May June 2003

How many Chicago public housing residents will be left homeless by the Chicago Housing Authority's ongoing Plan for Transformation? The answer to this question should be 'zero.'

Residents in the Robert Taylor Homes are being judged as non-lease compliant due to their electric utility bills and may lose their right to return to public housing units in the new mixed-income communities which are planned to replace the current developments.

Access Living, located at 614 W. Roosevelt Road, is a center for services for people with disabilities. Their mission is to promote self-esteem, and assist the disabled in their efforts to live an independent life. They have personal assistance programs that help the disabled with their grocery shopping and dressing and bathing. They teach people with disabilities how to ride the CTA buses and trains. They also have programs for people dealing with domestic and sexual abuse. They teach young people with disabilities how to take control of their lives.

The problems with the city's ongoing, ambitious plan to transform its public housing are weighing heavily on the city's so-called "Big Shoulders." The Chicago Housing Authority is trying to lift some of that burden by implementing some of the recommendations made by Thomas Sullivan, the independent monitor of the transformation process.

On Wednesday, April 9, residents of Lathrop Homes experienced a major power outage which shut down electricity throughout the whole development and shut down most offices.

On April 9, the Chicago City Council passed Mayor Richard M. Daley's version of an affordable housing ordinance. Many activists are concerned that the mayor's ordinance does not go far enough to alleviate the affordable housing crisis in Chicago.

We too were affected by the E-2 tragedy. It all played out like a television movie series depicting sounds and scenes of a make-believe story whose end would never be seen. The prelude was a definite, insistent, unknown, ghostly wail that emendated from a mysterious place that had residents wondering just what type of alarm had invaded our peaceful Sunday night.

There are many children and other family members of public housing tenants nationwide currently serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Many RJ readers might have heard there is a new program to help people with Housing Choice Vouchers buy their own homes. RJ readers are familiar with what used to be called the Section 8 Program. That program was phased out of existence in October 2000.

We were summoned to a meeting on March 19. It was a Home Management Seminar. When we are relocated it will help us if we have our Certificate of Completion, which we received the same day. The certificate states that we have completed to their satisfaction the Good Neighbor Workshop.

I recently attended the 7th annual Cook County Jail Town Hall Meeting at Operation PUSH headquarters, 930 E. 50 St. The purpose of the meeting was to have police, jail guards and ex-offenders meet face to face to discuss the conditions in the jails and the inhuman treatment inmates often have to endure.

As I enter the “fall” of my life, there is much that I must do in preparation for the season yet to come. I have been blessed to grow, gather and glean many people, much love and more than I could ever deserve, which includes the pleasure and privilege of addressing you through Dear Resident for the past six years. This, however, will be the last column that I will write. It is with a heavy heart that I leave RJ.