Mount Greenwood

By Elizabeth Riley and Chloe Wiley
Medill Reports - Chicago

It's afternoon in nearby Englewood, and on one block, kids fill the streets, laughing and riding their bikes. In a halfway house nearby, four registered sex offenders are inside, watching TV or sleeping.

This is a common scenario in this low-income community, in which more than 300 sex offenders live.

The mosaics studio at Mt. Greenwood Park is up
and running, and in fact we have finished our first totem! It looks fabulous.

We have moved the studio from the first floor to the second floor of the Ceramics Building. This move allows us to have more volunteers working together and We are now able to work on two totems at the same time.

In order to accomodate the schedules of more volunteers we are going to open the studio for longer hours on Wednesday nights and add in a few more weekends... in fact the studio will be open THIS Saturday at 10a.m.

This is just a reminder that on Monday, April 14th we will start working on the mosaics that will later be installed on the seven totems in the playlot.

The designs are amazing. We know you all will be very impressed. We hope to have them on the website soon.

We would like everyone to come out and help create these beautiful works of art. You may have some questions - so perhaps this will help:

*** Where are the mosaic going to be worked on?

By Nafis Ahmed
Medill Reports - Chicago

Retired police officer Gerald McLaughlin was vacationing in Mexico with his wife when he realized he couldn't feel his face.

The 63-year-old Portage Park native was standing at a hotel bar the evening of March 12 when his beverage began to spill out of his mouth.

"I took a sip, and it felt like my lips were totally full of Novocain," McLaughlin said. "The liquid went in and just came right back out."

City Health Department inspectors today shut down the main dining room at St. Xavier University, 3700 W. 103rd Street, for failure to comply with previous orders to eliminate a rodent infestation.

Today’s inspection found numerous mouse feces in multiple areas, including the food preparation area and food storage area.

The dining facility, located in the university’s Warde Academic Center, will remain closed until the infestation has been eliminated and the facility passes re-inspection by the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH).

Come out at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Mt. Greenwood Park Fieldhouse to see the designs that will become a major part of the new playlot. This will be your only chance to see the designs and have any final input on them before they are turned in to the beautiful mosaics.

Elements of the designs came from residents of Mt. Greenwood. We have had many of the area schools get involved, as well as art clubs, a brownie troop, and the many individuals (young and old) that came to the design workshops at the park. We have been very impressed by the amount and quality of the submissions we received.

Construction fencing is up at the Mount Greenwood Park playlot, and demolition began Thursday.

Pictures of the construction process will be posted on the park's Web site at www.mountgreenwoodpark.com.

A big thank you to all those who have donated and have helped make this a reality. We can't wait until the new playlot is finished.

In other playlot project news, on March 26th the group will be unveiling the seven designs for the mosaic totems at a community meeting at the park. Come
out to see if your design has been included, or to just see what all the excitement is about.

The Southwest Observer is commemorating its one-year anniversary, kicked off by the annual South Side Irish Parade.

West Beverly native and professional journalist Michael Fielding and Web designer Steve Delmont joined nearly 120 other entrants in the 30th annual South Side Irish Parade, marching proudly down Western Avenue before more than 250,000 onlookers March 9.