Is Harris the Best Person to Represent the 8th Ward Community? There Are Many Who Think Not!

By Pamela Bratcher-McMillan

While allowing strangers to come into the 8th ward and build a low-income housing project in a mid to upper middle class neighborhood near the affluent Black community known as Pill Hill, Harris consistently interrupts the progress of a young black entrepreneur and investor that grew up in the community. What is her angle? Who is she trying to help take over or take down the Avalon Regal Theater where great notable icons like Aretha Franklin once performed and was crowned the “Queen of Soul” there? Could it be that she does not support any business she cannot benefit from as she did with the Montclare low-income housing project whose developers don’t live in the community but donated at least $25,000 to her campaign?

What is the agenda with black alderman on the South side that they allow outsiders to steamroll or buy them out so they can define and develop a community that doesn’t belong to them? They didn’t come running until the Obama library construction was announced. Black aldermen are allowing prime real estate to go down in value so it can be purchased at a low cost or grabbed by parasites buying and flipping property.

Alderman Michelle Harris’ office had the Chicago Police Department storm troopers raid the front and back entrances with 20-30 officers according to an affidavit submitted by a producer during the filming of a gospel teen music video with “nine teen dancers, three parent chaperones and a video crew of seven people…19 in the audience chairs” there at the Avalon Regal Theater. Imagine the trauma the kids suffered, being inundated daily by media depictions of police violence against black youth.  Amidst the chaos, over a half dozen police vehicles raced to the theater where potential visitors had gathered for an annual Chicago architectural tour. They stood in amazement to see signs stating that they were not permitted to enter. The annual Avalon Regal tour had been a part of the popular Architectural Open House Walk for the past three years without incident. The long anticipated event was seen as a beacon of hope to raise awareness and possible contributions, for the minor repairs needed to allow the theater to be self-generating monetarily. During the encounter, witnesses say officers threatened to arrest everyone, including Ms. Peggy Sutton from Mayfair Dance Academy. Mr. Gary was taken into police custody and later released. No charges were filed.

Unwarranted Raid: Mr. Jerald Gary‘s Avalon Regal raided by CPD. He Was Arrested!

Reportedly someone said Harris’ office had called police on the owner of the Avalon Regal Theater. Kids were reported frightened “and it will probably have a mental affect on them for a long time.” What was she thinking!? If she was truly concerned as reported, was she not smart enough to consider the affect this scenario might have on the young people? However, she told CopyLine Magazine that she tried to help and work with him. She said it was a court order issued by the city. Although, Mr. Gary didn’t agree with her statement.

Don’t let Alderman Harris’ personal agenda get in the way of a legacy that belongs to the whole community. Help Support the Avalon Regal Theatre and Mr. Jerald Gary’s efforts to revitalize the community starting with reopening the venue with concerts and plays that will also include a innovative cutting edge hologram technology of the greats performing. Imagine sitting back watching a Billie Holiday concert or Curtis Mayfield as others watched when they were in their prime. Nowhere else in the city, county or state is anything on this level being done. The Avalon Regal Theater is “uniquely positioned to serve Chicago’s South Side and Northwest Indiana.

According to Mr. Gary, “It’s not just about entertainment, but education and community empowerment and development as well.” Avalon Regal is the largest venue in the region. Beautiful videos have been shot there with companies like Nike, Glade and others taking advantage of the opulent surroundings.

UPDATE: Michelle Harris office is back paddling in Facebook wars after seeing the Sun-Times report that Super Star Kanye West is interested in helping the Avalon Regal Theater open back up. Kanye tweeted many of his followers about his support. Again, an opportunist like Harris has no interest in anything that helps the community unless it helps her. She obviously doesn’t care what it looks like unless she is shamed on social media as she has been intensively for the past several months with photos of blight and hopelessness in the 8th ward. Only then she jumps to some action. Everything that her opponent calls her out on, she is trying to fix only now, a couple of months before the election. She even went as far as to take photo opportunities with Kanye West and Jerald Gary and have them posted on Facebook. Could it be there was a spark when the Harris team saw one of her opponents, Linda Hudson in a photo visiting Mr. Gary and the Avalon Theater for the purpose of offering her support by taking a look around and posting his fundraising campaign link to encourage others to help out as well? Missing from the photo-captions lauded by the Harris team on the incumbent’s Facebook campaign site, was that it was a standing (regular) meeting prior to her 8th Ward challenger Linda Hudson’s visit. Furthermore, “the meeting was with the City” to discuss the Landmark Commission’s involvement in the minor work to be done on the Avalon Regal Theater to open it up for public use. Kanye West was there with Jerald Gary because he will be playing a big part in helping to reopen the theater. This regularly scheduled meeting with the City was not a Michelle Harris meeting. Funny how it wasn’t mentioned in the photo credits that it was a Landmark Commission & City of Chicago meeting with the theater owner and his investor. Was it an oversight? I think not. Just another effort to fool the public into believing she was there to give her support to Mr. Gary. It’s said a picture speaks a thousand words. Gauging the expressions on the faces and the body language in the photos posted by Harris office definitely seem to tell a story all their own, and it’s not the one they are spinning.

Photo from that day at the Avalon Regal Theater just before Chicago Police raided the place on false rumors that 400 people would be sneaked in the back door to raise money for the restoration of the place. Where is the water claimed to be pouring in on this rainy day as reported by Harris office? It doesn’t look like they are in dark rains here. According to this photo taken then, there are obviously lights on in the place too.

Up next: How an alderman can “ghettofy” a middle class community with a mural and a low income housing project.

By Pamela Bratcher-McMillan

The 8th Ward looks disgusting, and we can prove it. Don’t believe it? Drive up and down its main streets. Ald. Michelle Harris is helping the area plunge down into a slum by allowing businesses to come in that prey on the poor all the while attempting to transform the 8th ward and its communities into a slum to inevitably help and allow strangers to come in and buy for pennies on the dollar.

In the meantime, your property values will go down and crime will go up. Within the slums she builds and cultivates is one of the most affluent black communities in Chicago known as Pill Hill. Once a very wealthy black community, her reign has littered the surrounding area with deteriorating businesses and vacant property leaving the area only desirable for blood-suckers and exploitative businesses to come in, including her tower of Babel that pitted the communities against each other; thanks to her forked tongue delivery of the project and its component known as the Montclare, a low-income senior housing project that she was able to get the go-ahead from the city to allow construction. It will be her testament to her tenure and the ornament that shines in the middle of the devastation created under her watch including dialysis centers, organ donation facilities, businesses that buy blood from our young, businesses that can fence merchandise stolen from our neighbors, cash advance, storage units for people to store and many will eventually lose what they have due to discrimination and unemployment.

To add insult to injury, Ald. Harris has changed the report  abandoned vehicles page on her website to report vacant/abandoned buildings, instead of adding a new page to report abandoned buildings. Is this an attempt to look like she was concerned  about the abandoned buildings all the time by editing an existing page so it wouldn’t look like a new page? So much for reporting abandoned vehicles! This is just one example of the deception that constantly takes place when her ineptness is exposed or feels her position (she calls it a job) is threatened. It’s obvious she was shamed into looking as if she was concerned about it all the time, when she was not, yet she was tooting her own horn all over the place about how she was building the 8th Ward up with a low-income housing project in a middle to upper- middle class community. What a joke!

We saw all of the pictures of the slums and lack of maintenance on empty and abandoned buildings, some in deplorable and dangerous conditions as well as severely broken sidewalks and filthy streets being shared on the Citizens for “Linda Hudson, 8th Ward Aldermanic Candidate’s” Facebook page, and obviously she and her staff did too.

While they are half hanging street cleaning signs, the Department of Streets & Sanitation is coming through every month cleaning streets and ticketing the cars of people that didn’t see the signs because they weren’t placed properly where they could be seen. There was a time when residents didn’t get tickets on their street, the sweeper just went around and you you’d lose out on the cleaning.

Ald. Harris, please, for the well-being and sake of the community, step down as alderman. It is obvious you haven’t been a good caretaker for the ward. You’re in over your head – no creativity, no ideas, no vision, and nothing for the 8th ward but blight.

Photos courtesy of Citizens for “Linda Hudson, 8th Ward Aldermanic Candidate.”

NOTE: Click on first image and use left & right arrows to navigate gallery.

Department considers this month’s theme as a call to action

Springfield, IL – What does it mean to blaze a trail? To the Illinois Department on Aging (IDoA), blazing a trail means evolving to better meet the needs of our growing older adult population and creating a sustainable path for older adults in Illinois – today and for many more years to come. As we celebrate Older Americans Month, IDoA is embracing this year’s theme – Blaze a Trail – and using it as our call to action.

“Older Americans Month is an important month for us to celebrate the contributions of older adults and raise awareness about the issues facing our community,” remarked IDoA Director, Jean Bohnhoff. “We’re being challenged to keep pace with technology and a growing aging population; the Department is meeting that challenge head on and, working with the Rauner Administration, we believe we’ve found the right solution to avoiding premature institutionalization while maintaining the sustainability of critical programs,” she continued.

Director Bohnhoff is a trailblazer in her own right, coming from the provider community and joining IDoA earlier this year. She encourages IDoA staff to think outside the box and develop innovative and creative new ways to interact with providers and advocates across the network and improve service delivery for our clients.

IDoA recognizes the contributions of local trailblazers year-round through awards programs such as the Senior Hall of Fame and our Caregiver Awards.

“Blazing a trail means taking action, moving forward and paving a way for others to follow. We’re doing that at IDoA and we’re optimistic about what that means for our state and our older adult population,” said Bohnhoff.

Grassroots Collaborative is Action Now, American Friends Service Committee – Great Lakes Region, Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, Chicago Teachers Union, Enlace Chicago, Illinois Hunger Coalition, Jane Addams Senior Caucus, ONE Northside, Service Employees International Union Healthcare Illinois Indiana

Attorney General Alleges Fraud by Former Board Members of Wilmette Bank against U.S. Treasury Fund, First Midwest Bank

CHICAGO, IL — Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan  joined with the Special Inspector General for the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to announce new charges against two former members of the board of directors of the Wilmette-based Premier Bank for defrauding First Midwest Bank and the Department of Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund.

Madigan announced the new charges against Zulfikar Esmail and his wife Shamim Esmail, both of Evanston, following indictments last year for a scheme to defraud TARP of $6.8 million and which cost the FDIC $64.1 million when the bank failed on March 23, 2012. The new charges allege more fraud was committed during the pair’s time on the Premier Bank board – an $8.1 million loan from First Midwest Bank in 2009 and additionally, Shamim Esmail’s obtaining more than $1 million in TARP funds reserved for banks in distressed communities.

“As these new charges allege, the defendants fraudulently secured federal aid funds at a time when the country’s economy and its major financial institutions were on the brink of disaster,” Madigan said. “Their illegal scheme ultimately resulted in the failure of the bank at a great cost to the bank’s customers and American taxpayers.”

Zulfikar Esmail was indicted on Oct. 16 in DuPage County on two counts of financial institution fraud and one count of loan fraud for fraudulently obtaining a more than $8 million loan from First Midwest Bank in 2009, which was a recipient of TARP funds. The Esmails were charged together with defrauding First Midwest Bank in a workout agreement after they defaulted on the loan.

Shamim Esmail was also indicted on additional charges in Cook County of two counts each of theft and wire fraud for defrauding TARP’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund. Premier Bank fraudulently received more than $1 million in funds in 2010 and 2011 from two programs under the CDFI Fund which were designed to assist banks in providing banking services to economically distressed communities.

Madigan previously charged the Esmails and two co-defendants, who were also members of the bank’s board of directors, alleging that from 2006 until the bank’s failure, they hid the poor financial condition of the bank from state regulators. Madigan alleged Zulfikar Esmail engaged in a criminal shakedown scheme, soliciting and demanding bribes in connection with applications made for business loans and lines of credit.

Over a six-year period, the indictment alleged the bank officers submitted numerous fraudulent reports to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, misrepresenting the financial condition of the bank’s numerous loans and lines of credit. To cover up the true condition of the bank, the indictment alleged money from third parties was used to make payments on several loans that were past due, including payments from a limited liability corporation owned in part by Zulfikar Esmail’s children.

The public is reminded that the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

This case was investigated by the Office of the Special Inspector General for TARP and the Office of the Inspector General of the FDIC. Bureau Chief Edward Carter and Assistant Attorneys General Edward Snow and Anshuman Vaidya are handling prosecution of the case for Madigan’s Special Prosecutions Bureau.