Marshall Square Blog

Conference Location Decided!

We’ll meet at 1pm at the HUB, 2358 S. Marshall Blvd and then take the plants over to the 2500 block of Whipple and dig in the dirt. RSVP to Ted 312 371 6625

Catedral Cafe is west of Kedzie, so we have to stretch our boundaries a bit to say it’s in Marshall Square, but it’s a great place in any event, and definitely close by. Creating Community Connections writes Cafe home to movie stars and everyday folk:

The Catedral Café is not a religious house, but it does everything to live up to its sanctuary-sounding name by hosting activities from art exhibits to rock shows and serving up food and drinks.

The café, which opened in September 2005, sets itself apart from other businesses in its Westside neighborhood. It’s located at 2500 S. Christiana Ave. in the heart of Little Village, where the owners, Abraham Duenas and his wife have lived ever since they emigrated to Chicago from Michoacan, Mexico, 30 years ago.

Instead of serving up tacos and enchiladas like most other local restaurants, they dish out paninis, tapas and pastries to go along with their specialty house blend coffee “Seven Angels.”

But it’s not just the menu that makes this place unique; Duenas said he is committed to showcasing local talent and hosting activities that cater to all kinds of people.

more

Last fall we planted on the north side of 24th St, just west of Marshall Blvd.

On May 19th, 2007, we’ll be planting on the southwest corner of 24th & Sacramento. Join us around 11am! No manual labor required.

All Things Considered, April 4, 2007 · In the push for innovative schools, one Chicago principal has thrown out the rule book. Kindergartners go to school with 12th-graders.

At the school, the older kids teach the younger ones. The school day begins for some kids in the morning; for some it’s the afternoon. And students who work hard can graduate after the 11th grade.

click to listen

We had a great first meeting tonight for the new 24th & Marshall Blvds Neighbors Association. One person’s lived here her whole life, some 30 years, 28 years, 19 years, 18 years, 9 years, 6 years, 2 years (that’s the HUB), 9 months, 4 months and one month. What a range! We have lots to talk about and people are excited to get to know each other and bring back the glory days of the boulevards. We agreed to meet May 7th, 7pm at the HUB, 2358 S. Marshall Blvd and then the first Monday of each month thereafter. Hope to see you there!

sorry about the formatting here - will post the actual English/Spanish pdf soon

Build Community!
Avoid Displacement!
Never be Forced to Move Again
Save Money!
Pool Resources!
Cooperative Living– the answer to disinvestment, displacement, speculation, and other problems faced by Pilsen and Little Village?
Come to an informational Open House in a relaxed social atmosphere on
Wednesday April 19th to learn whether a housing cooperative is the answer for you.

Where: The Hub Housing Cooperative, 2358 S. Marshall Blvd.
When: Wednesday, April 19, 2006. Arrive after 7 P.M., question and answer session at 8 P.M.
Free! Snacks and refreshments served.
Info: www.marshallsquare.com Phone: 312/371-6625

Evite Desplazamiento
Ahorre Dinero
construye Comunidad
Aumente Recursos
Nunca se fuerza a mudar jamás

Vivienda Cooperativa– la respuesta a malinversión, desplazamiento,especulación, y otros problemas que afectan los residentes de Pilsen y La Villita.

Venga a una Casa Abierta informacional en un ambiente relajado y social en el Miércoles 19 de Abril para aprender si vivienda cooperativa es la respuesta para tí.

Dónde: The Hub Housing Cooperative, 2358 S. Marshall Blvd.
Cuándo: Miércoles,19 de Abril,2006. Llega después de las 7:00. Sesión de preguntas y respuestas a las 8:00.

Meriendas y refrescantes gratis

Para más información: www.marshallsquare.com
Teléfono: 312/371-6625

—–Original Message—–
From: Mary Calderon [mailto:mfcalderon@gwtp.org]
Sent: Thursday, March 23, 2006 11:41 AM
Subject: Rauner Family YMCA

Hello Everyone,

As a long, long time board member of the Pilsen YMCA, we finally got a full facility Y built to serve the communities of Pilsen, Little Village and the other surrounding community. It’s has been a long struggle but we finally got it up. Mr. Rauner and his wife donated the seed money of 3 million to get it going, then other corporations, board members, businesses and individuals followed with donations. The total cost is 13 million. We still are collecting donations for the building, but our board will be working on building a pool in the very near future which cost (3+ million).

Go visit the Rauner Family YMCA on 2700 S. Western and check out all the program and ask for a tour. The programs will start next week. Our head start and day care program has tripled.

We need to continue to promote development and support existing community center such as El Centro de al Causa that will serve the youth and families of our communities and encourage them to stay in Pilsen/Little Village.

Email I sent to Hub Housing Cooperative members, Mark Fick and Dorian Breuer tonight (crossposted from Humanize the Earth!):

Sarah and Mark Fick spoke at one point about two things:
1. http://chicagocoop.info that Sarah and I are starting (it’s slow-going) and that all will be welcome to contribute to.
2. A one-day gathering of co-op folks in the spring sometime, as a replacement for the Chicago Mutual Housing Network annual meeting that is no longer.
3. Possibly using 1 as a collaborative space to plan 2 and using 2 as a way to get more folks involved in creating 1.

So, tonight I was at the Illinois Green Party fundraiser with Howard and spoke at length with Dorian from the Pilson/Southwest Side Greens about co-ops. He’s been kicking the idea around with some friends about starting a co-op. I said we (Hub in general, and me specifically) have lot to share about our experiences and we’d love to help others.

He’s a do-er, not a talker, so we immediately decided to do a one-evening event the 3rd week in April, hopefully in Unit M1 at the Hub (is that possible, Dan and Laila?). If this isn’t okay, maybe we can use Cafe Catedral. If it is okay, which night of the week would work. We’re just to pick a date and tell Dorian.

And Mark, is that day-long gathering still in the works? How might these two events work together? Share a flyer? Be billed as a “series”? Have the Little Village event be but one topic for the day-long event, but be a different day? I don’t know. I’m just brainstorming here.

We didn’t talk about length or agenda or anything like that. Nothing is set in stone except for our desire to make something happen for information purposes in this part of the city.

Please let me know how you (each of you) see this and what you might like to do to make it happen. Thanks!

Tonight I went to an open house of the Chicago Transit Authority where they presented their plans for transit changes (upgrades, I’d say) in the West Side corridor (Chicago Ave to 26th St). Among the many changes to bus routes (new express buses, extended routes, etc) is a big one to the trains. Currenly trains from O’hare pass through downtown and then split onto two lines as they head west. The plan is to take all of those existing trains onto the Forest Park (the northern spur of the two), basically doubling service on that branch. The Cermak branch, where I live, will go from 4 trains per hour now to 6 trains per hour (a decrease in wait times from 15 minutes to 10) and instead of going by subway to downtown and then O’hare, will use a currently unused piece of track along Paulina to Lake Street and the Green Line tracks, and from there to Clinton, Clark&Lake and around the loop, back to Clinton and our branch (this is similar to what the Brown, Purple and Orange lines currently do, go from their terminal, around the loop and back again. And, during rush hours 2 trains per hour will still go from Cermak branch to the subway and O’hare, so lots more service, in total. Go CTA!

Downside from the event tonight was that the announcements weren’t in Spanish and the initial presentation (only a few minutes long) was also not bi-lingual. They did have a translator there and as soon as they were able to get us spread out around the room looking at posters of the different routes, the shouting stopped. CTA really needs to understand how to reach all it’s populations.

crossposted from http://tedernst.com/wp/2006/01/11/chicago-transit-on-the-west-side/