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Archives for February 2020

New anti-gentrification ordinance aims to deter developers’ predatory tactics

By Madeline Makoul

To curb predatory tactics in gentrifying neighborhoods such as Pilsen, the Chicago City Council recently enacted an ordinance imposing fines ranging from $2,000 to $10,000 on real estate developers for repeatedly contacting homeowners who do not want to sell their homes. 

The ordinance states developers and real estate investors may not contact homeowners again within a 180-day period, whether such contact occurs by email, phone, mail, or in person. This requirement allows homeowners to report repeated cases of harassment by developers seeking to purchase their homes, enabling their local alderman to investigate the matter.

Photo by Charles Edward Miller courtesy Wikimedia Commons
Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez, taking to the streets to protest a new development.

Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez, an ordinance sponsor, said homeowners have been receiving stacks of mail, calls, and even visits from developers looking to buy their homes, creating pressure on longtime residents to sell.

“The ordinance protects those who feel harassed or continue to receive mail or unsolicited calls so they can report it, and each alderman can receive complaints of this nature,” Sigcho-Lopez said. “We can investigate, and there are fines associated with this. We can let residents breathe.”

Sigcho-Lopez said that, with high property taxes and home prices skyrocketing in areas across the city (including his 25th Ward), residents already find it difficult to maintain their homes, and added pressure from real estate developers compounds the challenge. 

“I want to make sure we have good practices,” Sigcho-Lopez said. “We don’t control who buys and sells, but we want to be sure that, if homeowners sell, it’s on their own terms.”

With the ordinance, Sigcho-Lopez said he already has seen resident complaints about harassing developer tactics decrease because developers do not want to rack up fines. 

Next steps

While homeowners have seen some results from the ordinance, Sigcho-Lopez said this legislation is just the start of a series of reforms to address other questionable tactics by developers.

Sigcho-Lopez explained pressure tactics do not stop with phone calls and mail; they escalate to calls to inspectors about possible code violations. As a result, inspectors go to homes and find issues, requiring homeowners to pay thousands of dollars to remain up to code, putting further pressure on them to sell. Such escalation overwhelms residents, particularly seniors who are more susceptible to such schemes, Sigcho-Lopez said. 

“What we are saying” with the ordinance “is we aren’t going to allow this here, and we have an administration that is committed to helping and protecting the small homeowners who are already burdened by high property taxes,” Sigcho-Lopez said. “The last thing we want is the City putting even more pressure on them.”

Stacey Sutton, an assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs, said that, while neighborhood change is inevitable as gentrification expands south across the city, the implications are disruptive and force the most vulnerable out. 

“Again and again, we normalize that, if you have more money, you are allowed to take my home, and that’s what it comes down to. If you have more money, you have more rights, and that’s not okay,” Sutton said. 

Sigcho-Lopez said he also wants to create incentives and subsidies so homeowners keep their homes, even as repairs and property taxes mount. Support would include helping people appeal their taxes, something he said many seniors and others may not know they have the option to do. 

Sigcho-Lopez stressed the importance of awareness that housing stock in Pilsen and other communities in this area often is old, making repairs even more challenging and costly. He said the City can alleviate this burden with tax freezes, funding through the City of Chicago Neighborhood Opportunity Fund or tax increment financing (TIFs), and grants for those looking to repair buildings.

“This ordinance is a preventive measure,” he explained. “People feel suffocated, and we wanted to give them some relief. Now, we should be thinking about how we can help them. We want to keep the social fabric of the community. Change is a constant of life, but what is happening here isn’t organic change.”

Bracing for change

With neighborhoods across the City of Chicago evolving, new buildings popping up, and an influx of new residents, the social fabric is changing, too. 

Change displaces residents, Sutton explained. It favors those with money and pushes current residents out, and those who are displaced end up moving from neighborhood to neighborhood as gentrification continues to spread, creating “domestic refugees.” This process disrupts the sense of community and security in neighborhoods, pushing out lower income families. 

“Neighborhood change is inevitable,” Sutton said. “But when I talk about gentrification, I’m talking about the displacement of residents, I’m talking about the land values going up so that those who have been there awhile can no longer stay, or they feel socially excluded from the area. But that doesn’t have to happen. That’s where policy can come in and mitigate some of those pressures.” 

Nathan Ryan, director of communications at Grassroots Collaborative, said affordable housing forms a key part of preventing the negative impacts of gentrification. Both Ryan and Sigcho-Lopez cited a mounting need for affordable housing in new developments. Sigcho-Lopez wants more transparency with new developments to ensure they provide more afford-
able units. 

Ryan explained that developer have abused TIFs in relation to affordable housing and new developments. Originally set up to help low-income communities, developers have “hijacked” TIFs to get subsidies in areas they plan to develop.

“This doesn’t only hurt our property tax base, but it hurts our education system and contributes to the gentrification and displacement we are seeing throughout the city,” Ryan said. “Gentrification is part of a larger story of how Chicago has failed our economic development, especially economic development for people of color.”

Ultimately, Sigcho-Lopez wants more “conscious development.” He said setting aside affordable housing that is “fair” will help balance development with affordability and allow more low-income families to remain in their local neighborhood.

“Diverse communities have young people, they have families, they have small and big businesses,” Sigcho-Lopez said. “Diverse communities that are based in solidarity thrive—that’s sustainable. When [developers] are building just to make quick money, no one is really investing in the community.”

Visit Alderman Sigcho-Lopez’s website at 25thward.org or call (773) 523-4100. For more on Grassroots Collaborative, visit their site at grassrootscollaborative.org, or email info@thegrassrootscollaborative.org. 

New Pompei restaurant aims to spur Taylor Street redevelopment

By Susan S. Stevens

The architectural gateway to the western portion of the Taylor Street business strip, Pompei restaurant at 1531 W. Taylor Street with its yellow brick dome and red roof, is on the verge of changing.

Owner Ralph Davino envisions a new building as part of a revitalized Taylor Street, with people living in 50 apartments above his restaurant populating the scene.

Pompei’s owner wants to tear down the current building on Taylor Street and replace it with one that includes apartments.

He plans to tear down the two-story Pompei and construct a four-story building with apartments on the three floors above the restaurant. He hopes other business owners will follow his example to bring new life to the street.

Pompei will not abandon customers during the transition. Davino will relocate the restaurant temporarily during construction and has started negotiations with the owner of the former Bacci restaurant down the street. “I am not going anywhere,” Davino said.

He believes Taylor Street needs business owners like him to step up their game. “I wish everyone would do the same thing,” Davino said.

At a Jan. 15 meeting of the Little Italy Chicago Neighborhood Association (LICNA), Davino announced his plan. Architectural drawings showed a largely glass exterior, with no defining feature. That is not what Davino wants, and he will have architects come up with new plans.

“That was too modern,” he said. “They have to do some other things yet,” something like the current façade, Davino added.

The current Pompei cost $2 million for land and construction a couple of decades ago, Davino said. He will not put in further money; the two developers will handle the expense, he said. One of the developers, Joseph Jankowsky, approached Davino with the proposal, bringing in another investor later.  

“I’m only involved in my space,” Davino said. “I have a 3,500 square foot unit.” The new restaurant will seat about 100, the same capacity as the current restaurant.

Jankowsky said the building will top off at 48 feet, and would be shorter than the Little Italy Library or the former Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame. Most apartments will be studios or one-bedrooms, with some two-bedroom units. Rents would be around $2,000 to $2,500.

The building would include two to five affordable housing apartments. Ald. Jason Ervin (28th) said possibly only two units would rent at less than market rate.

Restaurant parking would remain the same, with limited parking for the apartments, Davino said. He said there will be 20 parking spots behind the building, and mentioned nearby public transportation.

Davino hopes construction will start in late summer or early fall, though Ervin said a 2021 groundbreaking was more likely.

LICNA issued a statement expressing pleasure with the plan.

“We welcome the opportunity in bringing more residents and density into our neighborhood and wish the Davino family the best of luck,” LICNA president Joe Esposito said in the statement. “We hope that the architecture of the building is done as well as the current structure that fits the ‘Little Italy’ community amazingly well. I personally am hoping that there is a ‘party room’ in the new restaurant since the current one has become an iconic gathering place for family events for many of us. Best wishes.”

Across the street, where SCIO owners planned to erect the first of two apartment towers facing Ashland Avenue, construction continues on hold. Ervin said “ownership changes” prevented the plan from moving forward. Company representatives declined comment.

For Ervin, log on to www.aldermanervin.com or call (773) 533-0900. For LICNA, log on to www.licna.org. For Pompei, log on to www.pompei.usa.com or call (312) 421-5179.

Parking pressures lead Bronzeville to ask for bicycle lane changes

By David Warren

On Drexel Boulevard in Bronzeville between 45th and 49th Streets, residents are pushing the 4th Ward Office of Alderman Sophia King to find a solution to limited parking. 

King held a meeting in October 2019 to propose ways to increase parking, but ultimately she chose to make no changes to the layout when workers repaved the boulevard later that month.

Courtesy City of Chicago
Cyclists like Bronzeville’s bicycle lanes, but some residents are concerned about parking during Sunday church services.

King’s proposals included changing bike lane positions to allow parking on the boulevard interior, but cyclists objected, citing safety concerns. Limited parking also has led members at local churches to park in the bike lanes on Sundays, prompting complaints from area cyclists and their supporters. 

Frank Johnson, a trustee and pastor’s assistant at Grant Memorial AME Church on the corner of Drexel and 40th Street, said church members have no choice but to park in the bike lanes. “We are locked in as far as churches go for parking. We have no alternatives for parking. It’s kind of a unique situation to be in.” 

Johnson said church members use the bike lanes only for a limited time, around 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Sundays. He suggested moving the bike lanes to the center of the boulevard, “similar to what you have in the park district.”

Letting church members park in the bike lanes, even for a limited time, is not an acceptable solution to the problem, said Kyle Whitehead, managing director of public affairs at Active Transportation Alliance, an organization that advocates for bike lanes. “The need for people to park and get to their place of worship is obviously legitimate…but it can be balanced with the need for people to travel through and around the community safely. Those things can be managed so we are not choosing between parking and bike lanes. We can find a way to meet these parking demands.” Whitehead said he did not know what could be done in this particular situation, but that communities often have more parking than residents may know about.  

According to Whitehead, regardless of the solution, “most people have said they are comfortable and supportive with the street the way it is set up and keeping the bike lanes in place, not just to make it safer for people biking but to preserve the character of the community and the neighborhood and make the streets safer for everyone.

“From what we know, adding a bike lane doesn’t just add safety for people on bikes,” Whitehead added. “It also narrows the travel lanes and encourages people driving to drive closer to the speed limit. And when people are driving safely, it is easier to cross the street, so it creates a better environment for pedestrians—and just generally creates a more livable neighborhood. That’s the type of feedback I saw from residents who were participating in the community conversation the alderman was coordinating.”

Compromise urged  

While cycling supporters actively defended bike lanes at the October meeting, some advocates have called for a nuanced solution more closely tailored to residents’ needs. Olatunji Oboi Reed, president and CEO of Equiticity, a racial equity movement, said he supports bike infrastructure but urged cyclists to compromise “with respect to the culture that exists in our neighborhoods. I am an active cyclist. I advocate for safe bike lanes…However, I am also a native South Sider. My mom took us to church on a regular basis. She goes to church on a regular basis. I also understand that perspective as well.”

Reed is concerned about white cyclists who do not live in the neighborhood “taking this blanket advocacy position that under no circumstances should bike lanes be blocked.” He believes that position will hurt both the cyclists and the community, and that what the neighborhood needs is “to integrate infrastructure in a way that is cultural and contextual. I don’t think the City of Chicago has done a good job at that.” Reed noted he was “cautiously optimistic” that new Chicago Department of Transportation commissioner Gia Biagi “will bring a sense of racial equity and mobility justice to this work and [that] we will begin to look at all types of architecture in a way that is contextual and cultural with respect to the neighborhood it serves.”

Naomi Davis, a board member on the Bronzeville Community Development Partnership and founder of Blacks in Green, a community building and organizing network, directly questioned the wisdom of supporting and maintaining bike lanes on the South Side of the city. Davis asked for a “forensic analysis of the cost of bike lanes in the City of Chicago. For me, this is part of the story. What is the cost? Is the cost of bike lanes extractive of black communities?” 

From her experience, black and brown communities tend to commute in the bike lanes far less frequently than white communities, and churchgoers should not be inconvenienced in this situation. “Should neighborhood churchgoing people, in addition to possibly supporting a benefit that they are not enjoying, should they also be inconvenienced?” Davis asked. “Ticketed, inconvenienced, have to walk farther.” 

The larger issue, she said, is that neighborhood communities on the South Side need “a more activated neighbor voice” in order to organize around their self-interests to persuade the City to adopt policies and programs that meet residents’ needs.

It remains to be seen whether the 4th Ward makes any of the proposed changes to the bike lanes or considers making room for more parking in Bronzeville. Alderman King currently does not have any other meetings scheduled with residents concerning parking, and her staff’s response to requests for an interview with the alderman was “Unfortunately, our office is unavailable to comment at this time.”

Active Transportation Alliance’s website is http://activetrans.org/, and the phone number is (312A) 427-3325. For the Bronzeville Community Development Partnership, log on to https://bronzevillepartners.com/, or call (773) 532-9850. For Equiticity, see https://www.equiticity.org/, or call (773) 916-6264. For Grant Memorial AME Church, log on to https://grantmemorialame.org/, or call (773) 285-5819. Alderman King’s website is http://www.aldsophiaking.com/, and phone number is (773) 536-8103.

Saint Ignatius College Prep celebrates 150 years of providing Jesuit education

By Jane Lawicki

Saint Ignatius College Prep, located at 1076 W. Roosevelt Rd., has risen twice from near closure, like a phoenix, to anchor its Near West Side neighborhood.

“We have not just survived, but thrived—because we’ve been bold,” said John Chandler, vice president of development, in presenting the school’s impact as it celebrates its 150-year history. While noting the school helped sustain the homeless and hungry after the 1871 Great Chicago Fire (Saint Ignatius’s four-story structure was one of only five public buildings to survive in the area), Chandler emphasized the more modern decision to remain open during urban flight. 

Photos courtesy Saint Ignatius College Prep 
The latest electronic devices and a well-stocked library of books aid Saint Ignatius College Prep’s academic mission.

“In the late 1960s and early 1970s, it was a difficult time, as there was a strong exodus from the city,” Chandler said. “Our alumni and the Archdiocese wanted us to leave, to re-locate. Instead, Saint Ignatius’s leadership chose to stay. The decision was counterintuitive and we ‘rose again’ through entrepreneurship and innovation.” 

Throughout the 2019-2020 academic year, the school is remembering its history as it builds toward its future. Numerous activities are underway, including a float in various Chicago parades, concerts, galas, and tours as well as two special craft beers to mark the anniversary.

Saint Ignatius College Prep’s long-term mission has been to prepare young men—and, since 1979, women—for lives of faith, love, service, and leadership and to “use God’s gifts to promote social justice for the greater glory of God.” Since the school opened its doors in 1869, some 35,000 young people have received the Jesuits’ academic, athletic, and service-focused education there.   

“Our ‘product’ is doing good in the world,” said the Rev. Lukas Laniauskas, SJ, vice president of mission.

Scholarship assistance

The school’s commitment comes through in a recently announced anonymous $15 million endowment to offer comprehensive scholarships—covering tuition, social services, test preparation, transportation, lunches, activity fees, and tutoring—for five inner-city students each year. The gift is one of many small and large donations in response to Saint Ignatius’s Include, Inspire, Ignite 150th anniversary campaign.

Students can be involved in a variety of activities, including theatre, at Saint Ignatius College Prep.

Targeted to help marginalized students from the bottom two percent of economically disadvantaged families from Chicago’s West and South Sides, the scholarships aim to be transformational, helping students and the city shape a new future. 

“Saint Ignatius is about the ability to perform, not about the ability to pay,” Chandler said, noting more than one-third of current students receive financial aid to the tune of more than $5 million per year. 

Following graduation, students continue their post-secondary education at top-tier colleges and universities. Some 78% percent of recent graduates matriculated to 126 different institutions in 33 states and three foreign countries, receiving over $70 million in guaranteed scholarships and grants over a four-year period. Alumni are represented in every profession including law, health care, government, arts and entertainment.

“We are very proud of the diversity of schools that our graduates attend,” said the Rev. Michael Caruso SJ, president. “The investment families make here for high school pays a big dividend in college with generous scholarships and grants.”

Athletes at Saint Ignatius also have benefited from the school’s anniversary year. Last August, the school opened a first-class outdoor athletic center on 12 acres consisting of a multipurpose stadium, practice field, and baseball facility and bringing the campus grounds to 26 acres.  

While the athletic center offers additional practice and competition space for Saint Ignatius, school officials are making it available secondarily for public and private schools lacking such a facility, a move that will generate income for Saint Ignatius and create an asset for the community.

“It took us 31 years to put together that field,” Chandler explained. School officials take a long view, focusing on strategic planning every five years as well as vision setting for every five to ten years for the last 25 years.

Saint Ignatius College Prep is in the midst of a year-long celebration of its 150th anniversary of providing education, student activities, and social justice inspired by faith.

“Because we’re committed to the long term, we’re focused on the financial necessities for today while building an endowment for tomorrow,” Chandler said. “We want our successors to be free to face whatever comes their way.”

Saint Ignatius’s mission addresses outstanding teaching to create personal foundation, with the classroom setting enabling intellectual excellence, integrity, and life-long learning inspired by the gospel to use God’s gifts to promote social justice.

The school offers a campus visit program for prospective students, allowing up to 20 eighth grade students visit the campus to shadow a current freshman. Visitors follow a freshman schedule, eat lunch in the dining hall, and meet other students, teachers, club moderators, and coaches. 

To contact Saint Ignatius College Prep, call (312) 421-5900 or log on to www.ignatius.org.

John Chandler to become president of Saint Ignatius

By Jane Lawicki 

John J. Chandler, following a 45-year career with Saint Ignatius College Prep, has been named its new president, effective July 1, 2020. Chandler will be the first non-priest in the school’s 150 years of Jesuit leaders.  

“I’m humbled and excited to follow in the footsteps of Jesuit leaders from the past,” Chandler said. “There’s an element of ‘joyful challenge’ in it. It took me three months of discernment, praying about it.” 

John Chandler will become president of Saint Ignatius College Prep later this year.

Chandler, a native Chicagoan, is a graduate of Notre Dame University and began teaching at Saint Ignatius in 1974 as a classics and social studies teacher. He has taught within every academic department except for religion. He also had the opportunity to move up through the school’s operations and, through the years, Chandler served as the school’s business manager and vice-president of operations. He currently serves as vice-president of development and operations.

“The Jesuits saw in me what I didn’t see in myself,” Chandler said as he noted roles as teacher, department chair, business manager, capital planner, and development leader. He has coached soccer at Saint Ignatius since 1974 and still works as an assistant coach. He continues to teach one class per semester, saying it allows him to stay in touch with students and their needs and reminds him of the school’s larger vision.  

“Some people move from place to place in their career,” he said. “I’ve been fortunate to develop new skills, new opportunities here.”  

“Over these past ten years I have thoroughly enjoyed working with John,” said the retiring president, the Rev. Michael Caruso, SJ. “His deep Chicago roots, his passion for the Catholic/Jesuit mission of the school, coupled with his encyclopedic knowledge of members of our community, all position him well to be an extraordinary leader.”

Fr. Caruso’s ten-year term ends when the school’s 2019-2020 150th anniversary year concludes. A member of the Midwest Province of the Society of Jesus, he will return to his Central-Southern Province home to await his next assignment. 

Patrick J. Nash, chair of the Saint Ignatius board of trustees, praised his work to strengthen the school in the Jesuit tradition. “Two strategic plans were developed under Fr. Caruso’s leadership,” Nash said. “These initiatives have improved the academic programs of our school in many ways.” 

Regarding Chandler’s appointment, Nash said Chandler’s vision for Saint Ignatius’s future as one of Chicago’s most important educational institutions impressed the search committee and board. “We look forward to working with John as we embark on a new era for our school,” he added. 

Chandler also serves on the board of trustees of Mercy Home for Boys and Girls and is board chair for Ancilla College in Donaldson, IN. He enjoys farming in his free time.  

Public app helps measure impairment from cannabis and other sources

By Eva Hofmann

Illinois residents, cannabis entrepreneurs, law enforcement, and public health officials are now gearing up for recreational cannabis’s legalization for adult use this year.

Driving while under the influence of marijuana remains a big concern, but a new public app may help.

Recognizing shapes is one way to test impairment.

The Illinois State Police are conducting training and enforcement efforts. “Whether it’s misconduct regarding alcohol or cannabis, public safety and the enforcement of the law will always remain our top priorities,” said ISP Director Brendan F. Kelly. “As the laws of the State of Illinois change, the ISP will ensure our officers, forensic scientists, telecommunicators, and support staff have the necessary training and tools need to continue to enforce the laws in place and perform their respective duties.”

The ISP is currently researching oral fluid (saliva-based) testing, and is reviewing feedback from   other states that have legalized adult-use of recreational cannabis and are currently conducting oral fluid testing. According to the ISP, several states have implemented technology that has shown promise and could be effective in Illinois. The Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act provides for penalties for drivers refusing to submit to such tests similar to those as in the case of a driver refusing to submit to an alcohol breathalyzer. The ISP is working to implement this technology to identify driving under the influence of all drugs including opioids as soon as possible. 

A major problem with saliva-based tests is that they do not measure impairment, according to Michael Milburn, PhD, retired professor of the University of Massachusetts in Boston “This is in addition to the fact that they cannot measure even the use of edibles, let alone impairment from edibles,” he said.

“Makers of saliva assay devices argue that they can detect recent use up to three hours, when they argue impairment is highest,” said Milburn. “Because frequent cannabis users can develop tolerance, even evidence of recent use is not evidence of impairment.”

Milburn is the developer of a public app for mobile devices called DRUID (an acronym for Driving Under the Influence of Drugs). Milburn cites 14,000 downloads of the DRUID app at this writing.  “We have over 11,000 separate uses of DRUID saved in our database,” he said. 

“The big problem with getting DRUID accepted by law enforcement is first to overcome the focus on biological measurement that has dominated impaired driving enforcement in the past, particularly the alcohol breathalyzer,” said Milburn. 

Ability to balance is another way to test a person’s impairment.

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) has long advocated for the greater use of validated performance-based measurements such as DRUID or AlertMeter.

AlertMeter is a graphical cognitive alertness test lasting 60-to-90 seconds. It has been shown through both clinical and workplace analyses to satisfy the need for a practical and workplace-friendly way for assessing fitness for daily duty, particularly before employees perform critical tasks.

According to NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano, assessing driver impairment from cannabis or other sources should emphasize effect-based drugged driving standards that require demonstrable evidence of driver impairment. He advocates assessing the totality of circumstances and a greater reliance on measures validated for identifying cannabis-induced impairment, as opposed to alcohol-induced impairment (like Standardized Field Sobriety Tests), more public education to discourage drugged driving behavior, better Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) training, and imposition of validated performance-testing technology such as DRUID.

“Ultimately, if law enforcement’s priority is to better identify drivers who may be under the influence of cannabis, then the appropriate response is to identify and incorporate specific performance measures that accurately distinguish those cannabis-influenced drivers from those who are not, rather than relying either primarily or solely on the detection of compounds that are not consistently associated with behavioral impairment and that may be present long after the effects of the substance has worn off,” he said.

Designed for mobile devices, DRUID gauges divided attention, reaction time, decision making, motor tracking, hand-eye coordination, time estimation, and balance movements following the intake of drugs such as cannabis, alcohol, prescription medications, and other substances. DRUID testing consists of four tasks to measure cognitive and psychomotor performance; these tasks are consistent with those identified in research on the effects of alcohol and driving impairment. 

DRUID then statistically integrates hundreds of data points into an overall impairment score. The process takes two minutes. DRUID measures cognitive and behavior impairment for any cause, including consuming drugs or alcohol, lack of sleep, or injury.

DRUID allows cannabis users, as well as those who use alcohol or prescription drugs or might otherwise be impaired, to assess their own level of impairment. While the app performs well in identifying impairment, it does not tell users if they are safe to drive. The DRUID impairment score is one piece of information to help them make the decision to delay driving or operate dangerous machinery.

According to Milburn, DRUID is the gold standard of impairment testing and the only objective measure of impairment for the roadside.

He noted a colleague at Johns Hopkins University “is doing dosage-controlled studies of cannabis administration and using DRUID,” he said. “His data show that DRUID is able to discriminate impairment from different levels of cannabis consumption—0 mg, 5 mg, and 20 mg. DRUID is being used by cannabis researchers at Yale, Johns Hopkins, the University of Kentucky, and the University of Colorado at Boulder.”  

So far, according to data Milburn has cited, the DRUID app has seen 14,000 downloads. “We have over 11,000 separate uses of DRUID saved in our database,” he said. 

The challenge now is convincing law enforcement of DRUID’s benefits. 

Why is this a problem? According to Milburn, in states such as Oklahoma and Arizona, courts are ruling in the area of workplace cannabis use that a failed drug test by a medical cannabis patient is not sufficient evidence to fire that employee. Companies also must show evidence of impairment to justify termination. “As the medical use of cannabis expands around the U.S., legal protections for citizens using a legal medicine will necessarily expand,” he said. “Likewise, as recreational use is legalized, this will only heighten the demands for extending legal protection for use without impairment.”

After law enforcement, politicians present the next hurdle to acceptance that DRUID works, according to Milburn. “Politicians I talk to in Massachusetts feel the need to do something, to show that they are taking citizens’ concerns about cannabis-impaired driving seriously,” he said. “Unfortunately, this has led some to give serious consideration of a very bad bill proposed by our governor, Charlie Baker. Baker has proposed that motorists stopped by police can be forced to submit to a biological test or lose their license for six months. This will end up wasting millions of dollars because all these cases that rely on biological measures of cannabis use will be thrown out of court.”

Ultimately, said Milburn, every state will need to employ objective measures of impairment like DRUID in the workplace and by the roadside. “The chemistry and pharmacology of cannabis makes this inevitable, and courts are beginning to recognize this,” he said.

The DRUID app is available at the App Store and Google Play.  For more information, go to the DRUID website at www.druidapp.com. For more information on AlertMeter, go to https://www.predictivesafety.com/alertmeter. For information on your local NORML chapter, go to https://norml.org/il-2/item/chicago-norml.

Neighbors oppose MAT Asphalt plant operation

While a McKinley Park grassroots group opposes operations at the MAT Asphalt plant at 2033 W. Pershing Rd. because of their environmental impact, the plant’s owner, backed by longstanding zoning and a partial sample of Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) statistics, said he intends to stay and operate under the current guidelines.

A pending determination to convert the plant’s permit from temporary to a ten-year approval has sparked an IEPA-led neighborhood meeting planned for March. The IEPA in late January still was confirming the meeting date, time, and place.

Photo courtesy Change.org
Neighbors for Environmental Justice opposes the MAT Asphalt plant, but the owner says the plant is operating in an environmentally friendly manner.

The IEPA’s final licensure determination will include weighing remarks from those attending and written comments up to 30 days after the meeting. 

Residents formed Neighbors for Environmental Justice (NEJ) in early 2018, said board member Anthony Moser. He pointed out multiple issues resulting in an opposition petition that garnered more than 2,000 signatures.

First, neighbors found out about the plant just months before it began operating in July of that year. He described the plant’s ability to receive a permit in a neighborhood classified as in an environmental justice zone (based on income and/or population diversity) as “shocking” because he believes IEPA did not notify residents properly of its proximity to homes and to McKinley Park, a popular area frequented by families.

“I take my daughter and walk through the park, and you can see smoke pouring out of the columns and it smells,” Moser said.

Chris Pressnall, an IEPA environmental justice coordinator, said, “Neighbors for Environmental Justice did not exist when we mailed notifications to our known groups and elected officials” in 2017.

Measuring the plant’s environmental impact is another issue, Moser said. 

IEPA statistics for 2018 (2019 stats will not be available until later this year) show the plant’s emissions of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, and volatile organic material fell well within the permit’s limits. 

Moser said recent Freedom of Information Act results generated by the NEJ show the plant is not in compliance for certain chemicals including volatile organic compounds, sometimes referred to as volatile organic materials. 

“Nobody has ever measured the content of the plant emissions to verify that they are in compliance,” Moser said, noting the “stack test” at the end of 2018 “only measured the opacity of the smoke and the amount of particulate matter.” He said the information shows the State and the City have not measured emission contents.

“To our knowledge, the company itself is also not measuring these things,” he added.

MAT Asphalt plant owner Michael Tadin Jr. stands by the IEPA’s test results.

“There is no odor or smell,” Tadin said. “We have done everything we can to be environmentally friendly. We had an open house last fall for neighbors. For some, you’re never going to pacify them.”

Moser also said his group questions activities of Ald. George Cardenas (12th Ward), the local alderman and chair of the City’s Committee on Environmental Protection and Energy which helped approve the plant. He pointed to political contributions to the alderman. 

A review of Illinois Sunshine, a site that details such contributions, shows a $10,000 contribution from MAT Leasing (owned by Michael Tadin Sr. and associated with MAT Asphalt) to the Friends of George Cardenas in 2017 was returned and then resubmitted to Twelve PAC, a fund that promotes the growth of Chicago area communities. Cardenas chairs that fund.

Cardenas said politics is involved because an NEJ founding member, Pete DeMay, ran against him twice before the plant’s construction. Moser said DeMay has stepped away from the group.  

“It’s foolish to believe that donations made everything possible and, most importantly, such a claim makes a mockery of the environmental issues we face in Chicago,” Cardenas said.

Cardenas said the plant’s zoning has been in place for “a very, very long time, and I believe that continued industrial use of this area is reasonable.”

He said he will work with all parties involved in the issue and plans to attend the March meeting. 

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency site is www2.illinois.gov/epa, or call (271) 782-3397. To reach Neighbors for Environmental Justice, go to www.n4ej.org. For Ald. George Cardenas, go to www.12thwardchicago.com, or call (773) 523-8250. For more on Illinois Sunshine, go to https://www.illinoissunshine.org., or call (312) 436-1274.   

—Rick Romano

CPS promises renovations, expanded programs

The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) 2020 budget addresses needed capital improvements to more than 300 schools across the City of Chicago. 

Among local schools slated to receive renovations funding are Nathanael Greene, 3525 S. Honore St; Holden, 1104 W. 31st St.; Washington Irving, 749 S. Oakley Blvd.; and National Teachers Academy, 55 W. Cermak Rd.

Photo courtesy Chicago Public Schools
Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson noted the budget “invests in hundreds of neighborhood schools.”

CPS is allocating $263 million for maintenance projects and interior improvements in schools around the city, including roof, envelope, and mechanical repairs.

Also, all 4-year-old CPS students will receive free full-day pre-K by 2021 through a $120 million investment in pre-K facilities. Improvements include $20 million for classroom conversions in 106 schools and $100 million for classroom expansions to provide additional student space by fall 2020. CPS also will create 100 more pre-K classrooms in 28 underserved communities to assist another 2,800 students. 

CPS analysis shows that, by third grade, students who attended pre-K programs had higher GPAs and better attendance records and scored higher on standardized tests than their peers with no pre-K education.

The $7.7 billion budget exceeds 2019’s budget by $117 million. It funds 325 active CPS projects to increase access to education within safe environments. 

The budget targets five key areas: critical facility needs, interior improvements, educational programs, site improvements, and information technology and security upgrades. 

“This budget, which invests in hundreds of neighborhood schools throughout the city, is grounded in the belief that every student in every school deserves access to high quality academic programs and learning facilities,” said CEO Janice K. Jackson. 

Additional budget highlights include the CPS’s largest expansion of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), IB (international baccalaureate), and fine and performing arts programs; $10.5 million for Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility; $10 million for nurse, social worker, and case manager positions and for recruitment and pipeline development; and $12 million to support English learners at more than 100 schools.

“By putting equity first, we are ensuring every young person knows they matter, knows we care, and knows they can reach their full given potential, inspiring students of all ages to continue to set new academic records and create a city that is truly a beacon of hope and opportunity for all,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.  

Within five years, CPS will add positions for at least 250 nurses and 200 more social workers as well as access to more case managers.

To learn more about the 2020 budget, visit https://cps.edu/FY20Budget/Pages/FY20Budget.aspx, or call (773) 553-1000.

—Lisa R. Jenkins

City replaces water main on Wells Street

The Chicago Department of Water Management (DWM) has completed replacing water main infrastructure on Wells Street between 51st and 53rd Streets in Bronzeville.

“Decisions about which sections of the City’s water main need to be replaced are based on the age of the infrastructure as well as its repair and maintenance history,” according to DWM spokesperson Megan Vidis. “Ensuring that every community continues to have access to high quality drinking water delivered by a reliable, efficient water system is the goal of the Chicago Department of Water Management. The water main replacement project on Wells between 51st and 53rd Streets started in August and was completed in October, with restoration” of street infrastructure completed shortly thereafter.

Photo courtesy DB Sterlin Consultants
The City of Chicago Department of Water Management is replacing 90 miles of water mains and recently completed a project on Wells Street.

DWM has been replacing 90 miles of water mains and 22 miles of sewer mains as well as lining an additional 42 miles of sewer mains over the last several years. Through this capital improvement program DWM “has created many good paying jobs across the City,” Vidis added.

“City government has been aggressively replacing many of the old water mains across Chicago,” said Alderman Pat Dowell (3rd Ward). “Some of these mains are over 100 years old. The Wells Street replacement project makes the delivery of water to my constituents more efficient and is an example of their hard taxpayer dollars at work.” 

The cost of water for the average family of four nearly tripled between 2007 and 2018, with most of the increase coming during the administration of Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

The City’s water supply network and system uses a combination of engineered hydrologic and hydraulic components. Lake Michigan provides the sole source of City drinking water.

Several water crib structures house and protect offshore water, which the City collects and transports through tunnels located about 200 feet beneath the lake. From there, the system moves water to one of two water purification plants located on shore. After treating the water, those plants channel it to all areas of Chicago as well as 118 suburbs to supply private houses and multi-unit buildings as well as industrial, commercial, and institutional establishments and other usage points such as fire hydrants. 

The City’s sewer system operates separately from the water supply system.

For more information, log on to https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/water.html or call (312) 744-4420. For Ald. Dowell’s office, call (773) 373-9273.

—Marie Balice-Ward

Chicago Park District  invests $110 million in programs for youth

The Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners has approved the District’s 2020 budget, which includes $110 million in investments toward programming for youth, teens, and young adults. Highlights include new employment training for teens and additional resources for the Park District’s after-school programming. 

In 2020, the Park District will enhance its Park Kids after-school program to provide even more resources to Chicago students and their families. The program, which offers students ages six through 12 a variety of physical activities, arts and crafts, and homework time on school days between 3 and 6 p.m., now will be offered on CPS non-attendance days including holidays, teacher institute days, and winter and spring break.

The Chicago Park District will enhance its Park Kids after-school program to provide even more fun and resources to students and their families.

The district also is partnering with community service providers to bring STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), coding, and other enriching activities to participants during after-school hours. Meal service will be available at more Park Kids locations to ensure children have access to a healthful meal. Officials expect expanded programming will affect 13,000 children and their families.

Also in 2020, the Park District will extend work experience opportunities to teens ages 13 through 15 via the Sports and Recreation Leadership Apprentice Program in partnership with After School Matters. The 20-week program, offered in fall and spring, will engage teens in sports and other areas of interest while exposing them to a broad range of careers in recreation. Students then will have the opportunity to earn stipends through summer work experience or gain seasonal employment with the Chicago Park District.  

Park District general superintendent and CEO Michael Kelly said, “From sports to culture and everything between, park programs allow our young people to explore their interests, positively engage in their communities, and provide invaluable support for their families.”

The Park District’s sailing program is expanding for children ages eight through 18. Young sailors will learn rigging, terminology, points of sail, rules, basic navigation, boat handling, docking, and upwind and downwind sailing. The district, in partnership with Endeavor Chicago and the Judd Goldman Adaptive Sailing Foundation, will offer youth sailing programs at six locations, serving 1,000 children and teens.

In partnership with the U.S. Soccer Foundation, the Park District will bring the Soccer for Success program to parks that have soccer mini-pitches. Programming for youth ages six through 12 will include soccer fundamentals, wellness, and personal development. Soccer for Success will launch at 11 parks as part of after-school programming and will add more locations in the spring. 

The Park District will host Teen Opportunity Fairs Saturday, February 15, at Truman College, and Saturday, March 14, at Kennedy King College. Teens 13 through 19 will learn about programs, educational and vocational opportunities, and job readiness. 

Families in need can access more than $3 million in financial assistance, in addition to built-in discounts realized through the district’s tiered pricing structure. 

For information, log on to https://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/, or call (312) 742-PLAY (7529).