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AUSTIN WEEKLY news ■
Vol. 29 No. XX
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Chicago Ideas Week tours Austin,
October 26, 2016
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austinweeklynews.com
@AustinWeeklyChi
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PAGE 4
Also serving Garfield Park
Austin A ti Coming C i Together, special pullout section
With construction uptick, jobs await Three 28th Ward developments need area applicants, says consultant By IGOR STUDENKOV Contributing Reporter
Three major construction and renovation projects in the 28th Ward are about to kick off and Ald. Jason Ervin (28th) is looking to help his constituents get jobs out of them. The first project would renovate the East Park Apartments, an East Garfield Park Single Room Occupancy building designed to provide affordable housing and social services for West Side residents. The second project entails the redevelopment of the currently vacant lot at 2020 W. Ogden Avenue into the Gateway mixed-use development. The final project would change the Medical District Apartments complex at 901-903 S. Ashland Ave. The existing buildings will be renovated and a new mixed-use building will be added. While the jobs are open to everyone, 28th Ward residents will get priority. Many of those jobs aren’t limited to labor union members, but the wages are similar to what union employees would get. And developers emphasized that they want to attract as many applications as possible. East Park Apartments, located at 3300 W. Maypole Avenue, reportedly has over 150 units, all but one of which are affordable to residents earning no more than 60 percent of the area’s median income. Residents also receive housing vouchers to help cover their rent. See 28th WARD JOBS on page 8
WILLIAM CAMARGO/Staff Photographer
NEW DAY, NEW LAW?: Activists, who are demanding Springfield pass a recall bill, protest in front of Chicago Police Department headquarters on the South Side on Oct. 20.
Activists push for passage of ‘LaQuan Act’
The proposed legislation is similar to Rep. La Shawn K. Ford’s bill By IGOR STUDENKOV Contributing Reporter
At an Oct. 20 rally held outside of Chicago Police Department headquarters on the South Side, activists from all parts of the city demanded that state lawmakers pass legislation that would allow voters to recall Chicago’s mayors, aldermen and county state’s attorneys.
The proposed legislation, introduced on Oct. 19 by outgoing state Rep. Ken Dunkin (5th), is known as the LaQuan McDonald Act — named after the teenager who was shot 16 times by a Chicago police officer in 2014. Dashcam video of McDonald’s murder was released by the city last November, but only after a court order. Dunkin’s legislation is similar to a bill that was introduced last December by state Rep. La Shawn K. Ford (8th), which would allow voters to recall Chicago mayors at least six months after their most recent term in office began. The proposed LaQuan McDonald Act is largely identical to Ford’s proposal, but
there are some differences. Most notably, unlike Ford’s proposal, Dunkin’s bill would allow voters to also recall aldermen and state’s attorneys. In addition, the requirements for launching a petition to trigger the mayoral recall would be easier to meet. Ford’s proposal would require at least 15 percent of all of the citizens who voted for mayor to sign the recall petition, and at least 50 signatures must come from each ward. Dunkin’s proposal sets the minimum at 10 percent, and it doesn’t have the wardbased minimum requirement. See LAQUAN MCDONALD ACT on page 6
Austin Chamber of Commerce on the move... 773.854.5848 • www.austinchicagochamber.com