Youths begin a march from Chicago’s Union Park to Federal Plaza. (Photo by Peter Holderness)

There’s a new rallying cry for young immigrants who lack authorization to be in the United States: “Undocumented and unafraid.” Their front lines include youths who “came out” last week in Chicago’s Federal Plaza, publicly disclosing their undocumented status. Photographer Peter Holderness documents that event with this slideshow.

A nonprofit group that wants to build more than 70 affordable homes in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood says it’s going a long way to satisfy the plan’s opponents. But from talking to some of those opponents for yesterday’s WBEZ story about the project, it doesn’t look like Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation has gone far enough — or that it could, without dropping the project altogether.

For years Bickerdike pushed for the Zapata Apartments to consist of four buildings on scattered parcels. Now Bickerdike has eliminated a three-flat from the plan. On that lot, 3503 W. Armitage Ave., the group is promising to maintain green space. Bickerdike has also re-bid the construction to reduce costs. Read the rest of this entry →

Maybe it’s because I hadn’t eaten lunch yet. But I could hardly believe my eyes this afternoon as I videotaped Chicago health inspectors throwing out about 200 servings of fine-looking beef ravioli at a state-of-the-art kitchen in West Town. About a minute and a half in to the tape, check out how fast they dumped the fresh salad that was supposed to go with the ravioli.

Since Thursday, the inspectors have trashed hundreds of pounds of food at Kitchen Chicago, a facility shared by 11 small businesses, including caterers, candymakers and artisan bakers.

Frances Guichard, food protection director at the Chicago Department of Public Health, says the city found no unsanitary conditions. Guichard says many of the businesses, rather, hadn’t labeled their storage areas and lacked receipts for some of the ingredients. None of the tenants, she adds, had received a city license to prepare food for the public.

Read the rest of this entry →

Fritchey proposes extending a homeowners tax break.

In his campaign to win a Cook County Board seat, state Rep. John Fritchey (D-Chicago) promotes himself as an independent, someone who stands up to the establishment.

One of Fritchey’s signature issues substantiates that claim. He’s crossed Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan by sponsoring legislation to extend a property tax break for Cook County homeowners. That break, set to expire this year, capped reassessments to a 7 percent increase.

Several Fritchey endorsers add weight to his independent credentials. They include the county commissioner he wants to replace, Forrest Claypool (District 12), who’s stepping down. Fritchey has “shown independence in the legislature,” Claypool told the Chicago Current. “I think he’ll be in the independent tradition of those of us who came on to the board in 2002.”

So I scratched my head when I saw Fritchey last week at a fundraiser in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood for Cook County assessor candidate Joe Berrios, the antithesis of an independent. Read the rest of this entry →

Chicago Ald. Toni Preckwinkle is having what you might call a good day.

She woke up to a front-page Chicago Tribune headline about a new poll suggesting she has surged ahead in a crowded Democratic primary race for Cook County Board president.

Now here is some more news Preckwinkle will enjoy. A few minutes ago, she got an important organized-labor endorsement.

The Service Employee International Union’s Illinois State Council is throwing its weight behind Preckwinkle, one of four candidates in the primary. “She’s a strong, independent progressive,” the council’s executive director, Jerry Morrison, tells me. “She’s the right person to lead the board.”

Morrison insists the timing has nothing to do with the poll — with SEIU wanting to be on the winning side. “This endorsement is a long time in the works,” he says, “and I think we’ve endorsed her every time she’s run for reelection as alderman.”

Cook County Board Commissioner Edwin Reyes

A Cook County Board commissioner facing a tough primary challenge has gathered endorsements from some 18 Chicago politicians. Edwin Reyes (8th District), installed by Northwest Side political bosses to an open seat last summer, hopes the endorsements will help him beat back self-styled independent Xavier Nogueras in the February 2 primary. Reyes is running the list on the home page of his campaign Web site.

There’s just one problem.

Until I called the Reyes campaign late yesterday, the list included a Chicago alderman who had not endorsed the commissioner.

The alderman, Scott Waguespack (32nd Ward), says he’s “disappointed” and “angry” to hear Reyes has been using his name. He says he didn’t know until I told him.

The Reyes campaign is apologizing for the “error.” A spokesman blames it on the office of the 32nd Ward Democratic committeeman, state Rep. John Fritchey.

But Fritchey insists neither he nor his staff had any role.

I’m trying to figure out how a county health system in Florida didn’t find out until this week about its new chief restructuring officer’s role in an alleged scheme to defraud creditors and employees of a Chicago window company.

Barry Dubin, former chief operating officer of Republic Windows and Doors, was set to earn $425 an hour to help turn around Jackson Health, Miami-Dade County’s struggling system of hospitals and clinics.

Contacted by the Miami Herald, Jackson CEO Eneida Roldan said she knew “absolutely nothing” about last month’s Cook County charges against Republic CEO Richard Gillman in the fraud case. Dubin has not been charged, but the indictment identifies an unnamed co-schemer as the company’s chief operating officer.

Now Roldan says she’s asking Dubin’s consulting firm, Naples-based Qorval, to supply a different restructuring officer. She told the Herald and Modern Healthcare that his Republic role had become a “distraction.”

A distraction just now? Republic made national headlines last December, when the roughly 240 employees at its Chicago factory began a sit-in that became a symbol of the economic crisis. The workers were upset with Gillman and Dubin for closing the plant with just a few days’ notice and refusing to provide federally mandated severance payments.

Maybe Roldan missed that news, but surely someone on her human-resources team knows how to use Google. Dubin’s biography at Qorval lists numerous achievements at an unnamed “window and door manufacturer.” When I type “Barry Dubin” and “windows” into the search engine, I see dozens of news reports about the sit-in and fraud case.

Miami-Dade County has hired a former Chicago window company official near the center of an alleged scheme to loot the business, pilfer manufacturing gear and set up a new operation in Iowa.

Former Republic Windows and Doors Chief Operating Officer Barry Dubin will earn $425 an hour to help turn around Jackson Health System, Miami-Dade’s struggling system of hospitals and clinics, according to the Miami Herald. Dubin will serve as the system’s chief restructuring officer over the next nine months, the newspaper reports.

Cook County prosecutors last month charged Republic CEO Richard Gillman with defrauding company creditors and stealing cash from the firm. The indictment identifies an unnamed co-schemer as the company’s chief operating officer.

Republic shuttered its Goose Island plant last winter without federally mandated severance payments to the factory’s roughly 240 employees. The workers, members of United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), responded with a sit-in at the plant. The sit-in quickly became a national symbol of the nation’s economic crisis. It ended six days later when two Republic creditors — Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase — agreed to pay the workers a combined $1.75 million.

“Dubin is the last guy I’d want to see in charge of a hospital,” says UE organizer Mark Meinster.

I tried to reach Dubin on his cell phone Thursday evening. My message asks whether Cook County authorities have been in touch and whether he’s the right fit for the Florida job. He hasn’t returned the call.

Michael Moore in his new movie "Capitalism: A Love Story"

Filmmaker Michael Moore was in downtown Chicago over the weekend for an advance screening of his latest documentary, “Capitalism: A Love Story,” which opens nationwide this Friday. The audience included dozens of laid-off Republic Windows and Doors employees. Their sit-in at the company’s Chicago plant last December earned them a leading role in the film. After the screening, Moore took audience questions. This 16-minute excerpt begins with him recalling his crew’s reaction to a press release from the workers’ union, the United Electrical Workers, on the first day of the sit-in.

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After three years in Chicago, I feel like I’m starting to understand the local ways. Then comes this message from WBEZ listener Terry O.:

“I see from your bio that you’re from Minnesota. Great state, love Minneapolis. Now that you’re in Chicago, I think you need to know how to pronounce the city’s name. Okay, you go to the doctor, he gets out a tongue depressor and says: ‘Say Ahhhhh.’ Now you see a cute baby who smiles at you and you say: ‘Awwwww.’ The latter is the proper way to say Chi-cawww-go. You’re saying Chi-cahhhh-go (incorrect). Although no orator, Richie Daley pronounces it correctly.”

Terry sounds like he knows what he’s talking about. But before I start emulating Mayor Daley, I’d like to hear what our blog visitors think. Before voting, listen to my pronunciation and the mayor’s:

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