Tag Archive
Taking the gold (away)
On October 12, at the Experimental Station at 61st and Blackstone, some two dozen people met to listen to a story. In a bare room with a concrete floor and a brick wall, Green Party candidate Tom Tresser and young activist Bob Quellos sat in front of microphones and told how an organization... »
Who Backs the Bid?: The view from the ground of the 2016 Olympics
Bankrupt and deserted, the Michael Reese Hospital on the 2900 block of Ellis Avenue is an unlikely site for Olympic grandeur. But across the street from the hospital, flags wave in the parking lot of the Prairie Shores apartment complex to welcome members of the International Olympics Committee, who visited Chicago this past week,... »
The Bronze Age: Harold Lucas fights to preserve Bronzeville’s historic heritage
Of all Chicago’s neighborhoods, Bronzeville boasts some of the most hotly contested real estate in the city. Developers of the South Loop’s upscale condos threaten to build their way down State Street, gentrifying Bronzeville from the north. The University of Chicago campus extends in an ever-encompassing radius from the south. And now, with the... »
Olympian Activism: The Unlympic Games compete with the Chicago 2016 Olympic Bid
Last Saturday afternoon, a small but enthusiastic group of activists and community members gathered in Washington Park to play kickball. Class-conscious kickball, that is. The event was part of the Unlympics, a movement that seeks to raise awareness and questions about the prospect of a 2016 Chicago Olympics. Characters dressed as wealthy corporate representatives... »
Going for the Gold
The galvanizing effect that Barack Obama’s campaign has had on the South Side community is reflected in the recent organizing success of SOUL, a nonprofit coalition of congregations known as the Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation. By its own estimates, approximately 600 Chicagoland residents turned out last Sunday for its annual Martin Luther... »
Restraining Zeus: How a local ballot initiative is attempting to control Mayor Daley’s Olympian actions
While everyone has analyzed and reanalyzed the presidential campaign this year, it’s easy to forget that Chicago’s many ballots contain a long list of judges to appoint or retain, a proposed constitutional convention, and individual ballot initiatives about various local issues. One local issue concerns Chicago’s prospective hosting of the 2016 Olympics. Voters in... »
Olympic Dreams
“Chicago is a city that is frequently a tale of two cities,” said Terri Johnson of the Jane Addams Hull House Association; if anything, she may have been underestimating. Johnson was introducing a panel of speakers on the 2016 Olympic Games that included members of the city’s bid committee as well as Allen Sanderson,... »
Dangerous Games: Chicago’s biggest foundations start preparing for the Olympics’ ill effects on the South and West Sides
In their eagerness to bring the 2016 Summer Olympics to Chicago, four of the city’s largest foundations have created a multimillion-dollar fund to help neighborhoods on the South and West Sides. These areas would likely see the greatest improvements in infrastructure as a result of the Games, yet they are home to the strongest... »
