The Chicago Reporter articles from May 2008

The Chicago Reporter archives from May 2008

Segregation takes its toll.(EDITOR'S NOTE: Reporter News)(Editorial)
May 1, 2008... In 30 years, you can learn a lot of lessons. But apparently it's not long enough for many in Chicago. Thirty years ago, I was in 3rd grade on the South Side. Most of my classmates were black. The graduating 8th-grade class was white. It was...

Reporter news.(EDITOR'S NOTE)
May 1, 2008... The Chicago Reporter captured the top prize--and three awards altogether--at the Chicago Headline Club's 31st annual Peter Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism, held April 25 at the InterContinental Hotel downtown. The Chicago Headline Club,...

Hollywood's brownout.(SPINOFFS: Keeping Current)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The news: After five seasons, HBO's addictive cop drama "The Wire" went off the air March 9. Behind the news: The show's absence cut into the diversity on television, having been one of few series with a largely minority cast. ...

An 'Island' in the desert, but grocery rate still lags.(SPINOFFS: Keeping Current)
May 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The news: Specialty grocery store Treasure Island opened its newest store on Chicago's South Side, helping to fill the need for grocers in minority neighborhoods after the closings of Dominick's and the Hyde...

Independence days for City Council.(SPINOFFS: Keeping Current)
May 1, 2008... The news: In February, the Chicago City Council honored the 100th birthday of former alderman Leon Despres, who's known for his independence against the late Mayor Richard J. Daley. Behind the news: Decades after Despres' tenure...

Placing credit and blame for prostitution arrests.(SPINOFFS: Keeping Current)
May 1, 2008... The news: In March, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned after being linked in a prostitution ring. Behind the news: According to annual reports by the Chicago Police Department, prostitution arrests in Chicago went down 23.4...

Fighting an invisible enemy: author and pastor seeks to define anti-racism and white privilege.(Q&A: Joseph Barndt)(Interview)
May 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Joseph Barndt is not your typical anti-racism advocate. He's a 73-year-old white man who was raised in an overtly racist family in rural Pennsylvania. Nor does his message echo the anti-racism dialogue that many are...

Car sick: organizations work to find transit alternatives for the entire region to ease congestion, spending.(Transportation Sustainability)
May 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This is the first installment in a three-part series for Chicago Matters: Growing Forward. This year's Chicago Matters--the award-winning multimedia public affairs series made possible by The Chicago Community Trust...

Chicago mirrors nation.(Transportation Sustainability)(data of people commuting to work)
May 1, 2008... The Chicago Reporter analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau to see how people commuted to work in the nation's 50 largest cities in 2000 and 2006. Like Chicago, a majority of the other 49 cities saw increases in the percentage of people...

Not quite a freeway: advocates wonder if congestion pricing model could work for Chicago.(Best Practices)
May 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] For years, Nicholas Harrison loved darting in and out of traffic with his touring bike on his way to work as a French professor at Kings College London. The cool morning breeze rustling his brown, grey-flecked...

Won't you be my neighbor? Mixed-income neighborhoods sound good in theory, experts say, but the reality is vastly different.(INVESTIGATION: Economic Diversity)
May 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] When Chicago's public housing developments were born in the 1930s, the stated plan was to create idyllic enclaves where low-income working families could develop close-knit communities and thrive. The reality, in...

There's no place like home: former CHA residents try to feel at home in mixed-income developments.(INVESTIGATION: Economic Diversity)(Chicago Housing Authority)
May 1, 2008... Kelly Smith never had a dishwasher or clothes dryer. She stands on the balcony she never had and lets the quiet bathe her. "You can hear birds chirping and singing," said the 29-year-old. "That's a good thing to hear instead of all that...

Unity in struggle: residents fight to keep changing neighborhoods affordable, racially mixed.(INVESTIGATION: Best Practices)
May 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Community leaders in a number of local mixed-income neighborhoods say they have found a reliable way to bring people of different races and income levels together: community organizing campaigns. It's through this...

May 1, 2008.(PARTING SHOT: Immigration march)
May 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Thousands of marchers make their way through downtown Chicago waving American flags and voicing their support for immigration reform at a rally at Federal Plaza.