Patricia Johnson-Gordon

Cabrini-Green

Dear Resident,

If you are familiar with the above “greeting,” you know its origin. If you are a resident of “CHA” and not familiar with the above “greeting,” you could be placing your “continued occupancy” in jeopardy. For as we all know, ignorance is not an acceptable excuse. “Dear Resident” letters are sent to us by CHA to communicate with and notify us of various “changes” within the Authority. These letters are usually included in the envelope with our rent statement and without a doubt, will or should have an affect of some degree on us and our families. After more than two decades of ineffective management, poor resident representation and an apathetic resident population, there is a move to redevelop public housing, not only in Chicago but throughout the United States. For that reason, it is important that you become familiar with this “greeting.” Read more »

Like many of the CHA developments, the Flannery Homes senior development, home of Residents’ Journal, is undergoing a significant redevelopment. The mixed-income development of Orchard Park continues and the construction of a new community center is underway. Writer Alan Minerbrook surveyed his neighbors to determine their opinions of these changes.

The tenant garden of the Flannery Homes was taken down August 15 to make room for a new community center as well as a garden that will feature underground sprinklers and private garden spaces. Several tenants, if the project comes off the way the management has planned, say they will be happy about it. Here are the viewpoints of a few tenants and a clerk of the building at 1507 N. Clybourn.
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I was standing in the Rose Garden at the White House. The sun was shining and the weather was perfect. September 26, 1996, was the day and President Clinton signed a bill which gave funds to support various programs, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. I stood over his shoulder as he used a different pen for each letter plus one for dotting the I’s and crossing T’s. It was a real spooky political ritual.

Less than 24 hours prior, I was at home in Chicago having lunch with Harry McGraw. After lunch was over, I went home and checked my voice mail. Ron Carter, CHA’s director of economic development, had left me a message stating how imperative it was that I get back with him. It was 1:30 p.m. and I didn’t finish listening to the message because I thought it was pertaining to my photography business. I immediately disconnected and called him. Ron explained that I was to represent CHA in Washington plus meet the President. The catch was I had to leave within a couple of hours. I agreed to catch the 8:15 p.m. flight to Washington, D.C.
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I’ve always wanted to become a professional football player and dreamt of one day seeing myself in a room filled with trophies. But what I failed to realize was all these dreams would soon be ripped and torn apart.

I joined a group of friends who decided to join the neighborhood’s football team. Some of the other boys had been playing for a while. When I joined the team, the coach took one look at me and decided my position would be center and tight end. On the day of our first game, my mother asked me not to play, as if she knew something was going to happen. While watching her expression change, I asked her not to worry because nothing could hurt me. I’m strong and able to play a good game. Read more »

Martha Marshall, Senior Central LAC President

The Senior Housing Central Advisory Council is now a reality for senior housing in CHA. The three senior LACs have come together to chart new courses and give direction to the CHA.

Our reasons for organizing this group are many. Primarily, we want to be in position to assist the powers that be in determining the future of senior housing in Chicago. I believe that if senior leadership is to be viable, we must be at the planning table from the inception of an idea, through the planning and completion. Senior housing in this city has undergone a metamorphosis over the past eight to 10 years with the housing of young and disabled individuals in the same buildings with senior residents. The introduction of alcohol and drug dependent persons into senior housing and the very serious neglect of many of the properties has caused us to be in a very severe crisis at this time. Read more »

The Ida B. Wells development is one of the oldest housing developments in the U.S. In this first installment of a two-part series, we will find out just who was Ida B. Wells. The second part of this series, which will appear in the upcoming issue of Residents’ Journal, will be a history of the public housing development named after Ida B. Wells. Read more »

What would make a policeman volunteer to take up residency in a housing development? Why would they move out of a comfortable, peaceful, low density environment into an overpopulated, noisy, low income development with graffitti written walls and metal grates that shadow halls which smell of urine ever so often?

I recently interviewed two C.H.A.P.D. officers who moved into the ABLA development. I asked them the formidable question, “what prompted you into volunteering to move into one of the chicago housing authority’s complexes?” I found out why they took on the challenge. A nobler pair of men cannot be found anywhere in the world.

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With redevelopments ongoing in several communities, we thought it would be important to review the history of the four empty Lakefront buildings, which have been waiting for redevelopment for a decade. Using history books and her personal recollections, writer Izora Davis explores the past, present and future of the buildings’ residents.

The history of public housing, as we all have come to know it, has touched each and every one of us in such a way it feels as though we built the buildings ourselves!

I refer to this story as the dying hope because it was a dream for many people to live in subsidized housing. When the buildings were first built, it made the government look as though it really cared about poor people. People felt as if they were a part of a nation that cared. Oh! What a joy. So much happiness thrilled people’s hearts: these were nice houses, not rat infested, and with spacious rooms. But slowly the doom has come. What did we do wrong? Through the years, piece by piece, all that we thought we had was taken away. Even today, when big changes are coming, the hope is dying for residents of Washington Park. Read more »

While taking a cab home from work one evening, I gave the cab driver my address. He turned around and looked surprised

“You live there?” he asked.

The ‘there’ he was talking about was Cabrini-Green and my reply was the same as every time I had been asked this question in that way. “Yes.”

Then he started asking me more questions, “How do you live there? Because it’s so bad and there’s all this action going on.”

As our conversation continued, I would not – could not- let these questions go unanswered. So I proceeded to comment on his topics. The ‘action’ he was taking about takes place in the midst of the Gold Coast, Michigan Avenue, downtown and the Lakefront. Cabrini is surrounded by beaches, Lincoln Park, Northwestern Hospital and Children’s Memorial Hospital, where they bring children from all over the country to be treated. Cabrini is surrounded by banks, drug stores and some of the world’s best restaurants: the Crab House on Wells, Carson’s Ribs, Dave and Busters and so much more. I can see and hear that kind action from my apartment. Read more »

And so we came together as a community, as we often do, and the press came to watch this community, as they often do. A community no longer defined by boundaries but by time, events and realities common to us all. And we stood and waited, anticipating the arrival of Marion(to those who knew her) and Marion Stamps (to those who did not.)

As a community, we gather together on many occasions. None of us are there all of the time. But, if there was a gathering that struck at the heart of this community, you could anticipate the arrival of Marion…Marion Stamps. If the issues were children, families, education, housing, welfare, warfare, building them up or tearing them down, she was there. Like it or not, invited or not, she was there. And even as a community, like it or not, invited or not, because some did not like it or invite, she represented us. She represented us because the issues that she challenged and championed affected each and every one of us. So, those of us who knew Marion… Marion Stamps knew that she was coming and anticipated her arrival. Read more »