in subsequent rounds.

“We sort of committed to internal discussions being internal,” Zalewski said. “I will say I voted for Speaker Welch on the final ballot and then I voted for him publicly on the House floor.”

Ford said Welch is the right person for the job and the times.

“He’s definitely by far the greatest choice,”

PAST IS PROLOGUE: A postcard depicting the old Sears complex shows the Sunken Garden in the lower right corner.

said Annamaria Leon, a member of the GROWWS committee.

“It also gives us the opportunity to walk back in time,” Leon said. “North Lawndale was the center of innovation. That’s our past. We get to reclaim that. We also get to see, moving through time, how we’ve gone from bohemian to Jewish to African American, to where we are at now.

“We get to reevaluate who we are as a community though this project.”

The true value of the garden isn’t just the end result of physical beauty, Leon said, but rather the journey the community takes together to envision an urban environment “that works for everybody and everything.”

“We’re sending a big message with this garden. We’re innovators,” Leon said. “We can have a garden that is world class … because that’s what North Lawndale is: a world class community.”

Downtown in Millennium Park. The GROWWS Committee will raise money to pay for the landscaping.

The designers will be “interpreting what people perceive they would like to feel within their community. So we’re actually inter-

preting emotions with plants,” Diblik said.

The project will honor the past, present and future of North Lawndale by recognizing the area’s industrial history while incorporating current residents’ efforts to build a prosperous, more beautiful community,

CONTACT: pascal@blockclubchi.org

Ford said. “I mean he’s super qualified. He definitely has a passion for this, I would say, way of life. Chris Welch, one, loves politics, he loves Illinois, he loves the government, and he understands it and he’s a hard worker and all of that is what it takes to be the Speaker of the House.”

Ford said that Madigan’s time had passed.

“The time changed and Madigan’s time had come and gone,” Ford said.

The House Black Caucus had backed Madigan until he suspended his campaign.

Then Welch and the Black Caucus made their move.

“Our loyalty to the work that Madigan has done over the years, the Black Caucus that is, it ultimately in the end, like we knew, would pay off,” Ford said. “We picked the speaker of the House. People really didn’t understand what was happening in the caucus but we knew what was happening. And you can’t talk about everything all the time, because you break the loyalty.”

Welch said in a televised interview that he didn’t seek the job.

“I didn’t sign up to be speaker,” Welch said. “I didn’t seek this job out. It kind of found me.”

Welch was first elected to the House in 2012. In the 2012 Democratic primary he edged out Rory Hoskins, who is now the first Black mayor of Forest Park, by just 34 votes.

Despite the close and tough race Hoskins and Welch now have a good relationship.

“I was very happy to hear the news that the House has chosen our state representative, Chris Welch, to be the new speaker for

the 102nd General Assembly,” Hoskins said.

“And on a personal level I’ve gotten to know Speaker Welch better over the years,” Hoskins added. “He was one of the first elected officials that I sat down and had breakfast with, after I had been elected mayor of Forest Park.

“Despite the fact that we once competed for the same position he’d always been great for the village. He returns calls very quickly, if he says he’s going to do something he does it. He’s certainly been helpful to the village since I’ve become mayor, so we’re just jumping and doing cartwheels over here for Chris Welch.”

In 2006 the always ambitious Welch, then the president of the Proviso High School District 209 Board of Education, tried to unseat then state representative, now Cook County Clerk, Karen Yarbrough in the Democratic primary. Yarbrough beat Welch soundly, winning 73 percent of the vote.

“He realized that at that time that he had to make peace and allow for those who came before him to be who they were and take a step back and wait his turn,” Ford said.

Yesterday, Yarbrough issued a statement congratulating Welch.

But not everyone is praising Welch.

Michael Manzo, a Republican who is a village trustee in Oak Brook and who briefly served with, and clashed with, Welch on the District 209 school board, said that selecting Welch as speaker will not change Illinois politics.

“This isn’t a change, this is just Michael Madigan working through Chris Welch to

control the state, so for anybody who thinks there was a change made they’re very naïve to Illinois politics,” said Manzo.

Welch served on the District 209 school board for 11 years, from 2001 until 2012, most of that time as president. During that time Welch was often a subject of controversy amid allegations of patronage hiring, staff turnover and lawsuits. For several years, a state financial oversight board was appointed to oversee the district’s finances.

But House members were not dissuaded by those issues or a Hillside police report from 2002, in which a former girlfriend accused Welch of trying to assault her. Welch was briefly taken into custody and read his Miranda rights, but ultimately the woman declined to press charges.

In a televised interview after becoming speaker, Welch said that he had matured since then and noted that he has a strong record on women’s issues. House Democrats were apparently unfazed by these issues, although one Democrat, Kelly Cassidy, voted present, because of concerns about the domestic violence allegations.

“You would expect that there always is going to be controversies when you are in the process of government, there’s always going to be a controversy, you’re going to make some people happy, you’re going to make some people sad and that’s human nature,” Ford said.

“The good thing is what you don’t want are criminal charges. Differences are always going to be (there), but what we know is there has been no criminal charges against him

Pascal Sabino is a Report for America corps member covering Austin, North Lawndale and Garfield Park for Block Club Chicago.

Austin Weekly News, January 20, 2021

Letters

The real reason the insurrection happened Let’s put the recent act of domestic violence by racist terrorists into perspective. What I witnessed in the nation’s capital was an embarrassment to American values. Washington, D.C was a city under siege. An infiltration took place at the U.S Capitol. Here’s my take.

There is no question that if Black Lives Matter protesters came close to entering the U.S. Capitol building, every law enforcement agency from the D.C. region would be waiting on the lawn shooting tear gas into the crowd and have their guns meticulously drawn inside the building.

There would be police cruisers ready to load up the protesters into the vehicles and counter-protesters shouting obscenities in the process.

Physical violence against Black and Brown protesters exists and this double standard is intolerable. The fact that these domestic terrorists successfully infiltrated the U.S. Capitol building, stormed into various offices and took photos shows a blatant disregard of federal law. Northwest Arkansas resident Richard Barnett stormed into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office, placed his feet on her desk and proudly took a photo. Twenty-four hours after breaking the law, Barnett was still free.

What is omitted more than anything in news reports is the real reason why these domestic terrorists are enraged. It’s not only because of their false belief that the election was rigged. It’s because these votes have a huge economic and political impact for Black and Brown communities.

Georgia, which is one of the most racist states in the United States, is now blue.

Who would’ve thought a Black preacher and a Jewish man would represent Georgia as Senators. It is unthinkable to believe a Black woman would become the VicePresident of the United States of America.

This was too much for those mobsters to handle. These successes are exactly what led to the end of Reconstruction in 1877. Those domestic terrorists, who were primarily white, are pissed because they are losing control of their way of life.

The 2020 election was a wakeup call for traditionally racist bigots. Now, there will be funding opportunities for low- to middle-class communities. There will be better job opportunities in Black and Brown communities. The thought of lowincome families earning money above the poverty line just pissed those people off.

They believed it was necessary to raid Washington, D.C., and raise hell.

In spite of the recent political success,

I challenge Black and Brown America not to lose focus, because we still haven’t “arrived.” We still have a lot of work to do. We must continue to vote and make a difference in our community. It’s going to take every ounce of energy to advance economically and politically.

On Jan. 20, President-elect Joe Biden will be inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States. He has a lot of cleaning up to do from the mess that #45 left behind.

America should support President Biden during his time of transition, but also hold him the promises he made to the American people.

As far as those pissed off domestic terrorists are concerned, they will have their days in court and soon return to their lives of misery and strife. We must continue to pray for our country and for those with hatred in their heart. I believe a new day is on the horizon for all of us.

— Rev. Dr. Regi Ratliff

The lies America tells itself and why schools must teach For a long time now, stakeholders in local school districts, including Proviso Township, have clam-ored for a course in “Black History.” An Illinois law has been on the books for more than 20 years declaring that teaching Black History is mandatory.

In fact, schools across the country have set forth tepid solutions that allow them to bypass a real understanding of the history of this country — running roughshod over the fact that this American superpower would not exist without the pres-ence of Black people.

If we were minimally familiar with the history of this nation, the storming of the Capitol by dis-gruntled white people—from all stripes of life—would not have surprised anyone. This is just his-tory repeating itself, because the angry white mob, incensed by Black progress, is a tradition in the United States. The fact that, on the same day the insurrectionists descended on the Capitol and var-ious state capitals, America had awakened to the news that a Black man from the Deep South, Rev. Raphael Warnock, had been elected to the US Senate, is in line with that tradition.

In July of 1866, just over a year after the South surrendered at Appomattox, a frenzied, resentful white mob, led by the mayor, murdered and wounded scores of Black people (including delegates and Union veterans) at the site where the Louisiana Constitutional Convention had reconvened. The interracial delegation was to meet to consider granting the vote to newly freed Black men, eliminat-ing Black Codes, and disenfranchising ex-

Confederates.

An official government report of findings, made to Ulysses S. Grant, noted that, “It was an absolute massacre by the police...It was a murder which the Mayor and police of the city perpetrated without the shadow of necessity.” The August 1, edition of the Cleveland Daily Leader stated, “Remember that this work was done by the constituted authorities of the city of New Orleans, rebels in record and in heart, but placed in power over loyal men by the policy of a renegade President. Remember that these scenes are but a prelude of what is to be... if [President] Johnson’s policy shall be carried out.”

In 1898, a successful coup d’etat took place in the majority Black commercial port city of Wilming-ton, NC which had registered almost 126,000 Black voters. Supported by police, white suprema-cists “Red Shirts,” and the state militia, a well-orchestrated white mob, that had been organizing and plotting for several months, battered and murdered a still untold number of Blacks citizens. As part of their gruesome “white supremacy campaign,” for days they terrorized the city that had, by practicing “Fusion” coalition politics, elected an interracial local government. (Black and white Republi-cans and white farmer Populists had fused into a powerful and potent voting bloc.)

One of the leaders of the coup, exConfederate soldier Alfred Waddell, who was installed as the new mayor after the violent attacks, had threatened to “choke the current of the Cape Fear [River]” with Black “carcasses.” More than 100 Blacks were forced out of public office; and the injury was irreparable. The hopes and dreams of the impressive members of the well-cultivated Black profes-sional and business class were destroyed, as most of them were run out of town—along with some white allies. No one has ever been prosecuted for this lawless atrocity.

In September, 1974, as Black children were being bused around town to desegregate public schools in Boston, many white folks became apoplectic. In October, the Boston Globe declared the city “out of control;” and the state police stayed there three years trying to maintain order. In the face of a violent mob, the National Guard was federalized by President Dwight Eisenhower, when the “Little Rock Nine” integrated Central High School in Arkansas, President Kennedy sent in federal mar-shals and the military when veteran James Meredith integrated the University of Mississippi, and Kennedy also federalized the guard when Vivian Malone (former Attorney General Eric Holder’s late sister-in-law) and James Hood integrated the University of Alabama. One of the awful Boston racial incidents, wherein a white man assaulted an unsuspecting young Black lawyer with a flag on a pole, was photographed. The deeply troubling picture, called, The Soiling of Old Glory,

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won a Pulitzer Prize. So, yes, White mobs are “a thing” in America.

The brazenness of the Jan. 6 mob is not surprising either, because white mob members rarely pay a price for their participation in criminal behavior. At the many American lynchings—many of them thoroughly documented in all their grotesqueness—official government documents often noted that the barbarism took place “at the hands of persons unknown” despite pictures and even postcards from the events!

Lies and innuendo are Donald Trump’s stock in trade, but he’s just a more extreme version of many other white politicians who have preferred to lie about our history.

Trump’s contempt for the brilliant 1619 history project conceived by MacArthur Foundation “genius” and New York Times writer Nikole Hannah-Jones, is consistent with generations of white politicians who have sup-pressed the cruel and brutal responses to Black progress since the colonial days.

Much more content promulgating the thesis of “American exceptionalism,” this country has never been sincere about telling the comprehensive history of this country because much of it is truly ugly and inglorious. Lynchings, the wholesale rape of Black women and girls, the maiming and mur-dering of Black veterans, the economic exploitation of Black workers, the routine incarceration of Black people on trumped up charges, or no charge at all, the open terrorism of Black towns— from the Greenwood section of Tulsa, Oklahoma to Rosewood, Florida and beyond—the humiliations and indignities— like redlining and racially restrictive covenants—are important aspects of United States history that have shaped the way this country was formed, socially, culturally, and economically.

So, watching that motley and dangerous gang of thugs defile the edifice for the legislative branch of government (which was built by enslaved people) in a city Benjamin Banneker, a Black man, helped lay out, while stunning, was not by any measure surprising. When we fail to learn history, it just opens up a flank for the fomenting of domestic terrorism. For four years, we have been told that Trump, and by extension, his people, are not for real.

Trust me, they are. An honest and more comprehensive depiction of history in our schools would make for a smarter electorate and for less of an appetite for reckless lies.

— Dr. Rhonda Sherrod © CONTACT: info@vfpress.news

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