NoGames Goes to Switzerland

Members of the NoGames coalition were in Switzerland last week, presenting their case to the IOC that Chicago is not ready to host the 2016 Olympics. They got a brief mention on the BBC website, and according to the delegation themselves, they're the first group ever to travel to IOC headquarters to ask them NOT to host the games in their home city. They'll be hosting a reception to talk about their trip this evening at 7pm in Carmichaels, 1052 W Monroe.

While we're on the subject, this is as good a time as any to link to Ben Joravsky's excellent open letter to the IOC in the Chicago Reader. SSN supported both the NoGames campaign and the Communities for an Equitable Olympics coalition this year, and although the latter scored a significant victory in getting a memorandum of understanding with Chicago 2016 (including commitments on affordable housing and jobs) , Joravsky's piece makes an excellent case for why it would be better for everyone if the Olympics just didn't come to Chicago at all.

Springfield report

courtesy of Aliya and Larissa

On Wednesday, April 22, seven members of SSN joined members of SEIU and SOUL on a bus trip to Springfield to speak with legislators about bringing green jobs and better public transit options to the Southside, as well as balancing the budget in a fair and responsible way. The day started early, with everyone on the bus by 6:15, where we were greeted with donuts, coffee and excited community organizers. Upon reaching Springfield, we hurried to meet with Hyde Park's representative and Illinois House Majority leader Barbara Flynn Currie. Our numbers were impressive, and she listened to us for a reasonable amount of time and agreed to cooperate with our objectives. After speaking with a few more legislators, many of whom seemed duplicitous and dismissive, we joined the other lobbyist groups outside for a rally that could only be described as showy, placating and generally unproductive. The subsequent lobbying was fairly chaotic and less successful than before, kind of an "every organizer for himself" situation, and few legislators even stopped to talk with representatives of our group. Ultimately, we personally left feeling confused as to what our role was exactly, but really enjoyed interacting with the people from SOUL and SEIU and getting to know other members of SSN better. We still believe that bringing legislators closer to their constituents has inherent merit, and we applaud SEIU and SOUL for the work they are doing. Overall, it was a beautiful day, and Abe Lincoln's house was damn cool.

Southside Goes to Springfield II

More pictures from lobby day in Springfield, this time from Fabian. And in related news, on Chicago Public Radio's Eight Forty-Eight this morning, Amy Terpstra of the Heartland Alliance explains why more progressive taxation (one of our major lobbying goals) is essential for fighting rising poverty in and around Chicago: "It's a structural problem, so what we need are structural solutions."

Southside goes to Springfield!

Last Wednesday (April 22nd), seven members of SSN joined a busload of SOUL leaders and over a thousand representatives of unions and community groups from across the state of Illinois to lobby our elected officials in Springfield. A report on the day will be up soon - in the meantime, here are some pictures.

The Gold Line campaign

The Southside Solidarity Network supports SOUL's campaign for the Gold Line, a proposal to improve public rail transit in the underserviced Southside. The plan was originally authored by James Withrow. Here is the outline from SOUL:

SOUL is organizing to push Chicago’s transit agencies to turn the Metra Electric South Chicago branch train line from Randolph/Michigan to 93rd St./Baltimore into a more effective train line that will serve tens of thousands of Southside residents. This line runs through one of the most densely populated areas of the South Side, but many Southside residents do not ride the line because service is infrequent (just once per hour during most of the day), transfers between CTA and Metra are limited, and there is a huge gap between 27th St. and 47th St. with no stops.

SOUL’s proposal - which the organization is calling the ‘Gold Line” - is to make the following improvements on the Metra Electric:

• Run trains to/from Randolph/Michigan and 93rd St./Baltimore every ten minutes from 6:00 a.m. until 12:00 midnight
• Accept CTA fares and allow transfers between CTA and Metra
• Upgrade stations at 59th Street and 63rd Street and build a new station at 35th Street

The state of the campaign
The Gold Line currently has the support of 4th Ward Alderman Toni Preckwinkle, 5th Ward Alderman Leslie Hairston, 7th Ward Alderman Sandi Jackson, 8th Ward Alderman Michelle Harris, 20th Ward Alderman Willie Cochran, State Representative Barbara Flynn Currie, State Representative Will Burns, State Senator Kwame Raoul, and Congressman Danny Davis (7th IL).

In Winter quarter, SSN members went downtown to join SOUL in a (polite) invasion of a meeting of the Metra Board of Directors. On April 22, SSN members joined SOUL at the state capital of Springfield in order to lobby for funding for a Gold Line feasibility study (among other issues). Our very own Jake Werner was on the front line facing off against the politicians.

As a result of this and other work, the RTA will receive a request from CDOT for $300K for the feasibility study; meanwhile Congressman Danny Davis is seeking federal authorization for the project. Great progress has been made, but much work remains to be done.

Additional info
For more information, contact SOUL transit organizer Will Tanzman at (312) 402‐0572.

See also the following links:

• Withrow's argument for the Gold Line
• Article on Southside transit, including the Gold Line (Chicago Weekly)
• Article on the Gold Line (Chicago Maroon)
• Article on a Gold Line teach-in run by SSN and SOUL (Maroon)
• I Support the Gold Line Facebook group

[last modified June 10]