Parents to announce extended boycott, demand CPS keep Goodlow Elementary School open

 

CHICAGO, IL – In the Englewood neighborhood, parents of Goodlow Elementary School students will announce a school boycott until Chicago Public School agrees to keep the school open. Over 120 students have been kept out of school this week and more are expected to join the boycott on Monday.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and CPS plan to close Goodlow and 49 other neighborhood schools at the end of the year and move students into nearby schools. Despite the facts that Goodlow has a science lab, computer lab and library, which are all of the resources that CPS is promising to closing schools. In CPS’s recently released five-year plan, they promise to give all children access to Arts Education classes and access to more counselors, which Goodlow already offers. Goodlow has small class sizes with an average of less than 22 students per homeroom. CPS and Emanuel intend to close Goodlow and move students from nearby Earle Elementary School into the Goodlow building, which will lead to overcrowding for the combined students.

“Rahm Emanuel and CPS are telling us that they know what is best for our children and that we don’t. The parents have no say in the situation,” Bobbie Brown, a Goodlow parent, said. “How are they going to fit all of these kids into a class? You can’t pack kids together like that. How are they going to give us resources we already have? Is the reason our school is closing is to give our kids iPads? Are we supposed to be happy now?”

Brown noted that Goodlow already has all the programs and service CPS is promising to closing schools and the school is not underutilized. Additionally, Earle is not an academically-higher performing school than Goodlow.  

Parents kept over 120 Goodlow students out of school this week and they are vowing to keep them out until CPS backs down on its plans to close the school.

What: Press conference: Parents announce school boycott, demand CPS reverse school closing

When: Friday, June 14, 10 a.m.

Where: Goodlow Elementary School, 2040 W. 62nd Street, Chicago

Who: Speakers: Melanie Goldman, Bobbie Brown, Michelle Clark, Goodlow parents

Nearly 20,000 bicyclists pedaled their way into summer today for MB Financial Bank Bike the Drive, an annual fundraiser that benefits the Active Transportation Alliance’s work to improve biking, walking and transit.

“Summer in Chicago has begun! The weather was great as families and friends cruised up and down a car-free Lake Shore Drive having the time of their lives,” said Active Transportation Alliance Executive Director Ron Burke. “Twenty thousand people on bicycles transformed this highway into sheer biking bliss.”

Lake Shore Drive opened to bicyclists at 5:30 a.m. From downtown Chicago, participants took over eight lanes and 15 miles of this iconic roadway to bike to their hearts’ content north to Bryn Mawr Avenue and south to the Museum of Science and Industry.

After the event, riders gathered in Grant Park to lounge, eat pancakes from Goose Island, listen to music, check out sponsor booths and win give-aways. The band Trash Martini entertained festival-goers with lively tunes.

The event is sponsored by MB Financial Bank, NBC5, SRAM, Schwinn, Fairmont Chicago and WXRT FM.

The Active Transportation Alliance is a non-profit, member-based advocacy organization that works to make bicycling, walking and public transit so safe, convenient and fun that we will achieve a significant shift from environmentally harmful, sedentary travel to clean, active travel. The organization builds a movement around active transportation, encourages physical activity, increases safety and builds a world-class transportation network. Formerly the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, the Active Transportation Alliance is North America’s largest transportation advocacy organization, supported by more than 7,000 members, 1,000 volunteers and 35 full-time staff. For more information on the Active Transportation Alliance, visit www.activetrans.org or call 312.427.3325.

MB Financial Bank is a locally-operated financial institution that has been delivering competitive personalized service for over 100 years to businesses and individuals who live and work in the Chicago metropolitan area. MB has nearly 90 locations throughout the Chicagoland area. MB Financial has approximately $10 billion in assets. MB Financial Bank is a subsidiary of MB Financial, Inc., a financial services holding company which is traded on the NASDAQ as “MBFI.” Information about MB Financial Bank can be found at  http://www.mbfinancial.com.

CHICAGO, IL – For this holiday weekend of Easter and Passover, Chicago Detours is offering extra opportunities for families to get together downtown and engage with the city. The “Inside the Loop” interior architectural tour has an extra tour scheduled for Saturday at 1:30pm and this weekend marks the launch of the new Good Times Historic Bar Tour. 

The “Inside the Loop” architectural walking tour appeals to guests all of ages with its interactive dynamic, shared use of iPads, and lively tour guides. This tour, which is offered year-round, works great with Chicago’s unexpected weather conditions as the majority of the tour takes place in the comfort of the indoors.

  “Unfinished Business: Arts Education” Exhibit officially opens September 6            

                             Exhibit Opening and Reception 4:00 – 6:30 pm

                                   With Special Guests – The Guerrilla Girls 6:30 – 8:00 pm

 

Chicago, IL – The Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, 800 S. Halsted Street, one of the nation’s most important historic house museums and a treasured part of the College of Architecture and the Arts at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), will open a special exhibition that explores the importance of the arts and insists on cultural rights as part of a thriving democracy.  

The community-curated exhibit, “Unfinished Business: Arts Education,” will open on September 6 with a reception from 4:00 – 6:30 at the Jane Addams Hull House Museum (800 S. Halsted St.). Following the opening, there will be a public presentation by the Guerrilla Girls, the groundbreaking anonymous, feminist performance group that protests racial and gender inequity in the art world through public art interventions. Presented in gorilla masks, these legendary provocateurs will present a talk that takes place in the Illinois Room, Student Center East on UIC’s Campus (750 S. Halsted St.). 

Arts education is often the first cut to be made in tight economic moments, and the current recession is no exception. The exhibit advocates for the many layers of import that art education brings to us as human beings, suggesting that art urges a more engaged citizenry, allows for free expression, and creates opportunities for cross-cultural understanding.  

The exhibit makes connections between Hull-House history and our contemporary moment in a variety of ways and offers interactive art-making stations to engage the audience in participatory learning. Included are interviews with contemporary Chicago artists juxtaposed with profiles of Hull-House arts education reformers in an effort to show the historical thread of Chicago arts education through the 20^th century.  

The hands-on arts stations revive the original Hull-House settlement’s commitment to learning by doing. In homage to the Hull-House Labor Museum, three floor-to-ceiling looms, designed and built by artist Alexis Ortiz, will be installed in the exhibition. Visitors will be able to learn a simple indigenous weaving technique and contribute to a large-scale woven map of Chicago. The Hull-House Pop-up Print Shop is co-curated by David Jones at Anchor Graphics and has a working relief printing press that visitors will use to print postcards designed by local artists that they will send to politicians urging them to support the arts.

Throughout the yearlong run of the exhibit, there were will be several programs and performances corresponding to the content of the exhibition. Albany Park Theater Project is a multiethnic youth theater ensemble that will live in the museum for several days during the year, exploring the notions of residency and embodying the importance of theater to the history of arts education at Hull-House. 

Features in “Unfinished Business: Arts Education”: 

• Community Loom – In homage to the Hull-House Labor Museum, three floor-to-ceiling looms, designed and built by artist Alexis Ortiz, will be installed in the exhibition. Visitors will be able to learn a simple Guatemalan weaving technique and contribute to a large-scale woven map of Chicago.

• Hull-House Pop-Up Print Shop – This installation, co-curated by David Jones at Anchor Graphics, will have a working relief printing press that visitors will use to print postcards designed by local artists. Visitors are invited to send a postcard to a politician, urging them to support the arts and arts education. Or, they can send one to a Chicago Public School art teacher; thanking them for all the work they do to keep the arts alive in their classrooms.

• Art Educators Across History– Interviews with contemporary Chicago arts educators and profiles of Hull-House art education reformers, including: world-record holding break-dancer Luis Castro, performance artist Maria Gaspar, CPS art teacher Mathias “Spider” Schergen, Hull-House arts education reformers Viola Spolin, mother of Improv Theater; Hull-House folk-dance preservationist and teacher Mary Wood Hinman; and Hull-House art school leader Michael Gamboney.

 The Unfinished Business: Arts Education exhibit was funded by the Boeing Corporation. 

 

About the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum

The Jane Addams Hull-House Museum serves as a dynamic memorial to social reformer Jane Addams, the first American woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, and her colleagues whose work changed the lives of their immigrant neighbors as well as national and international public policy. The Museum preserves and develops the original Hull-House site for the interpretation and continuation of the historic settlement house vision, linking research, education, and social engagement.  

The Museum and its many vibrant programs make connections between the work of Hull-House residents and important contemporary social issues.  Founded in 1889 as a social settlement and until it closed in 1963, Hull-House played a vital role in redefining American democracy in the modern age. Addams and the residents of Hull-House helped pass critical legislation and influenced public policy on public health and education, free speech, fair labor practices, immigrants’ rights, recreation and public space, arts, and philanthropy. Hull-House has long been a center of Chicago’s political and cultural life, establishing Chicago’s first public playground and public art gallery, helping to desegregate the Chicago Public Schools, and influencing philanthropy and culture. 

Other programs include new tours for school children; Re-Thinking Soup, a modern day soup kitchen where the community can gather and eat delicious, healthy, soup while conversing about urgent social, cultural, economic and environmental food issues; the Urban Heirloom Farm, a multi-use space for such projects as growing vegetables, a restaurant partnership with Chef Bill Kim’s Urban Belly, an outdoor exhibition, farm-to-school programs for local public schools, and food-focused museum tours and activities; Sex Positive, a free documentary series offering an outlet to positively discuss sex and culture; and more! 

Located on the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) Campus at 800 S. Halsted Street, the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum is free and open to the public on Tuesdays – Fridays, 10am to 4pm, and Sundays, noon to 4pm. For more information, please call 312-413-5353 or visit www.hullhousemuseum.org

Chicago Detours Launching “Good Times around Michigan Ave”

 

Chicago, IL – This Saturday April 30, Chicago Detours continues to “reinvent the tour” with its launch of a new guided walking tour that explores entertainment history, with stops at former sites of grand galas, underground clubs, jazz shows, theater performances, and more. While interacting with historic images on shared iPads, guests will go off Michigan Ave to uncover hidden spots of lively history on the side streets. Topics include high society soirees of the Gilded Age (at the opulent Driehaus Musem) and the Medinah Athletic Club, once a roaring ’20s social club (now the Intercontinental Hotel). The $26 tour price includes use of iPads, engaging commentary by top guides, an interactive group dynamic, and valuable extras. Reservations are required.via Facebook or email to info@chicagodetours.com, contestants can win $52 worth of walking tours (2 tickets) for this Friday.  We will award 30 lucky contestants later this evening. More details here.

Guests meet in front of the Tribune Store, 435 N. Michigan Ave. This two-hour walking tour goes 1.5 miles, ending at the intersection of State and Rush streets. Launch is April 30th, and it will will run until late October. Tour times in May & Oct: Tue. and Sat. at 10:00am, Sun. at 1:30pm,
Sat. also at 8:00pm. Tour times Jun – Sep: we will continue this schedule and add Thu. at 10:00am & Fri. at 1:30pm. Reservations are required, and can be made by phone (312.350.1131) or online (chicagodetours.com). Adult tickets are $26; students/seniors $24; kids 5 and up $18; kids under 5 free.

The photo contest for the “Good Times” tour launch ends tonight at 8:00pm. By simply posting a picture of a “good time” in Chicago,

Chicago Detours makes tours that are like mobile exhibits. Guests interact with each other, urban space, and historical media to engage with Chicago’s architecture, art, history, politics, entertainment, and city life. Tours bring people to explore stories and places that locals don’t even know about. Highly trained guides share forgotten stories from the past, and create an engaging dynamic to spark discussions and learning. Private groups can also reserve the tour. As a social venture, Chicago Detours guides do not take tips; rather they take donations for worthy causes, such as educational initiatives to give tours to local schools free of charge.

Since launching this past fall, the company has received feedback from tour attendees that has been widely positive, with top ratings on both Yelp and TripAdvisor. One Yelp comment says, “We found it interesting, fascinating, eye opening, worth our time and money…and we live in Chicago!” Cathy Domanico, the Director of Tourism of the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau, said, “Very informative and fun! I learned a lot, too.” Another guest eagerly comments, “This is no stuffy all buildings tour” and New City Magazine journalist Kristine Sherred writes, “Guides encourage questions and conversation, fostering a collaborative educational environment unlike the talking head on run-of-the-mill tours.” 

Scotese has 8 years experience as a tour guide, and especially honed her skills while employed as a guide and guidebook researcher with Rick Steves, one of the nation’s most well-known travel authors and television personalities. She enriched her knowledge of architecture, urban studies, and art history through her M.A. in the Humanities at the University of Chicago. Further information on Amanda Scotese and Chicago Detours is available on the website, www.chicagodetours.com.

Chicago Architecture Foundation Offers Late Walking Tours and Cruises

 

Chicago, IL – People meeting up after work can take in an architecture tour and still get home for dinner. The Chicago Architecture Foundation offers after-work tours that take advantage of the sunsets on Chicago’s skyscrapers. All tours are led by the incomparable Chicago architecture Foundation docents. May through September

From Log Cabin to Trump Tower: Chicago River Main Branch
      – select evenings at 5:30pm

      Wolf Point, the Wigwam and the West Loop: River Bend
      – select evenings at 5:30pm

      Downtown Deco
      – Mondays at 5:30pm
     
      Millennium Park Revealed
      – Tuesdays at 5:30pm
     
      Historic Downtown (south loop): Rise of the Skyscrapers
      – Wednesdays at 5:30pm
     
      Historic Downtown (north loop): Treasures of Culture & Commerce
      – Thursdays at 5:30pm
     
      Modern Skyscrapers
      – Fridays at 5:30pm
     
      Gold Coast: Dearborn Street
      – Select evenings at 6pm
     
      Gold Coast: Astor Street
      – Select evenings at 6pm
     
      Evanston Downtown
      – Select evenings at 5:30pm
     
      Vice to Nice
      – Select evenings at 5:30pm

The “date night” Chicago Architecture Foundation River Cruise aboard Chicago’s First Lady Cruises is offered at 5:30 pm, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from June 4-October 2.

For detailed information check: www.architecture.org – P 312.922.3432

 The Chicago Architecture Foundation is located at 224 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60604. Current exhibition is Chicago Model City with a large scale model of Chicago. The Chicago Architecture Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing public interest and education in architecture and design. The Chicago Architecture Foundation pursues this mission through architecture tours, exhibitions, panel discussions, and youth and adult education programs. For further information visit www.architecture.org or call 312.922.3432 or become a facebook fan: www.facebook.com/chicagoarchitecture or follow on twitter: www.twitter.com/chiarchitecture

(left to right) Ald.-Elect Roderick Sawyer, Keith O. Tate, President, Chatham Avalon Park Community Council, Nicolas B. Taylor , funeral director, Taylor funeral Home, Ltd., Father Bob Miller, St. Dorothy’s Catholic Church, and Rev. Dr. Marc Robertson, Sub-Area 6 Vice President, Chatham Avalon Park Community Council.

 

By Chinta Strausberg

Sixth District Cmdr. Eddie T. Johnson was late arriving for the Chatham Avalon Park Community Council’s (CAPCC) anti-crime meeting recently held at Hard Time Josephine’s Restaurant because ironically he was dispatched to two nearby shootings including a fatality.

But, when Cmdr. Johnson did arrive at the meeting held at 436 E. 79th Street, he attentively listened to the Council’s complaints about a spike in shootings in the area and drug-related crimes then laid out his aggressive and expansive anti-violence plan that included supporting a pastoral peace initiative.

The pastors in the Chatham/Avalon area have planned a May 1, 2011, 3 p.m. “Peace for Peace Sake” prayer vigil being held at the Nat King Cole Park, 84th and King Drive.

According to St. Dorothy’s Father Bob Miller and CAPCC’s Sub-Area 6 Vice President Rev. Dr. Marc Robertson, churches located in the Chatham/Avalon communities will be participating in this prayer vigil.

While CAPCC’s President Keith O. Tate, his members and Cmdr. Johnson asked that I not reveal his anti-crime plan, Johnson did go on record saying, “I want to put personnel that do nothing but go up and down the 79th and 75th Street business corridor to give business owners and their customers relief” from a recent rash of crime. He wants to make both feel safe and comfortable on these business strips that have seen a rise in shootings and related crimes.

“Most of the crime in this area is driven by narcotics,” Johnson said referring specifically to cocaine, heroin and marijuana. When asked the ages of these alleged drug dealers, Johnson said they range from 14-years old to about 30.

He blamed the drug activity for the recent spike in shootings and blames the cause behind this criminal behavior on “kids who have low parental supervision…. They are experiencing a lack of positive role models in their lives.”

As proof of his theory, Johnson said he would go to the (Police Department’s) processing room and ask youth when was the last time they had talked to their father. “They would say they did not know their father or he was in jail.

“These absent male role models are problems because these kids will find a substitute role model in the streets…surrogate parents,” he said warning that these gangbangers will steer youth down the wrong path in life under the guise of showing them tough love.

Johnson warned parents if they don’t show their children love, “the gangbangers will” and the price will be painful, lengthy and sometimes forever.

In embracing the “Peace for Peace Sake” project, Father Miller and Rev. Dr. Robertson said they believe in the power of prayer and that collectively they plan to “take back our community.”

They are working with 12 churches where every Saturday, they will go to the hot spots and pray.  “We are declaring peace for this summer,” said Robertson. “Without unity, there is no community. We must come together as one.”

The ministers are also reaching out to the Precious Blood Church on the West Side where the pastor has a peace plan that places youth in a circle and encourages lengthy and meaningful dialogue. Miller and Robertson said this peace initiative is very effective in stemming crime. “It allows youth to discuss their issues and problems in an open form. It’s called ‘Peace Circles.”

It entails is a four-day training period the pastors say is an excellent investment in reducing the violence. Anxious for May 1st to arrive, Robertson said, “We plan to pack the park for peace sake.”

Chinta Strausberg is a Journalist of more than 33-years, a former political reporter and a current PCC Network talk show host.

 Photo: Chinta Strausberg

It’s a sure sign that spring is here and summer is on its way.

 

Chicago, IL – The first Chicago Architecture Foundation architecture river cruise of the season is April 30 and tickets are available now. The architecture river cruise is offered aboard Chicago’s First Lady Cruises luxury cruising yachts, with open-air decks as well as air conditioned interior seating.

The cruise features the incomparable Chicago Architecture Foundation docents and is a favorite with seasoned cruisers as well as first-timers.  “Date night” cruises every Thursday and Friday evenings at 5:30 pm start in June.

Seeing the buildings and bridges from the vantage point of the river gives a whole new feel to the experience.  The cruise includes all three branches of the Chicago River and highlights 53 historic and architecturally significant sites including: the Trump Tower, Merchandise Mart, 333 W. Wacker, the Wrigley Building, the Tribune Tower, the Willis Tower (You can see people out on the “ledge”), River City, and Marina City. The cruise also includes the North Branch of the Chicago River with buildings such as The Montgomery, the Chicago Tribune printing press plant; Goose Island; Kinzie Park development; Riverbend and the clustered glass River Cottages.

All Chicago Architecture Foundation cruises depart from the lower level and southeast corner of the Michigan Avenue Bridge at Wacker Drive. The staircase to the ticket window and dock is marked by a blue awning. The 2011 Tour Schedule runs through November 20.

Advance tickets and information is available at www.ticketmaster.com/rivertour or www.architecture.org. The print-at-home option allows quicker check-in for passengers at the dock. Tickets are $35/person and are also available at the Chicago Architecture Foundation Shop, 224 S. Michigan Avenue, at the Chicago’s First Lady ticket window at the dock or by calling 1-800-982-2787. Group Rates/groups of 20 or more:  312-322-1131.

 

The Chicago Architecture Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing public interest and education in architecture and design. The Chicago Architecture Foundation pursues this mission through architecture tours, exhibitions, panel discussions, and youth and adult education programs. The current exhibition, Chicago Model City, includes a highly detailed scale model of Chicago. The Chicago Architecture Foundation is located at 224 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60604. For further information visit www.architecture.org or call 312.922.3432 or become a facebook fan: www.facebook.com/chicagoarchitecture or follow on twitter: www.twitter.com/chiarchitectureSince 1993, Chicago’s First Lady Cruises has been the official partner of the Chicago Architecture Foundation providing the vessels and crew for more than 1,700 tours annually. Chicago’s First Lady Cruises owns and operates four luxury yachts: Chicago’s First Lady, Chicago’s Little Lady, Chicago’s Fair Lady and Lady Grebe. All are available for private charter cruising each evening. For more information call 847-358-1330, www.Cruisechicago.com/newsroom.php