Chicago Sun-Times

Payton baseball coach shouldn’t be fall guy in forfeit controversy

Thu, 02 May 2013 02:26:12 -0500

A lot of important people were embarrassed last weekend when Payton College Prep backed out of its baseball game with Brooks College Prep after some parents at the North Side school raised security concerns about sending their kids into the Roseland neighborhood at night. When important people are embarrassed, they start looking for a fall guy, and for a while at least, they thought they’d found one in Payton baseball coach William Wittleder.

Cop who hunts big game aims — and misses — in bid to restore disability pay

Wed, 01 May 2013 02:21:42 -0500

While on safari in Africa, disabled Chicago police officer Charles T. Siedlecki bagged his share of big-game trophies and was famously pictured with one of them on the cover of this newspaper last year. But on Tuesday, it was Siedlecki who found himself in the crosshairs of city officials at a meeting of the Chicago Police pension fund.

Brown: Gifts to Uptown from down under — homeless get backpack beds

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 22:26:21 -0500

The sun was just setting over Uptown one night last week when a tall, lanky Australian with more enthusiasm than just one continent could handle threw himself into the business of helping homeless Chicagoans. Tony Clark, 39, is co-designer of what he calls the backpack bed, a lightweight backpack that rolls out into a fancy sleeping bag. For nearly two hours Wednesday night, Clark handed out free backpack beds to homeless men who had shown up at the corner of Hazel and Wilson for their weekly visit from the Night Ministry bus. Combining the patter of an infomercial pitchman with …

Hadiya Pendleton’s dad: ‘Every child’s life does matter’

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 02:35:09 -0500

It’s not fair to the parents of Hadiya Pendleton to put them on the spot every time another young person falls victim to gun violence. But I called her father, Nathaniel Pendleton, just the same Wednesday, hoping to get his thoughts on the death of Cornelius “Cornbread” German, the latest 15-year-old felled by a bullet in Chicago. “I’m really sorry that another child has become the victim of gun violence,” Pendleton said.

Cornelius ‘Cornbread’ German’s life — and death — matters, too

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:34:23 -0500

Mark Brown: It may not be as easy to find a place in your heart for Cornelius “Cornbread” German as it was for Hadiya Pendleton. The two 15-year-old Chicago kids are bound by fate of being shot dead within blocks of President Barack Obama’s home. Hadiya was a high-achieving honor student from a middle-class, church-going family. Cornelius was a kid raised in poverty who hung with the wrong crowd and met his demise at a backyard dice game. That’s why Cornelius’ death Monday night is a test for this city.

Brown: No fire for raising smoking age

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:07:37 -0500

Last week while I was in Florida on vacation, I stopped in a bar that still allows smoking and was immediately reminded of two things. One, I sure don’t miss breathing that smoky air. Two, I’ve always been out of step on the smoke-free issues, remaining sympathetic to smokers long after that put me in a minority. Now here we go again. On Monday, top city officials in New York proposed legislation to raise its smoking age from 18 to 21. That prompted City Council Health Committee Chairman George Cardenas to say Chicago should explore raising the smoking age here …

Brown: Tax filings might be a struggle for gay and lesbian couples

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 02:35:26 -0500

Monday’s federal income tax filing deadline could put anybody on edge, but for gay and lesbian couples, it can be a particular irritant. That’s because their IRS 1040 forms spell out in dollars and cents how they are regarded as second-class citizens by the U.S. government. Under the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, same-sex married couples are treated differently for tax purposes from their opposite-sex counterparts. The result is not only discriminatory; it can be downright expensive. The most glaring example of this is the tax treatment of employer-paid health insurance benefits. In a marriage between a man and a …

Mark Brown: Requiem for a friend — to his church, the elderly and all those beloved dogs

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 03:53:13 -0500

Tom Vollman was a dog guy. For me and many other Chicagoans, he was THE dog guy. Vollman started his day Wednesday the way he always did. He rose early, fed the Great Dane and the mutt he was dogsitting, gave them their meds and took them out back to take care of business—just like clockwork, which is how the dogs like it. Then he brought them inside, sat down in a chair and passed away. He was 54, fit and trim, with no known health problems. You never know. Vollman isn’t the sort whose death would normally warrant a …

Private showers for transgender police recruits a win for inclusion

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 02:21:31 -0500

The Chicago Police Department is installing two new private “changing rooms” with showers at its training academy to better accommodate transgender police recruits. A CPD spokesman said the facilities are for “anyone who may feel uncomfortable in the men’s or women’s showers,” and are not intended solely for transgender individuals. But the extreme sensitivity with which the department has handled my inquiries about the matter tells me this is not your everyday bathroom remodeling project.

Abbott tenants get day in court

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 02:35:44 -0500

The last two residents of the Abbott Hotel relinquished their rooms Friday with their bank accounts a little fuller after city lawyers helped force a settlement. Under terms of the agreement, the owners of the SRO building at 721 W. Belmont agreed to make an undisclosed “relocation” payment to Michele Parisi, the 66-year-old Vietnam veteran who they previously had been trying to persuade to leave by making the building uninhabitable. That’s one of many cute landlord tricks commonly employed in this city that needs to be stopped. If landlords want to argue they need relief from overly generous eviction laws, …

Brown: Last SRO residents kicked out after new owners recklessly made hotel unsafe

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 02:19:32 -0500

The Chicago Fire Department ordered the Abbott Hotel, 721 W. Belmont, to be vacated by 3 p.m. Friday after inspectors documented for themselves the glaring safety hazards I reported in Thursday’s column. The decision to kick out the Abbott’s last remaining tenants was the only sensible solution given the reckless conduct of the building’s new owners from BJB Properties — who had shut off the heat and water and destroyed the fire safety systems with tenants still legally occupying their apartments. But I can’t help but feel that my column may have only served the purpose of helping the bullies get their way.

MARK BROWN: New owners shut off heat, water, fire sprinklers for SRO tenants

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 20:25:48 -0500

There are laws in this state about the proper way to rid a building of unwanted tenants, but they don’t seem to apply to the new owners of the Abbott Hotel, 721 W. Belmont. In an amazing display of arrogance, the building’s owners are performing a gut rehab of the four-story Wrigleyville walk-up with five of the apartments still occupied.

Lawsuit over ward remap sure to shake up City Hall

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 10:25:23 -0500

Just when I was beginning to give up hope, someone has finally stepped forward to challenge the legality of last year’s Chicago ward remap. And more importantly, they are challenging the particularly dubious practice of aldermen putting the new ward boundaries into effect immediately. Unfortunately, incumbent protection has become the defining purpose of the ward remap process, which is why I salute the League of Women Voters of Chicago for filing a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the city.

Brown: Homeless man had simple request before death - ‘Why don’t you leave us alone?’

Wed, 01 May 2013 15:37:17 -0500

Jack King, a homeless man who lived under a Lake Shore Drive viaduct until his death March 13, reached out to me last week as if a voice from the grave. Except King’s mellow voice, with its hint of a southern drawl, wasn’t coming from the hereafter but rather from my desktop computer. By amazing coincidence, WBEZ radio reporter Odette Yousef had interviewed King shortly before his death. King was a fan of the Salvation Army truck and as a result not too fond of the local alderman who tried to chase it out of the neighborhood.

School closings pose roadblocks to educating kids, teachers say

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 12:25:52 -0500

MARK BROWN: Dave Stieber’s real passion is working with his students, including as a coach for his school’s spoken word poetry. What bothers him and so many other teachers is how the hassles of working for CPS keep encroaching on that mission — from a lack of resources to constantly changing directives and mandates.

Brown: Along with ‘Learning Gardens’ and iPads, CPS should give disrupted kids a little understanding

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 07:11:51 -0500

Lucky for me, I never had to uproot my family to chase a new job or to find a new home, but I’m familiar with the way parents sometimes try to sell that pending disruption to their kids. “In the new house, you’ll have your own bedroom,” the parent might say, or “In the new house, we’ll be able to have a swingset in the backyard, and maybe we can even get a dog.” In their latest rendition of “in the new house,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel and schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett told us Tuesday that up to 50 of the …

Another grand old church faces end of era

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 06:38:27 -0500

Born in an era of anti-Catholic sentiment, 132-year-old St. James Catholic Church has survived prejudice, racial change, urban renewal and a destructive fire. But barring either divine or worldly intervention, this grand old house of worship will soon fall victim to the financial challenges of the Archdiocese of Chicago and the general ambivalence of Americans toward such historic treasures. That would be a terrible shame.

Brown: Homeless evicted from Uptown viaduct

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 07:15:53 -0500

A week after I wrote about the homeless people living under Lake Shore Drive at Wilson Avenue, police and city sanitation crews kicked them out. Nobody seems to be able to explain how that came to happen. Ald. James Cappleman (46th) denies any involvement. First came the sanitation workers, who disposed of everything the homeless people could not carry with them, including clothing, blankets and makeshift bedding that had cluttered the sidewalk.