Chicago Fri Mar 29 2013

Political Tweets of the Week

Every week, we round up the stories that are happening on Twitter.

After the jump, read about Chicago politicians supporting marriage equality, an astronaut with a view of the city, and a senator's celebrity connection.

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— Tyler Davis

Chicago Public Schools Fri Mar 29 2013

1 of 150 Arrested for Protesting School Closures

By David Stieber

On Wednesday, I, a Chicago Public Schools history teacher, a father and husband, was arrested for sitting down on La Salle Street in front of City Hall and refusing to move when asked to do so by the police. I along with nearly 150 others was taking part in an act of civil disobedience against the school closing policies implemented by Mayor Emanuel, CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett and the Board of Education.

You see, those of us who chose to get arrested and the other couple thousand marching legally against the CPS plan to close over 54 public schools are beyond frustrated that we live in a city that is governed by lies and press releases.

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— Mechanics

Crime Thu Mar 28 2013

Political Celebrity is not Enough to Combat Violence

The First Lady of the United States is returning home to focus on the issue of escalating violence. Michelle Obama is addressing community leaders at a luncheon April 10, titled, "Working Together to Address Youth Violence in Chicago," hosted by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Everyone loves it when first lady comes to town; it reminds us that we can produce greatness in the midst of raging chaos.

Her speech is bound to be encouraging but will civic organizations and business participation help alleviate the socioeconomic factors in street violence? It's no longer about sunny appearances, glitzy fundraisers and networking opportunities but initiatives and changes that will transform even the most broken.

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— Sydney Corryn

Chicago Public Schools Mon Mar 25 2013

Giving High School Students a Voice in the CPS Banning of Persepolis

By David Stieber

As we are all aware now, last week at Lane Tech and other Chicago public high schools, the graphic novel Persepolis was removed from classrooms as demanded by a CPS mandate. The removal of the books and the banning of Persepolis immediately prompted students and teachers to protest this decision at Lane Tech. Later that same day, CPS chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett said the banning of Persepolis is only for grades 7 and under. She went on to say that the book will be reviewed to determine if it is appropriate for grades 8-10.

Currently only 11th and 12th graders are allowed to read the book per the new CPS ruling.

The book is a historical and autobiographical account of the author as a young girl growing up under dictatorial rule in Iran and the revolutions led by the people in an attempt to bring in democracy.

As a history teacher, I decided to let my students at TEAM Englewood High School review the book and decide if the banning of Persepolis by CPS and Byrd-Bennett was justified.

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— Mechanics / Comments (2)

Chicago Fri Mar 22 2013

Political Tweets of the Week

Every week, Gapers Block will be rounding up Chicago political stories that happen on Twitter. This week, City Council's Progressive Reform Coalition tweets their trip to Springfield, Alderman Solis gets a citation from the police, and a former Obama advisor weighs in on the Wrigley Field talks.

This week's roundup is after the jump.

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— Tyler Davis

State Politics Thu Mar 21 2013

Pension Reform Passes, for Now

The Illinois House of Representatives passed what many legislators deem a major step for pension reform today.

But while House Republican Leader Tom Cross (also a co-author of the bill, along with Rep. Elaine Nekritz) called it "the meat and potatoes of pension reform," it doesn't seem so clear that today's step is actually one in the right direction.

The Illinois pension problem has heated up in a major way over the past several weeks, with Standard & Poor downgrading the state's credit rating back in January and the SEC announcing charges against the state for misleading bond investors regarding the implications of unfunded pension obligations. Some lawmakers have even called for--gasp--skipping the upcoming break from session in order to settle the pension mess.

But while today's bill has the right idea (i.e. something has to happen), it doesn't seem likely that the bill will make it past (1) the Senate or (2) the Supreme Court. Yesterday, the Senate shot down a bill that was similarly far-reaching regarding pension reform. And even if the bill does pass the Senate, as CapitolFax guru Rich Miller put it on Monday, the Nekritz-Cross pension bill "makes almost no pretensions of being constitutional."

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— Jake Grubman

Neighborhoods Wed Mar 20 2013

Rogers Park Residents Give Thumbs Up to Touhy Park Renovation Plan

A group of about a dozen Rogers Park residents on Tuesday gave their stamp of approval to plans to renovate the playground at Touhy Park.

Michael Lange, a project manager for the Chicago Park District's planning and construction department, showed a group of residents gathered at the Touhy Park fieldhouse Tuesday night a possible site plan for the renovated playground. Lange said that two new sets of playground equipment - one designed for kids aged 2-5 and another for kids 5-12 - will be installed on the northeast side of the park.

Additionally, Lange said, existing equipment for kids aged 2-5 on the northwest side of the park will be refurbished and new picnic tables, a seesaw and a structure that looks like a car will be installed.

All told, Lange said, the renovation will cost about $450,000.

Money for the renovation will come from 49th Ward Ald. Joe Moore's menu money, which is $1.3 million allotted annually to each of Chicago's 50 aldermen to spend at their discretion.

The project was actually voted on by ward residents during the 2011-2012 participatory budgeting process, said Moore, who hosted Tuesday's meeting. Participatory budgeting is a process by which aldermen allow residents of their wards to vote on how menu money is spent. In Chicago, only the 49th, 46th, 45th and 5th wards take part in the process,

Though the residents ultimately gave their approval to the plans presented by Lange, the proposed new play structure for 5-12 year old kids caused some residents in attendance to raise their eyebrows a bit. The proposed structure, according to the proposed site plan, is a spiderweb-looking combination of arches, as well as rope nets and plastic discs for climbing.

Some residents expressed concern that kids might prefer a more traditional platform-based structure. Lange disagreed, saying that he believed kids would enjoy the unique structure.

"Kids can sort of attack it any way they want," he said.

Lange said after the meeting that the renovations will likely begin in late June or early July and hopefully finished by September or early October.

— Bill Mayeroff

Chicago Fri Mar 15 2013

Political Tweets of the Week

A lot of Chicago's aldermen and government officials are on Twitter, and some are quite active. The first of a weekly roundup of interesting stories found on Twitter can be found after the jump.

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— Tyler Davis

Neighborhoods Tue Mar 12 2013

Preservation Chicago's 7 Endangered Buildings (Map)

Preservation Chicago announced its "Chicago 7," a list of seven significant buildings the organization feels are in danger of demolition this year, on March 12. The list includes:

• the Allstate Headquarters Building


• the Century and Consumers Building


• Hotel Guyon


• the Julia C. Lathrop Homes


• the Medic Building


• St James Catholic Church


• State Bank of Clearing

"We try to narrow down the list to what we feel is under immediate threat," said Jonathan Fine, executive director of Preservation Chicago. "There has to be some immediacy."

The preservation group grew out of a Near North Side preservation rally in 2000 and officially formed as Preservation Chicago in 2001. It has been listing the top seven threatened buildings every year since 2003. Some years, all seven buildings on the list survive, and the most they lose in a given year is two, according to Fine. Sometimes one entry on the list is a historic district, or multiple buildings, such as the Century and Consumer buildings on this year's list.

"A parent wouldn't choose which child they love best and we don't choose which building we love best," said Fine.

Click on the map markers for more information on each building.

— Tyler Davis

City Council Tue Mar 05 2013

Energy Drink Ban Delayed, Aldermen Doze Off

Alderman Ed Burke's proposed energy drink ban was discussed at a committee meeting Tuesday by medical professionals in favor, and beverage industry representatives opposed. The Committee on Health and Environmental Protection adjourned the meeting before voting on the ordinance.

Alderman George Cardenas (12 Ward), chairman of the committee, would rather enact tougher labeling rules than ban highly caffeinated drinks altogether. Some energy drink labels state that the product is potentially harmful, but this isn't required by federal regulations.

"[Warning labels] should be across the board on all cans," said Cardenas.

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— Tyler Davis

Technology and Politics Mon Mar 04 2013

Chicago Competes in Mayors Challenge

Chicago has been chosen as one of 20 finalists for the Mayors Challenge, a national competition for city innovation sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies, for a proposed data analytics platform that would help the city sort through the massive amounts of data it collects to inform government decision making. Voting for the fan favorite selection is open until March 6 on Huffington Post.

"Our ability as a society to collect data has way outpaced our ability to analyze it," said Matt Fischler, of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office, in a video about the Mayors Challenge. Chicago collects over 7 million rows of data a day, according to Fischler.

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— Tyler Davis