WBEZ: Teens Say Free CTA Rides On First Day Of School Are Not Enough

Usually on the first day of school students and their parents will ride CTA for free. Some students say this still isn't enough.

Students say it’s helpful, but they want the offer year round.

“I think students should get free rides because I don’t really know how you will expect youth who are focusing on their education and career to have constant money,” said Jennifer Nava, a senior at Kelly High School in the Brighton Park neighborhood on the Southwest Side.

It’s a big ask in a city dealing with a huge financial deficit. Just last week, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the city faces a projected $838 million budget shortfall next year.

Still Jennifer, an outspoken teenager who keeps close tabs on city affairs, wants to remind Lightfoot that she promised to make transportation more affordable for students during her campaign.

“If time is not now, then when?” Jennifer said.

How about this, create a U-Pass program for K-12 students especially designed for those students who must depend on public transit. If there isn't enough money to allow free rides for CPS students year round then do what the city's universities have done, require activity fees. Probably not a popular solution, however, as stated in the article the reduced fares for K-12 students add up.

Update

I can't believe this blog has been in publication for over a decade. When I started this place it can't be said there was a solid sustainable plan. I've always done what I've been known to do, just start posting and see what direction it goes.

Sometimes the direction can change on a dime. Perhaps talk about Bennett-Shedd (I started this blog because Shedd School where I started my schooling wasn't listed at CPS although Shedd is closed now), perhaps some local politics, perhaps even some education issues. Even wanted to turn this place into a "Ninth Ward blog" and now I'm not so sure about that.

Either way another update to mention to you all is regarding the domain. I feel referring to this blog as the Shedd School blog or John G. Shedd Public School blog is outdated. I've had some ideas on a domain name which have been executed over the years.

For example I wanted to use ninthward.us until I allowed that domain to expire. Here are a few ideas for domains

sheddschoolbadger.com
bennettsheddbager.com
sheddbadgercity.com
bennettsheddbadgercity.com
badgercityninthward.com

You might see a pattern here, I really would like to use badger as part of the domain name. Badger was during my time in school the original mascot of Bennett-Shedd Elementary School. I understand that now Bennett's mascot is a lion and if Bennett School had any sports teams they would be refered to as P.R.I.D.E (or you can also say pride of lions). I can't believe that I'm just old enough to refer to myself as old school. So to use badger as part of this blog's identity is an homage to Bennett's original mascot.

I've learned recently that a former principal and Bennett-Shedd noted that this blog got his attention with the Shedd School identity. So as of now I have some decisions to make as far as this blog's direction and identity. If this blog gets an audience based upon association (and as always I hope to gain a bigger audience beyond that), hopefully it just shows that I'm on the right track. Time will tell!

Tribune: Mayor Rahm Emanuel floats port district land as Chicago casino location #Serving17

Even though Rahm Emanuel will only remain mayor until May 2019, he seems to be coming up with some proposals. He's still trying to use what's left of his political heft to come up with some ideas for the city:

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday floated a port district site on the Far Southeast Side as the possible location for a Chicago casino, if state lawmakers finally grant the city the long-sought gambling palace.

In a meeting with the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board, Emanuel noted his “love-hate” relationship with the idea of a casino but said if the city finally builds one it should be away from the Loop and McCormick Place. Instead, he said it should bring economic development to an area of the city that needs it, before floating an Illinois International Port District site near Pullman as “an example.”

The land, just off the 111th Street exit on the Bishop Ford Freeway, currently is home to the Harborside International golf course with some harbor operations and terminals nearby on Lake Calumet. The port district that owns the land is a joint city-state entity.

“If you go down to the port authority where the golf course is, there’s enough land there for both a hotel and a casino,” Emanuel said. “That would be a big boon economically to the Southeast Side of the city.”

Emanuel made the remarks on the same day he gave a speech to aldermen on his recommendations to address the city’s pension funding shortfalls moving forward. The mayor’s plan included revenue from a proposed Chicago casino as part of the answer.

Personally I'm with this, who says a proposed casino has to be in or near downtown Chicago. Put one in a neighborhood that's struggling. In this case Pullman, and then again hopefully there are other proposals.

However, to be honest it seems like forever that there's been discussions of a Chicago casino that seems to have a tendency to fall through. So perhaps deciding on a site or finally building one will still take years. Wait and see I suppose.

h/t to state Sen. Elgie Sims FB page hence why I used the #Serving17 hashtag.

 

Stossel: Government-Run Schools Crush Innovation

[VIDEO] It's been a while since I took on regularly the issues of education. It's not a very huge passion of mine anymore and since I've really have little interest in becoming a part of this establishment. Whenever I write about this subject my conclusion is that there needs to be some changes that hopefully will benefit the students and their families.

With this said I've been a public school student, obviously, I've attended Bennett/Shedd and moved on to Harlan Community Academy - GO FALCONS. Also I've attended one of the City Colleges of Chicago another public education system. I have few regrets about them other than having never taken advantage of the many opportunities that exists within those systems. It's a bad habit of mine admittedly.

So today I share with you this John Stossel video, Stossel a longtime journalist who's worked for ABC News and FOX News evolved from a consumer advocate reporter to one with a libertarian bent. This is one of the issues he's tackled and in the video you see above shows how the public education system in America needs some serious changes.

When I graduated from 8th grade my teacher at the time lamented that we'd better hope Republicans don't get elected because they'll cut public education. My naive mind may have believed that, however, also in naive mind the question arose - why do Republicans want to cut public education?

A few years ago a debate raged in Chicago, why are we closing under-performing and underutilized schools in primarily minority (Black and Latino) communities? While arguments raged from now young students will have to traverse more gang territory to get to school it was also understood that the Chicago Public Schools couldn't afford to keep these schools open any longer. We've just reached another thing that has been said with regards to public education - they always need more money.

Recently it was in the news that from the city of Chicago, CPS needs another $269 million for its $5.7 billion budget. So public education in Chicago remains for whatever reason cash strapped.

From October 2015, photos along 103rd Street

Crossposted from The Sixth Ward

I realized that I failed to what I set out to do a few months ago. I wanted to do a photo essay and basically I started with taking some photos along 103rd Street. This was back in October and although I shared a few pics back then there were than that in my photo library.

For example, I have some pics taken east of King Drive on 103rd Street.

103rd & Rhodes

The pic above I knew at one time as the offices of Congressman Mel Reynolds. In 1995 he was caught up in a sex scandal with an underaged girl and was forced to resign. Unfortunately this property is now vacant and looking for a use since the time of Reynold's having his congressional offices here.

Across the street is a former dry cleaners. It's unclear when this particular building became vacant. Across the street from here is this.

103rd Street between Rhodes and St. Lawrence

In a different time this property had once been home to a McDonald's. That store eventually closed down and was ultimately demolished a with a church built instead.

Beyond this church and the former dry cleaners is this vacant lot.

103rd Street between Rhodes & St. Lawrence

I see this as potention for this part of 103rd and one of many undeveloped lots ready for the right development. To be sure 103rd is largely a commercial corridor and is quite walkable. With the right development it could be a very vibrant corridor.

Of course this is only an example of some of the pics I took in October 2016. I hope to share more of them in the future. And apologies for not sharing these much sooner. My goal is hopefully to come up with some ideas perhaps this part of town could use some bold vision and why not.

Should Bennett/Shedd School have an organization such as this?

Crossposted at The Sixth Ward

I've been wanting to do a post about this for a while. At least in terms of finding ways to connect our neighborhood schools to the surrounding community. If there was a way to do that then hopefully we can provide for public school students better than any public source of funding or even any politician can ever promise. Therefore I provide this example expounded below.

South Loop School is an elementary school with two branches located @ 1212 South Plymouth Court with a branch @ 1915 South Federal Street.

Here is a description of this organization:

Friends and Family of South Loop School

Friends and Family of South Loop School, Inc. is a non-profit 501c3 organization established to enhance the educational experience of students at South Loop Elementary School. Our primary mission is to provide funds for resources not available through the normal school budget but required to operate a successful school. In the past Friends and Family of South Loop School, Inc. has enriched the learning environment at South Loop School by paying for additional classroom resources such as teacher assistants to help increase staff to student ratio, a new science laboratory and new mobile lap top computers.

With this in mind we ask that you consider being a sponsor at our annual spring benefit. We have a few options that provide flexibility for your budget. Your company will have prominent name recognition in gratitude for your support.

Your Support Is Important

Private funding plays a key role in the success of our students. While federal, state and local dollars provide some of the public school's operating expenses, it is not enough to provide access to excellence that our students deserve. With the contributions from parents, friends and local leaders like you we are able to make South Loop the school it is today. With this support, South Loop has seen an unprecedented increase in achievement from 34% of students at or above state standards to 85% in just 4 years time.

Harlan Community Academy is close to an organization such as this, but it's in fact the alumni association.

Either way there has to be a way to connect school faculty, students, neighbors or even alumni to a particular school whether on the elementary or secondary level. Especially for the purposes of enhancing the education experience for our public school students and for the purposes of raising money so that they will be successful they further they go in the educational careers.

For high school, it might be important if our young people expect to go to college. Perhaps the surrounding community can help to raise scholarship funds so that they may not only afford to go to a university, but so that they wouldn't have to depend on student loans.

In any event what could such an organization do for our neighborhood schools other than enhancing the level of instruction or achievement at the schools? Do you think this is a good idea?