FREE
AUSTIN WEEKLY news ■
Vol. 30 No. 37
■
Heroin survivor stories,
September 21, 2016
■
austinweeklynews.com
PAGE 11
@AustinWeeklyChi
■
Also serving Garfield Park
Austin goes back to church, page 14
Douglas Park music venue proposed By IGOR STUDENKOV Contributing Reporter
Earlier this month, Ald. Michael Scott (24th) held a series of public hearings on a proposed music venue in North Lawndale that, until the community meetings, had been a concept mulled in media reports and the subject of closed-door discussions. At a Sept. 7 public meeting, organized by the North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council, Scott and Chicago Park District Project Manager Michael Lange clued residents in on the details of the proposal, which calls for an outdoor stage and a lawn area in the north half of the park, at the northeast corner of Ogden Avenue and Sacramento Drive. The existing native plants would be located northwest of the lagoon, replacing part of the existing golf course. A proposed nature area may feature recreational space for kids. While NLCCC enthusiastically endorsed the proposal, some of the residents that attended were skeptical. Several expressed concerns about how much input the community had in the process and argued that the money would be better spent fixing the park’s existing problems. Scott told the residents that he had the idea for the music venue in Douglas Park since he worked for the park district, but he couldn’t get much traction until he became an alderman. When the park’s golf course opened about 15 years ago, he said, it was popular, thanks in no small part because of See DOUGLAS PARK on page 6
WILLIAM CAMARGO/Staff Photographer
MORNING GLORY: More than 200 fathers converge on the steps of Catalyst Circle Rock Charter School in Austin on Sept. 15 for the school’s annual Dads Take Your Child to School initiative.
For West Side students, a 200-father salute Catalyst Circle Rock Charter School held its annual Dads Take Your Child to School initiative on Sept. 15 By LEE EDWARDS Contributing Reporter
Catalyst Circle Rock Charter School, 5608 W. Washington Blvd., welcomed 200 fathers and men from the community to celebrate students as they walked into the school building on Sept. 15 during the K-8 school’s annual “Dad Take Your Child to School Initiative.” Catalyst previously held the ceremony
last year to showcase the positive male role models within the Austin community, said Catalyst Circle Rock Principal Elizabeth Jamison Dunn. “We really did it as a response to the negative feedback and press that our community often gets, especially in regards to young black boys and black men,” said Dunn. “We thought it would be a fantastic opportunity to show that black men do care and do matter in our community.”
Dunn said one of the school’s goals is to make the celebration of students an annual event. She said she wants to make men a staple presence in the school. This year, Catalyst Circle Rock will launch “Daddy & Me,” a program that will bring men into the school on a monthly basis for reading activities, inspirational workshops and to as-
Austin Chamber of Commerce on the move... 773.854.5848 • www.austinchicagochamber.com
See 200 FATHERS on page 4