S. Reid

CANA July Meeting

Our last meeting took place on Tuesday, July 19th. It focused on planning for the remaining months of this year and for 2012. A summary of the plans under discussion follows:   PETITION FOR STREET SIGN Signage is one tool for controlling activity at a location. It informs everyone and provides the police with a…

Street Sign Strategy:Limit activity

The problems at the corner of Madison and Mason,   resulted in a running gun battle in the streets  in the early hours of June 25th. According to neighbors, the nightly fighting, drug and alcohol use and drug sales at this corner resulted in individuals chasing others up Mason, firing shots, turning left on Washington and continuing…

MONTHLY MEETING TONIGHT, TUESDAY

Usual place    301 N. Mayfield                                                                                                            Usual time      6:30PM                                             Come and help us exceed the Usual Results   WHAT WE BELIEVE DETERMINES HOW WE BEHAVE

NOTES FROM APRIL GENERAL MEETING

Our meeting on Tuesday, April 19, 2011 focused on two topics: Beautification Safety  We would like to hold a meeting at 10:00AM on Saturday, April 30 to discuss the plans for our projects in May. Please call  (312) 952-4983 about your availability to participate. You may participate by coming to the meeting or be on…

Austin Focus Leads to Award

  AWARD ANNOUNCEMENT  The Chicago Community Trust announced 31 Local Reporting Awards through its Community News Matters program for reporting on a variety of important issues affecting Chicago’s low-income areas. The program seeks to increase the flow of truthful, accurate and insightful local news and information and encourage innovative new models for providing news and…

Another Tool for Building a Safer Neighborhood

The weather is heating up and we can expect the activity in the streets to heat up as well. We insist that Austin residents get the same level of police service as any other community. If there is a shortage of police manpower, no area of Chicago should experience a greater loss than any other.…

A More Beautiful Austin, 16 Blocks at a time

Part of the mission of the Central Austin Neighborhood Association is to unite residents in the effort to transform Austin into a more vibrant and attractive place to live, work, play and raise children. We want to create and support a greater sense of responsibility for creating a better environment for our children. We want…

March 15th Meeting Forecasts Growth for CANA in 2011

Based upon the turnout and the participation level at our last meeting, we continue to be confident and encouraged about what we can achieve as a community. Our base of support continues to broaden. Our general meetings are only 90 minutes long. They are usually limited to the presentation of strategies that have been formulated…

Volunteers Stand Ready to Help Clean Up Austin

Great News ! This year continues to show great promise. Our next effort takes place on Saturday, March 19th at 8:30 AM at the corner of Austin and Madison. More Austin stakeholders are joining the effort to beautify Austin. Austin High School As a result of a posting about our event on AustinTalks.org, we were…

High Paying Jobs Can Be Filled By You

A unique opportunity for training exists in the Austin neighborhood, available at low cost. There are exciting, high-paying manufacturing  jobs going unfilled due to a lack of skilled workers, even in this economy. Manufacturing is an exciting and growing industry, where companies create high-tech, complex products like wind turbines and airplanes. Manufacturing companies have po0led…

West Side Needs Fair Allocation of Police Services

After listening to an investigative report on WBEZ, 91.5 FM (National Public Radio), our president was motivated to make an unplanned visit to the Police Board Meeting. The report pointed out that the North Side aldermen and constituents were very vocal and actively demanding their share of police services. In contrast, they pointed out that the…

Spring Cleanup Planned for March 19th

On Tuesday, February 15th we continued our development of plans for our work this year. Our focus at this meeting was the beautification of our community.  Members volunteered to share the work to make our neighborhood more visually attractive. This effort is being led by Jane Shirley and. Marvin Marshall.  Our first project is the…

CANA CONTINUES TO STAND AT POLICE BOARD MEETING

As of January 19, 2011 we had not received a response from the Superintendent of Police,  as she had promised in November 2010. In addition the Police Board informed us that a representative from the OEMC would be present at their January meeting to address questions related to their performance. We decided that we must…

First Meeting Celebrates Accomplishments, Plans for New Heights

  HAPPY NEW YEAR CANA started this new year with its usual vigor. We gathered on Tuesday to celebrate the work completed in 2010 and to prepare to reach new heights in 2011.  ACCOMPLISHMENTS Our accomplishments in 2010 were many. Given that our first meeting took place in August, we accomplished much in a short…

WE MUST NOT ALLOW THE POLICE TO IGNORE US

It has been nearly two months since our last appearance at the Police Board meeting. We skipped the December meeting and the January meeting is coming up in about5 days. It looks like we must make another appearance at the Police Board meeting.  At the last meeting we made requests for information from the Police…

Austin needs to ATTRACT A MAGNET SCHOOL

With limited advance advertisement, Chicago Public Schools conducted a public meeting about locating an elementary school on the near west side of Chicago. The purpose of the meeting was to gather public input before presenting a proposal to the Board of Education to locate a new SCIENCE, ENGINEERING, MATH AND TECHNOLOGY (S.T.E.M.) Magnet School in…

CANA MEETING: TUESDAY, January 18

Let’s continue our efforts to create more beauty, peace, and prospertiy in our neighborhood. Just a few hours in a month can make a difference. You’ve seen it happen. Come out January 18th to celebrate and move forward. 6:30PM Third Unitarian Church, 301 N. Mayfield

CANA Celebrates Neighbors and the Holidays

And a good time was had by all.  CANA kicked off the holiday season with a blast. Children, tweens, teens, adults and seniors gathered for an evening of celebration, fellowshipping and dining. Our reach extended beyond the Austin borders as several of the participants came from the South Side and the North Side of Chicago.…

Better Government Association Watchdog Training Continued

The Better Government Association (BGA) continued its Citizen Watchdog Training on December 6, 2010 at Christ the King High School. The objectives of this session were to: explain how to avoid common roadblocks in use of the Freedom of Information Act; present a code of ethics for reporting; and explain how to post reports and…

AUSTIN COMING TOGETHER is a REALITY

Austin Coming Together, organization of organizations, continues with its mission to support the development economic and educational opportunities that improve the quality of life within the Austin community. Its goal is to remove barriers that impede progress.  The organization is still in formation. The website is under development and staffing is not complete. However work…

CANA PRESIDENT SPEAKS AT STATE’S ATTORNEY SEMINAR ON COMMUNITY SAFETY

Our president, Serethea Reid, was a member of the panel at the November 22, 2010 seminar “Breaking the Code of Silence” presented by the Office of the State’s Attorney,, West Side Community Justice Center. The objectives of the seminar were: Teach citizens how to describe a suspect and report a crime. Inform citizens of the…

CANA IN THE NEWS:Austin Weekly News recognizes CANA

The Austin Weekly News newspaper placed CANA on the front page of this week’s paper. The title of the article is” New group says, ‘Yes we CANA”.  Several photos from our website were included with the article. A group shot, titled “Faces for Change” from our November 18th presence at the Police Board Meeting was…

HOLIDAY CELEBRATION: COME ONE, COME ALL

Neighbors are like family members. You don’t have to see them everyday to know that they’re there. This Holiday season join your extended family, C.A.N.A., for our First Annual Holiday Celebration. Third Unitarian Church, 301 N. Mayfield, Chicago, IL  60644 Saturday, December 11, 2010 5:00 pm         Caroling for neighbors –    Come lend your voice to…

AUSTIN COMING TOGETHER, A NEEDED CONCEPT, AN ORGANIZATION TO FILL THE NEED

Austin Coming Together, ACT is a relatively new organization of organizations. Its mission is to create an intermediary infrastructure of sustainable resources, systems and networks that provide economic and educational opportunities that improve the quality of life within the Austin community.  ACT describes its method of achieving its mission, its Theory of Change, as follows:…