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Son of Congressman Danny K. Davis dies,
Vol. 31 No. XX
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April 5, 2017
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austinweeklynews.com
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PAGE 9
Also serving Garfield Park
Austin, A ti dance!, d ! page 4
New West Side eatery has ambitions beyond food LiFE in West Garfield Park wants patrons to be healthy and empowered By IGOR STUDENKOV Contributing Reporter
A new West Garfield Park eatery, located at 2858 W. Madison St., opened on April 1 with a bang and a serious mission. Owner Joseph Black said that he hopes his new restaurant, called LiFE, improves the collective health of West Side residents and encourages them to treat each other better. In the summer months, Black said, a
vacant lot next to the restaurant will be open for yoga, Zumba and boxing classes. The North Lawndale native said that he ultimately wants his establishment to anchor a small renaissance of local economic growth that would entail refurbishing vacant buildings and creating job opportunities for area residents. Black, a North Lawndale native who graduated from Southern Illinois University in 2006 with a degree in mass media and communications, is a serial entrepreneur who has launched a range of businesses, including film and landscaping companies. He said that he got into the restaurant business because he didn’t like See LIFE on page 4
Chicago Ave. gas station a magnet for crime
Residents in Oak Park and Austin looking for answers, send message of unity after shooting By TIM INKLEBARGER Staff Reporter
On most days the BP gas station at 100 Chicago Ave. is a real convenience for Christina Waters, who lives across the street and frequents the business regularly for milk, cheese and other household goods. But over the last several months she’s grown worried about the business and the criminal activity it attracts. Between June of 2016 and mid-February, the 24-hour gas station has experi-
enced at least seven motor vehicle thefts – worth a combined $87,900 in stolen property – and two separate incidents involving guns – a nonfatal shooting of a gang member in February and an aggravated discharge of a firearm a month earlier.
Gunshots twice in under a month Waters, who has lived 10 years near the gas station, said her fears worsened after returning home on Feb. 11 to find the gas station cordoned off with yellow police tape. Earlier that evening, at just after 8 p.m., a 21-year-old man, who claims to be a gang member, was shot in the leg at the gas station. The recently released incident report reveals that the man adSee GAS STATION on page 6
WILLIAM CAMARGO/Staff Photographer
The book of Elijah Sharita Sims, pictured in her Oak Park apartment last week, holds of a photo of her son, Elijah, who was murdered last August while visiting friends in Austin. Sims is working to raise money in order to help bring her son’s killer to justice. Read her story of survival at austinweeklynews.com.
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