Austin Weekly News 122023

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Vol. 37 No. 51

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December 20, 2023 ■ Also serving Garfield Park ■ austinweeklynews.com

Ald. Emma Mitts wraps up 2023 and forecasts Austin’s New Year

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Purr-fect Holidays Readers share furbaby photos with us SEE PHOTOS, PAGE 4

‘They are my people,’ she said about Austin. ‘The same way I was brought up, they came up the same way.’

By DEBORAH BAYLISS Contributing reporter

Chicago Alderman Emma Mitts (37th Ward) has faced her share of challenges this year.

Perhaps most notably, the treatment she received by fellow alderman, Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, (35th Ward) who attempted to physically block See EMMA MITTS on page 14

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2 Austin Weekly News, December 20, 2023

Garfield Park seeks input for proposed grocery store on former Aldi site

Residents can choose among three models of grocery stores

By AMINA SERGAZINA Staff reporter

A new grocery store may be coming to West Garfield Park, and the Garfield Park Community Council is asking residents to help decide what form it will take.

It is expected to be built on the former Aldi site.

The public-input initiative is organized by the Garfield Park Community Council, Garfield Park Rite to Wellness, West Side United and Ald. Jason Ervin of the 28th Ward, along with the city of Chicago.

They are considering three options for a grocery store: co-op, nonprofit, and for-profit.

■ Co-op: This option would take the longest to open, somewhere between three to five years, but it would allow community members to buy shares, elect the board, and get benefits such as discounts.

■ Nonprofit: This option would have a timeline of about two years. It would belong to an organization that would collaborate with the community and offer discounts through grants and donations.

■ For-profit: This option would be the fastest to open, within one or two years.

It would be owned by a local, regional, or national company. It would have a wider selection of products, but it could close at any time.

The push comes as the city deliberates over the developer of the property. The last grocery store in the neighborhood, an Aldi on West Madison Street, closed its doors in October 2021, citing poor sales performance and increased expenses. The

area has become a food desert.

Residents and community leaders protested the closure, calling it a case of corporate discrimination and a threat to food security.

A year later, the Chicago City Council authorized $700,000 to acquire the shuttered site of Aldi. The city is planning to revitalize the building with proposals for a mixed-use development with a grocery store as the anchor.

Two proposals for developers were submitted: Garfield Gather and Westgate, both featuring affordable housing, retail space, and public amenities. A final decision has not yet been made.

A holiday market earlier this week, organized by the Garfield Park Community Council with Garfield Park Rite to Wellness, brought not only holiday spirit but also discussion of the community’s needs around grocery access on Dec. 9.

“We’re totally without a grocery store besides the pop-up that the park community council is hosting during this time to fill the gap,” said Angela Taylor, GPCC wellness coordinator.

Taylor said the market has been running for 11 years and has been one of the only sources for fresh produce in the community. But the market suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic, losing most of its vendors. Before the pandemic, the market had 45 vendors; now it has only 12.

The market operates year-round, but Taylor said it is not enough to meet the demand for healthy food in the neighborhood.

“We feel grateful that we’re available and the partners that have come to support us are making this available to the community residents,” Taylor said.

Residents can leave their feedback by filling out a 10-minute survey that is available on the GPCC website.

Austin Weekly News, December 20, 2023

Hatchery, Greater Chicago Food Depository bring hot meals to West Side nonprofits

‘It perfectly aligns with our mission to end hunger,’ one advocate says

By IGOR STUDENKOV Staff Reporter

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for food banks shot all across the city while caterers found their source of income vanish overnight.

Hatchery Chicago, the East Garfield Park food business incubator, saw this happen firsthand. The entrepreneurs who used their kitchens tended to rely on catering to make money, and the food incubator scrambled to try to help them stay afloat.

That is when they hit upon an idea.

“We thought – if there was a way to invest the funds going into those meals into start-ups and local businesses, we can both help the businesses, but also help individuals facing food insecurity,” recalled Hatchery spokesperson Natalie Shmulik.

Thanks to the funding from Builders Initiative, a foundation that works to improve equity and supports environmentally sustainable food production, the Hatchery was able to pay the vendors to make meals, which were then distributed to local churches and other nonprofits. As the pandemic subsided, they kept the Hatch Made Meals program going, teaming up with the Greater Chicago Food Depository to regularly distribute meals to the nearby Breakthrough Urban Ministries and Austin-based Broader Urban Involvement and Leadership Development. With food insecurity still very much an issue, the Hatchery aims to continue to keep the program going and expand the meal distribution footprint.

Shmulik said that Builders Initiative funding was enough to keep the program running for about a year. They initially donated to homeless shelters and area nonprofits. While some of the initial urgency passed, food insecurity was still an issue.

Food Depository spokesperson Man-Yee Lee said the organization saw the partnership as a natural fit. GCFD has been trying to make sure the meals get to the people that need them most. They also

IGOR STUDENKOV

Trinisa Williams is one of the entrepreneurs involved in Hatch Made Meals. wanted to invest in “meal producers” restaurants and caterers that were struggling to stay afloat.

Another factor at play was that GCFD has been expanding beyond simply providing food. That remains an important part of their mission - in Austin alone, they currently supply food to 12 pantries and two soup kitchens, distributing to about 384,000 pounds of food. But GCFD has also been trying to tackle the root causes of food insecurity in places like the West Side, such as poverty, systemic racism and disinvestment. Putting money in local entrepreneurs’ pockets was a step toward that goal.

“Hatchery supports local food and beverage entrepreneurs that are located

with some of the areas most impacted by systemic disinvestment,” Lee said. “It perfectly aligns with our mission to end hunger. We feel it’s a perfect marriage of our skillsets.”

Today, Hatch Made Meals relies on a combination of funding from the Builders Initiative, GCFD and the Industrial Council of Nearwest Chicago, the organization that launched the Hatchery. Shmulik said that the depository covers the cost of the meals themselves and handles the delivery, while Builders Initiative covers the cost workforce training, coordination and outreach, and ICNC covers labor costs, program development and strategic planning.

Lee said the food depository chose Breakthrough and BUILD because they both work with “opportunity youth,” or young people ages 16 to 24 who are not in any kind of educational institution, training program and/or aren’t working.

They also appreciated that BUILD worked with youth that are vulnerable to being recruited into gangs.

“That group of youth don’t [always] have access to food and to meals, and we’re talking about putting them on the right path in life,” Lee said. “They don’t need to be worrying about where their meals will come from.”

About a third of entrepreneurs based in the Hatchery are West Siders, but helping West Side entrepreneurs specifically has been one of Hatch Made Meals program’s goals. Shmulik said that they started out with six entrepreneurs. Under the current program, they See HATCHERY on page 6

We’re taking a break

By ERIKA HOBBS Editor

What better way to spend the holidays than with friends and family? We think so, too.

So this year, to thank our reporters, editors and staff, we’re taking a week off. We will not be publishing a print edition on Wednesday Dec. 27. Our of-

fices also will be closed from Monday Dec. 25 through Monday Jan.1. We’ll return Tuesday Jan. 2. Most of us will not be answering phones or email.

However, we know news never stops. If there is an emergency or breaking news, please email me, Erika Hobbs, at erika@ growingcommunitymedia.org.

Happy holidays from all of us at Growing Community Media!

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Editor Erika Hobbs Staff Reporters Amina Sergazina, Igor Studenkov, Amaris Rodriguez Special projects reporter Delaney Nelson Digital Manager Stacy Coleman Digital Media Coordinator Brooke Duncan Reporting Partners Block Club, Austin Talks Columnists Arlene Jones, Aisha Oliver Design/Production Manager Andrew Mead Editorial Design Manager Javier Govea Designer Susan McKelvey Sales & Marketing Representatives Lourdes Nicholls, Ben Stumpe Business & Development Manager Mary Ellen Nelligan Circulation Manager Jill Wagner Publisher Dan Haley Special Projects Manager Susan Walker

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4 Austin Weekly News, December 20, 2023

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The West Side Heroin Opioid Taskforce is working with the CTA to potentially install newsstand-style boxes stocked with naloxone, an opioid overdose-reversing medication commonly known as Narcan, on the ‘L’ stations platforms.

The proposal is still in the early stages.

Fanya Burford-Berry, co-chair of the taskforce’s subcommittee responsible for CTArelated outreach, officially submitted a proposal to the transit agency. The idea was to have the medicine within arm’s reach of a rider who might see someone overdosing.

The task force includes instructions on how to use Narcan on the newsstand boxes, and it hopes that the CTA will share information via station displays.

If CTA accepts the proposal, the program will be launched as a pilot. The taskforce is optimistic that they will see a response within a month.

Naloxone works by blocking opioids’ receptor proteins, which reduces the opioid effects, and helps return breathing to normal. “Naloxone” is the name of the medicine itself. “Narcan” is one of the brand names of the nasal spray version of it.

This is something that’s deeply person for former social worker Sheila Haennicke, the other co-chair of the CTA subcommittee. In November 2021, her son, David, died of an accidental overdose while riding the Blue Line. Although he had Narcan in his pocket, there was no one on the scene who could use it. By the time EMTs arrived, David was pronounced dead.

The Task Force previously put up 21 newsstands at West Side medical centers, community organizations and churches, among other locations. Each one includes directions for how to administer Narcan.

Haennicke made her case to the Chicago Transit Board during its November meeting, saying that, if Narcan was easily available on CTA platforms and riders felt confident about using it, other families might be spared the pain she felt.

“I want to get Narcan in the hands of riders, so we can help each other,” she said.

A week later, the task force was invited to meet with CTA officials. That resulted in the transit agency inviting them to submit an official proposal. If accepted, the task force and the CTA would launch a pilot program, which could lead to something more permanent down the road.

In an interview after the meeting, Haennicke said the task force would provide the newsstands and restock them.

“We know CTA workers are there to keep the trains running, they have many things to do,” she said.

The Blue Line has a total of five stations serving the West Side, while the Green Line has eight and Pink Line has five. Blue Line has traditionally been a focus of outreach efforts because it operates around the clock and serves the parts of the West Side with some of the highest overdose rates in Chicago. Haennicke gave the Blue Line’s Kedzie-Homan station as an example of an area they want to put particular focus on.

“We want riders to be empowered to have access to lifesaving Narcan,” she said, adding that they wouldn’t object to someone just taking Narcan and using it for themselves, or keeping it so they can use it for someone else in need.

Another thing they were hoping to do was to have CTA use its information displays, which also show advertising and public service announcements, to let the riders know how to use Narcan.

In an interview last week, Haennicke said she and Burford-Berry were optimistic that CTA would respond to the proposal within a month, if not sooner.

“Given how responsive they have been so far, I’m sure we will have an immediate reply, though they did tell us that it can take time to work things out because of the bureaucracy,” she said.

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6 Austin Weekly News, December 20, 2023

HATCHERY from page 3 can have as many as a dozen entrepreneurs in any given year, but entrepreneurs rotate throughout the year.

According to Dana Harding, a life-long West Sider who runs the Hatch Made Meal program, said that there are nine food businesses participating, and all of them are West Siders.

She said that the meals that get delivered vary depending on the demographics. Breakthrough’s free meals program serves children, while BUILD’s program serves adults.

Shmulik said that the initial funding allowed the entrepreneurs to make 200 to 500 meals a week. This not only helped them stay in business, but gave them the experience they needed to scale up.

“Since launching the program, we’ve been able to donate over 48,000 meals and we’ve been able to generate over $600,000 in revenue for local entrepreneurs,” Shmulik said. “On average, each entrepreneur has made anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000 within the year of [taking part] in the program.”

Lee said that GCFD delivers around 300 meals a week to Breakthrough and between 400 and 500 meals a week to BUILD. Trinisa Williams, of West Garfield Park, became a Hatchery member before the physical building was even finished. Her business, Trini’s Tasty Pastries, has been part of Hatch Made Meals for the past two years. Williams said that she was looking to do her part of address the shortage of access to fresh ingredients in the community.

“For me as a resident of Garfield Park and a business owner, I want my neighbors to have the same access I have to fresh, wholesome, and healthy food,” she said.

“The additional income is good, but it is not the main reason we have been participating. We just want to be able to feed people.”

Williams said that there have been some hiccups on the “administrative side” of the program, and she wishes that the program delivered to more nonprofits. But she was happy that Hatch Made Meals requires meals to be nutritionally balanced, and that her meals have been well-received.

“It is a lot of work, between the meal planning, meal prep and production, and coordinating deliveries,” Williams said. “However, when we receive the feedback that the group loved the meals – it makes the hard work worthwhile.”

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3

I

Thwarting the porch pirates

deliver part-time for a major company. It’s a great job that gives me the freedom to pick and choose when I want to work and the times I want to work. Because I like to get the things I purchase delivered without someone stealing them, I try to do my best to have that mindset when I deliver other people’s packages.

I recently had a discussion online because someone had their packages stolen. It is a major problem that parallels the folks who lie and claim that the package was stolen as they’re sitting there opening it. But that’s another subject for another day. One woman who lived on Addison Street, several blocks from Wrigley Field, complained to me that the packages were never left in the same spot. I reminded her that on such a busy street, people see the packages sitting there and temptation arises. Baby diapers are one of the biggest draws for people to steal because the average thief knows he/she can sell them in a heartbeat or put them to use!

One of my biggest frustrations is a porch where nothing is there, so I can’t hide the package. It ends up sitting there like a sore thumb and people wonder why their packages are getting stolen? One of my favorite places to put the package is behind a snow shovel. Rarely are snow shovels stolen off a front porch because it means the person would need to do some work with it.

An empty garbage can or large flower pot is a great thing to put on the porch so the package can be hidden. I like to send text messages to people letting them know that I am arriving with their package. Be-

cause this major company can do some not-so-smart things, they’re currently sending out toys without putting them in any kind of bags or boxes. I was delivering this past week and texted the customer that the package was on the side of the garbage can in the front yard. I also warned the customer that the package wasn’t wrapped. Common sense says toys sent out this time of the year are going to be a Christmas gift. Why they’re not automatically placed in a bag or box is beyond my comprehension!

One of my biggest frustrations is folks in apartment buildings who leave the front foyer door locked. Only the USPS can get through locked doors because of their special keys.

Lastly folks, in days of old, your address was for visitors and the mailman. So the cute little 2-inch number was fine. But in today’s world with so many delivery services going on, please have several addresses on your property, 6 inches minimum, especially near the front door. There is nothing more frustrating than having six houses in a row and not one of them has an address on it — or the address is on a sign sitting in the front yard and it’s dark outside so no one can see it. I was delivering in Indiana a while back and one house somehow had the numbering system messed up. Thankfully he mentioned it in his delivery notes. Otherwise I would have thought I was crazy when the address next door was like 858 and his address was like 822.

Thwarting the porch pirates is a challenge; don’t make it easy for them.

Have a very Merry Christmas and remember to celebrate Kwanzaa!

ARLENE JONES

‘Like’us on Facebook to view additional content @AustinWeeklyNews

Austin Weekly News, December 20, 2023

Affordable apartments come to North Lawndale

Grace Manor Apartments will have 65 units and a rooftop deck

By AMINA SERGAZINA Staff Reporter

North Lawndale will soon see a six-story, affordable-housing apartment complex with lots of windows and a green exterior in the community.

In the complex, called Grace Manor Apartments, the second through the sixth floors of the building will include 65 units with a mix of 31 one-bedroom and 34 two-bedrooms, complete with a rooftop deck.

There will be additional space for community commercial tenants and service providers that will benefit residents and the surrounding community on the ground floor, such as health and wellness service providers as well as job training and wealthbuilding classes.

This affordable housing, which broke

ground last week, comes amid effort by Rev. Marvin G. Hunter, who worked for decades to bring affordable housing to North Lawndale. “Only God could have allowed me to hear the amount of ‘nos’ that I’ve heard, the amount of ‘that can’t be done’ and ‘that’s not the way it’s done,’” Hunter said.

Hunter, the pastor of Grace Memorial Baptist Church, was born and raised in North Lawndale, where he continues to live and work.

The church, along with East Lake and Burling Builders Inc., are partners of the upcoming $40 million-affordable housing complex. It is expected to open in 2025.

Hunter said that this project is a continuation of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream for mixed-income affordable housing on the West Side and the 1964 Civil Rights Act. But the dream did not come easily to Hunter. Through this 25-year journey, Hunter said he met many obstacles to building affordable housing on the West Side. He said that the major ones were ordinances that created barriers for this project.

One was the ordinance that if the union is funding the building, only union workers can work on the project.

Hunter said that this obstacle would have prevented them from hiring local contractors because unions were historically not friendly to marginalized communities.

“They looked on the surface that they promoted development in the city, but what they really did was create barriers for marginalized groups of people such as 14th Amendment citizens, Black and Brown people, like the people in North Lawndale, Roseland, Austin and so on,” Hunter said.

Hunter said he believed in God’s timing and that timing fell on the last year of former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s term.

He said Lightfoot met with Hunter and said she saw his vision and since then she helped to bring down those barriers.

“It made me want to do cartwheels, backflips, the moonwalk, all that,” Hunter said.

“I was happy as a man could probably be and not for myself, but for the people that I represent, the people that believe, the people that stood and the people that will work and will

7

ultimately live in this property.”

Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order last week to streamline housing development and remove barriers.

The executive order requires 14 city departments to assess their current methods and suggest ways to make development easier by eliminating obstacles and speeding up review and approval times.

Hunter said that he made sure to hire contractors local to the North Lawndale and West Side area. Out of 45 contractors who bid on the project, they chose seven, which he described as “the best of the best.”

By hiring minority contract workers, Hunter said he is fighting a harmful stereotype that Black people don’t want to work.

“We didn’t just give them low-hanging fruit,” Hunter said. “These people are working on the MEP, which is electrical, plumbing, so on and so forth. Those are places in building that people in this community don’t generally get an opportunity to work on. Generally, they give them the labor or what they call the low-hanging fruit.”

8 Austin Weekly News, December 20, 2023

Austin bungalow wins Driehaus award Chicago Bungalow Association recognizes restoration of kitchen

By LACEY SIKORA

I

Contributing Reporter

t’s hard to imagine a couple better suited to owning and restoring an historic Chicago bungalow than Katrina and Mike Morrissey.

Over the last decade, they have lovingly PHOTOS PROVIDED restored their Austin home, bringing back some of the original character, which had Despite meticulous attention to historical details, the Morrisseys couldn’t forego modern appliances. disappeared over the years. They also got married, added three children to their fam- are attainable projects that will inspire oth- restoring the home.

They started stripping the tile in 2020, and ily and did that lion’s share of the restoration er bungalow owners across the city.”

“It turned out that Mike was very good continued their work while their two chilwork themselves, while holding down jobs in Katrina Morrissey said that when she at learning to do things himself. He bought dren were napping, as well as on nights and other fields. and Mike got engaged and began looking for tools and taught himself how to do things,” weekends. They removed layers and layers of The Chicago Bungalow Association re- houses, they knew they wanted a Chicago- she said. flooring to reveal the original maple floors. cently awarded the couple with a Driehaus style bungalow.

While they hired Peter’s Woodworking While Mike does the carpentry, Katrina, Award, recognizing their work making over “We just loved the history and the working who works as an occupational therapist, to help sand and refinish the floors, Mike their kitchen and putting them in the com- class past that came with homes. That’s all we takes on jobs such as painting, staining and stripped the kitchen’s painted woodwork, pany of other Chicago-area bungalow own- wanted was a bungalow,” she said. styling. She said that over the near-decade in and Katrina re-stained it. Mike built the new ers who take the stewardship of the They found the home of their dreams the home, “it has been a true team effort to kitchen cabinets himself in his basement iconic style homes seriously. in Austin, not too far from Mike’s get this house close to the way we want it.” workshop, using the pantry’s original cabiCreated in 2005 by the dad and mom in Oak Park.

After doing more work on the house, like nets as a guide.

While the bungalow might restoring the original front windows and Chicago Bungalow Katrina found evidence that a large sink have been a dream come stripping the painted woodwork, the couple with a drainboard had once been under the Association, with true for the couple, turned their eyes to their kitchen. They as- windows, and she found a salvaged vintage the support of Morrissey acknowl- sumed they would need to hire profession- sink to put in the new kitchen. They also The Driehaus edged that the als to help with a project of this scale, but a found an older, salvaged door with a transom Foundation, the home had great chance discovery led them to do the bulk of Driehaus Bunwindow above it to install in the rear of the bones, but not a the work on their own. galow Awards kitchen. Katrina said that using older materigreat aesthetic. are an annual, They found the kitchen’s original subway als was a key to putting the kitchen back to “It needed so tile buried under layers of newer tile. Ka- the way it might have originally looked. juried compemuch work,” she trina noted that once they realized they were tition honorOne area where they embraced modern: said. ing the creativable to salvage the tile, it inspired them to the appliances.

Early on in their tackle the entire room. ity and efforts “We like the old aesthetic but not to the exhomeownership, the of homeowners She said, “We wanted to be true to the his- treme where we would put in vintage appliKatrina and Mike Morrissey couple got a quote to torical style of the home, and the tile was a ances,” she said. of Chicago bungaredo their back porch. big part of that. It goes halfway up the wall. lows.

Homeowners While the kitchen project was finished beKatrina recalled the quote Being able to salvage the tile was also a big fore their third child’s arrival, Katrina said can submit their home was higher than expected, and budget saver.” improvement projects for a that she and Mike have grown used to using Mike thought he could do the work chance to win $1,000 in up to sevAlong the way, they were guided by some their spare time to work on the home, and the en award categories, including interior and himself. It turned out he was right. photos that an earlier resident of the home award is just the icing on the cake.

Mike, who is a teacher by day, proved to shared with them. exterior renovations, restoration, and land“This is a passion project for us,” she said. be a quick learner. Katrina said that her scape design.

“Most of the photos were of her family, “What I want to show people is that you “These projects that the judges selected fit husband didn’t even own tools when they but we were able to see what the living room, don’t have to rip everything out and go modthe spirit of the Driehaus Bungalow Awards,” met. When faced with a new house that original bathroom, kitchen and front of the ern. You can save a lot of money and a lot of said Mary Ellen Guest, executive director at needed a lot of work, though, he turned to house looked like. It was great to see the tile things from going to the landfill if you embrace what’s there.” the Chicago Bungalow Association. “They the internet to teach himself how to start in the kitchen photo,” Katrina said.

Austin Weekly News, December 20, 2023

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10 Austin Weekly News, December 20, 2023

McDonald’s revises plans for former Galewood Walgreens A car wash also is looking to open on Harlem Avenue at Galewood’s west end

the project, said that while McDonald’s would increase traffic on Mobile Avenue, he didn’t believe it would significantly affect traffic on North Avenue and other major streets.

He said he found that another factor at play with troublesome traffic in the area

By IGOR STUDENKOV is the length of time the lights stay green.

Staff Reporter North Avenue is a state highway, and the Illinois Department of TransportaMcDonald’s is back with revised plans tion gives longer green lights to vehicles for a restaurant at the former Galewood traveling east-west and vehicles traveling Walgreens location on the section of north-south.

North Avenue between Mobile and Nar“It’s not going to add to the fact that it’s ragansett avenues. a busy corridor,” he said.

The proposal presented at When asked about customAld. Chris Taliaferro’s comers turning into McDonald’s munity meeting last week from Ridgeland Avenue via amends original plans that North Avenue, Aboona said called for demolishing the they considered adding a building to put up a new Mcturn lane at the North Avenue Donald’s with a drive-through entrance, but there simply with customers primarwasn’t enough “green time” ily using the existing North to make it work.

Avenue entrance. McDonald’s “The state is not going to previous plans had customers LUAY ABOONA allow to have any green time use two ordering lanes out Traffic engineer taking away from North Avfront and pick up the orders enue,” he said. in the back. The new renderResidents also expressed ing flipped the configuration, concerns about the fact that with two drive-through lanes the drive-thru will be open in the back and pick-up win24/7. Taliaferro said that this dows in the front. Garbage isn’t set in stone. receptacles were moved away “But if it’s something that’s from homes. the concern to the commuMcDonald’s representatives nity, that’s something that we in attendance indicated that the chain was need to let McDonald’s know,” he said. planning to lease the property.

Taliaferro said he plans to hold a few Dan Olson, vice president at project more meetings this winter. While he didn’t architect Watermark Engineering Rewant to hold up McDonald’s too much, he sources, said that the new building will didn’t want to rush through the process, be about 4,000 square feet, and have 47 either. He declined to give a timeline for parking spaces – two more than originally when the proposal might go before ZBA. proposed. The drive-through lanes can Walgreens closed in 2015. It served as a accommodate up to 17 cars at the time.

COVID-19 testing site at the height of the He said that they will put in a 6-foot-tall pandemic, but otherwise has remained synthetic wood fence on the north side. vacant. The site ended up in foreclosure The plans show trees planted on the other in 2022, and it was purchased in an aucthree sides of the property. tion by a company that, according to the Illinois Secretary of State data, is owned Luay Aboona, the traffic engineer for

“It’s not going to add to the fact that it’s a busy corridor.”

IGOR STUDENKOV

Rendering of the Galewood McDonald’s plan proposal. by executives at Manhattan-based Tokio Marine HCC insurance company. In late June 2023, the property was purchased by Chicago developer Troutman & Dams.

Car wash The meeting also featured a presentation by the owners of the carwash group that plans to open a location on the west end of Galewood, at the long-vacant lot at 1933 N. Harlem Ave. While McDonald’s project must be approved by the Chicago zoning board of appeals because they are building a drive-thru, the car wash project faces no zoning hurdles. The owners said that since they were looking to be a “neighborhood carwash,” they wanted to introduce themselves to Galewood – a gesture that Taliaferro said he appreciated.

They own Sudz Express with car washes in the Hermosa and Beverly neighborhoods. Brenda Podrumedic, who represented the car wash at the meeting, said that they expect to wash around 250 cars a day. The car wash is automatic, and there will be 22 parking spaces equipped with vacuums. Podrumedic said they will be open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

She said that while there will be lights, they will be pointed down so they don’t disrupt the nearby homes. They will also have a 6-foot fence to dampen noise.

“We don’t allow radios and engine cleaning,” Podrumedic said. “We’re very diligent about policing these sorts of activities.

As with the McDonald’s proposal, residents expressed concerns about traffic – this time along Harlem Avenue. Taliaferro said that Milwaukee District West Line Metra trains crossing the street a few blocks north create back-ups during rush hours, both because they block intersections and because of commuters driving to and from the nearby Elmwood Park and Montclare stations.

Podrumedic said that while they haven’t done a formal traffic study, based on their experience in other locations, they expect most of the traffic in the afternoons. But she said that they would be willing to study the traffic issues and adjust accordingly.

Taliaferro said that he’d had concerns about a Starbucks that opened closer to the train tracks on North Harlem Ave. But he said that since it opened early this year, “the only thing that would cause backup is a CTA bus or a school bus.”

Taliaferro said that after the lot has been vacant for so long, he was happy to see something go in.

“In my eight years as an alderman, this is the first time someone has been interested in this site,” he said. “I’m just excited just to have someone who is interested.”

CHRISTMAS CHURCH GUIDE

December 20, 2023 11

Christmas 2023

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12 December 20, 2023

CHRISTMAS CHURCH GUIDE

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CHRISTMAS CHURCH GUIDE

December 20, 2023 13

The Oak Park Catholic Community welcomes you to our celebration of the Christmas Season!

The Parish of Ascension and St. Edmund www.ascensionoakpark.com · 708-848-2703 or 708-848-4417 Ascension Church 808 S. East Avenue, Oak Park

St. Edmund Church 188 S. Oak Park Avenue, Oak Park

The Parish of St. Catherine of Siena - St. Lucy and St. Giles www.stgilesparish.org · 708-383-3430 St. Catherine of Siena-St. Lucy Church 38 N. Austin Boulevard, Oak Park

St. Giles Church 1045 Columbian Avenue, Oak Park

The Nativity of the Lord

Christmas Eve, Sunday, December 24 3:30 pm Mass with the Ascension Schola at Ascension Church

3:00 pm Mass with Children’s Gospel at St. Giles Church

4:30 pm Mass with the St. Edmund Choir at St. Edmund Church

5:00 pm Mass with Children’s Gospel at St. Catherine of Siena-St. Lucy Church

5:30 pm Mass with the Ascension Choristers and String Ensemble at Ascension Church

5:00 p.m. Mass with Teen Choir at St. Giles Church

11:00 pm Mass with the Ascension Choir at Ascension Church Carols begin at 10:30 pm

7:30 pm Family Mass Community Mass in the St. Giles School Gym Carols begin at 7:00 pm 10:30 pm Christmas Vigil Mass with the Combined Choirs at St. Giles Church Carols begin at 10:00 pm

Christmas Day, Monday, December 25 9:00 am Mass with organ, instruments and cantor at Ascension Church 11:00 am Mass with organ, instruments and cantor at St. Edmund Church

9:00 am Mass with the Praise Choir at St. Catherine of Siena-St. Lucy Church 10:30 am Mass at St. Giles Church

The Solemnity of Mary, The Holy Mother of God Sunday, December 31

5:00 pm Oak Park Catholic Community Mass at St. Edmund Church

Monday, January 1

Monday, January 1

9:00 a at St. Catherine of Siena-St. Lucy Church 10:30 am Mass at St. Giles Church

9:00 am Mass at Ascension Church

Prayer in The Spirit of Taize´ for World Peace Day Monday, January 1 at 7:30 pm at Ascension Church

*Certain Masses may be livestreamed; times to be determined. Please see our websites, ascensionoakpark.org or stgilesparish.org, for further information, and to find links to online or livestream events.

14 Austin Weekly News, December 20, 2023

EMMA MITTS

Laramie State Bank [project]. The groundbreaking has already been done.

Constituent care

AWN: Are there any specific crime initiatives coming to Austin?

from page 1 her from entering the City Council chamber to cast a crucial vote on a matter regarding the ongoing migrant crisis. He has since apologized.

Her ward also dealt with unprecedented flooding and property damage this past summer. As of Sept. 16, the Federal Emergency Management Agency had distributed $125.9 million in relief funds, with about a third of those funds going to Austin and other West Side communities. That, however, was not enough to adequately deal with the devastation, according to Mitts.

Now, Mitts, like the other aldermen and the rest of the city, is dealing with the fallout from the migrant crisis as her constituents voice concern that city officials are not as quick to provide badly needed resources for their West Side community, but are able to come up with millions of dollars for asylum seekers. For example, the Chicago City Council approved $51 million in city funding this past summer to fund the crisis, $33 million in federal funding this past September, with another $150 million announced in November. from the state, according to news reports.

Despite controversies, Mitts has seen investment projects in Austin come to fruition, including the first responders training academy and the new Boys & Girls Club constructed on the same site. Some residents and local leaders fought to no avail against the center for youth being housed there. According to Mitts, the idea is so that kids can be near examples they can strive to become.

Mitts spoke with the Austin Weekly News about the triumphs and challenges she faced in 2023.

AWN: What went through your mind when you realized Ald. Ramirez-Rosa was blocking you from entering the chamber?

Mitts: “My thoughts were, ‘I’m being bullied.’ When that happens, oftentimes people don’t know what to do and they don’t know what it looks like, maybe. I’ve seen it enough in my lifetime being in the political arena and even before I got here, just being a female and how we be bullied just being a female. I asked him why he was bothering me. He said something about

Mitts: I would like to see the police department do more and be more visible on the street. We just got our new police superintendent [Larry Snelling] in. I would like to see more in terms of dealing with carjacking, robberies, theft, smash and grab. I used to not feel safe in the community but I feel safer now in the community than I do downtown. I plan to meet with the new police superintendent. We’ve already submitted a letter to him. We just need confirmation on when we can host a meeting with him and get the community out so he can understand what the community has to say about what needs to happen and who they can call besides 911 and not get a response.

AWN: Why continue to live in Austin?

Mitts: They are my people. The same way I was brought up, they came up the same way.

PROVIDED

AWN: Is there anything you’d like to say to the constituents ending out the year?

AWN: Can you talk about current investments on the West Side?

Mitts: I want to keep in the forefront the flood devastation that occurred here in the community. I do not take that lightly because that’s a displacement. A lot of people are still struggling. I feel as though a lot of my constituents were not given enough money from FEMA, families receiving $300 and being told to take the SBA loans. I need the governor [J.B. Pritzker] and agencies to step up and make sure our community is taken care of.

Emma Mitts how the immigrants feel when they hear us talking about them. I said, ‘well, I’m here to represent my community because I have to hear my community speak every day about resources being taken from our community.’ He wanted to prevent a vote from occurring on the floor to have a hearing on sanctuary city status.’”

AWN: What are your thoughts on the migrant issue as a whole in terms of how West Side residents are upset about disinvestment in their community versus the financial support earmarked for asylum-seekers?

Mitts: I think this is a national issue that’s coming from [President Joe Biden’s] administration and [it’s] the Democratic Party versus the Republicans. As an alderman, I have to care for all the constituents in my ward. My resources are slim because I’m already dealing with a devastating flood. It’s not that we are against the migrants or that we don’t want them here, but there are plenty of places that can house migrants in the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois whereas not to put so many in one location.”

Mitts: A lot has been occurring this year with projects that have been undertaken and through previous administrations.

The Joint Public Safety Training Academy on Chicago Avenue and Kostner is up and operating. It’s a 34-acre facility that started out at $95 million but increased over time with other expansions that were needed there. I would put it now at somewhere around $150 million. We also just opened the [$15 million Rusu-McCartin] Boys & Girls Club this year right next to the Public Safety Training Academy. [The new] Culver’s is in the same location. We also have an alternative healthcare facility that we brought in to deal with mental [health] and that’s on the 4700 block on Chicago Avenue.

I also have the [10-acre] youth sports center on the 1800 block of North Laramie.

AWN: Are there projects and investments planned for 2024?

Mitts: We are working on the PCC Community Wellness Center expansion on Lake Street and I’m working with Oak Park Regional Housing on the $14.5 million

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AustinWeekly News, December 20, 2023 15

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Vol. 38, No. 50

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December 13, 2023

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Major projects ahead for Brookfield PAGE 9

22-unit apartment complex coming to Riverside

Dazzling lights See the best in Landmarkland STORY ON PAGE 4

The village also is considering creating a permanent tax levy to fund street projects, instead of borrowing money through bonds

By AMINA SERGAZINA

Vol. 106, No. 47

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Amid the city’s mass shootings, community groups work to prevent more bloodshed

Heat, pollution take toll on West Side residents health, report shows The data show how these factors disproportionately affect residents who could benefit from simple cooling measures, like planting trees

One UCAN member mediates ‘peace agreements’ after violent incidents

By FRANCIA GARCIA HERNANDEZ Staff Reporter

Staff Reporter

A 22-unit multifamily apartment complex with two, first-floor live-work units — the first of its kind for Riverside — is coming to the village.

The Riverside village board approved a special use permit Dec. 7 for the mixed-use development at 28 and 30 E. Burlington St. The complex is expected to be a five-story building.

CZS/BROOKFIELD ZOO

See APARTMENTS on page 12

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Obama b ex-staffffer runs for Davis seat, page 5

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In Austin, East Garfield Park, West Garfield Park and North Lawndale the index reached the 90-100 percentile. In contrast, more affluent neighborhoods such as Lincoln Park or Lakeview have scores in the 1 to 30th percentile.

Many residents in these neighbor-

After an overnight mass shooting injured at least 15 people in North Lawndale on Oct. 29, a number of community partners and city agencies stepped in to coordinate services for victims and their families.

The Chicago Police Department on Oct. 31 opened an emergency service center at YMEN’s facility, where police and community organizations provided on-site support to victims and their families. Among them was UCAN, a nonprofit providing an array of services for

See POLLUTION on page 3

See SHOOTING on page 4

FRANCIA GARCIA HERNANDEZ

Galewood neighbors and tree ambassadors learn about trees from a certified arborist David Kusnierz on Oct. 28, 2023.

By FRANCIA GARCIA HERNANDEZ Staff Reporter

West Side residents are disproportionately burdened by pollution and environmental hazards that harm residents’ health, and are among those most heavily impacted by environmental issues when compared with

other Chicagoans, an environmental justice city report released in late summer showed.

Austin, East Garfield Park, West Garfield Park and North Lawndale are some of the areas with the highest cumulative impacts – a score that measures how a community is affected by environmental factors.

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REVIEW NOVEMBER 22, 2023

Enrichment

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Guide

Why Anan supports Wednesday Journal He’s asking you to donate, too. PAGE 25

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Proviso West teacher champions trade school as a path for students

December 6, 2023 Vol. 44, No. 23

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OAK PARK TOWNSHIP TAX SALE NOTICE INSIDE

of Oak Park and River Forest

By AMARIS E. RODRIGUEZ Staff Reporter

In a bright room with state-of-the-art machinery, April Senase stands as a champion for kids who don’t want to follow a traditional post-secondary path. In her classroom, she shows them that a career in trades can make for a fulfilling and successful life.

She knows because she lived it. And although she never thought she’d become a teacher, last year, Senase won the 2023 Illinois State Board of Education’s Teacher of the Year for Early Career Educator Meritorious Service Award. She has been nominated once again this year.

“This program at Proviso West High School is help-

Library landscaping The Forest Park Garden Club boosts the public library’s curb appeal.

Story on page 3

See SENASE on page 6

Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

John Rice: Acceptance, the key to serenity…and gratitude

Tom Holmes: Gonna let my little light shine

Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

PAGE 17

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IN Big Week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 THIS ISSUE Crime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

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OPRF students who want to stop climate change head to Dubai

Senase was awarded an ISBE award for her dedication to her students

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Education

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Katie Stabb and Kate Wallace attend the annual UN Climate Summit

Reindeer in disguise?

By JACK HELBIG Contributing Reporter

A year ago, two Oak Park and River Forest High School students — Manolo Avalos and Victoria “Tori” Evans — attended the United Nations annual conference on climate change, COP27, in Egypt.

They were part of a group of high school students sent to the conference under the auspices of a youth environmental group, It’s Our Future, part of the Oak Park-based Seven Generations Ahead environmental group.

By the time you read this, two more OPRF students — Katherine Stabb, who goes by Katie, and Kate Wallace — will have already made the 13-hour, 25-minute flight from Chicago to Dubai, to attend COP28, this year’s conference, held Nov. 30 to Dec. 12 and sponsored by the same group. They are part of a delegation of six Chicago-area high school students going to the conference.

Santa’s dachsunds distract attendees from the Cookie Walk in Downtown Oak Park MORE PHOTOS ON PAGE 9

TODD A. BANNOR

See DUBAI on page 15