'Bulge' at S. Loop Elementary
More students from the neighborhood are enrolling
05/13/2009
The kindergarten class Beth Aversa enrolled her daughter in at South Loop Elementary School five years ago had 18 students from the neighborhood in it. The numbers were a bit different when her son joined the school as a kindergartener for the 2007-08 school year. Read More...
Waiting for a grocer
Verbal interest from three, but city waiting for specific proposals
05/13/2009
Jewel-Osco, Food4Less and Pete's Fresh Market verbally expressed interest in developing a grocery store at the empty three-acre parcel at the southeast corner of Madison and Western during a community meeting at Crane High School last Wednesday. Read more...
The net and a desk
Is 'coworking' the office of the future?
05/13/2009
Freelancers, telecommuters and independent contractors these days have a new way to get things done, and it's called "coworking" (enthusiasts insist there is no hyphen). A new coworking space that opened last January in a former chicken processing plant aims to provide Chicago's independent workers with a different kind of occupational environment. Read More...
Library lovers arrested
05/06/2009
A security officer at Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State, said he was performing a routine check of restrooms April 30th at 5:15 p.m. when he found two men engaging in a sex act in one of the stalls. Both men were arrested and transported to the 1st District police station, where they were charged with public indecency. Read more...
South Loop parks lurch forward
From Printers Row to the Prairie District
05/06/2009
After delays and litigation, work is beginning on two new parks in South Loop. The city, meanwhile, has purchased other parcels in the neighborhood to develop another park sometime in the future. Read More...
Fashionistas battle the recession
Harder to sell when retail flounders
05/06/2009
Keeping on top of next season’s trends is the least of the worries for local fashion designers. As the economy flounders, designers and retailers are changing their business models to stay competitive. Kate Boggiano, an independent blouse designer whose studio is in Pilsen, says the economy has affected her business in surprising ways. Read More...
A manifestly good time with a touch of the dystopian
05/06/2009
This year’s Manifest, an annual art festival put on by the Columbia College community on S, Wabash Ave. in the South Loop, promises to be a doozy. The party goes down May 15, with events all day, starting at 9 a.m. Read More...
Park advocacy group awarded
05/06/2009
Save Grant Park, the citizen's group fighting the Chicago Children's Museum's proposed move to the north end of the iconic downtown park, has been awarded the 2009 Harold Washington Award by the Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization. Read more...
Rush doc gets nod in HBO doc film
05/06/2009
Dr. David Bennett, director of Rush University Medical Center's Alzheimer's Disease Center, will appear in the upcoming HBO documentary The Alzheimer's Project. The documentary, scheduled for broadcast on HBO and at HBO.com from Sunday, May 10, to Tuesday, May 12, spotlights the disease and its affect on millions of sufferers and their families. Read more...
Meetings you might want to attend
05/06/2009
Issues that loom large on the Near West and Near South sides will be discussed — debated? screamed about? — in upcoming meetings over the next two weeks: Read more...