As a resident of the Southeast Side of Chicago, I was appalled to read the opinion piece by Oscar Sanchez concerning the proposed Invert project (“Underground project by Ozinga is the latest threat to public health on the Southeast Side”). It was full of distortions and half-truths.
I am a former steelworker and union representative at the mill that was on the proposed site. The mill is gone now along with good-paying jobs. Ald. Peter Chico is attempting to bring some of those jobs back and unlike what was said in the opinion piece, the community supports this project.
This project is not a “mine” as Sanchez claims. To create the warehouse underneath the surface of the former steel mill, it will have to be dug out. Due to technical language in Chicago ordinances, a variance is needed and that is what Chico is asking for.
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These types of projects that bring good jobs to Chicago are needed all over the city, especially on the Southeast Side. There is former steel mill property in several areas that has been dormant for decades. Let’s start using it. Agenda-driven groups have attacked every single proposed project on the Southeast Side, which has deprived the community of jobs to support families. It is time to move forward.
Matt Nelson, Hegewisch
Remembering Marshall Field’s
Well-earned compliments to architecture critic Lynn Becker for a masterful Feb. 2 Sun-Times ode to Chicago’s Macy’s department store, once known as Marshall Field’s (“The long decline of Macy’s in Chicago, now a shell of a once-great department store”).
Lovingly written, but bittersweet to read and digest for any Chicagoan old enough to know it in its original incarnation of Marshall Field and Company, retail establishment extraordinaire, as it copes with ongoing market changes.
Whatever its ultimate place in the history of retail merchandising, in its original incarnation it became world-famous as a temple of the genre, ranking at the top of the heap alongside such other earlier retailing marvels as The John Wanamaker Company in Philadelphia, and New York City’s Lord & Taylor, Macy’s, and Gimbel’s. All helped shape U.S. retail history.
Ted Z. Manuel, Hyde Park
Trump’s deals are all about him
I’m very curious how Donald Trump thinks he could have used his skills as a dealmaker to avoid the Civil War. As seen in his demand to Republicans in Congress that the bipartisan negotiations on the border bill be scrapped, Trump seems to have one tactic: get everything he wants or scrap deals altogether.
Sure, the Civil War could have been avoided had Abraham Lincoln and that Republican Party bent the knee and agreed to the South’s demands on extending slavery. Trump would have agreed to slavery’s extension just as he agrees with Vladimir Putin’s expansion.
To most people, negotiation means you give up something and I give up something and we both get some of what we want. That’s what some of the key parts of the Constitution are all about. To Trump, negotiation means he gets everything he wants and the other side gets nothing. It’s fine with him if we make no progress on solving problems at the border as long as he can campaign on the issue. And a side benefit for Trump — further help to Ukraine is scrapped and his buddy Putin gets what he wants. Such a dealmaker!
Kevin Coughlin, Evanston
Cops in schools keep kids safe
Arne Duncan’s idea to put anti-violence workers in schools ignores the fact that there have long been such workers in the schools (“Shootings of Chicago students prompts push for anti-violence workers in high schools,” Feb. 2).
They’re called resource officers — cops. Cops who are skilled at developing information resources among students and staff and preventing violence in the schools daily.
With their communication with district officers, they extend that prevention often to areas near the schools. However, aggressions that are prevented don’t make the news. On a daily basis, these officers intervene to protect students from assault by out-of-control people in the building.
Arne should take the time to learn before making headlines.
R. Stancik, Woodridge
Trump has no achievements
A person wrote in criticizing the Sun-Times for only printing negative things about Donald Trump. A point well taken. However! He didn’t list one positive accomplishment. Could that be the reason?
Norman De Dore, Garfield Ridge
How about working to get a cease-fire in Chicago?
It goes without saying that the Chicago City Council must have more important things to do than pass a totally ineffective resolution for a cease-fire in Gaza, half a world away. But beyond that, the fact that the mayor and the council cannot see the irony of that resolution being passed in Chicago, a city that has had so many killings for the past decade or more, just goes to show how disconnected they are from the real world. Why can’t they get a cease-fire in Chicago?
Richard Welch, Riverwoods
Taylor Swift draws an audience
While the outcome of Super Bowl 58 remains in doubt, you can be sure that even before halftime the viewing audience will have had their fill of Taylor Swift sightings and all the speculation about her future with Kansas City tight end, Travis Kelce. That’s one sure bet.
Bob Ory, Elgin
