AUGUST/ SEPTEMBER 2001

Like all Americans, the residents of Chicago's public housing have been absorbed in the Sept. 11 terror attacks and their aftermath. There are certainly those among the more than 100,000 residents who had loved ones who were in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

With the clock ticking for many Chicago Housing Authority residents receiving government assistance, CHA officials failed to implement a much-needed welfare to work program for over one year, a continuing Residents' Journal investigation has found.

Our hopes and dreams will always have a place in our children's faces as they make their first achievement of success - from their first graduation from their earliest formal educational experience.

Chicago public housing residents in need of a job, child care, GED classes, after-school programs or help with substance abuse problems and domestic violence situations now have a new place to turn.In July, five agencies were chosen as "Service Connectors" to link CHA residents from 27 family developments with city agencies.

Is it a coincidence or do Chicago Housing Authority residents experience a lot of hassles when they challenge their landlord?

Many times when a person thinks of residents of public housing communities, they think of them as down trodden, hopeless and uneducated, people who have no plans, opinions, or ideals as to how they want to live as individuals or families. The stereotypes are that residents are isolated from society. The ABLA Local Advisory Council (LAC), along with its president, Deverra Beverly, other concerned residents of ABLA and various city agencies are working hard to erase these negative stereotypes.

Residents of CHA hear a lot about being lease compliant and so many people are afraid. It seems that lease compliance will keep us from receiving a Housing Choice Voucher or coming back to our own development after relocation. Whether it's in a big or small way, almost everybody is in some way non-lease compliant.

Inquiring minds want to know: When will Chicago public housing residents relocating from Chicago Housing Authority developments be able to move into the scattered site units that are currently available for occupancy?

"How many dead elders and infants does it take before President George Bush, Gov. George Ryan and Mayor Richard Daley stop blocking the summer cooling program?"

Living conditions in Chicago Housing Authority homes for senior citizens may have just taken a turn for the better. Just in case you have not heard about it, the authority is in the process of renovating four aged senior citizen high-rise buildings.

With many low-income Chicagoland residents being affected by a housing crunch, a number of government officials, housing developers, bankers, clergy and community activists put forth proposals and strategies for protecting already available affordable housing and to develop new housing at the "Valuing Affordability" conference at the Palmer House June 27-29.

People with disabilities are treated unfairly in many community-based housing programs. Forcing a person to participate in a program simply because he or she is a tenant is discriminatory and many advocacy groups are questioning the legality of the practice. People with disabilities must be able to choose where they wish to live and the services they need," said Karen Tamley, an activist for the disabled who works at Access Living.

I am sure many of our readers remember the story I wrote about Vincennes Plaza in the August 2000 edition. Vincennes Plaza is a development that stands in the shadow of the new Lou Rawls Cultural Center on the dusty trails of 47th Street, also known as Tobacco Road. Vincennes Plaza consists of 59 units of low-income housing in a five-story brick building that is home to many young single mothers and senior citizens.

During the earlier part of June, I was covering a court case related to the 1994 death of Eric Morse. The little boy's mother, Toni Morse, filed suit through her attorney, Christopher Millet, on the CHA and two private companies for the death of her son on Oct. 13, 1994.

I stood in Judge Schuller's courtroom waiting for my fate to be decided. As the judge spoke, Miss LaNora walked over to where I stood, took my hand in her hand, and said to the judge in French, "Your honor, if I may speak: I would like to say a word for this boy, if I may, please Henry."

I write this column today from a perspective different than the one I had prior to Sept. 11, 2001, the day that thousands of lives and AmericaÕs sense of security were lost in the attack on the New York Trade Center. For me and many others, I'm sure that watching the events of Sept. 11 unfold was surreal, like something out of a movie. A scary movie, to our dismay, that has come true.