AustinWeeklyNews_121416

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AUSTIN WEEKLY news ■

West Side police commanders would like to ‘forget about’ 2016

Vol. 30 No. 49

December 14, 2016

austinweeklynews.com

@AustinWeeklyChi

Also serving Garfield Park

PAGE 13

Meet Damon Williams, page 3

Boughs of holly On Saturday, the Columbus Park Refectory, 5701 W. Jackson Blvd., was transformed into a hub of holiday delights, replete with multiple Santas, elves and tables teeming with gifts. Children enjoyed stuff stockings and other delights. Read the story on all the fun at austinweeklynews.com. Facebook

A New York artist channels Austin

Shinique Smith has been commissioned to create artwork for Austin/Chicago bus turnaround By IGOR STUDENKOV Contributing Reporter

At a Dec. 8 meeting convened by the Austin African American Business Networking As-

sociation (AAABNA), community members got a chance to hear from an artist who has been hired to spruce up the bus turnaround on the northeast corner of Austin and Chicago Avenues. Although the Chicago Transit Authority has been incorporating public art into ‘L’ stations for years, this will mark the first time the agency will install art at a bus turnaround. New York-based artist Shinique Smith has been chosen to create the public installation. At last week’s meeting, held at Sankofa

Cultural Arts Center, 5820 W. Chicago Ave. in Austin, Smith said that she is still working out a concept for the installation, but assured residents that she’ll use the site’s layout and Austin area’s history as inspiration. AAABNA members and residents all said that they wanted something that would serve as a welcoming gateway and a monument to the community’s history and to African American culture. Whatever design Smith comes up with will have to be approved by the CTA. If everything stays on schedule, it is expected to be

unveiled no sooner than late 2017. The turnaround has existed, in some form or another, since at least 1895, when Cicero & Proviso Street Railway street car company built a line along Chicago Avenue between Cicero and Austin Avenue. The line was converted to a trolleybus line in 1952 and into a diesel bus line in 1967. Over the past few decades, the turnaround has experienced several service changes. It currently serves as a final western stop

Austin Chamber of Commerce on the move... 773.854.5848 • www.austinchicagochamber.com

See SHINIQUE SMITH on page 4


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