WBEZ | Politics

Architect’s Pilsen vision is green and fashion friendly

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:23:00 -0500

Architect Patricia Saldaña Natke grew up on the 4800 block of South Marshfield Avenue, in Chicago’s Back of the Yards neighborhood. Her parents, immigrants from Mexico, worked in the Stockyards.

Some days after school, Saldaña Natke would take the bus away from her aging, blue collar neighborhood with its bungalows and smoke stacks, up to the Loop, and marvel at the sparkling skyscrapers and expansive public parks in the city’s downtown.

“I would look at the beautiful buildings and wonder why those kinds of spaces weren’t in existence where I lived,” Saldaña Natke recalled. “That’s the reason I became an architect; I felt that public places should be the greatest in the area of most need.”

Saldaña Natke channeled those beliefs into UrbanWorks, the architecture and planning firm she founded, which specializes in socially and environmentally conscious planning and design work -- the kind she dreamed about as a kid. She’s set her sights on one Chicago hood in particular: Pilsen.

“[Pilsen] needs to be a place where people can move upward in mobility,” Saldaña Natke said. “The entire core of why I work in Pilsen comes to the fact that there are neighborhoods that need a lot of attention.”

UrbanWorks’ previous Pilsen projects include a college dormitory intended to help keep students from the neighborhood on the path to academic success, a high school designed to resemble the copper canyons of Mexico and Saldaña Natke’s most ambitious project: a master plan for Pilsen.

In architecture and planning circles, a master plan is a grand vision for the future development of a neighborhood.

“It’s much more than a wish list,” Saldaña Natke said. “It may be implemented slightly different than the plan shows, but the core of it should remain intact.”

This plan isn’t funded, but Saldaña Natke is working with 25th Ward Alderman Danny Solis and the Department of Housing and Economic Development to assemble funds to inch her vision along.

Saldaña Natke consulted with Pilsen residents in a series of community meetings, including a neighborhood-wide meeting at Providence of God Catholic Church in 2004. The resulting plan aims to build on Pilsen’s assets: its strong Mexican cultural heritage, its historic architecture.

“The community says church steeples are its high rises,” Saldaña Natke said.

It calls for a main commercial drag zoned for pedestrian use and access to the Chicago River.

The plan also addresses what Saldaña Natke says are the neighborhood’s challenges: While the west side of Pilsen is served by the CTA’s Pink, Green and Orange Lines, the east side has few transportation options, leaving the neighborhood disconnected.

And, there is a surprising lack of green space in Pilsen. According to Saldaña Natke, the city requires two acres of green space for every 1,000 Chicago residents.

“But the Park District just said to us that the recommended amount is four acres of green space,” she said. “[Pilsen] is over 18 acres short.”

So, UrbanWorks’ master plan starts there. Saldaña Natke envisions more green space along the neighborhood’s largely industrial waterfront, and the transformation of an abandoned, surface-level railway that runs along Sangamon Street into a stretch of park—something like New York’s High Line or the Northwest Side’s Bloomingdale Trail, only without the elevation. Then, she hopes to transform the abandoned buildings that line the railroad into a fashion and textile incubator.

A fashion incubator?

Yes, Saldaña Natke says.

“You shouldn’t need to go to 900 North Michigan or Michigan Avenue to see all the high-end fashion shows. Why can’t it be in the neighborhoods?”

You can hear Saldaña Natke describe her dream in more detail in the audio above.

Dynamic Range showcases hidden gems unearthed from Chicago Amplified’s vast archive of public events and appears on weekends. Patricia Saldana Natke spoke at an event presented by the Chicago Architecture Foundation in April of 2013. Click here to hear the event in its entirety.

Robin Amer is a producer on WBEZ’s digital team. Follow her on Twitter @rsamer.

Protesters march against plan to close CPS schools

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:45:00 -0500

Chicago to renovate Navy Pier, build arena

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:10:00 -0500

Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced a multi-million dollar renovation plan Thursday that includes remodeling Navy Pier and building a 10,000-seat basketball arena near McCormick Place that would be the home court of DePaul University's basketball teams.

In a news release on Thursday, Emanuel's office said the first phase of a $278 million project to renovate Navy Pier will begin in the fall and will cost about $166 million. The city will put up $110 of that and private restaurants and the Chicago Children's Museum will put up the rest.

The arena built near McCormick Place also will be used as a hall for conventions and trade shows. McCormick Place and DePaul will each put up $70 million to design and build the arena.

Construction on the arena is targeted to begin in 2014, and officials hope to have it ready in time for the 2016-17 season. The facility likely will be able to host 17 men's basketball and 10 women's games.

The arena could be a boon for a once-proud men's program that has struggled in recent years.

The Blue Demons are coming off their sixth straight losing season and haven't made the NCAA tournament since 2004. They are 30-64 and just 6-48 in Big East play in three years under Oliver Purnell.

But there was a time back when Ray Meyer was the coach and Mark Aguirre and Terry Cummings were electrifying fans that the Blue Demans were the most popular basketball team in the city. That also was before Michael Jordan landed with the Bulls.

The DePaul men's team has played most of its games at Allstate Arena in suburban Rosemont, Ill., since 1980, making it difficult for students and fans living and working in the city to attend. The small crowds and older arena probably weren't an easy sell for recruits, either.

Many fans were hoping DePaul would build an arena on or near its main campus in the vibrant Lincoln Park neighborhood, but finding landing in a densely populated area was no small task. The school reportedly turned down an offer from Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf to play at the United Center.

The new arena at McCormick Place would be near several major highways and be reachable by train from DePaul's campuses in the city.

Illinois Senate approves medical marijuana bill

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:28:00 -0500

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn must decide if he will sign a measure allowing the use of marijuana for medical purposes after the state Senate approved legislation on Friday.

The proposal has been touted as the strictest in the nation among states that have legalized medical marijuana. It authorizes physicians to prescribe marijuana to patients with whom they have an existing relationship and who has at least one of more than 30 medical conditions listed on the measure.

Lawmakers voted 35-21 to send the measure to the Democratic governor. Quinn has declined to say whether he will support the bill, saying he's "open-minded" on the issue. Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon, a former prosecutor, said she is in favor after meeting with patients, including veterans.

The proposed legislation creates a framework for a four-year pilot program that includes requiring patients and caregivers to undergo background checks. It sets a 2.5 ounce limit per patient per purchase and calls for 60 dispensaries regulated by the state where patients could buy the drug.

Supporters of the legislation say it is a compassionate measure that could save patients from the agony caused by illnesses such as cancer, multiple sclerosis and HIV. They argue that marijuana can relieve continual pain without triggering the harmful effects of other prescription drugs, including painkillers such as Oxycontin and Vicodin.

Opponents contend the program could encourage the recreational use marijuana, especially among teenagers.

"We are embarking here on a way to achieve relief, compassionate relief, consistent with the law (with) a system which avoids abuse," said the bill's sponsor, Democratic Sen. Bill Haine of Alton. "It's the tightest, most controlled legislative initiative in the United State related to medical cannabis."

A report issued last month by the Pew Research Center poll showed that 77 percent of Americans say marijuana has legitimate medical uses. Eighteen states and the District of Columbia allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

But opponents in the Illinois Senate worry whether the regulations set by the proposed legislation would be enough to prevent abuse of the drug.

"For every touching story that we have heard about the benefits of those in pain I remind you today that there are a thousand times more parents who will never be relieved from the pain of losing a child due to addiction, which in many cases has started with the very illegal, FDA-unapproved, addiction-forming drug you are asking us to make a normal part of our communities," said Sen. Kyle McCarter a Republican from Lebanon.

Nonetheless, Haine touted his measure as the strictest that the General Assembly has considered on medical marijuana. Haine and other supporters have been trying to legalize it for several years. A measure that had cleared the Senate failed in the House in 2011, when six Republicans and 50 Democrats voted yes.

The current version of the bill received the House's approval in April.

Illinois Senate panel: Separate gun OK for Chicago

Thu, 16 May 2013 17:56:00 -0500

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — An Illinois Senate panel approved a measure Thursday allowing the carrying of concealed weapons, but the committee's move followed sharp questioning from Republicans concerning whether packing a gun in Chicago should require special permission and how authorities would determine who is fit to carry.

The Senate Executive Committee voted 10-4 to advance the legislation sponsored by Sen. Kwame Raoul, a Chicago Democrat. Senate President John Cullerton said the bill might get a Senate floor vote Friday.

Raoul is selling the measure as a permissive way for gun owners to take their weapons out in public, as demanded by a federal court decree in December that declared Illinois' concealed carry ban unconstitutional. But gun owners, led by the National Rifle Association, deride the legislation as restrictive, potentially confusing and ripe for lawsuits. The Republican chosen to negotiate a deal on the issue with Raoul, Sen. Tim Bivins of Dixon, opposes the proposal.

"It's an imperfect process, it's an imperfect product, but it's an attempt to act on something," Raoul told the committee. "I don't know what the end game is, but I'm trying to do something to respond to the mandate of the court, to promote public safety and balance the right of law-abiding gun owners in the process."

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms applies outside the home and ordered Illinois to jettison its ban on public possession by June 9. Gun advocates have struggled for years to bring concealed carry to the state, now the nation's lone holdout. They've mostly been stymied by Chicago lawmakers sensitive to the carnage handguns — mostly illegally obtained — cause on the streets of the nation's third-largest city.

The most vociferous opposition to the measure has been over a provision that would require gun owners who want to carry in Chicago to get not only a statewide permit from the Illinois State Police, but from the Chicago police. Raoul has repeatedly said the density of Chicago creates greater "sensitivities" to guns and requires an extra layer of scrutiny.

But the NRA has rebutted Raoul's contention that the legislation creates a "shall issue" permit system, requiring police to OK public gun possession for anyone who obtains the proper training and passes a background check. That's because it contains language requiring police to find that an applicant is "of good moral character" and has a "proper reason" for carrying a gun.

"This is not a carry bill. This is a bill to discourage people and prevent people from exercising their fundamental, constitutional right to keep and bear arms for self-defense in the public," NRA lobbyist Todd Vandermyde said.

Raoul dismissed GOP Sen. Dale Righter's concern that someone could be denied a gun permit for nebulous reasons like not being a good parent.

Cullerton, also a Chicago Democrat, supports the bill and said a vote could come as early as Friday, two weeks before the General Assembly's scheduled adjournment.

Medicaid expansion debate ahead in Illinois House

Thu, 16 May 2013 12:00:00 -0500

The Illinois House is gearing up to consider a key part of President Barack Obama's health care law, an expansion of Medicaid that would provide coverage to low-income adults who don't have children at home.

House Democrats say failure to expand Medicaid would lead to unintended consequences. A Cook County program would be in jeopardy. And Illinois employers would be exposed to tax penalties of up to $106 million.

Republicans say they have concerns about future costs.

Thousands of uninsured Illinois residents would be newly eligible for coverage, with the federal government paying for their care the first three years.

The state Senate has approved the expansion and Gov. Pat Quinn supports it. A House committee is scheduled to hear it Tuesday.

Obama's unnecessary scandals

Thu, 16 May 2013 10:53:00 -0500

Leave it to Barack Obama to bring together in genuine outrage Tea Party conservatives, sparked to life by his election and determined to undermine it, and the American press, technically unfettered but the administration’s best friend in times of crisis.

Sure, Obama can say his people really had nothing to do with the IRS scandal unfolding before us, in which the tax agency harassed Tea Party groups seeking not-for-profit status for their work. It’s true that the IRS is semi-independent. But does anyone believe Obama really found out about the mess from the media?

Obama is already perceived, even by many of his supporters, as aloof and above it all. Is he now saying he’s so beyond his own administration, so disconnected from his own aides, no one thought to tip him off a scandal was brewing?

Saying he found out about the mess from the media is no shield: it’s an admission of neglect, both by him and by his own team. Are they too busy trying to coordinate the next dinner in the so-called “charm” offensive on congressional Republicans they didn’t bother to establish some kind of routine communications with the IRS that might have let them in on the problem? Or are the IRS people so disdainful of the president and his administration they figured they could wait until the boiling point?

And let’s not forget Attorney General Eric Holder, copy-catting the president in ignorance: turns out he had no idea either his folks had been caching phone records for months over at the Associated Press. Holder said he’d recused himself and didn’t actually sign off on the spying – but doesn’t the law require the Department of Justice to inform the source first, to seek its cooperation? Never mind, Holder remembers so little of this, is so aimless a satellite, he failed to put his recusal in writing, leading to his inability to remember the date he actually recused himself.

How pissed off are media people? Almost every major newspaper has been leading with at least one Obama disaster – the IRS, the AP story or, in more conservative circles, Benghazi.

On the Internet, HuffPost – the president’s biggest booster – lead with “DOJ WTF.” The 24 TV news cycle has been churning with all three, and with connections between all three. There’s actual talk of impeachment, however ridiculous.

Here’s the thing: All three of these events are completely unnecessary scandals. Republicans may be lapping and stirring them up, but all three are crazy careless mistakes on the part of a White House that, even to supporters, has often seemed arrogant beyond the pale.

And while at least two of the scandals appear to have merit (Benghazi strikes me as a GOP wet dream to derail Hillary Clinton’s 2016 bid – good luck with that, guys), none actually hit the heights of bulldozing over rights and law-bending in similar situations in previous administrations.

What makes them red meat right now is the GOP’s appetite for anything to tarnish this president, and the president and his cronies’ unfettered belief that’s the only thing keeping them from glory.

In the meantime, judgeships remain vacant, appointments remain unconfirmed, the sequester marches on, government slows to a crawl and the 2014 midterms – an exercise that, no matter who wins, will reward bad behavior – approaches.

At midterm, Emanuel still cozy with City Council

Thu, 16 May 2013 07:32:00 -0500

As Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel hits his midterm Thursday in office, the city’s 50-member City Council is also marking a milestone: two years under a new mayor.

At his May 2011 inauguration, Emanuel promised a new dynamic between Chicago’s famously powerful mayor and the city’s famously compliant City Council.

“We don’t a rubber stamp City Council, we don’t want (a) Council War,” then-mayor-elect Emanuel said in March 2011. “I want a council that will be part of the reform agenda and be a partner in that effort.”

Emanuel has enjoyed near-unanimous support from aldermen on his key agenda issues. But some aldermen criticize his style of dealing with some especially controversial issues, such as a recent amendment to the oft-maligned parking meter privatization contract, and his plan to embark upon the largest round of public school closings in U.S. history.

Still, a recent study from the University of Illinois at Chicago shows the average alderman sided with Emanuel 93 percent of the time on divided roll call votes through February 2013. That’s compared to 88 percent during former Mayor Richard Daley’s last years in office.

And when you ask aldermen what they like about Emanuel’s style, a lot of them point to his regular calls or text messages, whether to chat or discuss policy, as one marked departure from the Daley years that has made dialogue on hot-button issues easier.

“You know, he speaks strongly and carries a big stick,” joked 12th Ward Ald. George Cardenas.

The face of Emanuel’s agenda in the council chamber is longtime North Side Ald. Pat O’Connor (40th). He is Emanuel’s unofficial floor leader – that is, his aldermanic temperature-taker, nose-counter and - when need be - arm-twister.

O’Connor held the same post under Daley, but says his job has been a lot busier since Emanuel took office two years ago.

“We are more engaged with the City Council on a number of fronts than we were previously, in terms of my role,” O’Connor said.

Daley rarely called aldermen directly, but Emanuel’s hands-on style makes rounding up votes easier, O’Connor said.

Consider a recent City Council meeting, when aldermen took up a controversial plan to change the way the city charges nonprofits and churches for city water. When his proposal looked to be in danger, Emanuel himself huddled with aldermen and religious leaders near the City Council restrooms, seconds before the vote.

In the end, the churches got their reassurance, and every alderman voted yes – even O’Connor, who vocally disagreed with the mayor’s plan.

Still, O’Connor bristles at the phrase “rubber stamp.”

“It’s much better, in my opinion, to find areas where we can agree, and exploit them, and use those areas and try and limit the areas where we don’t agree,” he said.

But University of Illinois at Chicago political scientist Dick Simpson, a former independent alderman who now researches the city government, says the result is a City Council that is even more compliant than it was at the zenith of the Democratic Machine’s power.

“Well, what we ended up with is still a rubber stamp City Council,” Simpson said.

But Simpson says that could change in the second half of Emanuel’s term, as the city faces tough issues.

“Aldermen are being caught between pressures of their communities, and going along with the mayor and having a nice chummy time at City Hall,” Simpson said. “At some point, over some issue, that may fracture the council.”

Heading into his second term, the mayor is already facing several issues that could peel away some of his City Council support.

He’s pushing an amendment to the wildly unpopular parking meter contract, trying to anticipate summer gun violence, and facing the Chicago Public Schools board vote on closing 54 schools next week.

Even some of the mayor’s City Council allies, like 27th Ward Ald. Walter Burnett, say they sometimes don’t feel listened to, especially over school closings.

“Sometimes when you go toward that target, and you just focusing, you miss all of the things on the side and in the back of you,” Burnett said, referring to Emanuel’s pursuit of school closings despite community opposition.

Simpson says the mayor will tweak his agenda if aldermen make enough noise, as they did about his initial proposal to cut library hours and his changes to protest ordinances leading up to last year’s NATO summit.

But Emanuel rarely changes direction entirely on big issues. And when it comes to opposition from everyday Chicagoans, Simpson says don’t expect a phone call.

“He’s not very good at actual democracy,” Simpson said. “He’s not good at asking people what should happen, and building a consensus. He’s good at saying, ‘This is what I did for you this week.’”

Alex Keefe is a political reporter for WBEZ. Follow him @akeefe.

House lawmakers dispute interests of having crowded prisons

Thu, 16 May 2013 07:22:00 -0500

A controversial measure that would change how the U.S. Census counts Illinois prison inmates is advancing in Springfield.

The census counts Illinois’ prison inmates as residents of the town the prison is in, not the town they came from.

That population can affect a region’s eligibility for government money.

State House members narrowly approved a bill Wednesday saying the state will start keeping track of an inmates’ last known address for census purposes.The measure passed with the bare minimum of favorable votes, 60-55.

The bill’s passage upset Republican State Rep. Chad Hays from Danville, which has a prison that currently holds about 1,800 inmates, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections.

“I just lost 2,000 residents,” Hays said after the vote.

He sarcastically said he’ll start sending expenses to the City of Chicago for projects paid for with government money.

But State Rep. Monique Davis of Chicago suggested those who have prisons in their districts have a financial interest in keeping their prisons full.

“Let’s see how many enhanced penalty bills will pass, let’s see how many new bills were put in the criminal code if that population is no longer valuable to certain groups,” she said.

The measure still needs the support of the Senate.

Tony Arnold covers Illinois politics for WBEZ. Follow him @tonyjarnold.

Illinois businesses work to sort out the Affordable Care Act

Thu, 16 May 2013 05:00:00 -0500

Illinois businesses are preparing for the Affordable Care Act to go into full effect in 2014, and a leader from the Illinois Chamber of Commerce says some are considering limiting work hours to avoid future healthcare costs. But costs and logistics vary widely across different types of firms.

“It’s one giant puzzle within a puzzle within a puzzle,” said Laura Minzer, the Executive Director of the Health Care Council for the for the Illinois Chamber of Commerce.

She says employers, small and large, are scrambling to figure out which provisions of the federal law will apply to them and their employees. Businesses with under 25 employees may become eligible for tax credits for providing health care, while businesses with over 50 workers could face fines if they don’t provide affordable insurance for all employees working 30 hours or more.

The number of workers receiving employer-sponsored health care has declined steadily in recent years. Now, Minzer says limiting employee hours to under 30 is on the table for some bigger businesses worried about new health care costs.

“The cost of their benefits is not going down and it will not go down with this law,” said Minzer. Indeed, insurance premiums have been steadily rising, and experts expect to see a continued rise nationwide. But cuts to hours may be nothing new: the proportion of workers in part-time jobs has been on the rise since 2007.

One in five adults in Illinois is currently uninsured, and if they can’t get employer insurance, some will become eligible for government subsidies through the “marketplace” (formerly known as the exchange), which is a state and/or federally-run service intended to centralize and streamline shopping for private health insurance. Sliding scale subsidies in the form of tax credits will be available to those making up to four times the federal poverty level. Currently, Illinois has agreed to an insurance marketplace run jointly by Illinois and the federal government, but Minzer says the Chamber of Commerce supports opening a state-run marketplace by 2015.

“Even with all the concerns that we have about affordability, we see value in...the fact that you have a one-stop-shop for health insurance,” said Minzer. “The state is in a better position to administer that.”

States also have the option to expand Medicaid eligibility to adults making up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, an option that’s already being piloted in Cook County. However, because of a controversial Supreme Court decision, states can opt out of the Medicaid expansion, and Illinois has yet to pass a bill that would expand Medicaid statewide in 2014.

Perhaps surprisingly, the Illinois Chamber of Commerce also supports the Medicaid expansion.

That’s because there’s a benefit for business: employees who receive Medicaid would do so without triggering penalties for their big employers (as opposed to seeking out insurance through the marketplace, which would trigger penalties). Recent reports have found that larger businesses have a financial incentive to support Medicaid expansion and avoid fees for not providing health insurance to low-income employees.

Bills to expand Medicaid and to establish a state-run insurance marketplace are creeping through the Illinois General Assembly, and the federal/state insurance marketplace is slated to open October 1, 2014.

Lewis Wallace is a Pritzker Journalism Fellow at WBEZ. Follow him @lewispants.