Chicago Tuesdays: Hey! I'm WALKIN' Here!

One of the sites where I work is in the middle of an industrial park. As a motorist, for a few months I used to travel through here between work, church and school. And I appreciated this strip, because it is nearly half a mile of pure, unadulterated three lanes in an otherwise stop light-heavy major thoroughfare. If you hit the green at the south end, you've got another six blocks before the next light - but that's full of dangerous turns and it's more narrow, so it's not quite the joy to traverse.

So I see why cars don't necessarily have any desire to slow down at this juncture, despite the obvious pedestrian crossing markers on the floor.

However, Illinois just became the fifth state to pass a law wherein cars have to stop in order to let pedestrians cross at any crossing lane. And that would include unmarked lanes.

Motorists don't seem to be much aware of this law, though. And I'm sure that there are many who, when first hearing about the law, argue that it's unnecessary or reaching For instance, although 6,000 people are hit by cars each year, only a fraction of those result in injuries and fatalities. I can hear the everyman rhetoric right now. "Only 170 people died in the entire state from getting hit by cars while walking. Half of them were probably asking for it. How much are we going to lose in revenue to enforce this law? How much productivity are we going to lose to slow down every block for walkers?"

Similar arguments (at a more heightened and frightening level) were made about DWI laws, of course. But there is a major difference: Driving while intoxicated has killed multitudinous drivers, passengers, passerby, bicyclists and other motorists and their passengers. The culture-change that needed to happen there was not just necessary, but apparently so. And as Mad mothers started telling their stories, more people felt it necessary to be responsible (not always, but there is a legitimate sea change here).

Pedestrian crossing laws and cultural shifts are, however, just as necessary, even if not as apparently so. Citizens are not necessarily dying at a heart-breaking rate from being run over or sideswiped. We are dying at heart-attack rates from inactivity, from NOT walking or bicycling. And as long as the rules of the road favor 1500 lbs of steel and plastic traveling at 30-60mph over roughly 200 lbs of cartilage and organs, capable of traveling from 1-10mph (or those same skins and bones on top of a 25lbs thin machine of oil and aluminum at 10-25mph), then we'll continue to suffer and die from preventable diseases. As long as current law and culture favors oil and gas-propelled vehicles over food-propelled movement, we'll continue to poison our waters, land, air, children and lungs. As long as we continue to promote vehicular use over and above other forms of transport, we promote violence for expediency.

So, I say, bold move Illinois legislature. Good show.

Chicago Tuesdays: Why Chicagoans never get good things, pt. Q

Chicago gang leaders met with top cops last week. Past and present members and leaders held a press conference a couple days later to denounce that meeting. Aldermen also denounced that meeting. Of course, the reasons for denouncing that meeting were myriad and diverse. But they also demonstrate substantial problems within the city and the tense relationships between those in power downtown, those who are supposed to serve and protect, and those that arise out of an economic/power vacuum. And, more to the point, those put in their crossfire.

Here's a few of my questions. Please feel free to add your own. Or to address them to those who can do something about them (CAPS meetings, POs, gang leaders, etc.):

1. Since the fatalities in the city are not statistically worse than before, why does the city wait until now to take such desperate measures?
2. Apparently, the gang leaders were roped into this "summit" under false pretenses. And the pretense of this actually being any sort of dialectic summit is also false. Does the CPD understand that they need to actually build relationships? Does the CPD understand that they're largely ineffective in the same communities where gangs have a strong hold because the police are untrusted in those communities? Does the CPD really think the solution is to break down what little trust is still there?
3. RICO. Gang leaders/proxies say that this is a violation of their rights. Do they have a point? The violence here is systemic and much of it is directly gang-related. They do have a point that much of it is more directly related to drugs, but their deflection is - to say the least - lame. Since the violence is intrinsically related and fundamental to how gangs operate in Chicago, is it wrong to implicate the entire structure and those who prop up the violent structure?
4. Speaking of violence... The biggest and most accessible complaint at the press conference is that the biggest crime is the scarcity of jobs available for potential gang members. This is something that Daley and city council has had ample opportunity to turn around if they were willing to fully leverage TIF funds from the downtown districts to community development in the West, Near North, South and Far South sides. If Daley is serious about reducing crime and violence done in those areas, then shouldn't he be serious and creative about reducing the crime and violence done to those areas?
   
5. Children learn from their community. Unfortunately, a disproportionate amount of Black and Latino adult males served time locked up and away from their communities. And when they returned they found fewer options to get straight than when they left. With depleting jobs, decreasing social programs and a wide reticence (however understood) to hire ex-cons, the temptation to return to the same patterns is stifling. While many young men in the area are steadfast in their determination not to become the men they see and know, it's near impossible to not become like most of the people you've ever met/seen/talked to, despite what we want to believe. How can we expect better from the next generation if we continually ostracize the current adult population? Don't we recognize the forces of internalization when we see it?
6. What's with the aldermen getting their bunchies in a bunch over the idea of talking with gang leaders? "We don't negotiate with terrorists..." Stupid. Lame. No wonder nothing works here...

Next, I want to highlight some local stories that I think ARE working in this city (and in others). Hopefully, I can get some stories for the upcoming Christian Community Development Association conference starting in the city tonight I'm going to try to make it to the film fest sometime during the week. If any of the LeftCheekers are wont to go, hit me up here and we'll see about making a date about it!

Chicago and Wal-Mart

Yesterday the City Council of Chicago unanimously rubber-stamped a new Wal-Mart in the South side neighborhood of Pullman yesterday, the second one within the city. My friends and I (and their friends) have been having rather vigorous debates about the benefits and detriments of such a move. Most of us are at least somewhat torn (which is good in having such debates). On the positive side (or is it negative, but pro-having Wal-Mart), the neighborhoods that the Wal have moved into are economically in shambles, with little-to-no businesses in which residents can turn to work, and few fresh, abundant, available and affordable food options. Indeed, the common term for us urbanites is "Food Desert*," as in, "OTOH, bringing in a Wal-Mart may help to reduce the food desert problem in the West and South Sides."

And the FD problem is a real one in these areas. Fresh food (if it can be called fresh by any stretch of the imagination) is so over-priced and rare that it's virtually a non-negotiable. It's not uncommon that grocery stores in many of the red-lined districts are miles apart. And with obesity and related health concerns on the rise (as the distance between food and the consumer grows exponentially), getting a store that sells cheap, fresh foods in the area - additionally, that also functions as an all-in-one stop - is a, well... get.

But, the question remains, is Wal-Mart the only alternative? Is it truly the only option that these long-neglected and underserved neighborhoods have? Or, more to the point, does the fact that they are underserved function more to Wal-Mart's benefit than to the community's?

In an interview with union historian and author Nelson Lichtenstein, The Chicago Reader's Max Brooks talks about the history and incoming urbanization of The Biggest Box. Here are some excerpts for your liesurely comfort:

One thing you write about early in the book is how Sam Walton, in pioneering the Walmart stores in the 1960s and 70s, took advantage of the rural isolation of these small towns in Arkansas and Missouri. I was wondering if you saw any parallels to what they're trying to do now, getting into these urban markets. A lot of these neighborhoods, particularly on the south and west sides of Chicago, suffer from similar kinds of economic isolation.

There are two similarities between the very early Walmart and their recent effort to move into urban areas. One is that in rural Arkansas, in effect, the population was underserved. There were all these small stores which were kind of monopolies and had poor distribution and high prices. Walton took a look at that and saw there was a big opportunity there. Secondly, in both situations you have a large underemployed population of potential clerks, or workers in the stores, so really the wages in the stores can be quite low.

You write that opening stores in areas where a lot of people are living on the edge is actually part of their corporate strategy: their business model basically can't exist without a churning underclass.

I would add: Walmart would've been a success in any event, but it became a particularly big success because its years of great growth were, whether by luck or by planning, the same years of the Reagan, Bush, even Clinton-era transformation of the minimum wage and the decline of the unions. It took advantage of that. Walmart's always prided itself that 25,000 people apply for 400 jobs when a Supercenter opens up. But this has been the case in America in general for the last 30 years. It's not attributable to the fine job Walmart does. Whenever you have an employer of any size in any kind of urban area you'll get 25,000 applicants. Walmart often uses that as a kind of argument that "Well, we're doing great."

The whole interview is short and worth a read (partly because The Reader could use more eyeballs)...

The truth is, there are other alternatives involving community-building. But the union-busting (and I'm no blind fan of unions. But it's foolish to deny them any foothold) is equatable to community-breaking. The stronghold that WM will have in West Humboldt Park and the Pullman District will make it harder for other, less-endowed, local and small businesses to survive or open there. And the wages may be decent for the neighborhood, but at what cost? And who benefits?

Certainly not this child worker (whose company sources from Wal-Mart amongst others):

*In point of fact, notice that all of the citations in the Wiki article are Chicago-based. Are we the only ones with this problem? If so, wth?

Metronome Fest!

Hey Chicagoans! Normally I try to make my Chicago plugs on Tuesdays, but since I didn't this week (or month. or year...) I want to announce my block party (of sorts*), the Metronome.

I'm really proud of the work that goes into this project, just on its second year. The organizers (mostly the head of security and public relations from the Congress Theater - an awesome guy named Max) work hard to make the fest green, sustainable and local. Hence, most of the bands are from local regions, proceeds go to four different not-for-profit local community groups including a local grammar school (Chase), the Greater Goethe Neighborhood Association, the Logan Square Chamber of Commerce, and Friends of Goethe School (a group of parents working with another local grammar school). Most of these groups are situated within the four-block radius of the event itself.

The performers will run on four different stages through the two days (one per end of the fest area per day) and run the gamut from Latin Rock to Folk, and Indie Rock to Punk. I've honestly never heard of any of the performers, but since I'll be there for the duration of both days, I'm looking forward to hearing something new (favorite name, of course, is Cooler By the Lake).

I'll be there with our community group, MAPA, and my church will host a service at 10am Sunday morning on the West end. Would love to see you there!

*As in, it's not my block, specifically, but it's right around the corner. And certainly not my party. And not really a block party. So technically, the whole sentence is wrong...

Chicago Tuesdays - Co-op Review, Shadow Budget and Pursed Lips

• First off, I finally made it to my friendly neighborhood Co-op, the Dill Pickle (blog here). My take: It's a local haven for people who crave a nearby Whole Foods, yet want more community involvement, ownership, and less of the SUV set.

It has many elements that we are currently looking for: It's almost completely organic and/or local (or some variant thereof. To register as 'organic' can be costly and time-consuming. But, say that your cows are grass-fed, free-range, free of antibiotics and steroids, etc, etc. That's the important stuff to me); it's definitely community-based, with community ownership (community members are asked to buy shares into the market) and volunteers staffing the store; they carry products from the weekly farmer's market and from local bakers; and it's got yummies (organic chocolate chips and some sublime apple granola in the big dispensers along with various seeds, grains and trail mix). It also has many of the same products I find when I go to Trader Joes - but at a significantly higher price.

Which brings me to the sad reality: This stuff is expensive. It's already nearly impossible for working class and even lower-middle class cats to eat healthily, especially if they're not

convinced that it amounts to too much just yet. Food, Inc. has made it clear to me that the cost of food is truly hidden, that we are paying in visits to the doctor, in bad health, in sluggishness, and in taxes for this cheap, highly-processed, twice-frozen, corn-fed, diseased, steroid-injected, yadda, yadda, yadda food. So, who gets hurt worse than the poor, who can't afford anything but such food? My hope is that as more people buy organic and pressure the government to subsidize less corn and more small, organic farms (rather than the big businesses that they are. I'm looking at you, Monsanto...), then the prices will drop and healthier options will be available for all.

So, as a result, I think I'm going to lift the budget for food by fifty bucks and buy most of our food as organic, local or at least as fresh produce (which is a spin from nine months ago where I budgeted in 2/5's for same. Now it's more like 5/6's).

Video on the grand opening (including a Pickle Parade. Crazy Hippies) viewable here:

• If you live in Chicago and have yet to read Ben Jarovsky and Mick Dumke's take on TIF's, please do yourself a favor and read, oh read Shedding Light on the TIF Budget.

• 

This chart, for example, helps to illustrate the point that the areas should receive the most TIF funds - as the original intent of the Tax Increment Funding is to help blighted areas redevelop businesses - receive the least amount.

However, as the article notes, the mayor has too much power to lose if people would understand how this all works out for his - and the Chicago Machine's - benefit.

In the case of the market, the City Council, at Daley's urging, voted in 2006 to spend a total of $12 million in taxpayer money on construction of a new shopping area in the Ogilvie Transportation Center; $8 million of that sum went to the French Market. The project happens to be headed by a well-to-do, politically connected developer who's contributed thousands of dollars to the mayor's campaign coffers. And the city plans to spend another $23 million in the River West TIF district through 2011.

The more TIF districts are created, the more money goes into the TIF accounts and the more powerful the mayor becomes.

Back in the 1980s, in the early days of Chicago's TIF program, Mayor Harold Washington said he would limit TIF districts to paying for specific projects in blighted communities that truly needed them. But the program has expanded over the years, and the administration and City Council have held almost no discussion of its evolving goals; now virtually any project in any community can qualify for subsidies. According to a TIF primer city officials distributed to aldermen this fall, TIF money can be used for program administration costs, property acquisition, rehabs of existing public or private buildings, construction of "public works or improvements," job training, business relocation and financing subsidies, planning studies, marketing, building demolition, and the services of architects, engineers, lawyers, and financial planners...

As we like to say here at LeftCheekopia, and further, etcetera, etal...

• Another point of interest for me, at least, is the Reader's story on the seemingly secretive CPS press agency. Yeah, if the last eight or so years have taught us anything, being opaque and secretive is the way to destroy your credibility and government.