Street performers entertain customers outside the Subway on 63rd St.
Starting in November of 2009, the 63rd Street Growth Commission sponsored daily events along the 63rd Street business district to promote commerce in the area and bring joy to shoppers during the holiday season. Events included street performers, bands, and choirs and occurred at businesses all throughout the corridor, including Marquette Bank, Subway, Walgreen's, Sears and Rio Valley grocery store. Performers also handed out candy donated by GSDC and local businesses to children in the community.
After hosting the 63rd St. Holiday Parade for many years, GSDC, in conference with the 63rd Street Growth Commission board of directors and other local business owners, decided it was time to rethink the event. Many felt that the closing of the street may have reduced some traffic to businesses during the most important shopping season of the year. Instead, this festival provided an entire month of attractions throughout the district.
On Friday, October 16th, Garifuna Flava was featured on WTTW Channel 11's show, "Check Please!". "Check, Please!" features local Chicagoland resaurants, reviewed by everyday Chicagoans. Garifuna Flava recieved a great review! Take a look at these 2 videos from the WTTW Website:
Overview of Garifuna Flava, its owners, and the neighborhood
Reviewers talk about their experience at Garifuna Flava
They weren’t indoors at the negotiating table, but the 200 demonstrators praying and singing on the front lawn of St. Rita’s church rectory on a rainy Wednesday morning delivered a powerful message to the bankers inside.
“Bank of America!” they repeatedly inveighed. “Keep our families in their homes!”
Father Tony Pizzo announces a partnership agreement reached between Southwest Organizing Project and Bank of America on the steps of St. Rita of Cascia rectory.
PHOTO: JOHN MCCARRON
Maybe their prayers weren’t totally answered, but they did spur negotiation of a new partnership between a coalition led by Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP) and the nation’s largest commercial bank.
Under the leadership of 63rd St. business owners and community residents, the 63rd St. Growth Commission is in the midst of a planning and visioning effort for the business district. The effort formally began in October ‘07 with a visioning session in which business owners discussed what they wanted to see accomplished in the area in the near future. That session led to the creation, over the next year, of business owner-led issue-area committees that have guided different Growth Commission initiatives. The planning effort continues and grows with the recent start of the 63rd St. Full Circle Mapping and Survey Project. (Pictured left: the SSA physical survey being conducted)
“I knew enough to know that I’d have been signing my death warrant,” says recent GSDC home counseling client Alexis Smith. Smith, a West Englewood homeowner, knew the loan modification – or “loan mod” – she refused to sign and that a for-profit housing counseling agency negotiated for her with lender Wells Fargo was a sham. Facing foreclosure in August 2008 on a mortgage with an interest rate over 10%, a Cook County judge granted her time to pursue a workout with her lender: to keep the home, she would need a more affordable monthly payment.
Days after Smith’s case was finally – and successfully – resolved by a GSDC counselor in April 2009, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn gave those in danger of similarly falling behind on their mortgages relief. With Southwest Side leaders standing alongside, he signed into law (signing pictured above) a grace period of up to 90 days before foreclosure proceedings may be initiated against borrowers who fall behind, a period granted if they pursue free government-certified housing counseling to seek a workout with lenders. The law’s chief sponsors were Sen. Jacqueline Collins (D-16) and Sen. Terry Link (D-30).
Hayes Mechanical fits right in at new Harlem Corridor Site.
The Greater Southwest Industrial Division (GSID) welcomed Hayes Mechanical Inc. to the Harlem Corridor this past summer. Marking its 90th anniversary in 2008, Hayes is a Chicago-based unionized boiler-making and pipefitting company. The company moved into what was once the Daily Southtown's (now called the Southtown Star) office and printing site at 5959 S. Harlem (front exterior pictured left). The move was needed as the company had outgrown its north side facility. After renovations that included a beautiful remodel of front office space, Hayes has settled in nicely at the 100,000 square foot facility.
This past December, Greater Southwest's Industrial Division partnered with Southwest Chicago PADS, a local faith-based organization that provides social services and temporary shelter to our community's homeless, to organize the 1st Annual "Christmas Bazaar" Toy Drive. Greater Southwest reached out to the manufacturers that make up the Harlem and Greater Southwest industrial corridors to provide toys and gifts for the 200 or so children of the shelter's 150 neediest families (pictured left, the Dixon family after they'd gone through the Bazaar).
Commission, GSDC welcome new member of 8th District Bike Patrol; Patrol arrives soon after new foot patrol officer
In late August, 63rd St. welcomed a sight seen typically downtown, a Chicago Police Officer cruising the sidewalk in a segway. The segway has drawn much attention from passersby and business owners and comes as part of a citywide strategy to increase the visibility of officers and reduce crime.
Back in April, GSDC welcomed K-Metals, a new women-owned metalworking company, to the southwest side. Among the many challenges the firm has faced as a small start-up, finding skilled workers has been among the toughest. With GSDC's help, K-Metals has so far met the challenge. Specifically, the firm needed assistance in finding an engineer versed in Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing (CAD/CAM).
(Pictured left, Aditya Sharma (center), K-Metals' new engineer, and Ken Adamik, K-Metals Director of Sales)
Greater Southwest Development Corporation (GSDC), working in concert with the Mayor's Office, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation Chicago (LISC), and community partners across the south and southwest side, coordinated the 2008 Summer Youth Internship Program, connecting well over 100 local youth with jobs and life-skills training.
In the News 
Under the leadership of 63rd St. business owners and community residents, the 63rd St. Growth Commission is in the midst of a planning and visioning effort for the business district. The effort formally began in October ‘07 with a visioning session in which business owners discussed what they wanted to see accomplished in the area in the near future. That session led to the creation, over the next year, of business owner-led issue-area committees that have guided different Growth Commission initiatives. The planning effort continues and grows with the recent start of the 63rd St. 
“I knew enough to know that I’d have been signing my death warrant,” says recent GSDC home counseling client Alexis Smith. Smith, a West Englewood homeowner, knew the loan modification – or “loan mod” – she refused to sign and that a for-profit housing counseling agency negotiated for her with lender Wells Fargo was a sham. Facing foreclosure in August 2008 on a mortgage with an interest rate over 10%, a Cook County judge granted her time to pursue a workout with her lender: to keep the home, she would need a more affordable monthly payment.
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This past December, Greater Southwest's Industrial Division partnered with 
