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AUSTIN WEEKLY news ■ Arlene Jones on the soda tax, PAGE 10
Vol. 31 No.30
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July 26, 2017
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austinweeklynews.com
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Austin Coming Together, special pullout section
WILLIAM CAMARGO/Staff Photographer
FIRST OF ITS KIND: Elected officials and people who worked on the creation of the first restorative justice court in Illinois cut a ribbon to celebrate it’s opening on July 20.
Restorative justice court opens in North Lawndale
5 facts to know about the new court, the first of its kind in the state By JENNIFER SIMEONE-CASAS, RESITA COX and SARAH CONWAY City Bureau
Court officials and North Lawndale community members gathered Thursday at the Nichols Center, 3605 W. Fillmore St., to cut the ribbon on a new type of court that doesn’t hand down prison sentences: Illinois’s first Restorative Justice Community Court. This summer, City Bureau reporters will
follow the progress of the court—one of 10 restorative justice projects nationwide supported by the Department of Justice—and document community attitudes toward the program. Here is what we know so far.
1 — It’s not a traditional court Like its name suggests, the court operates based on principles of restorative justice, an alternative to the country’s traditional punishment for crimes. “This is about the community,” said Judge Colleen Sheehan, who will be presiding over the court. “The community has the power to determine how to heal the harm from crime and conflict. It is the community that has the wisdom and humanity to See RESTORATIVE JUSTICE on page 8
Residents celebrate Mandela Road anniversary The ceremony highlighted West Side initiatives, community projects By IGOR STUDENKOV Contributing Reporter
The July 18 ceremony outside the Westside Health Authority headquarters, 4800 W. Chicago Ave., was about more than marking the fourth anniversary of dedicating the section of Cicero Avenue between Grand Avenue and Roosevelt Road as “Nelson Mandela Way.” It was a way to get the community out and about, doing something positive. It was
a way to show what the local community organizations have accomplished over the past year. And it was an opportunity to pay tribute to another civil rights leader, as the nonprofit Westside Health Authority officially unveiled the 1968 statue of Martin Luther King Jr. at its new home on the plaza in front of the building. For the past few years, Illinois State Representative La Shawn Ford (8th) has been pushing to rename Cicero Avenue to Mandela Road. The change wouldn’t be entirely unprecedented. Pulaski Road, a major Chicago thoroughfare a few blocks east, was renamed after Revolutionary War hero Casimir Pulaski in 1935, thanks in large part to the pressure from the city’s Polish-
Austin Chamber of Commerce on the move... 773.854.5848 • www.austinchicagochamber.com
See MANDELA ROAD on page 6