Una Entrevista con Al

The South East Side: Will the Area's Past Dictate its Future?

Today Omeshia Perez keeps her windows closed on the hottest of Chicago summer days. Her children stay inside as much as possible, and she has given up barbecuing. Carefree evenings in her backyard have been replaced by sleepless nights and cough-filled days. "Mom, am I going to die?" her three year-old asks. Life has been hard on the Perez's ever since the coal piles near 100 th St. and Commercial appeared across her alley several years back. Rolling hills of coal loom over the Calumet river while coal dust coats her windows, tinting the light inside. Seeping through the cracks, the dust covers everything from the kitchen to the bathroom, she says. "What am I supposed to do?" Perez asks a panel composed of Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and Leucadia representatives at a hearing organized to evaluate the community's response to the company's plan to build a coal gasification plant on 18000 S. Avenue O. "Run?" Leucadia is slated to ope...

Pt.1--The Invitation: Dave Mathews Caravan 2011

Three Day Concert Highlights Citywide Differences of Race and Place The Dave Mathews Band Caravan, a three-day, 38-artist concert took place last July on the former grounds of the U.S. Steel South Works plant. The steel mill that between 1880 and 1992 drew people by the thousands to South Chicago and the Bush once again attracted people in similar numbers. The never-before used as a concert venue space is a 600 acre area stretching from 79th to 87th and hosted roughly 40,000 people on the most attended day, Saturday. Although the concert occurred without problems, residents of the area expressed critical opinions about the event. “Call a Spade a Spade” The picketers were not the only people that took issue with the event. By Friday afternoon, concert-goers entering the neighborhood on public transportation by the thousands created an unprecedented need to increase service. Without prior notice, residents of Brandon St. were forced to...

Original Articles from The Southeast Chicago Observer

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