1890s revival at Festival on Prairie Avenue

The Prairie District Neighborhood Alliance (PDNA) on Saturday, Sept. 6, will celebrate its 30th anniversary as the first district in Chicago to be designated “historic.” The event will run from noon to 6 p.m. and will be held on Prairie Avenue at 18th Street. 

“We wanted to make this year’s annual block party special and meaningful by re-creating the atmosphere of the 1890s, when Prairie Avenue was the epicenter of the city’s commercial elite," said Tina Feldstein, president of the PDNA. "We will be honoring the founders of this historical district.”

Among the celebration’s highlights, PDNA leaders will present an award to Mayor Richard M. Daley to honor his father, the late Mayor Richard J. Daley, for his role in creating the district in 1978. They also will honor Jeannette Fields, one of the founders of the Chicago Architecture Foundation.

Residents will don period Victorian costumes, and entertainment will include period music; a Victorian fashion show; and an organ grinder with Mr. Monk, a 36-year-old monkey who participated in the event celebrating the area’s historical designation 30 years ago. 

Visitors also will enjoy access to and free tours of the Glessner and Clarke House Museums and the Second Presbyterian Church. At the Chicago Women’s Park, history buffs will recreate a War of 1812 encampment and perform re-enactments. Also, William Tyre, executive director of the Glessner House Museum and author of Chicago’s Historic Prairie Avenue, will sign copies of his book. Jacobson will serve as master of ceremonies, and food will reflect what was served at the 1893 Columbian Exposition.

The event is sponsored by Harris Bank, Phoenix Rising Management, Dominick’s, and Elite Physical Therapy. 

For more information, e-mail pdna.chicago@gmail.com.

--Marie Balice Ward

Al’s Beef celebrates 70th anniversary

Cake, not combos, topped the menu at Al’s Italian Beef Aug. 6 as the eatery’s owners celebrated 70 years in business.

Alderman Danny Solis (25th) brought gifts: street signs that read "Honorary Al’s Italian Beef Blvd." Solis and Chris Pacelli of Al's unveiled the signs outside the sandwich shop.

Pacelli, his brother Terry, son Anthony, and nephew Terry Jr., operate the home base of what has become 26 Al’s franchises.

"My grandfather started the business, but my uncle Al Ferrari was the first to make it an Italian beef stand,” Pacelli said. Al’s originated in 1938 at Laflin and Harrison Streets.

Solis also presented the Pacellis with a Chicago City Council resolution honoring Al’s, which Esquire magazine voted as making one of the best sandwiches in America.

“There’s nothing better than Al’s Italian Beef,” said Solis, who nevertheless settled for cake after the ceremony. An aide snagged a beef and sausage combo.

--Susan S. Stevens

New el stations considered for Near South area

The first of three meetings discussing possibilities for one or two new Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) Green Line el stations at 18th Street and at Cermak Road recently was held at McCormick Place, with audience members asked to vote on station features and amenities.

Alderman Pat Dowell of the 3rd Ward and Alderman Robert Fioretti of the 2nd Ward sponsored the event. Participants included representatives of the CTA and the Chicago Department of Planning and Development (DPD).

                Benet Haller of the DPD said, “This will be the next evolution of this area.” Joe Iacobucci of the CTA said, “We wish to create a multi-use place that reflects the community and adds value to the neighborhood.”

                The station or stations would be enhanced with retail and other community amenities.

“With the population increase in the South Loop and the growth of McCormick Place, we need transportation from the airports and locally as well," Fioretti said. "Bringing the stations here will also serve as a catalyst for commercial development. It will involve some ‘arm wrestling’ to get funding, but it can be accomplished.” He noted that a newly created el station in the West Loop cost $40 to $50 million to develop.

“I am very excited about this,” said Dowell. “We definitely need another station to alleviate the parking pressures and help IIT [the Illinois Institute of Technology], Chinatown, and the South Loop. Transportation is the lifeblood of any community.”

Among the features being considered are full-service or quick-service restaurants, coffee shops, clothing stores, dry cleaners, home improvement stores, electronics stores, gyms or fitness centers, grocery or convenience stores, pharmacies, professional offices, parks and plazas, parking, and bakeries. Full-service, moderately priced restaurants, bakeries, and grocery stores were most popular among attendees, and dry cleaners, gyms, and home improvement stores the least. The City also will not consider  big-box retail stores to go along with the station or stations.

Also, officials took comments about the architecture that would blend best into the community.

Optimally, said, Iacobucci, plans will be drawn for a review in October, followed by a second review in November and leading to a final plan in January 2009.

--Marie Balice Ward

Group brings Chicago, Rwandan girls together

Six Chicago teenagers recently returned from a week in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, along with their counterparts, five young Rwandan women, as part of a Women’s Equity in Access and Care to Treatment X (WE-ACTX) program, Girls Exchange Chicago-Kigali. After the week in Kigali, the group of eleven, ages 16 through 20, spent a week in Chicago together, learning about each others’ cultures and the ongoing battle against HIV/AIDS in both countries. 

The young women’s blog, filled with photos and personal impressions, can be accessed at http://weactrwanda.blogspot.com/.

            “The Girls Exchange is a pivotal opportunity for these extraordinary young women from Chicago and Kigali, some infected and all affected by HIV, to share their experiences, their cities, and together grow into a band of global citizens who will help make their own futures and their country’s future more secure,” said Mardge Cohen, MD, medical director of WE-ACTX and founder of the Cook County Hospital Women and Children’s Program in Chicago.

            Officials in both cities greeted the travelers, including two adult leaders from each country. In Rwanda, the Chicago girls learned about the country’s history, including the genocide that occurred there and its aftermath; they also visited the WE-ACTX clinics for women and children with HIV/AIDS.

            Working together in each city with art teachers who traveled with them, the young women created mosaic murals depicting both Rwandan hills and Chicago’s skyline in order to leave an enduring remembrance of their connection. Jeanne Walker of Orr Community Academy High School supervised the mosaics’ creation, along with Gallery 37 art teachers Susan Dardar, Sonja Henderson, and Miriam Socoloff

Young people ages 13 through 24 make up one of the fastest growing groups with HIV infection. Worldwide, one out of two newly infected persons is infected as a teenager. To highlight this critical and often ignored group, WE-ACTX organized the Girls Exchange.

WE-ACTX (www.we-actx.org) is an international organization of U.S. physicians and advocates who began working in Rwanda in April 2004 in response to a call from several Rwandan women’s associations serving widows from the genocide, orphans, and women with HIV. WE-ACTX’s goal is to expedite HIV care for women and children. 

            For more information, call (773) 478-0244.

St. Ignatius Women’s Council dinner set

The St. Ignatius College Prep Women’s Council will award Kathy Bliss, a dedicated parent volunteer, the Golden Rose Award at the council’s tenth annual dinner on Thursday, September 25.

          The keynote speaker will be Margaret Stender, president and CEO of the Chicago Sky, the local Women’s National Basketball Association’s (WNBA) team.

Stender, a former Division I basketball player at the University of Richmond, previously worked as a teacher and coach and as the girls' athletic director at Norfolk Academy; she also worked in marketing and business management for Quaker Oats before joining the Sky.

          “Even if you are not sports-minded, you should care about girls’ sports," Stender said. "Younger women know that girls’ sports drive social change. They instill confidence, teach teamwork and collaboration, and allow girls be who they are—to be leaders and become risk takers. In a broader sense, girls’ sports help to create a more mutual respect between boys and girls and improve how they relate to each other."

          The WNBA season runs through September. In support of Stender’s appearance at the Women’s Council dinner, the Chicago Sky’s last home game of the season vs. the Houston Comets on Sunday, Sept. 14, will be St. Ignatius Night and will offer special pricing for fans affiliated with the school. All those interested in women’s basketball and sports in general are encouraged to attend the 3 p.m. game at UIC Pavilion.

In other St. Ignatius Women’s Council news, philanthropic members have agreed to fund the $50,000 needed to buy and install new scoreboards in the Gentile Gym. The Women’s Council dinner and annual appeal will support this initiative. All women who are mothers of current students and alumni automatically are members of the Women’s Council. To become a philanthropic member requires paying dues of $250 per year for three years.

For more information on the Women’s Council, the dinner, or the Chicago Sky event, visit www.ignatius.org or contact Marci Spingola at (312) 432-8406 or marci.spingola@ignatius.org.

Park District expands recycling

The Chicago Park District is expanding its recycling program to all City parks and beaches this summer. It also has dedicated two trucks to picking up recyclable materials.

"We are very excited to implement a separate container, separate pick-up recycling program in parks across Chicago," said Ellen Sargent, Chicago Park District deputy director of natural resources.

The Park District bought two new types of receptacles that are weighted and made of 100% recycled materials; it has placed them throughout the park system. The blue receptacles hold recycled materials, and the
green receptacles hold all non-recyclable trash. Items that can be recycled are glass jars and bottles, metal cans, foil, pie tins, tin and steel cans, paper and cardboard, and plastic bottles and containers.

In addition, the Park District has designated one truck to pick up recyclables along the lakefront and another to service all other locations.

Chicagoans also can recycle household materials at Blue Community drop-off locations, including 1424 W. 39th St. and 1758 S. Clark St.

For more information call (312) 742-5378.