AUSTIN WEEKLY news
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Vol. 30 No. 50
Clarius Partners can do better,
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December 21, 2016
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austinweeklynews.com
VALERIE LEONARD, PAGE 9
@AustinWeeklyChi
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Also serving Garfield Park
Meet Angela l Parker, page 3
Austin area to get special funding The Austin Chicago Ave. Cultural Corridor is now a special service area By IGOR STUDENKOV Contributing Reporter
Residents and business owners near the intersection of Chicago and Cicero avenues will see thousands of dollars pouring into that area within the next few months. On Dec. 14, the City Council voted to establish Special Service Area 72. A special tax will be levied against all the properties within it, generating funding for public improvements. As with all SSAs, a board of commissioners appointed by the mayor will decide how the funds are spent and a non-profit organization – in this case, the Westside Health Authority – will manage it. While many details would still need to be ironed out, the focus will be on sprucing up properties, improving public safety and supporting local entrepreneurs. SSA 72, also known as the Austin Chicago Avenue Cultural Corridor, includes the portion of Chicago Avenue between Central and Kilpatrick avenues, and the section of Cicero Avenue between Rice and Ohio streets. There are now 54 SSAs in Chicago, but until Dec.12 none had been in Austin. In order to create an SSA, a nonprofit usually has to step forward to file the initial paperwork. WHA took that on and it See AUSTIN SSA on page 4
WILLIAM CAMARGO/Staff Photographer
EMPOWERMENT SERVED FRESH: Patty Ringo prepares a quick lunch at Chicago Kitchen on Dec. 16. Ringo’s catering enterprise, Katr2U, was named business of the month for December by the Leaders Network.
Success takes a neighborhood
Patty Ringo started her own catering company from volunteering with her local church By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor
This is part of an ongoing series analyzing how the state’s financial crisis has affected West Side residents. As the state slogs through another holiday season crippled by Springfield’s financial woes, which have forced most social service organizations across Illinois to make deep budget cuts, one Austin entrepreneur wit-
nesses the effects of that political inertia regularly. “One time, someone called and told me her food stamps were late because they were doing something at the government offices,” said Patty Ringo, 51, the co-director of the culinary ministry at Greater St. John Bible Church, 1256 N. Waller Ave. in Austin, and the founder of a catering enterprise called Katr2U. “She said that she didn’t have any food in
the house. I can tell you, that’s a big problem in the community because a lot of times people aren’t employed, some don’t have skills or can’t afford to go back to school so they’re lacking,” said Ringo in a recent interview. “Other’s are dealing with homelessness. So it becomes a challenge overall, but [the answer] starts with us.” Ringo said that she’s a testament of how,
Austin Chamber of Commerce on the move... 773.854.5848 • www.austinchicagochamber.com
See PATTY RINGO on page 6