19-year-old man shot on the Far South Side

19-year-old man  shot on the Far South Side about 8 p.m., he was shot in the chest in the Altgeld Gardens neighborhood, on the 13000 block of South Evans Street.

25-year-old man shot in the Altgeld Gardens

25-year-old man was shot on the 600 block of East 133rd Street in the Altgeld Gardens neighborhood on the Far South Side. He's in good condition at Metro South Hospital.

20-year-old man and 16-year-old boy shot in Altgeld Gardens housing complex

A 20-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy were shot in the 13200 block of South Langley in the Altgeld Gardens housing complex on the far south side at about 1:30 a.m.
A group of people was chasing a second group and someone in the first group shot at the victims while they were running away, hitting the 16-year-old in his leg and hitting the 20-year-old in his abdomen.

Mom insult may have led to fatal Far South Side shooting in the Altgeld Gardens projects and we can't wait until Section 8 sends these nice folks to our communities

A 29-year-old man was shot dead during a late-night fight in the Altgeld Gardens projects on the city's Far South Side after insulting the gunman's mother,.
A small quarrel in the 600 block of East 133rd Street quickly escalated into a brawl involving more than 100 people that ended with a man pulling a handgun and shooting the 29-year-old victim in the chest at about 10:25 p.m. Sunday.
The unidentified victim was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
The shooting wasn't considered gang-related though everyone involved was believed to be members of an area street gang, the source added.
The chaos that erupted from the brawl made it difficult for emergency medical technicians to get to the shooting scene.
BEAT 533

Changing Chatham: Neighborhood struggles with class divide (Just say thanks 2 Section 8)

It used to be that, to live in Chatham, you practically had to know someone. As a mother with no husband — despite having a 9-to-5 — my chances of finding a landlord who’d rent me an apartment in one of Chatham’s immaculate three-flats were slim.

The landlords there could afford to be picky. Few of them would rent to you just because you told them you were a mom desperate to move to a neighborhood where you didn’t have to worry about gangs and guns.

That’s another thing that’s different about Chatham these days.

READ MORE AT CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

CHA kills controversial plan to drug test residents (Oh well, more effort free mooching)

controversial proposal to require all adults who currently live in, or apply for Chicago public housing to be tested for drugs — including senior citizens — is dead, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.

Also, the agency decided to keep the so-called “innocent tenant defense” for residents, referring to evictions initiated when a drug-related or violent crime has been committed by a relative or guest of the leaseholding tenant — without the tenant’s knowledge or involvement.

The drug testing policy and the elimination of the innocent tenant defense were among changes to the Chicago Housing Authority’s lease and its Admissions and Continued Occupancy Policy (ACOP) proposed by its recently resigned CEO, Lewis Jordan.

Chairman Jim Reynolds announced the board’s decisions Tuesday afternoon.

“CHA is not making any changes to its ACOP regarding the proposed drug testing policy and the proposed revision to the tenant defense,” CHA spokeswoman Kellie O’Connell-Miller confirmed. “The CHA received a tremendous amount of feedback during the public comment period, and simply, the result of that is that CHA will not move forward.”

The agency ignited a storm of controversy with the changes first proposed on May 13. The blanket drug-testing policy that would have covered anyone 18 years or older in any CHA developments had residents and housing advocates crying foul.

The American Civil Liberties Union accused the public agency of seeking to place a double standard on the poor.

Under the policy, a positive drug test would have subjected leaseholders to eviction proceedings.

“The tenants are ecstatic. They were there, and they are very happy today,” said Robert Whitfield, attorney for the Central Advisory Council, made up of tenant leaders of CHA properties citywide. “CHA made a wise decision. There were just too many issues associated with drug testing. As someone once said, you have to measure what you might gain by what you might lose.”

Agency officials had argued they needed more tools to fight crime, particularly the drug scourge, in CHA developments.

Over the past few weeks, tenants held several protest marches on the offices of CHA and the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development over the controversial measures, and a public hearing earlier this month drew a packed house — punctuated by the indignation of senior citizens.

Then came last week’s resignation by Jordan — effective at month’s end — as he faced mounting controversy over questionable charges to his government credit card, with Mayor Rahm Emanuel declining to guarantee his job.

Embattled CHA CEO Lewis Jordan resigns

Embattled Chicago Housing Authority CEO Lewis Jordan will resign his post effective June 30 in the wake of questions about his credit card use, according to a copy of his resignation letter the Tribune obtained today.
Jordan’s departure comes after Mayor Rahm Emanuel last week refused to give Jordan a vote of confidence, saying he wanted to wait until a review he ordered of city credit card use at the housing authority and other agencies is finished.
In his letter, Jordan wrote that “this issue has become an impediment to my ability to steer this $1 billion a year organization.
Jordan, who was appointed by Mayor Richard Daley to head the CHA in late 2007, was one of Emanuel's few top holdovers from the previous administration.
In Jordan’s letter to Jim Reynolds, the chairman of CHA, Jordan touts several successes during his tenure, including the demolition of notorious public housing high rises. But Jordan also noted that “over the past two weeks questions about the propriety of credit card use have overshadowed the good and important work of CHA.
“The charges in question amount to approximately $15,000 over three years, were not used for any personal expenditures, and were consistent with CHA and HUD policies and practices.”
CHA Chairman James Reynolds issued a statement accepting the resignation.
“Given the scrutiny surrounding the recent media coverage, I fully understand Lewis' desire to move forward to end the attacks regarding his character and ethics,” Reynolds said. “Yet, I have confidence that Lewis will carry on with dignity, having gained the respect of a great many Chicagoans, as well as a great number of followers across the country who have recognized how much he has done to improve the national perception of public housing. I wish him all the best in his career and future endeavors.
After Emanuel issued the city-wide review of credit card use, he followed it up by taking away Jordan’s use of two CHA cars and the police officers assigned to drive them.
Emanuel has promised to bring a new level of accountability, transparency and ethics to Chicago government. Jordan’s spending habits while heading the agency charged with finding housing for some of the city's poorest residents raised some eyebrows in the administration.

According to select information the administration posted online, Jordan paid for flowers and gift cards for employees using the card.
Jordan also charged more than $12,800 in meals between March 2008 and early April 2011, according to a Tribune tally. He picked up a $1,008 tab for 14 people at Carmine's in March, a meal described in credit card documents as a business meeting with city officials to discuss "supportive housing initiatives and planning in Chicago."

CHA wants required drug testing for adult residents

The Chicago Housing Authority wants to require all adults who currently live in, or apply in the future for housing in any of its developments, to be tested for drugs — including senior citizens.

The blanket policy proposal for anyone 18 years or older has residents and housing advocates crying foul.

The American Civil Liberties Union charges the public agency seeks to place a double standard on the poor.

“It’s such an insensitive proposal to even bring to the table,” said Myra King, a resident of the Far South Side Lowden Homes development. She chairs the Central Advisory Council of tenant leaders from CHA properties all across the city.

“Singling us out for this type of humiliation is a slap in the face of what this whole ‘Plan for Transformation’ supposedly is about,” King said. “CHA says they’re doing this plan to make us privvy to the same standards as any other citizen in any other community. If that’s true, why are we the only citizens to be drug tested?”

The measure is among several changes to the lease and CHA’s Admissions and Continued Occupancy Policy proposed by CEO Lewis Jordan. Under the policy, a positive drug test would subject leaseholders to eviction proceedings.

Agency officials argue they need more tools to fight crime, particularly the drug scourge, in CHA developments.

Also controversial is a proposed elimination of the so-called “innocent tenant defense,” referring to evictions initiated when a drug-related or violent crime has been committed by a relative or guest of the leaseholding tenant — but the tenant was not involved nor had knowledge of the crime. In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled housing authorities may evict under such “innocent tenant” circumstances, so CHA would be within its rights. But former CHA chief Terry Peterson had negotiated an agreement with tenants that had continued to allow the defense if it could be proved in court.

Jordan, who took over the agency in 2008, declined to be interviewed on the proposals.

Spokeswoman Kellie O’Connell-Miller pointed out several CHA mixed-income properties currently require drug testing.

“These are policies to help strengthen and improve the safety of our public housing communities,” O’Connell-Miller said.

“We’re constantly hearing from law-abiding residents that they want us to hold the non-law abiding residents more accountable. We’re trying to tighten up our lease with some of these issues. Drug dealers won’t come where there are no buyers. If you remove the folks who are interested in drugs, hopefully it will remove some of the problems,” she said.

The policy would apply to 16,000 families living in family and senior public housing. The agency has not yet explored the cost associated with the proposal, O’Connell-Miller said.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development here said as federal policy prohibits drug users from public housing property, authorities nationwide are free to enforce that rule as they see fit. HUD does not track such enforcement, so it could not say if any other housing authorities had such a blanket policy, nor could CHA.

“The ACLU opposes drug testing in the absence of suspicion as a condition of residency in public housing,” said senior lawyer Adam Schwartz.

“From our perspective, drug testing without suspicion is humiliating. It’s stigmatizing. There’s a double standard here,” he said. “All across our city and our country, when most of us who are in whatever income bracket rent housing, we don’t have to take a drug test. This is an emerging one standard for poor people and another standard for everyone else.”

However, a 1999 ACLU case filed against the state of Michigan may not bode well for such a proposal, Schwartz noted.

In Marchwinski vs Howard, the head of that state’s Department of Public Aid mandated blanket drug testing for a sub-population of public aid recipients. The ACLU won an injunction that was later upheld by an appellate court.

The proposed changes, unveiled May 17, are open to public comment through June 16. A public hearing on the changes is scheduled to be held at 6 p.m. June 2nd, at the Charles A. Hayes Center, 4455 S. King Drive. If adopted, the proposal then has to go before the CHA Board and chairman Jim Reynolds for approval, then HUD.