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.

By Pamela Bratcher-McMillan

Despite several studies that reveal low income housing high rises never made the cut, and that the city of Chicago has torn down many of these low income housing high rises all across the city, the 8th Ward alderman and the city are hell-bent on bringing the Montclare low income Section 8 housing project into the Pill Hill and Calumet Heights community, an affluent middle and upper middle class neighborhood. The studies found it was a plan that failed (low income high rises).

The alderman and city want to erect a low income high rise housing project consisting of 134 units, 7 Story, in the Pill Hill and Calumet Heights area, one of the most affluent black communities in the city of Chicago. It is believed by many that this is a continuing effort to run Blacks out of the city. Two city agencies – a commission and committee –  approved the low income housing for the 8th Ward and are pushing to deliver the 7 story, low-income Trojan Horse to this middle and upper middle class black community which will be located at 9329 to 9429 S. Stony Island Ave. It’s not so much about the senior low income housing project, but they have the audacity to take away a much needed business real estate that could  economically empower the community.

When I thought about this proposed housing project, I felt that the supporters of this plan are trying to squeeze a very unattractive square into a round peg off on the neighboring community, giving the impression that it is a gift to low income seniors in the community.  But a Trojan Horse immediately came to mind. I did a web search to see did others see it that way, and they did.

There are many buildings being built in downtown Chicago. And surely, there are market rates and low income units that could be used in developments downtown as well. Many residents in the 8th Ward are wondering if this proposed building they want to bring to the South Side is an attempt to keep Chicago segregated. The market housing in the low-income units will displace people in the community as rents and taxes will go up. It’ll start with this one bad idea and will balloon out of control.

And because 8th Ward Alderman Michelle Harris lacks foresight, the community has to take the reins on this and try to keep the Montclare housing project out of the ward. The community will have to save themselves from this catastrophic idea that she would allow to take place.

Nearby beaches, highways, Indiana, and with the Obama Library coming, the South Side of Chicago has it going on. The Pill Hill community residents have built and beautified the Calumet Heights area, and now strangers want to capitalize on their hard work that was done over the past forty plus years and walk away with it. Shame on them, shame on the alderman for not having the insight to see what is taking place, and shame on residents who’ll sit idly back and let it happen.

By the way, usually on these types of projects “25-30” percent of the units go at the lower rates and the rest are market rates when developers take on projects such as this. The proposed low-income senior housing in the Pill Hill area would be just the opposite. It’s a fact that most of this type zoning is done in black communities and most of the time Blacks lose out because of it.

In areas comparable to the Pill Hill community in non-black areas that oppose rezoning, downzoning takes place instead of upzoning? The bottom line is, the new building will cause taxes to go up, rents to go up while really only accommodating a 134 unit building. These projects are normally used to strong-arm areas that reject unnecessary rezoning. Low income communities of color are aggressively targeted for purpose of gentrification. The only person that will profit from these catastrophic affects this will bring about is the developer and those that they have made deals with.

To be continued:
Zoning board meeting is May 9, at 10:00 am
City Council Chambers
City Hall, 2nd. Floor

By Rev. Dr. Harold Bailey

President & Founder of Probation Challenge

& The PCC Network

Did Mayor Rahm Emanuel & Alderman Michelle Harris Conspire Together to Bring a Low Income Section 8 Senior Building to the 8th Ward?

That’s what I’m being told by several sources who strongly believe that Mayor Rahm Emanuel, along with 8th Ward Alderman Michelle Harris, conspired to bring the proposed Montclare low income Section 8 Senior housing project to Pill Hill, a prominent, middle and upper middle class section of Chicago’s  8th Ward.

The proposed development would be located at 9329 to 9429 S. Stony Island Ave.,  which consist of 134 units, 7 Story tall; a strip of land where 8th ward residents earlier were successful in running out Street Prostitution/Pimps and other undesirables who sought to take over a community of hard-working taxpayers and organized home-owners.

Just recently, 8th Ward residents blocked a marijuana facility and pawnshop from coming into the ward, projects supported by Alderman Harris.

Allegedly the proposal was conceived months ago without residents being made aware of downtown’s intents.

Another ‘hush venture’ in the community was to have medical marijuana dispensed close to a school but the project was shut down. This project was also at the direction of Alderwoman Michelle Harris.

It’s understood that any venture in Chicago regarding construction must be approved by the City Council and Mayor Rahm Emanuel. For certain, what’s done in the dark will surely come to the light.

To be continued:
Zoning board meeting is May 9, at 10:00 am
City Council Chambers
City Hall, 2nd. Floor

By Hazel Trice Edney

“I was a member of Faith Temple Pentecostal Church here in Salt Lake City, Utah and I was the business manager for the church. And we ran into a problem just trying to get a commercial loan for the church. And I said, ‘Well, that’s it.’ I said, ‘I think I’ll just try doing this myself.’ I became a loan officer. I got really good at it,” she said. “And I was able to get more people loans so I just took it from there and here I am today.”

	Lois Johnson speaks on homeownership during the recent Stateswomen for Justice Luncheon at the National Press Club. PHOTO: Roy Lewis

Lois Johnson: The number one thing is lack of knowledge. But, it’s people of all backgrounds who have this lack of knowledge – not just African-Americans. I’m finding out a lot of this because I’m in a lot of states and I’m finding out that it’s more African-Americans who don’t own homes than it is other nationalities. I’m available to all people. The problem with our people is that we often don’t have all the information we need. Yet, the lenders and the bankers they go to are more willing to give others what they need to help them. I watch this. When I started a career in mortgage banking, I saw so many minorities being turned down. And they have the same qualifications as Caucas

People ask mortgage and homeownership questions after Johnson speaks at the recent Stateswomen for Justice Luncheon. PHOTO: Roy Lewis

ians who didn’t get turned down. Probably some of them got approved who should not have gotten approved, but it was because of the help that was given to them. They were told what to do. So, within the guidelines, we should provide our people the information that’s needed to acquire a loan and refer them to the right agencies that can help them.

By Jerroll Sanders

Starbucks has proven to be one of America’s most responsible corporate citizens. In 2014 following the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO, by Officer Darren Wilson, then Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz took action when other corporations remained silent.

Starbucks launched its national “Race Together” campaign that encouraged Starbucks’ baristas (workers) to write “race together” on customer coffee cups to spur conversations about race within Starbucks locations. Months later in 2015 following the shooting of Walter Scott, Starbucks CEO Howard D. Schultz was again venturing into the arena of race relations while appearing on stage at Spelman College-a historically-black women’s institution-as part of a panel discussion on the book titled, “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?”

Again and again, Starbucks has been at the forefront of corporate America when it comes to cultivating a society where all people matter.

As President and CEO of ONUS, Inc.-a national organization committed to Resolving Longstanding Problems that Seem Too Big to Fix, I firmly believe in the power of boycotts. Following the killing of Michael Brown, ONUS conducted one of the most effective and long-standing boycotts in Ferguson, MO, against Sam’s Club and Walmart.

Both stores routinely called upon Ferguson Police to arrest Black men who verbally challenged managers’ decisions. Unlike Starbucks, Walmart, Inc. doubled-down in support of its employees’ hateful actions and made no apology for saddling good citizens, who happened to be black men, with unwarranted police records. Walmart then relied upon its deep purse to vigorously defend its deplorable actions.

Starbucks is no Walmart. While I firmly embrace boycotting as an effective tool of free speech, boycotting cannot and should not be Black America’s one retort to offensive acts carried out by individual employees representing what has proven to be a good corporate citizen. I do not mean to imply that Starbucks is perfect; I surmise that Starbucks still has internal issues related to race and diversity.

Nonetheless, I appreciate the steps Starbucks’ CEO and Board of Directors have and are taking in response to the incident in Philadelphia, such as the swift issuance of a public apology, public rebuke of the offending employees’ actions and the planned shutdown of Starbucks outlets nationwide for diversity and customer service training. Starbucks is demonstrating that its promise to do better is far more than a mere gesture designed to quiet a public uprising.

Starbucks has earned what millennials refer to as “street cred.” Consequently, the Corporation deserves grace when employees make missteps or engage in discriminatory actions rooted in personal perspectives. While I am confident Starbucks will make right with the young men who were wrongfully arrested in Philadelphia, I urge its leaders to again take the corporate lead by helping to revamp policing in America nationwide.

The Uniform Reporting Law Enforcement Improvement Act (URLEIA) is the solution to America’s policing problem and will effectively revamp policing from the ground up. Corporations, like citizens, have a responsibility to ensure policing nationwide is guided not by the whims of individuals and powerful conglomerates but by the constitutional and humane application of law.

Learn more about URLEIA by visiting www.ChangeIsOnUs.org. Learn more about Jerroll Sanders who is a business executive, author of The Physics of Money: If You’ve Got My Dollar, I Don’t, diversity expert, and strategist by visiting www.jerrollsanders.com.

The 8th Ward community overwhelmingly oppose the 7 Story, 1-2 Bedrooms low income Senior Housing facility proposed to be built in the 8th Ward near Pill Hill Homes, but the alderman is ignoring their wishes

By Pamela Bratcher-McMillan

As I observed the Community Development Commission meeting yesterday in City Hall, I realized that the 8th Ward alderman was more of a facilitator than an administrator.  When she read the items in her notes one by one, it felt as though she was giving a report to her supervisor instead of selling the idea of why an oversized, low income senior housing development should be allowed to be built in the Pill Hill community.

And as quickly as the vote was acted upon by the Commission, it came across as a predetermined decision, that the committee knew beforehand how they would vote before the meeting started. Obviously, the committee wasn’t interested, didn’t care, or wasn’t concerned about what the community had to say. The 8th ward alderman took the mic and proceeded to say that 99% of the ward supported the Calumet Heights project.  Not so!!!! And her remarks were immediately met with “not true” criticism from several people in the audience. A large part of the 8^th Ward community is angry and insulted that she would even make a move to bring the low income, Section 8 housing into their middle-and upper-middle-class neighborhood.

Secondly, the alderman has not met with the immediate community about this Senior Housing Project, the ones that will be most affected by this low income, 7 -story building with 1-2 bedrooms, with a “100-person waiting list”, down from the 400-500 person list her staff mentioned last week in a community meeting. The alderman did hold a developers meeting last week at a Senior Housing development on East 78th Street, pitching the project to what appeared to be a room full of its residents, and she told them there was a “200-person” waiting list.

The alderman failed to attend the meeting at St. Felicitas Church or at St Ailbe Church where 200 angry residents showed up for a meeting only to find it had been canceled. Many of the residents learned about the project through word of mouth, from other residents who had heard that the alderman was trying to bring it in. And believe me, they were not happy campers when they got the news. They were fiercely angry.

And although, about 8 or 10 people stepped up to the mic to express their opposition to the 7 story 1-2 bedrooms low income housing at 9329 to 9429 S. Stony Island Avenue, the Community Development Commission members – who do not live in the community, sided with the alderman.

The Community Development Committee, a small apathetic committee of folks that aren’t familiar with the area, to the horror of most in the audience, continued to vote in the face of a majority of community opponents who unanimously did not want to allow the development to proceed. This after listening to a trumped-up presentation by the 8th Ward Alderman, ignoring earlier community member comments about their concerns for losing their privacy with the huge building over their single family homes and their property value taking a dive.

The 8th Ward alderman aggressively pushed it through, and has yet to meet with the Pill Hill community, even after being sent two invitations to meetings.

What doesn’t the 8th Ward alderman get about the immediate concerns of the community that is affected by this project? The community doesn’t want it! She went on to say that in the Montclare building, another senior building in the 8th ward, that those residents had no complaints about the building being next to their homes. What does that have to do with an area where residents in homes are concerned? Her smug mockery is why the area is losing patience with her quickly. Someone in the audience at the meeting said her “attitude reaps of someone who has been in political office for too long and doesn’t care about the community. We know how we shouldn’t vote in the aldermanic election the next time around. We hear constant lies and a lack of transparency. We want our young people to find the area attractive, and we want to live and continue to grow it.  And this will only take the neighborhood down.”

It is obvious that the alderman does not care what the community wants, as per her past and present agendas for the ward.  It appears that she’s willing to spin stories – whether factual or not – to get what she wants in the 8^th Ward. One wonders if the alderman is complacent or passive aggressive when people push these ideas off for development? Or has she received a directive beyond her control to carry out at the expense of the community?

To be continued…

Next Meeting:

Chicago Plan Commission Meeting
City Hall, 2nd floor City Council Chambers
121 N. LaSalle Street
April 19th at 10:00 am

Time for change…

A half-century ago, the Fair Housing Act was enacted to prohibit discrimination in housing based on race, color, creed and national origin. The law also supported NAREB’s efforts toincrease Black homeownership which we believe serves to increase wealth and other economic outcomes for Black Americans.

We have since experienced highs and lows in the journey towards economic empowerment and Black homeownership. While sometimes challenged, we are not discouraged. And, we have learned vital lessons along the way.

The National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) has advocated for Black Americans to own their homes since 1947, and we are proud to play a leadership role in that struggle. But this is not a solitary endeavor. We must grow a “Community of Concern” by partnering and actively involving civil and human rights organizations, community-based and social service organizations, business groups, and the faith-based community-our oldest and most trusted institution. We must collaborate to create strong, viable communities that help to stabilize Black Americans and their families through homeownership.

In 1970, two years after the passage of The Fair Housing Act, Black homeownership was 41.6 percent. It reached its height in 2004 at 49 percent. Today, Black homeownership stands at 42.1 percent, almost the same as nearly 50 years ago. The economic downturn of a decade ago hurt many Black homeowners with high foreclosures, upside-down mortgages, and financial upheaval from which many are still struggling to recover.

Today, economic segregation remains a problem. Urban centers, long the home of Black Americans, are being gentrified. Many with deep community roots are being forced out by rising taxes and skyrocketing housing values.

While obvious obstacles like Jim Crow segregation no longer exist, we still face formidable obstacles to owning homes. Obstacles like credit scoring, which is based not on how diligently we pay our bills, but on how much consumer debt we can amass. Obstacles like crippling student debt, which impacts Black Americans deeply. Obstacles like unfair mortgage lending practices.

Despite these challenges, we know that wealth can be built through education, through financial literacy, through creating and growing our Community of Concern to support homeownership. This is how Black America educates its children and how we set up businesses-by using equity from our homes to invest in ourselves, our families and our futures.

We stand on the shoulders of NAREB founders and visionaries like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who spoke to NAREB in 1967 about the need for “middle-class Negroes to … publicly identify with the problem of poverty which engulfs the life of the masses.”

NAREB’s motto is “Democracy in Housing,” and we will continue to fight for that. We must continue to be vigilant. We must continue to EDUCATE Black Americans, to ENCOURAGE Black Americans, and do everything we can to EMPOWER Black Americans to build wealth, to build stability, and to invest in our futures through that most fundamental part of the American Dream: homeownership.

Jeffrey W. Hicks is the 30th president of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers.