Broad Shoulders Update

Electronics recycling has been added to a document-shredding event June 23, from 9 am till 2 pm at United Center.

TV sets, computers, monitors, printers, faxes, cell phones, VCRs and game consoles are among gadgets accepted in Parking Lot E in Wood Street, along with up to 10 boxes of papers, according to chicagoshreds.com

More home burglaries were reported in a May 17 community alert from Chicago Police central area detectives:

• 800 Block of N. Ashland Ave., 9 a.m. May 15.
• 1000 Block of N. Wolcott Ave., 3:30 p.m. May 12.
• 1000 Block of N. Paulina St., 8:30 a.m. May 9.

Burglaries in the 13th District continued to outpace year-ago comparisons for the week ending May 6, according to the police website.

Break-ins at various hours were reported at addresses from Grand Avenue to Thomas Street and from Paulina Street to Oakley Boulevard in an April 28 community alert from the detective bureau.

Police logged 49 burglary reports in the 13th District from March 26 through April 22, according to the police CompStat report for the week, a 75% increase from last year.

The alerts advise residents to report suspicious activity, keep the outside of buildings well lit and repair broken windows, doors and locks. Burglary victims are advised not to chase burglars or touch anything at the scene, and to get contact information from witnesses.

Permitted Activities that may affect your use of the Lakefront Trail May 18-21, 2012

I'm seeing lots of "non-exclusive use" permits issued for activities along the Lakefront for such things as boot camps, marathon training, etc. These permits do not have specific times associated with them and they are usually for small groups of people but do increase the activity along the lakefront.

Friday, May 18

No activities listed

Saturday, May 19

Lakefront Trail is CLOSED from Balbo to 39th Street due to the NATO meetings starting at 6:00am, recommended alternate route is State Street.

Epilepsy Foundation 5K Walk, Lincoln Park-Grove 16, 8am-Noon

Kids and Kites Festival, Lincoln Park-Montrose, 10am-4pm

Sunday, May 20

Lakefront Trail is CLOSED from Balbo to 39th Street due to the NATO meetings, recommended alternate route is State Street.

Monday, May 21

Lakefront Trail is CLOSED from Balbo to 39th Street due to the NATO meetings until 6:00pm, recommended alternate route is State Street.

After scaling mom's bike to take over piloting and bell ringing duties, this young woman is ready to go with her correctly-fitted helmet! We hope you have a great day and a great ride up top or in your Burley!

 

Do you live or work in Midlothian? If so, your input is needed on future walking and biking options in the community.

The village is applying for Transportation Enhancement funds to improve the pedestrian and bicycle thoroughfares. The application includes a continuous bicycle and pedestrian way from Kenton to the Village Green (see the village's pedestrian map and its bike map). This improvement was identified as mid-term goal in Midlothian’s Active Transportation Plan.

Public involvement is a priority to Midlothian. Please bring your opinions on this project to the open house on Monday, May 21 at 5 p.m. at the Village Chamber, 14801 S. Pulaski Ave. If you have any questions, contact Trustee Karen Kreis at 708-389-0200.

 

 

Keep your eyes open this spring — a world-class bikeways network is emerging, and in the weeks and months to come, you have the opportunity to watch it come to life.

City construction crews are hitting the streets installing a slew of transformative new bikeways all over Chicago. This is truly a historic time to be an advocate for safer streets and bicycling. Active Trans is proud to be a leader in the effort to secure a world-class bike network for our city.

As you know, the mayor has pledged to build a 100-mile bikeway network by the end of his first term, and Active Trans is working hard to make sure it happens. We’re organizing advocates like you, voicing our support at community meetings, and educating aldermen, local business owners, residents and community leaders about the benefits bikeways bring to Chicago neighborhoods.

Each new mile of bikeway is a strong statement that says bikes belong on Chicago’s streets, and we’re going to celebrate each one.

Active Trans is eagerly tracking the first 25 miles of new bikeways and keeping you informed of the city’s progress. Here’s what’s been happening this week:

Elston Avenue safety improvements begin
CDOT has big plans to remake Elston Avenue into a calmer, safer street for everyone who encounters it. How do you tame this beast? Plans call for traffic calming, enhanced crosswalks, intersection treatments, pavement markings, and of course, bikeways. The street is also an important corridor for bike traffic — people on bikes make up eight percent of all traffic on Elston! We’re thrilled the city is making these enhancements on this crucial passage between North Ave. and Milwaukee. This week crews have already started work on a new protected bike lane.

A protected bike lane for Franklin Boulevard
Construction crews are currently installing a new protected bike lane between Central Park and Sacramento, in the East Garfield Park community. This stretch begins at the Chicago Center for Green Technology and includes George Westinghouse College Prep High School. We’re excited to see a safer street emerge for students, residents and visitors to the area. We look forward to seeing more bikes and fewer crashes on Franklin in the months and years to come.

Additionally, two projects were completed last week:

Roscoe Street buffered bike lane — Crews have finished installing a new buffered bike lane between Damen and Western Avenues, which continues south on Campbell to Belmont. This new addition gives people a nice comfortable ride as they cruise through leafy Roscoe Village, making it safer and easier to hit the neighborhood’s grocery stores, local shops, restaurants and schools.

Division Street buffered bike lane — Located between Western and California Avenues, this lane is especially helpful for Humboldt Park residents, west side commuters and park goers. Previously the standard bike lane on Division abruptly ended at Western, so we’re particularly excited to see it extended with extra breathing room to help people of all ages cycle safely to Humboldt Park — a major hot spot for families. Make sure to add this route to your spring to-do list.

These new additions join already-completed bikeway projects, including the beloved protected bike lanes on Kinzie, 18th Street and Jackson Boulevard, and the comfortable buffered bike lanes on Jackson Boulevard and Wabash Avenue.

Here's the tally: 6.5 miles down, and 18.5 to go until Chicago’s first 25 miles of protected and buffered bikeways are complete!

Stay tuned for more updates every week as construction continues and the bikeways slowly transform Chicago into a safer, more livable city. We’ll also share ways for you to voice your support for Chicago’s bicycling revolution.

Thank you for your support in getting us here!

Today the U.S. Census released new data showing that Whites now make up less than half of births in the United States, with Hispanics, blacks, Asians and those of mixed race representing a majority for the first time in the country’s history (at 50.4 percent). The following is a statement from PolicyLink Founder and CEO Angela Glover Blackwell in response to this news:

“Today’s news from the U.S. Census that whites now account for less than half of U.S. births underscores what PolicyLink has been saying for some time: the face of America is changing and the nation’s fate hinges on how we react to and invest in those changes. At a time when other countries are beginning to see their youth populations dwindle, the U.S. is experiencing a boom not seen since post-World War II. We must recognize this as a tremendous opportunity to develop a national policy agenda that leads with equity and makes it possible for this growing youth population to fully participate and prosper in our nation’s economic revival.

“It is a shocking and unacceptable fact that today 45 percent of Black middle-class children are expected to end up poor by the time they reach adulthood. According to the Brookings Institution, a mere 13 percent of Latinos and 18 percent of African Americans have a college degree, compared with 31 percent of whites. Such statistics, when viewed within the context of these rapidly changing demographics, reinforce the urgency for making targeted investments that will prepare today’s youth of color and help them to reach their full potential. This means supporting quality early childhood education programs so that young children are well-equipped to perform and succeed in the classroom. And investing in our community colleges so that young workers get the training and skills critical to compete in the global economy.

“The only way to achieve true, sustainable economic recovery is by influencing public policy and making equity the superior growth model for our future. Today’s developments represent a prime opportunity to do just that. Let’s start now.”

Check out these maps below for a visual of this changing face of America. What do you think these rapid changes mean for America’s future? Share with us in the comments.

 

 

With the rise of online news, traditional news has taken a huge hit in audience and circulation numbers in recent years, but in a major media market like Chicago, it is still the place where, yes, millions of people go for information. Just take a look at these numbers:

Chicago Tribune - 414,590 average daily circulation (includes print and digital)

Chicago Sun-Times – 269,489 average daily circulation (print and digital)

Daily Herald – 99,670 average daily circulation (print and digital)

WBEZ radio – and average of 118,000 listeners per day

There are nearly 3.5 million Chicago households watching television, according to nielsen. (If someone can find me breakdowns for local TV news audiences, please, send those numbers my way!)

And the Workshop’s NEW News 2010 report found that millions of people visit the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times websites each month.

These are still BIG numbers. These numbers are why so many organizations still desperately want that Tribune story or Channel 2 feature. The Workshop knows that while telling our own stories online is vital to the success of our organizations, continuing to mine opportunities to tell a newsworthy story to a larger audience via traditional media is also important. Make your journey through traditional media easier by meeting some of the reporters and producers who can help you place your stories. One of our most popular and well-attended panels each year at the nonprofit communications conference Making Media Connections is the Metro News panel. Join us this year to hear from Cate Cahan, WBEZ; Madeleine Doubek, Daily Herald; David Schalliol, Gapers Block; and Deidra White, CBS-2.

Hear from the reporters and editors themselves about the types of stories they’re looking for, when to pitch them, and how they prefer to be contacted. Chicago is a big media market, and pitching traditional media can be tricky. This panel will give you useful tips that might make the difference between a successful pitch and one that flops. We hope to see you at Making Media Connections 2012!

Listen to interview.

Chicago is planning to continue with its controversial Renaissance 2010 schools strategy, if not in name then in substance.

In a “concept paper” requesting $20 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Chicago Public Schools revealed plans to open 100 schools in the next five years— 60 of them charter schools. “Turnaround and contract schools represent the rest,” the paper says.

The Chicago Tribune first reported on the application to the Gates Foundation Thursday.

Schools spokeswoman Becky Carroll denied the plan is a renewal of the controversial Renaissance 2010 policy begun under former Mayor Richard Daley. That initiative created more than 100 new schools in five years but also sparked bitter school closings and charges that the district was privatizing the school system.

Carroll said the numbers in the document are only “projections,” and are in line with recent charter expansions.

This is the first time Chicago Public Schools has publicly admitted it plans to continue with the same pace of new school creation set under former schools chief Arne Duncan.  The decision comes as the system faces a $600 million deficit, and despite enrollment declines that have left one-third of current schools under-enrolled. Adding 100 more schools to a system of declining enrollment could mean a massive number of school closures in coming years, and could substantially increase the percentage of privately run schools in the system.

The proposal to Gates was written by the school district and some of the city’s biggest charter school networks, many favorites of Mayor Rahm Emanuel and CPS, including Chicago International Charter Schools, Noble Street, LEARN, KIPP, and UNO. The proposal was signed by directors of those schools as well as Phyllis Lockett, CEO of New Schools for Chicago; Andrew Broy, president of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools; and schools chief Jean-Claude Brizard.

The preliminary proposal—the actual application won’t be filed until June—asks the Gates Foundation for $20 million to set up a Chicago charter school facilities fund. The money would be used to leverage additional private and philanthropic dollars. Chicago charter schools would then compete for capital funds to buy, build, expand or renovate charter school facilities.

Charter advocates say charters are currently underfunded—the Illinois Network of Charter Schools says Chicago is giving its charters just 75 percent of the money regular CPS students receive. The district has disputed that calculation in the past.

District officials say the new facilities fund will help Chicago attract national charter school networks.

“Access to facilities is a chief barrier to entry for high-performing schools that we would like to see expand and locate in Chicago,” district spokeswoman Robyn Ziegler wrote in an email. She said the facilities fund would “provide high performing charter schools with access to much needed funding to open new facilities to meet the demands of families across the city.” The district says 10,000 children are on waiting lists to get into charter schools here.

In addition, the district's proposal to Gates indicates the district is planning to pay charter schools more per pupil next school year. Charter schools that are not located on CPS properties currently get $425 per pupil to cover the cost of their lease or debt on their building. That will increase to $750 per pupil next year and $1,000 per pupil in the 2013-14 school year, according to the proposal. The district has not announced those plans locally, though the application says the planned funding increases "have already opened up additional financing opportunities for [charter] schools."

In the neighborhoods, news that Chicago is planning to add another 100 new schools caused some to worry their schools could be targeted for closure.

“There’s been a lot of concerns from parents, teachers, and students about rumors that CPS wants to take the building over and either create a charter school or a military school. Nobody knows anything,” says Maria Trejo, a staff member at Logan Square Neighborhood Association, which has worked to bring programming to Ames Middle School.

Recently Chicago Public Schools took away one of Ames’ feeder schools; that action will lower enrollment at the middle school. Trejo says teachers fearing they'll be displaced have begun looking for jobs elsewhere.

Logan Square Neighborhood Association pushed for Ames Middle School to be built in the 1990s. Trejo says the community has secured counselors and a clinic in the school as well as more afterschool activities.

“This is a community school and we want it to stay a community school,” she said.

The district has closed or completely re-staffed more than 100 schools since 2002, either for low enrollment or for chronic poor performance.

A WBEZ analysis from 2011 showed that new schools created under Renaissance 2010 are amixed bag. Many do not outperform nearby neighborhood schools when compared grade by grade, subject by subject. Data released by the state last November also showed mixed results for charter schools.

Gates Foundation spokeswoman Debbie Robinson said Chicago is competing with just a handful of other districts for more than $40 million total. She said the goal of facility supports is to bolster "facility use proposals that would be good for both the district and the charters. Not favoring a district model over a charter model, but looking at what are the schools on the district side or the charter side that are the highest performing models and then looking at how you scale up and replicate and create more seats under a model like that."