I would like to invite you, your family and your friends to join me in marching in this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, on Saturday, March 16th. Fellow marchers are meeting my family and me at 10:00 a.m. at St. Ita's Church, located at 5500 N. Broadway to pick up marching t-shirts and enjoy light refreshments.
At 11:00 a.m., we will be boarding buses to go downtown to march in the parade, and return back to the St. Ita's at approximately 2:00 p.m. If you cannot join us for the trip downtown, but would still like to march, meet us at our float, #48 on the west side of Columbus Dr. between Balbo and Roosevelt by 12:00 p.m.
Once the parade is over, and we return back to St. Ita's, marchers will be invited to stay and join us for a Post-Parade Party at St. Ita's. The party will be from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., so please join us even you cannot march in the parade. All ages are welcome and encouraged, but please RSVP as soon as possible, stating the names and ages (if under 18 years old) of each person attending, and whether you will join us for the parade, St. Ita’s, or both.
Again, thank you very much for all of your support, and I do hope you are able to join us for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and party. If you have any questions, or would like to RSVP, please email me at jacque@harryosterman.org. I hope you can make it.
Perhaps Ald Osterman would like to do something about this first... posted by a friend of mine...
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Hi,
My name is Maurice Labonte, and I wanted to write you guys and let you know about a very sad situation. I live at XXXX West Ardmore Ave in Edgewater. I live adjacent to an elderly CHA high rise called the Judge Fisher Building. Today they evicted a 64 year old, African American resident who suffers from diabetes and is non-ambulatory. They evicted at 10am this morning - March 14, 2011. He is wheelchair bound and is sitting in his wheelchair surrounded by all his belongings on the sidewalk at the corner of Broadway and Ardmore. This man refuses to leave because he doesn't want to lose his belongings. He is sitting in the chair completely wrapped in blanket after blanket so that his entire body and face is obscured by the folds of fabric - all day long, neighbors and strangers have been walking by and bringing him food, water and comforting words. He has no where to go, and the police tell me that it is his right to stay there with his belongings. I am worried and concerned about his health - he is a diabetic and he cannot walk. He has no where to go and is hoping to find a shelter that allows wheelchairs - I have been checking on him every hour, and the temperatures are dropping. I can;t help but wonder what kind of a country do we live in that we let this happen to our elderly and infirm. The police tell me that he cannot be forced into a shelter - that because it is his right to stay on the sidewalk in winter with his belongings - that is the freedom of America. Forcing him to go somewhere, they told me, would be taking his freedom away.
I contacted the police and Alderman Osterman's office at noon today. The police said they would send a senior services individual to check on him and the Alderman's Office was courteous, made inquiries, but could not offer much assistance. I was told by the Alderman's office that I should probably call the police if this man was still there when I returned from work. No one seemed to truly care that this wheelchair bound resident of our city was thrown to the curb like a discarded cigarette butt.
I can't help but wonder if he will be alive tomorrow morning, or in worse health.
I noted that the Fisher Building is run by the Habitat Company - and they went to painstaking lengths to make sure he was tucked out of sight of the main thoroughfare - he was deposited with all his worldly possessions down a side street (Ardmore) - one block away from business, and not in front of their building on the busy thoroughfare - in my opinion, this is heartless and worthy of a story by the Sun Times - I ask if you could come out tomorrow morning and photograph James wrapped in voluminous blankets, near frozen, sitting in a wheelchair amidst his worldly belongings- it would certainly be a photograph that should shock the conscience of any individual -
James appears to be lucid and in control of his faculties. All he has in the world are his possessions, and he refuses to leave them unattended on a curbside. What is our measure as a society that we allow this to happen and we just say, "Oh, well". There is a disconnect here that just doesn't seem to make sense. Our elderly are a precious and valuable resource - who are we as a society if we just discard them and shake our heads?
Thanks for your consideration,
Maurice La Bonte
Huh
ReplyDeleteIs this one of those internet phishing scams. Or is the poster of this comment the person who also writes those emails for the scammers?