The Hardest-Working Paper in America | 
Thursday, April 18, 2024

West Garfield Park

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Columnists
$2 million federal grant to address damage to the West Side by the Eisenhower Expressway
The apartment where Lynn Sweet’s father once lived was demolished to make way for the expressway. President Joe Biden has launched a new program to reconnect communities split by expressways such as the Eisenhower.
By Lynn Sweet
 
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Crime
Man found fatally shot in West Garfield Park
The 54-year-old had been shot twice in his abdomen, police said Tuesday.
By Sun-Times Wire
 
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Crime
Teen injured in West Garfield Park shooting
A 14-year-old boy was shot in his arm Sunday night by someone firing from a passing vehicle, police said.
By Sun-Times Wire
 
A vacant storefront along the Magnificent Mile shopping district on October 21, 2021.
Money
15 community organizations awarded $2.7 million to revamp vacant storefronts
Groups receiving the funds will use them to revitalize commercial corridors across Chicago, including Michigan Avenue downtown and business districts in Garfield Park, Pilsen, Humboldt Park, Uptown, West Loop, Lake View and Chatham.
By Kaitlin Washburn
 
William Thomas, Jr. and Jaquita Sims. Sims was one of two people shot Wednesday morning during an attempted carjacking in West Garfield Park.
Crime
Woman wounded in West Garfield Park carjacking attempt is recovering: ‘The bullets were everywhere’
Minutes after she left home for work Tuesday, Jaquita Sims called her fiance, William Thomas Jr., to say that she’d been shot. Her coworker, who was driving, was also wounded.
By Mohammad Samra
 
Mayor Brandon Johnson answers question from the press at City Hall, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023.
City Hall
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s anti-violence strategy takes ex-Mayor Lightfoot’s plans to a new level in 4 violent neighborhoods
Mayor Brandon Johnson plans a range of resources, including another round of guaranteed basic income, targeted this time to four neighborhoods.
By Fran Spielman and Tom Schuba
 
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Crime
Boy, 14, shot in car in West Garfield Park
The boy suffered a gunshot wound to the ankle in the 4000 block of West Madison Street and was hospitalized in good condition, authorities say.
By Sun-Times Wire
 
Jeremiah Watson stands for a photo near the Citgo at 76th and S South Chicago on the South Side, Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023. Watson was robbed as he walking to the Citgo Gas Station in October.
The Watchdogs
Chicago is seeing largest spike in robberies in over 20 years, analysis shows
Nearly 4,900 robberies happened between July 1 and Nov. 26, a more than 55% increase compared to the previous five months. That’s the largest percentage increase in robberies between consecutive five-month periods since at least 2001.
By Sophie Sherry and Alden Loury
 
The brightly lit Central Market at Midway Airport full of travelers.
Transportation
Central Market food and retail space lands at Midway Airport: ‘It represents the global city that we truly are’
The Central Market’s opening marked completion of the eight-year, $400 million Midway Modernization Program, which expanded security checkpoints and upgraded parking garages and concessions.
By Kade Heather
 
Crime scene tape.
Crime
Man fatally shot in West Garfield Park
The man, 42, was standing outside in the 300 block of South Pulaski Road when someone in a dark car drove by and an occupant began shooting.
By Sun-Times Wire
 
Joe Black wears a patterned brown coat and dark backwards ballcap as he stands outside LiFE Restaurant, whose name is spelled out in colorful letters on the big windows, as blue sky and a traffic light are seen behind him.
LiFE Restaurant reopens in West Garfield Park after fatal Labor Day weekend crash: ‘God keeps like a forcefield around here’
By Andy Grimm
 
The Garfield Park Fieldhouse surrounded by trees and a small lake reflecting the sun.
Editorials
It’s time to write a new story for West Garfield Park — and all the West Side
Neighborhood disinvestment and violence usually go hand in hand. That’s the case in West Garfield Park, a neighborhood with the city’s worst violence, as the Sun-Times’ Andy Grimm reported.
By CST Editorial Board
 
Angela Taylor stocks the vegetables as they prep to open the Garfield Park Grocery Store Pop-Up market in West Garfield Park.
West Garfield Park
West Garfield Park grocery pop-up opens to fill gap during Save A Lot’s temporary closing
The Garfield Park Grocery Store Pop-Up opened Monday and will run until Dec. 21. The storefront will ensure residents have access to groceries while a nearby Save A Lot closes for renovations.
By Mariah Rush
 
The Conservatory-Central Park Drive Green Line elevated train station overlooks a street lined with parked cars and trees.
West Garfield Park
What it’s like to live in Chicago’s most violent neighborhood
The Sun-Times spent months talking to residents who call West Garfield Park home. We share stories from nine of them.
By Andy Grimm
 
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LiFE Restaurant in West Garfield Park aims to nourish community
By Andy Grimm
 
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West Garfield Park activist fights to improve ‘wellness’ of community
By Andy Grimm
 
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Former West Garfield Park gang member works to pull others out of isolation
By Andy Grimm
 
Marie Henderson, 82, owns Out of the Past Records, and has lived in West Garfield Park since the 1950s— one of the stores she and her husband owned burned during the rioting after Martin Luther King’s assassination in 1968. Henderson raised five children and still lives a few blocks away from the store. The business is the last of more than a half-dozen she and her late husband once owned.
West Garfield Park business owner chooses to stay despite the violence
By Andy Grimm
 
From left, Ferrice Spiceson, Rashaad Washington and Dayquan Rollins grew up in West Garfield Park and fell into street life before starting the MAAFA Redemption Proejct, which recruits neighborhood residents who are actively involved in criminal activity and gangs for a year-long program that combines therapy, meditation, education and job training to help participants leave behind violence and find legitimate employment.
Former West Garfield Park gang members look for peace
By Andy Grimm
 
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West Garfield Park mom wonders if neighborhood is a safe place to raise kids
By Andy Grimm
 
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