Crime, shelter, money - The basics dominate headlines in 2008

By LORRAINE SWANSON

Following is part two of News-Star's annual, end-of-the-year Top Ten news stories. To read part one, visit www.chicagojournal.com.

1. On the lam

Investors first suspected trouble in August when their monthly profit checks from an investment firm that catered mainly to West Ridge's Indian-Pakistani community stopped arriving or were returned for insufficient funds. But when they learned that Salman Ibrahim, CEO of Sunrise Equities, and the firm's other corporate officers had disappeared, they feared the worst.

Sunrise's client base, estimated at around 300, had entrusted millions to the Shariah-compliant investment firm. Investors described Ibrahim as "charismatic" and "pious," and said he gained their confidence with his devout Muslim ways.

Islamic laws prohibit interest-bearing loans, which are considered exploitative to both borrowers and lenders. Instead, Shariah financing enables borrowers to pay back loans over time, including home mortgages, where the interest is figured into the transaction price.

Investors' losses were conservatively estimated at $80 million. The Lakeshore Law Firm filed a lawsuit on behalf of dozens of investors in a federal court last September forcing the firm into bankruptcy. The Illinois Secretary of State's office also opened an investigation into the firm.

Sightings of the missing Ibrahim have been reported in Dubai, Pakistan and even in Chicago, where he was reportedly checking out his prize real estate development, Pure, in the West Loop.

At this date, Ibrahim, who started on his rise as a humble cab driver on the streets of Chicago, remains on the lam.

2.Digging in for the long haul

A group of Uptown residents who call themselves Fix Wilson Yard made good on their promise to file a lawsuit over the Wilson Yard development at Broadway and Montrose that is being funded in part by $50 million in TIF funds from the city government.

Located on the site of an old CTA bus barn that burned down in 1996, plans include more than 200,000 square feet of commercial space to be anchored by a Target store, and two mid-rise buildings of affordable rental housing for families and seniors.

The development, when completed, promises to bring hundreds of new jobs into the neighborhood, and much needed housing. Regardless of which side of the project-Ald. Helen Shiller (46th Ward) or Fix Wilson Yard, said to be playing the socio-economic card, the Wilson Yard development has polarized the Uptown neighborhood.

On Dec. 3, Fix Wilson Yard announced it had filed a lawsuit against the City of Chicago and other private entities represented by Holsten Real Estate Development, citing abuses and violations of state TIF laws. A week later, Fix Wilson Yard lost a motion for a temporary restraining order to stop construction from continuing at Wilson Yard, until its case could be heard in Cook County Chancery Court.

Fix Wilson Yard has so far raised $50,000 to fight the lawsuit in court. Still, the group cannot shirk charges that its members are against affordable housing.

Shiller says the Fix Wilson Yard lawsuit is a campaign kickoff for the group's president, Molly Phelan, to run in the 2011 aldermanic election in the 46th ward.

3. Not ready for Labor Ready

Ald. Helen Shiller (46th Ward) faced the wrath of more than 100 Uptown residents who showed up at city hall last February to protest a proposed day labor office on what residents described as "the last sliver of the 46th ward," just 16 feet away from the 48th ward border.

Only three members of the five-member zoning board were present to hear testimony from Labor Ready Inc., the nation's largest provider of temporary blue-collar day labor, for a special-use permit to operate a branch office at 4830 N. Sheridan.

Nearby residents, many of them 48th ward constituents contended that a day labor office would promote loitering. Residents also pointed out that the office's location across the street from two schools and a youth center put children at risk because the site might attract registered sex offenders and others with criminal pasts looking for temporary day work.

Only three residents were allowed to testify before the zoning board.

Shiller submitted 50 letters to the zoning board supporting Labor Ready's special-use permit, including the support of several neighborhood social service organizations.

After the zoning board granted a special-use permit to Labor Ready, Uptown residents quickly raised $20,000 and filed a lawsuit against the Zoning Board of Appeals in May. Residents said they were denied due process and that a professional appraisal of the area surrounding the proposed office site did not meet the standards of the city's zoning ordinance.

In November, Labor Ready announced it was shelving its plans for an Uptown office, citing the sagging economy. Residents dropped their lawsuit, contingent that Labor Ready would not exercise its special-use permit, which remains in effect until March 2009.

4. Crime and punishment

A historic number of Uptown residents from all walks of life turned out at a town hall public safety meeting last July after an uptick in shootings believed to be gang related.

In May, a Truman College student was killed on Broadway when he was caught in gang crossfire. Other residents found themselves scrambling from gunfire in two mid-day shootings that occurred in July.

During the public safety meeting, residents and community leaders complained about a wide range of public safety issues including gang activity, aggressive panhandling, loitering, open drug and alcohol abuse in the streets, and public urination.

At the start of the Labor Day weekend on Aug. 28, a 19-year-old man was gunned down in broad daylight on Sheridan Road.

A similar public safety meeting was held in November in Rogers Park. There residents raised similar complaints, including fighting occurring after school allegedly by Sullivan High School students.

Double-digit decreases in murders and aggravated batteries were reported in Rogers Park and Uptown-between January and August 2008, the latest statistics available on the Chicago Police Department's Web site.

Still, residents left both meetings feeling unsatisfied with the answers they were given on other quality of life issues, other than being told to attend CAPS meetings and to call 911 if they saw criminal activity occurring in their neighborhoods.

5. Wanted: 65 beds

At press time, Ald. Mary Ann Smith (48th Ward), together with ministers and rabbis, and administrators from Residents for Effective Shelter Transitions, or REST, were racing against the clock to find a temporary location for Edgewater's only homeless shelter before it must vacate its current location by Jan. 1.

Smith's zoning and planning committee comprised of representatives from condo associations, block clubs and other community organizations have been grappling with relocating an emergency men's homeless shelter housed at Epworth United Methodist Church at Kenmore and Berwyn.

In late September, Epworth notified REST that the church could no longer afford to pay the heating bill for the gymnasium, where men sleep on thin mats spread out across the floor. The church has since granted several extensions to REST, while administrators work with Smith's office and officials from the Chicago Department of Human Services to find a temporary location for the shelter through May 1.

Many of the men who use the shelter do not want to be bused to the West Side where most of the city's overnight shelters remain, claiming it's too dangerous or too far from jobs. Most would rather risk sleeping outside.

In November, the city's human services department turned down the former Pasteur's Restaurant located just two doors down from Smith's 48th ward service office at 5533 N. Broadway, citing costs to make the building habitable again. A church in the neighboring 40th Ward offered to take in the men until May, but couldn't get the support of Ald. Patrick O'Connor for a special-use permit.

And, as recently as Dec. 22, another church in the 48th Ward was taken off the table as a possible temporary site.

Covering this story is akin to watching a bouncing ping pong ball. The upshot is that unless a temporary location is found, Edgewater residents can count on encampments of increasing numbers of desperate men sleeping in parks and vestibules, and possibly freezing to death.

Source: http://www.chicagojournal.com/main.asp?SectionID=49&SubSectionID=142&Art...