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November 10, 2011 Issue 13 / Vol.4
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Alderman Pope Fights For Essential Services In City Budget By Sam Gomez On October 31, 2011, Alderman John A Pope along with 27 other Chicago City Council members sent an official letter to Mayor Rahm Emanuel requesting a meeting with Budget Director Holt to express their concerns over the Mayor’s proposed cuts to the Chicago city budget. The main areas of concern were proposed cuts to the Chicago Public Library system, public health, graffiti removal, Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC) and city stickers.
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Halloween Contest Kicks Off Holiday Giving Season By Sam Gomez This Halloween, Our Neighborhood Times and Pete’s Fresh Market sponsored a Halloween picture contest via our Facebook fan page located at www.facebook.com/ ontnews
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The competition was simple; ONT asked our Facebook fans to submit photos of their best costume, decorated house and/or carved pumpkin. The prize for the winner in each category was a $25 gift card from Pete’s Fresh Market located at 3448 East 118th. After a week of submissions, ONT opened up the photos for voting at 9am on Halloween morning, and ended the contest at 5pm that evening. CONTINUED INSIDE ON PAGE 3
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November 10, 2011 / Page 2
our neighborhood times
ONT Staff: Dan Lira, Publisher Dlira@onwnews.com Sam Gomez, General Manager Sgomez@onwnews.com Janice Minton-Kutz, Content Manager Jmintonkutz@onwnews.com Brian Grabinski, Art Director Bgrabinski@onwnews.com Correspondents:
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local briefs Help Wanted - Part Time Experienced dog groomer wanted for part time position in the Calumet City area. Please call (708) 868-6475 for more details. Beat 433 - Caps Meeting Tuesday November 15th Henry Clay School 13231 South Burley 7pm George Washington Elem PTA Craft Bazaar/Flea Market Wednesday Noon - 6pm call for info: 773-646-5334 Holiday Crafting with recycled items Friday November 18th. 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm Ages 10 to Adult 13300 Baltimore Ave Register by calling 773-646-0436 Vendor Days at: Southeast Sportmen’s Club Saturday, November 19, 2011 Friday 9am till Noon 13139 S. Avenue M, Chicago IL
Blood Drive Saturday, November 12, 2011 at Lebanon Lutheran Church 13100 S. Manistee From 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. the Lebanon Lutheran Church will be taking walk-ins and appointments for donations of blood. Call Phyllis at 773.646.2367 to schedule your appointment today. St. Kevin’s Altar and Rosary Sodality Sunday, November 13, 2011 St. Kevin’s will be holding its Annual Arts and Crafts Christmas Bazaar at 10503 Torrence Ave. from 8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Crocheted items, toys, ceramics, Avon, cosmetics, clothing, jewelry and much more will be sold along with a raffle being held. Bake sale and Coffee provided by Altar & Rosary with a Mexican breakfast and lunch provided by Los Carismaticos. $5,000 World Sport Chicago Scholarship Chicago high school juniors in Fall of 2011 with a 2.0 or higher GPA and have played eligible Olympic/Paralympic sports for two seasons in the past three years. Up to 50 Chicago high school juniors will become WSC Scholars and receive Kaplan ACT tutoring and Chicago Scholars mentoring. They will also be eligible for one of 10 renewable college scholarships worth
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Page 3 / November 10, 2011 CONTINUED FROM THE FRONT PAGE Marco Rodriguez won for best costume, Gina Madros won for best pumpkin, and Martha Kelly won for best decorated house. While everyone that participated enjoyed the competition, the acts of kindness and generosity that followed made it even better. The costume competition was very close and the winner was decided in the last few minutes with Marco Rodriguez winning by only 3 votes. Cindy Garcia, the runner up, is also the Director of Operations for the South Chicago YMCA. During the open voting, Ms. Garcia announced that if she won the contest, she would donate the gift card to buy food for needy families in the community. Although she did not win, her announcement prompted Mr. Rodriguez, President/CEO of MarcRod Media Management (M3) to donate $50 to the YMCA. The generosity continued even further as Ms. Garcia then “paid it forward” and donated the $50 to Raya Lopez, Interim Executive Director of the South Chicago Chamber, so that Raya may, “make a special holiday to those less fortunate” Our Neighborhood Times is proud to have sponsored something that became something much larger then we had anticipated. Thank you to everyone that submitted photos and a very special thank you to Marco Rodriguez and Cindy Garcia for your acts of kindness.
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our neighborhood times
Alderman Pope Fights For Essential Services In City Budget CONTINUED FROM THE FRONT PAGE Currently the Chicago Public Library system (CPL) accounts for only 3% of the city’s budget, however, under the originally proposed budget more than half of the city layoffs would have come from the library system. Alderman Pope, along with other city council members contended that libraries provide valuable programming for childhood literacy and internet access for job searches. Drastic cuts to CPL would eliminate jobs and services in our communities and undermine the efforts already taken to enhance the library system. Thus far, Mayor Emanuel has restored $3,300,000 to the CPL budget from the larger reduction he initially proposed. This compromise will save 100 people from being laid off within the CPL system and additionally address the reduction in operating hours on Monday and Friday mornings. Major cuts were also proposed to the graffiti removal program in our area. These cuts would have severely impacted the city, especially within the 10th Ward community. “With Commercial Ave being one of the last pedestrian designated shopping districts in the city,” said Raya Lopez, Interim Executive Director of the South Chicago Chamber, “it is very important to keep the area as aesthetically pleasing as possible.” Requests to remove graffiti have increased city wide, and both residents
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and businesses see graffiti removal as a necessity of maintaining quality of life and a pro-business approach that cannot withstand further reductions. Ms. Lopez went on to say,” We are trying to do what we can to help support our small businesses and our mom and pop stores that have been a staple in our community for generations. We are very happy that graffiti removal is not something they will have to pile onto their other responsibilities of trying to maintain their businesses and keep their doors open.” The Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC) budget is proposed to be cut by nearly $10 million, causing the elimination of fire and police dispatcher positions, exacerbating public safety operations. Alderman Pope is concerned that this type of budget cut would have an immediate and negative effect on public safety within the community. The official letter also expressed reservations about the proposed amendments for Chicago vehicle sticker pricing. The original budget called for increases on the vehicle fees for vehicles between 4,000 and 4,500 pounds. These increases would cost residents and additional $60 next year, nearly doubling the current fees. While Mayor Emanuel no longer plans to lower the weight threshold for large passenger vehicles, he proposes to increase the fee $10 to $85 for small-to-medium-sized vehicles and $15
to $135 for larger vehicles. The mayor’s new plan would maintain the 4,500-pound weight limit in favor of acrossthe-board increases of $10 to $85 for small and mediumsized vehicles; and $15 to $135 for the larger ones. That means all 1.26 million drivers who buy city stickers would pay more, except for senior citizens and motorcycle owners. While the budget crisis within the city of Chicago continues to be Mayor Emanuel’s biggest undertaking since taking office, he has shown his willingness to work with the city council. The Mayor’s approach to solving the city’s financial crisis has been to come up with a long term fiscal plan while trying to ensure the city residents continue to receive the services they are paying taxes for. Alderman Pope will continue to fight for concessions in the budget. He has made his concerns known and continues to work towards finalization of a budget for 2012. The final budget will be voted on and approved Wednesday November16th.
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By State Senator Kwame Raoul and State Representatives Barbara Flynn Currie and Kim Du Buclet
News from Springfield grid. Changes in the final bill significantly limited utility profits so they will be below the national average. ComEd will provide $50 million to help low-income families, seniors and disabled veterans pay the extra charges and will be required to make immediate structural improvements to lessen the likelihood of the disastrous power outages that plagued the north suburbs this summer.
measure. Passage of the bill will mean a huge boost for clean energy in Illinois. The measure promotes energy efficiency and more projects using renewable sources. These will bring us cleaner air, lower customer costs and It was a dark and stormy night. We were holding a town thousands of jobs. hall meeting at the United Church at 53rd and Blackstone. It isn’t just the smart grid. It’s smart meters, too. Smart We were pleased that 25 hardy souls were willing to brave meters provide customers with the tools we need to cut the weather to join us to talk about issues our individual energy costs. Knowing facing the Illinois General Assembly. the price of power at any given hour of And then the lights went out. the day helps us adjust our behavior— And then they came back on. if it’s cheaper to run the dishwasher And then they went out again. later in the evening, many of us will do The following week all three of us were just that. A pilot smart meter program in Springfield for the legislature’s fall showed savings of 15 to 20 percent on veto session. A hot topic of debate was average. For the Currie family, that the Governor’s veto of the bill changing would translate into a reduction in our the way electric utilities do business in electric bill that could be as much as the state of Illinois. $20 a month. No question, this was a difficult issue. Is It was a difficult vote, a difficult choice. it time to bring our electrical grid into the But we are hopeful that the stronger, 21st century? Smart grid technology can more reliable infrastructure smart grid quickly pinpoint problems that result in promises will cut down on outages like outages—and as quickly fix them. On the the one that shortened our town hall State Senator Kwame Raoul State Representatives Barbara Flynn Currie Kim Du Buclet other hand, the utilities expect consumers meeting. And we are hopeful that the to help pay for these improvements—it will likely add $3 But what about the opposition from AARP, the Citizens promise of green energy will cut pollution, save costs and a month to our ComEd bills. There were good arguments Utility Board and the state’s Attorney General? These are produce Illinois jobs. We look forward to smart meters. for the Governor’s veto, and there were good arguments important voices on an issue like this. We want to save on our electricity bills. We think you against. We stood with the Sierra Club, Environment Illinois and do, too. It was not an easy call. But, in the end, we voted for smart the Natural Resources Defense Council in support of the
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November 10, 2011 / Page 6
Entrance to Inspiration at Washington High
By Marisa Munoz
A colorful mosaic with a powerful message now stands at the entrance of George Washington High School. A piece that took a year from idea to completion will receive its finishing touches at the beginning of next week. Assembled by the school’s art instructor Ms. Rossi, along with the school’s Art Club, the Summer of Service Learning (SOSL) group, and various students who attend the school, is entitled, “Aspirations & Inspirations.” The piece paints a picture of various goals and the paths students encounter while trying to reach their individual dreams. It displays various elements such as hands, a crossword puzzle, a golden pathway, an eagle, mountains, just to name a few, all come together to complete an inspirational piece to a viewer who can look into the meaning behind each symbol. “The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows,” is a thought provoking quote that lies within the work of art which took great dedication and creativity to complete. Individuals who are considered role models and symbols of inspiration to the school are included in the piece as well. Two of those individuals include alumni of the school, Carmel Harvey and John W. Mathews. The lives of both men were cut short; one while serving our country in place of an offer of being part of a MLB team, while the other courageously serving our community as a Chicago Police Officer. Previously the students’ main entrance was subject to graffiti tagging on a regular basis. By replacing the area with the mosaic, the goal is to keep the area full of inspirational life and to be something that uplifts students as they enter school each day. A project which started off as a goal is now complete, standing loud and motivational to students of George Washington High school, as well as to all of those who choose to come view this beautiful piece of art. The date and time of the art work’s dedication will soon be announced.
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Angela Flores, Mark Tellez, Jacob Sabala, Diana Marquez, Magdalena Marquez, Aujandra Salgado, Berenice Garcia, Helena Opare, Jackie Uzoras, Michael Uzoras, Ryan Uzoras, Yazven Limon, Veronica Mendoza, Karen Serrano, Araceli Velazquez, Dalila Limon, Ms. Carolyn Elaine, Mrs. Mary Rossi, Ms. Wojtan, Not pictured; Adan Ramirez, aAngel Campos
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Annunciata Raiders reach Championship game!! By Juan and Elizabeth Quintana
Annunciata Raiders won their first round playoff game vs. Queen of Martyrs at St. Rita High School. Luke Jakisch threw a 65 yard touchdown pass to Sixto Avila in the first quarter that set the tone of the game in what turned out to be a shutout win. The final score was an incredible 31 to zero victory. The Raiders won their semi-final game on Saturday, Nov. 4th with a score of 26-10 vs. St. Christina at Brother Rice. They now move on to the championship game vs. Most Holy Redeemer on Saturday, Nov 12th at 2:00 p.m. at Marist High School. Standouts on offense were Jaksich who had two touchdown passes to Martin Petrof. Avila and Jim Rodish had touchdown runs. The defense was led in tackles by Nelson Velasquez, Dan McGivney and Mike Chavez with approximately 5 to 7 tackles a piece. The boys played remarkably for the South Side Catholic League. The Raiders’ record is 8 wins and 1 loss. As the season comes to a close, most will return next year and some will go on to play high school football so come out and support our local teams.
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our neighborhood times
GWHS Boys Softball finishes 2nd in THE City
By Juan and Liz Quintana
George Washington High School’s 16 inch softball team finished second place in the City Championship for the 2011 season. Scoring 12-3 to Lane Tech, the boys gave it their best shot. The team had a magical run and ended with the best finish in school history. The Patriots made it to the championship game by defeating Corliss High School with a score of 7-2 in the semi-finals. The semi-finals were held at the University of Illinois at Chicago Athletic Fields on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011. The GWHS Patriots were lead by junior shortstop and team MVP, Jesse Lopez. Another star included junior, Rodney Jordan, who finished the year with a 6-0 mark. Other great performances included sophomores, Robert Garcia, Agustin Guerrero and juniors Anthony Solis, Marco Arias, Danny Gallegos and Ricardo Perez. With the loss of only two seniors from the team and with experience coming back for the next season, there will be no doubt the heavy favorites for the city next year will be the Patriots. Congratulations to the GWHS Patriots on such an outstanding season. In related news, it looks like winning is contagious at 114th St and Avenue O. The GWHS Patriots sports programs completed its fall season by winning conference championships in Boys’ 16 inch Softball, Boys’ Soccer, Girls’ Volleyball and Girls’ Swimming. The Patriots football team finished second place in conference with a record of 7-2 overall while the Boys’ and Girls’ Cross Country team each took home an invitational championship at their cross country meets this year. Congratulations to all Patriots and good luck in the winter season!
Back Row picture on field at night......Jesse Lopez, Alex Alba, Coach Joe Pancer, Michael Porras, Coach Johan Guerrero Med Row Agustin Guerrero, Richie Chavez, Manger Xenia Senisais, Anthony Solis, Coach Nick Green, Coach Ish Jaquez, Robert Garcia, Marco Arias, Rodney Jordan, Ricardo Perez Front Row Gabriel Lopez, Danny Gallegos, Jorge Castenada, John Perez
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Tenemos espacios disponibles para niños en nuestro programa de “kindergarten” y “pre-kindergarten”.
*Pre-school - Ages three or four by September 1, 2011. Edades de tres y cuatro años antes de septiembre 1, 2011.
*Half day pre-school (Medio Dia) *Kindergarten - Age five before September 1, 2011. Edades de cinco años antes de Septiembre 1, 2011.
* Full day kindergarten (Dia Entero)
Applications are available in the office or you can enroll with teachers. Las solicitudes estan disponibles en la officinal escolar o puede matricular a sus niño con la maestra. Call 773-535-5600 Llamar al 773-535-5600