In one of the most brazen attempts to usurp even the authority of the powerful Rahm Emanuel Mayor of Chicago, Alderman George Cardenas of the 12th Ward is trying to push through the Chicago Zoning committee a charter school expansion into the McKinley Park neighborhood on Chicago’s Southside. Despite the charter school operator being rejected by the Chicago Board of Education to open two charter schools Alderman Cardenas seems to think it is a good idea. There is also the Board of Education's agreement with State legislators not to open any new charter schools this year while proposing to close 60 schools the largest number of school action in the nations history that target low income minority communities.
Concept Schools NFP charter school operator is trying to have the zoning at 2245 W. Pershing changed so a former industrial building now a vacant warehouse can become Horizon Science Charter School Academy for the start of the new 2013 school year.
Quoted in the April 26, 2013 by the Chicago Sun-Times:
“Ald. George Cardenas (12th), whose ward includes the proposed McKinley Park charter, was hesitant to talk about the controversy for fear of alienating Emanuel. “I don’t want to have conflict. It doesn’t help anybody,” he said. “I support the school and I’m going to find out what’s going on. I will work with the administration to assuage any concerns they would have.” Cardenas said he supports the Concept charter because schools in his Southwest Ward are overcrowded and parents need to have choices for their children. Parental choice has long been Emanuel’s education mantra.”
Concept Schools charter operator is a known union busting organization in a long heated and expensive 3-year battle over the right of its teachers to become unionized. Despite the Illinois Education Labor Review Board’s Order for the charter operator to negotiate with its teachers, the charter operator never followed the law choosing instead to go to court and waste student resources to pay lawyers.
In one of its most egregious acts, Concept Schools charter operator fired teacher Rhonda Hartwell in August 2010 who was eight months pregnant at the time of her firing and was forced to move up her scheduled delivery to ensure it occurred before her health insurance was cut off.
“It’s one thing for the school to fight the union’s legitimacy, but it’s quite another to retaliate against a union organizer who has been rewarded with performance bonuses and was pregnant. This is about as low as an anti-union administration can go,” said Kim Bobo, executive director of Interfaith Worker Justice.
http://www.substancenews.net/...
Not until got home to my computer over the weekend, did I confirm my suspicions with satellite photos that this is a scam to steal tax payer dollars. No people live in this area except in a condo development next door that is almost bankrupt. The site of the new charter site is next to the McKinley Park lofts condo development. Then there is to the 8-lane Western Avenue to cross to the east. The 1-mile square McKinley and lagoon the north. Industrial WW2 ammunition factories to west and the old site of the CPS headquarters. The famous Union Stockyards Train yards to the south of the site. The only people that live near this site are from the condo development.
In researching the condo project with a few easy clicks of the mouse. It seems the development is losing money. On the website YoChicago there is a posting headline by Joe Zekas on 3/5/12 Sellers still feeling the pain at McKinley Park Lofts. The article describes the troubles the condo development is in.
Where multiple units cannot be sold and some even being taken off the market or delisted. Futher proof of trouble is that “Two of the three units that closed there last year sold for 77% and 46% below their 2007 sale prices.”
http://yochicago.com
Then on the website Curbed Chicago as most recently as Tuesday, April 12, 2011, the headline by Mark Boyer reads McKinley Park Loft Feeling the PriceChopper Pain Again. The posting describes:
the drop for a condo unit that sold for $243,000 in 2006 to asking price down to $79,900. “This is the fourth time the price has been reduced in four months,” stated on the posting.
http://chicago.curbed.com
In trying to understand what was going on in the Alderman’s head to get involved with such a shady deal, I went to his Facebook page and start positing inquiring comments to elicit a response. Instead I was removed for his Facebook page and all my posted were blocked.
I then asked:
“why did you remove me from your fb page? is it because we found out about your crony charter school deal going through zoning Tuesday? Ald. George Cardenas (12th), whose ward includes the proposed McKinley Park charter, was hesitant to talk about the controversy for fear of alienating Emanuel. “I don’t want to have conflict. It doesn’t help anybody,” he said. “I support the school and I’m going to find out what’s going on. I will work with the administration to assuage any concerns they would have.” (Saturday at 7:00pm)
The response was:
“Alderman George A. Cardenas Fan Page I work for the alderman and monitor his fan page. Feel free to come and personally see him on Mondays which is ward night. after 3 or make an appointment. The alderman has an open door policy so it's not necessary to make an appointment However if you decide to do it can be accommodated. Thank you for visiting the fan page. (Saturday at 7:49pm via mobile)”
No answer to my question or being removed nor the issue at hand, the back hand deal to expand a charter school into McKinley Park .
It seems this is not the first shady real estate deal that Concept schools charter operator has been involved in. Back in July 28, 2011 the Illinois Federation of Teachers sent a letter to then CPS CEO JC Brizard warning of a possible illegal real estate transaction by Concept Schools. In the letter the Union explains how the chapter operator was transferring public property without notification or consultation with the community or stakeholders, as it is now doing, to a private for-profit company to increase the mortgage payments from $240,000 in its 2010 mortgage payment to nearly $1.1 million in rent payments in just 2011.
IFTtoCEOBrizard_CMSAbldg20110726
What is different now is that we have 12th Ward Chicago Alderman Cardenas directly involved in supporting this deal that makes an end run around the Board or Education, Mayor Emanuel and the constituents of McKinley Park and City of Chicago.
Contact Alderman Cardenas 12th Ward to
Stop Charter Expansion into McKinley Park
here are his contact numbers and email:
ward12@cityofchicago.org
Ward Office Phone: 773.523.8250
Ward Office Fax: 773.523.8440
City Hall Phone: 312.744.3040
City Hall Fax: 312.744.4482
The zoning meeting notice to expand charter schools into McKinley Park:
CHARTER SCHOOL EXPANSION
APRIL 30, 2013, TUESDAY 10AM -
Council Chambers -- CHICAGO City Hall
Addendum to the Regular Agenda Committee on Zoning,
Landmarks & Building Standards
Concepts Charter school Chicago rezoning April 30, 2013
PS hey i am no zoning dude but why would an industrial warehoues be rezoned residential when they want to start a school? shouldn't it it be public use? or institutional?
5:47 AM PT: looking into law firm handling zoning.
Samuel Vincent Panebianco Banks, brother of Alderman Banks, was an attorney who for years was synonymous with influence in Chicago's 36th Ward on the Far Northwest Side. A former Chicago police officer, Cook County prosecutor and Cook County judge, Samuel V. P. Banks was a powerful behind-the-scenes figure in his brother William's 36th Ward Democratic organization. Samuel V. P. Banks made a name for himself as a criminal defense attorney representing Mob-linked and corruption defendants.
5:51 AM PT: Garneata is a onetime client of lobbyist James Banks, a powerful Chicago zoning lawyer whose uncle, Ald. William Banks, heads the City Council's Zoning Committee. Garneata and his companies have made $23,000 in campaign contributions since 1999, including $5,600 to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and $4,000 to the 36th Ward Democratic Organization run by Banks. He was among more than a dozen defendants charged in a 2008 crackdown on bribes tied to Chicago City Hall. Federal authorities said the bribes were meant to speed, or fake, city building and zoning inspections. Garneata is to be sentenced Aug. 13.
5:52 AM PT: Garneata is a onetime client of lobbyist James Banks, a powerful Chicago zoning lawyer whose uncle, Ald. William Banks, heads the City Council's Zoning Committee. Garneata and his companies have made $23,000 in campaign contributions since 1999, including $5,600 to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and $4,000 to the 36th Ward Democratic Organization run by Banks. He was among more than a dozen defendants charged in a 2008 crackdown on bribes tied to Chicago City Hall. Federal authorities said the bribes were meant to speed, or fake, city building and zoning inspections. Garneata is to be sentenced Aug. 13.