Closure Razes Resident Hopes
Beauty Turner, Assistant Editor
In its last days, eight families resided at the otherwise empty public housing high-rise building at 4947 S. Federal. As the wind became colder and the nights grew longer with the coming of winter, these CHA residents waited. They felt as if their lives were being demolished along with the building that closed in late October.
According to former residents of the building, the closing process was confusing. CHA wanted to close the building on October 19, but later pushed back the date so residents could have more time to move. Relocation was supposed to be managed by the CHA and the Service Connectors, private businesses contracted with CHA to provide social service referrals to residents. But CHA was not prepared to handle relocation issues and problems, residents told me, throughout the process. Until the last days of the building, some residents did not know where they were going to live.
Adding to the uncertainty, many of the last residents in the building were elderly and disabled. In previous building closings, CHA moved these folks first. This wasn’t the case with 4947 S. Federal.
One long-time resident of the building, Elaine White, gathered residents together to offer moving assistance by getting in touch with Residents’ Journal.
“CHA doesn’t seem to care about the seniors and the disabled people that are left behind in this building,” White said.
White, who has a degree in social work and recently relocated herself from the building, was referring to her 83-year-old mother and her brother, Tyrone White, who is severely disabled and subsisting on a Social Security check. Her brother uses an oxygen machine that only holds air in it for one hour. If he is visiting anybody for more than an hour, he has to scramble back to his apartment to get a refill.
“I was told that my mother and my brother will be going to the Hilliard Homes,” Elaine White said. “But now I’m being told that my brother cannot go to the Hilliard homes, so I’m worried about my brother because CHA hasn’t secured a spot for him yet. So yes, that worries me.”
Tyrone recently received his Housing Choice, or Section 8, Voucher. His Service Connector, Changing Patterns, has taken him to view apartments. Some of the apartments they showed him, around 67th Street and Prairie and Calumet Avenues are “not fit for a dog to live in,” he said.
“The foundation had holes in the floor, there were holes in the wall,” White said. “It was colder in the apartment than it was on the outside.”
Another major issue for Tyrone, and other residents as well, is the utility issue. White depends on his oxygen 24-hours a day; his equipment is always charging, running the electricity.
White eventually secured an apartment on the South Side using his voucher. He found his new place on his own after it seemed to him the units Changing Patterns knew about were a step down from his apartment in Robert Taylor.
Another resident, George Wilson, is 53 years old and disabled. He found himself in a dilemma when his mother passed away and left him alone in her apartment in the building.
Wilson was never listed on the lease. But he lived with his ill, elderly mother for two years along with two of his brothers, who were on the lease. The brothers received Housing Choice Vouchers after the mother died.
George Wilson blamed both CHA and Interstate Realty, the private company CHA contracted to manage the Robert Taylor development.
“CHA and Interstate Realty knew that I lived here with my mother, but yet they will not give me a Section 8 voucher or a place to stay. I’m in a wheelchair and can barely move my hands. Where am I supposed to live?” Wilson asked, with a worried look on his face.
Vernelle Henry is another resident of 4947 S. Federal who is concerned with where she will stay after the building closes. After all, she has no income but has recently received a Housing Choice Voucher.
“I was told by Interstate Management that I could choose to look at apartments in any area that I wanted to move into – at least that is what they told us when we did our Housing Choice Surveys,” Henry said.
“Now when it comes down to the wire, I was told by the lady from Changing Patterns [a social service provider], Ms. Birdsong, that they weren’t supposed to take us to high poverty areas. They can only take us to low poverty areas,” she continued.
“I was later told from Mr. Ashford who is in Interstate Realty, that Ms. Birdsong wasn’t supposed to tell me that,” Henry went on to say.
At first, CHA wanted to close the building by October 19. They showed up with moving trucks to move some of the residents to the Dearborn Homes. Some of those moved to Dearborn, such as Delores Potts, would be moving again after her Section 8 apartment was inspected on October 20.
I asked CHA Relocation Specialist Rayne Martin how the housing authority would address the multiple issues of the remaining residents of the building.
Martin said she would get back to me about George Wilson but eventually said they were going to give the residents until October 26 to move. So the residents, including Tyrone, were able to breathe a little easier, without rushing up out of their building.
The Wilson brothers - including George - all moved to the Dearborn Homes as well despite concerns for their safety in the development.
But the problems won’t end with the closing of 4947 S. Federal. Many of the residents have high hopes about their new apartments but may find trouble later on paying bills.
“Residents walk into an apartment and see wall to wall carpet and a ceiling fan and think they are in Pill Hill [a wealthy South Side area],” Elaine White said. “They don’t know what to look for.”
November/December 2004 / Volume 8 / Number 1
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
No C.H.A.N.C.E For Change?
No C.H.A.N.C.E. For Change?
by Beauty Turner, Assistant Editor
Do the residents of public housing have a C.H.A.N.C.E.? C.H.A.N.C.E, the Chicago Housing Authority and Commonwealth Edison program, is supposed to address the issue of high unpaid electric bills. Or was that just something to stop the media from crawling up the backs of CHA and ComEd?
In previous editions of Residents' Journal, I detailed how public housing residents were stuck with extremely high electric bills from ComEd, bills that could jeopardize their eligibility for replacement housing, Section 8 and could even damage their credit, making access to housing in the private market difficult. In the Relocation Contract, the CHA stipulates residents must be lease compliant, including being current with all utility bills. Some residents had unpaid bills as high as $22,000. CHA and ComEd created C.H.A.N.C.E. to solve this problem.
According to CHA spokesperson Derek Hill, the C.H.A.N.C.E. program was supposed to help some residents with their bills. But C.H.A.N.C.E. ended this past March. Hill said those who still have bills should get in touch with their service connectors.
I recently talked with a few residents that signed up for this program and said they did not get any type of help. Jornell Holly, a young single mother who's suffering from severe health problems, has lived at LeClaire Courts for about 14 years.
Holly spoke of signing up for the C.H.A.N.C.E. program after her electric and her gas connections were turned off. "Electric is what I really need due to me using two oxygen machines in order to help me breathe," Holly said. "I applied for the C.H.A.N.C.E. program several months ago. Afterward, someone took my meter on January 16. I thought that someone had stolen the meter, but I later found out that the electric company had taken the meter."
In the year 2000, Holly said, a rash of burglaries struck LeClaire Courts. The thieves broke in while she was asleep and stole her microwave. Later, they took her floor model color T.V. and her computer.
"After that I lived in constant fear. I was scared," Holly explained. "I slept with my lights on, hoping that would deter any type of burglar, [but it] didn't help my light bill much at all!"
After the burglaries, Holly moved to another part of the LeClaire complex, but still didn't feel safe. "My light bills were always high after that. I had all of my bills transferred to my new address," she said. "But before I could move into my new unit I was in a car accident. I couldn't walk for a while, nor could I pay my utility bills."
Today, Holly still doesn't have electric power in her apartment. In order to use her oxygen machines, she spends the night at her mother's place.
Meanwhile, right smack dab in the middle of Bronzeville, Debra Ann-Jackson, a resident who is due to be relocated from the Robert Taylor Homes, explained to me that after applying for the C.H.A.N.C.E. program she was given the run-around by her service connector. She was told to ask for help from LIHEAP, the Low Income Housing Energy Assistance Program or see if money was available from the local Community Economic Development Agency, better known as CEDA.
"It has been since December of last year and I still haven't received any help for my electric bills," Jackson said. Her current balance from ComEd stands at $805.17. The bill is her final notice prior to disconnection.
Other residents in the same building, such as Travel Forney and a young women who wished to remain anonymous, spoke of receiving rejection letters from CEDA.
CHA knows the problem exists. This is a story that I investigated, researched and wrote about for more than a year. Plus, a well known columnist from the Chicago Sun-Times, Mark Brown, came into the developments with me and wrote about it in his paper as well.
Many residents that are due to be relocated or receive replacement housing who have these outstanding bills are left wondering, "Where do we receive help from?"
In other words, where's the C.H.A.N.C.E. for change?
On June 14, during a press conference marking the fifth anniversary of the Plan for Transformation at the Chicago Historical Society, CHA chief Terry Peterson said that ComEd would continue to assist residents with their high light bills and added that Peoples Gas would also aid residents with their gas bills.
"ComEd will work with us along with Peoples Gas to say, 'If residents are having difficulty, Terry, it's not a six month program. We will continue to stay engaged with you until we can assist residents to work through this,'" Peterson said.
"Our job is to stay the course and to stay with [residents] and continue to assist them through this process."
by Beauty Turner, Assistant Editor
Do the residents of public housing have a C.H.A.N.C.E.? C.H.A.N.C.E, the Chicago Housing Authority and Commonwealth Edison program, is supposed to address the issue of high unpaid electric bills. Or was that just something to stop the media from crawling up the backs of CHA and ComEd?
In previous editions of Residents' Journal, I detailed how public housing residents were stuck with extremely high electric bills from ComEd, bills that could jeopardize their eligibility for replacement housing, Section 8 and could even damage their credit, making access to housing in the private market difficult. In the Relocation Contract, the CHA stipulates residents must be lease compliant, including being current with all utility bills. Some residents had unpaid bills as high as $22,000. CHA and ComEd created C.H.A.N.C.E. to solve this problem.
According to CHA spokesperson Derek Hill, the C.H.A.N.C.E. program was supposed to help some residents with their bills. But C.H.A.N.C.E. ended this past March. Hill said those who still have bills should get in touch with their service connectors.
I recently talked with a few residents that signed up for this program and said they did not get any type of help. Jornell Holly, a young single mother who's suffering from severe health problems, has lived at LeClaire Courts for about 14 years.
Holly spoke of signing up for the C.H.A.N.C.E. program after her electric and her gas connections were turned off. "Electric is what I really need due to me using two oxygen machines in order to help me breathe," Holly said. "I applied for the C.H.A.N.C.E. program several months ago. Afterward, someone took my meter on January 16. I thought that someone had stolen the meter, but I later found out that the electric company had taken the meter."
In the year 2000, Holly said, a rash of burglaries struck LeClaire Courts. The thieves broke in while she was asleep and stole her microwave. Later, they took her floor model color T.V. and her computer.
"After that I lived in constant fear. I was scared," Holly explained. "I slept with my lights on, hoping that would deter any type of burglar, [but it] didn't help my light bill much at all!"
After the burglaries, Holly moved to another part of the LeClaire complex, but still didn't feel safe. "My light bills were always high after that. I had all of my bills transferred to my new address," she said. "But before I could move into my new unit I was in a car accident. I couldn't walk for a while, nor could I pay my utility bills."
Today, Holly still doesn't have electric power in her apartment. In order to use her oxygen machines, she spends the night at her mother's place.
Meanwhile, right smack dab in the middle of Bronzeville, Debra Ann-Jackson, a resident who is due to be relocated from the Robert Taylor Homes, explained to me that after applying for the C.H.A.N.C.E. program she was given the run-around by her service connector. She was told to ask for help from LIHEAP, the Low Income Housing Energy Assistance Program or see if money was available from the local Community Economic Development Agency, better known as CEDA.
"It has been since December of last year and I still haven't received any help for my electric bills," Jackson said. Her current balance from ComEd stands at $805.17. The bill is her final notice prior to disconnection.
Other residents in the same building, such as Travel Forney and a young women who wished to remain anonymous, spoke of receiving rejection letters from CEDA.
CHA knows the problem exists. This is a story that I investigated, researched and wrote about for more than a year. Plus, a well known columnist from the Chicago Sun-Times, Mark Brown, came into the developments with me and wrote about it in his paper as well.
Many residents that are due to be relocated or receive replacement housing who have these outstanding bills are left wondering, "Where do we receive help from?"
In other words, where's the C.H.A.N.C.E. for change?
On June 14, during a press conference marking the fifth anniversary of the Plan for Transformation at the Chicago Historical Society, CHA chief Terry Peterson said that ComEd would continue to assist residents with their high light bills and added that Peoples Gas would also aid residents with their gas bills.
"ComEd will work with us along with Peoples Gas to say, 'If residents are having difficulty, Terry, it's not a six month program. We will continue to stay engaged with you until we can assist residents to work through this,'" Peterson said.
"Our job is to stay the course and to stay with [residents] and continue to assist them through this process."
No C.H.A.N.C.E For Change?
No C.H.A.N.C.E. For Change?
by Beauty Turner, Assistant Editor
Do the residents of public housing have a C.H.A.N.C.E.? C.H.A.N.C.E, the Chicago Housing Authority and Commonwealth Edison program, is supposed to address the issue of high unpaid electric bills. Or was that just something to stop the media from crawling up the backs of CHA and ComEd?
In previous editions of Residents' Journal, I detailed how public housing residents were stuck with extremely high electric bills from ComEd, bills that could jeopardize their eligibility for replacement housing, Section 8 and could even damage their credit, making access to housing in the private market difficult. In the Relocation Contract, the CHA stipulates residents must be lease compliant, including being current with all utility bills. Some residents had unpaid bills as high as $22,000. CHA and ComEd created C.H.A.N.C.E. to solve this problem.
According to CHA spokesperson Derek Hill, the C.H.A.N.C.E. program was supposed to help some residents with their bills. But C.H.A.N.C.E. ended this past March. Hill said those who still have bills should get in touch with their service connectors.
I recently talked with a few residents that signed up for this program and said they did not get any type of help. Jornell Holly, a young single mother who's suffering from severe health problems, has lived at LeClaire Courts for about 14 years.
Holly spoke of signing up for the C.H.A.N.C.E. program after her electric and her gas connections were turned off. "Electric is what I really need due to me using two oxygen machines in order to help me breathe," Holly said. "I applied for the C.H.A.N.C.E. program several months ago. Afterward, someone took my meter on January 16. I thought that someone had stolen the meter, but I later found out that the electric company had taken the meter."
In the year 2000, Holly said, a rash of burglaries struck LeClaire Courts. The thieves broke in while she was asleep and stole her microwave. Later, they took her floor model color T.V. and her computer.
"After that I lived in constant fear. I was scared," Holly explained. "I slept with my lights on, hoping that would deter any type of burglar, [but it] didn't help my light bill much at all!"
After the burglaries, Holly moved to another part of the LeClaire complex, but still didn't feel safe. "My light bills were always high after that. I had all of my bills transferred to my new address," she said. "But before I could move into my new unit I was in a car accident. I couldn't walk for a while, nor could I pay my utility bills."
Today, Holly still doesn't have electric power in her apartment. In order to use her oxygen machines, she spends the night at her mother's place.
Meanwhile, right smack dab in the middle of Bronzeville, Debra Ann-Jackson, a resident who is due to be relocated from the Robert Taylor Homes, explained to me that after applying for the C.H.A.N.C.E. program she was given the run-around by her service connector. She was told to ask for help from LIHEAP, the Low Income Housing Energy Assistance Program or see if money was available from the local Community Economic Development Agency, better known as CEDA.
"It has been since December of last year and I still haven't received any help for my electric bills," Jackson said. Her current balance from ComEd stands at $805.17. The bill is her final notice prior to disconnection.
Other residents in the same building, such as Travel Forney and a young women who wished to remain anonymous, spoke of receiving rejection letters from CEDA.
CHA knows the problem exists. This is a story that I investigated, researched and wrote about for more than a year. Plus, a well known columnist from the Chicago Sun-Times, Mark Brown, came into the developments with me and wrote about it in his paper as well.
Many residents that are due to be relocated or receive replacement housing who have these outstanding bills are left wondering, "Where do we receive help from?"
In other words, where's the C.H.A.N.C.E. for change?
On June 14, during a press conference marking the fifth anniversary of the Plan for Transformation at the Chicago Historical Society, CHA chief Terry Peterson said that ComEd would continue to assist residents with their high light bills and added that Peoples Gas would also aid residents with their gas bills.
"ComEd will work with us along with Peoples Gas to say, 'If residents are having difficulty, Terry, it's not a six month program. We will continue to stay engaged with you until we can assist residents to work through this,'" Peterson said.
"Our job is to stay the course and to stay with [residents] and continue to assist them through this process."
by Beauty Turner, Assistant Editor
Do the residents of public housing have a C.H.A.N.C.E.? C.H.A.N.C.E, the Chicago Housing Authority and Commonwealth Edison program, is supposed to address the issue of high unpaid electric bills. Or was that just something to stop the media from crawling up the backs of CHA and ComEd?
In previous editions of Residents' Journal, I detailed how public housing residents were stuck with extremely high electric bills from ComEd, bills that could jeopardize their eligibility for replacement housing, Section 8 and could even damage their credit, making access to housing in the private market difficult. In the Relocation Contract, the CHA stipulates residents must be lease compliant, including being current with all utility bills. Some residents had unpaid bills as high as $22,000. CHA and ComEd created C.H.A.N.C.E. to solve this problem.
According to CHA spokesperson Derek Hill, the C.H.A.N.C.E. program was supposed to help some residents with their bills. But C.H.A.N.C.E. ended this past March. Hill said those who still have bills should get in touch with their service connectors.
I recently talked with a few residents that signed up for this program and said they did not get any type of help. Jornell Holly, a young single mother who's suffering from severe health problems, has lived at LeClaire Courts for about 14 years.
Holly spoke of signing up for the C.H.A.N.C.E. program after her electric and her gas connections were turned off. "Electric is what I really need due to me using two oxygen machines in order to help me breathe," Holly said. "I applied for the C.H.A.N.C.E. program several months ago. Afterward, someone took my meter on January 16. I thought that someone had stolen the meter, but I later found out that the electric company had taken the meter."
In the year 2000, Holly said, a rash of burglaries struck LeClaire Courts. The thieves broke in while she was asleep and stole her microwave. Later, they took her floor model color T.V. and her computer.
"After that I lived in constant fear. I was scared," Holly explained. "I slept with my lights on, hoping that would deter any type of burglar, [but it] didn't help my light bill much at all!"
After the burglaries, Holly moved to another part of the LeClaire complex, but still didn't feel safe. "My light bills were always high after that. I had all of my bills transferred to my new address," she said. "But before I could move into my new unit I was in a car accident. I couldn't walk for a while, nor could I pay my utility bills."
Today, Holly still doesn't have electric power in her apartment. In order to use her oxygen machines, she spends the night at her mother's place.
Meanwhile, right smack dab in the middle of Bronzeville, Debra Ann-Jackson, a resident who is due to be relocated from the Robert Taylor Homes, explained to me that after applying for the C.H.A.N.C.E. program she was given the run-around by her service connector. She was told to ask for help from LIHEAP, the Low Income Housing Energy Assistance Program or see if money was available from the local Community Economic Development Agency, better known as CEDA.
"It has been since December of last year and I still haven't received any help for my electric bills," Jackson said. Her current balance from ComEd stands at $805.17. The bill is her final notice prior to disconnection.
Other residents in the same building, such as Travel Forney and a young women who wished to remain anonymous, spoke of receiving rejection letters from CEDA.
CHA knows the problem exists. This is a story that I investigated, researched and wrote about for more than a year. Plus, a well known columnist from the Chicago Sun-Times, Mark Brown, came into the developments with me and wrote about it in his paper as well.
Many residents that are due to be relocated or receive replacement housing who have these outstanding bills are left wondering, "Where do we receive help from?"
In other words, where's the C.H.A.N.C.E. for change?
On June 14, during a press conference marking the fifth anniversary of the Plan for Transformation at the Chicago Historical Society, CHA chief Terry Peterson said that ComEd would continue to assist residents with their high light bills and added that Peoples Gas would also aid residents with their gas bills.
"ComEd will work with us along with Peoples Gas to say, 'If residents are having difficulty, Terry, it's not a six month program. We will continue to stay engaged with you until we can assist residents to work through this,'" Peterson said.
"Our job is to stay the course and to stay with [residents] and continue to assist them through this process."
Monday, February 11, 2008
" In too deep" part one continues
In too deep: three decades of gang involvement was more than enough for one former leader. Now he's telling others not to follow his path
by Beauty Turner
Page 1 Continued
Hoover called me into a meeting and asked me to stop extorting from Brick. At that time, I told him, 'Okay.' But, as soon as I got back to 95th Street, we were back on Brick's case. Hoover was mad for a little while, but later he said, 'That's just Ulysses.' We saw all the money Brick was making from selling dope, so we decided to just get rid of him and make that money instead.
Many times my life was threatened. Brick had the police grab me from in front of my father's house. They made me lay down on the floor of their car at gunpoint. Two white detectives took me to Brick's house. Brick came to the car. I could see his face. He said, 'Whack him!' I thought that my life was over.
They took me to the [Dan Ryan Woods] forest preserve on 87th and Western and said, 'We ought to kill you, nigger. You better leave Brick alone.' One of the detectives put a gun to my head. After they threatened me for a little while ... they let me go.
It made me come on to Brick even harder. We were successful in uprooting him from the community. And that's when we started selling drugs.
Brick tried one more time to kill me. I was standing in the middle of 95th Street, and a guy opened the side door of a catering truck [that Brick was driving] and let off five or six rounds, but he missed me. I fell to the ground face first. After the shots were over, I just lay there. I thought I was bit. People from the Lowden Homes projects came running and gathering around, asking me, 'Chief, are you all right? Are you hit?'
Do you miss that type of life?
No. I will tell any young person: 'Don't get involved in gangs.' I was in too deep.
It's different when the federal government comes in. They have taken the gloves off. It is an all-out war. It's not an easy game anymore. The government got Larry Hoover. They got Jeff Fort. And they made me see how serious it was. There's no more love, life and loyalty in gangs anymore. Your best friend will turn state's evidence on you. Nobody wants to do 20 years for you.
But, now, instead of taking from the community, I want to give back. That's why when I start something it is something positive that will not harm my people only enhance their lives.
I did a lot of negative things in the past. The road that I took when I was younger was not the right path. I scarred a lot of people. I hurt a lot of people. I never want to do that again. Today, I will tell the young people to stay in school and stop the killing, and start the healing. A message to the youth: If you must get in too deep, make it in your books.
Former gang leader Ulysses "U.S." Floyd, who spent nearly 30 years "in the game," helped start the Lilydale Outreach Workers, a South Side community group serving youth and seniors.
by Beauty Turner
Page 1 Continued
Hoover called me into a meeting and asked me to stop extorting from Brick. At that time, I told him, 'Okay.' But, as soon as I got back to 95th Street, we were back on Brick's case. Hoover was mad for a little while, but later he said, 'That's just Ulysses.' We saw all the money Brick was making from selling dope, so we decided to just get rid of him and make that money instead.
Many times my life was threatened. Brick had the police grab me from in front of my father's house. They made me lay down on the floor of their car at gunpoint. Two white detectives took me to Brick's house. Brick came to the car. I could see his face. He said, 'Whack him!' I thought that my life was over.
They took me to the [Dan Ryan Woods] forest preserve on 87th and Western and said, 'We ought to kill you, nigger. You better leave Brick alone.' One of the detectives put a gun to my head. After they threatened me for a little while ... they let me go.
It made me come on to Brick even harder. We were successful in uprooting him from the community. And that's when we started selling drugs.
Brick tried one more time to kill me. I was standing in the middle of 95th Street, and a guy opened the side door of a catering truck [that Brick was driving] and let off five or six rounds, but he missed me. I fell to the ground face first. After the shots were over, I just lay there. I thought I was bit. People from the Lowden Homes projects came running and gathering around, asking me, 'Chief, are you all right? Are you hit?'
Do you miss that type of life?
No. I will tell any young person: 'Don't get involved in gangs.' I was in too deep.
It's different when the federal government comes in. They have taken the gloves off. It is an all-out war. It's not an easy game anymore. The government got Larry Hoover. They got Jeff Fort. And they made me see how serious it was. There's no more love, life and loyalty in gangs anymore. Your best friend will turn state's evidence on you. Nobody wants to do 20 years for you.
But, now, instead of taking from the community, I want to give back. That's why when I start something it is something positive that will not harm my people only enhance their lives.
I did a lot of negative things in the past. The road that I took when I was younger was not the right path. I scarred a lot of people. I hurt a lot of people. I never want to do that again. Today, I will tell the young people to stay in school and stop the killing, and start the healing. A message to the youth: If you must get in too deep, make it in your books.
Former gang leader Ulysses "U.S." Floyd, who spent nearly 30 years "in the game," helped start the Lilydale Outreach Workers, a South Side community group serving youth and seniors.
"In too deep" part one
In too deep
By;Ms. Beauty Turner
In too deep: three decades of gang involvement was more than enough for one former leader. Now he's telling others not to follow his path
Chicago Reporter, The, July-August, 2004 by Beauty Turner
Ulysses "U.S." Floyd was 14 years old when he decided to run with the 95th Street Syndicate Black Stone Rangers, one of Chicago's J most infamous street gangs at the time. It was 1965. "My mother died when I was 11 years old, and my father was a workaholic. I'd barely ever see him," Floyd said. "I did it for the camaraderie, friendship, family. And, besides, all of my friends was in a gang already."
Like Floyd, many men and women who join street gangs at an early age find themselves feeling like small fish swimming in deep, shark-infested waters. Once they take the bait--usually the money, fancy clothes and flashy cars that gang leaders have--they are hooked and stuck for years.
"I stayed in it much too long," said Floyd, 53, who started his own gang. "You just can't walk away from the gangs, especially when you end up in a leadership position."
"Even if you got tired and wanted to get out, anybody--including your best friend--might whack you," he added. "I had to think about more than just me. I had to think about my family and my friends."
But he changed his thoughts. While serving prison time on drug charges in 1994, Floyd had a vision of himself working on doing positive things." He realized that he wanted to start building his community instead of tearing it down. In nearly 30 years "in the game," he'd started his own gang, overseen drug operations and survived years of violent scrapes with opposing gangs.
Floyd realized he was getting older. The youngest of his six children, Ulysses Jr., had just been born, and Floyd wanted his kids to look up to him. So, after his release in 1997, while in his mid-40s, he left his gang. Having paid his dues, Floyd didn't encounter any resistance from other gang leaders, he said.
He enrolled at Olive-Harvey College on the city's far South Side, graduating in 2000 with a real estate license and an associate's degree.
In 2003, Floyd helped start the Lilydale Outreach Workers, a community group that works with youth and seniors in the South Side neighborhood between 91st and 99th streets about five blocks west of the Dan Ryan Expressway. He said the group sponsors outings for children in the neighborhood-which includes the Lowden Homes, a public housing development where he once lived-like trips to Chicago White Sox games and the "My Daddy Can Cook Better Than Your Daddy Barbeque" held on Fathers' Day.
"We're trying to send them places, reward them for doing good in school, show them things outside the community and be mentors, so they do not have to take the road I took," he said.
Floyd talked with the Residents' Journal and The Chicago Reporter about his life in street gangs and why he decided to give it up.
How did you get into a gang?
I met Jeff Fort, known as 'Angel,' and Eugene Harrison, known as 'Bull.' They were the leaders of the Black Stone Rangers. I was hard-headed at the age of 14. I kept following the older guys. They had money, and I wanted some, too.
We used to meet every Tuesday after school. We had to pay $2 in dues. I had to give them my lunch money or add up the small change that I got from family and friends to pay my dues.
Fort wasn't the leader at that time. Harrison was the leader, but Fort did most of the talking at the meetings. Behind them on the stage were 21 chairs with 21 high-ranking members known as the 'Main 21.' Fort told us that the dues were going toward buying guns and bullets to protect our neighborhood against the Disciples; that was David Barksdale's gang. Fort and Harrison extended the meeting to twice a week, every Tuesday and every Saturday, and each time we had to pay dues. It was hard enough trying to pay dues once a week. Now it was $4 a week.
Over a thousand guys were now involved with Fort. [They] had us marching around the community to show our strength.
What did the street gang do?
There were Jewish and Arab businesses in our community, so we extorted money from the stores. If they wanted to continue to do business in our community, they had to pay protection lees. As foot soldiers, we never got to keep any of that money. Only the ones such as the elite did.
I tell you what [the store owners] did for us: Every Friday night, we were told to go behind all the stores on Stony Island Avenue from 67th Street to 71st Street. Behind the stores there were boxes of food, new clothes and other new things that we could split between us.
From 1967 to 1968, there was a big wide void when the older guys on 95th Street went off to the Vietnam War, or started doing their own things. So, at the age of 18, I started my own gang: 95th Street Maniac Supremes. That's when I became a chief. I used all that I learned from Jeff Fort and Eugene Harrison and applied it to my gang.
How did drugs get introduced to your gang?
We saw a drug dealer by the name of Brick who was making a lot of money in our community. We extorted money from him and made him pay us to continue to serve in the community. Brick ran to Larry Hoover, who was the head of the [Black] Gangster [Disciples] Nation at that time, trying to get him to stop us from extorting from him.
By;Ms. Beauty Turner
In too deep: three decades of gang involvement was more than enough for one former leader. Now he's telling others not to follow his path
Chicago Reporter, The, July-August, 2004 by Beauty Turner
Ulysses "U.S." Floyd was 14 years old when he decided to run with the 95th Street Syndicate Black Stone Rangers, one of Chicago's J most infamous street gangs at the time. It was 1965. "My mother died when I was 11 years old, and my father was a workaholic. I'd barely ever see him," Floyd said. "I did it for the camaraderie, friendship, family. And, besides, all of my friends was in a gang already."
Like Floyd, many men and women who join street gangs at an early age find themselves feeling like small fish swimming in deep, shark-infested waters. Once they take the bait--usually the money, fancy clothes and flashy cars that gang leaders have--they are hooked and stuck for years.
"I stayed in it much too long," said Floyd, 53, who started his own gang. "You just can't walk away from the gangs, especially when you end up in a leadership position."
"Even if you got tired and wanted to get out, anybody--including your best friend--might whack you," he added. "I had to think about more than just me. I had to think about my family and my friends."
But he changed his thoughts. While serving prison time on drug charges in 1994, Floyd had a vision of himself working on doing positive things." He realized that he wanted to start building his community instead of tearing it down. In nearly 30 years "in the game," he'd started his own gang, overseen drug operations and survived years of violent scrapes with opposing gangs.
Floyd realized he was getting older. The youngest of his six children, Ulysses Jr., had just been born, and Floyd wanted his kids to look up to him. So, after his release in 1997, while in his mid-40s, he left his gang. Having paid his dues, Floyd didn't encounter any resistance from other gang leaders, he said.
He enrolled at Olive-Harvey College on the city's far South Side, graduating in 2000 with a real estate license and an associate's degree.
In 2003, Floyd helped start the Lilydale Outreach Workers, a community group that works with youth and seniors in the South Side neighborhood between 91st and 99th streets about five blocks west of the Dan Ryan Expressway. He said the group sponsors outings for children in the neighborhood-which includes the Lowden Homes, a public housing development where he once lived-like trips to Chicago White Sox games and the "My Daddy Can Cook Better Than Your Daddy Barbeque" held on Fathers' Day.
"We're trying to send them places, reward them for doing good in school, show them things outside the community and be mentors, so they do not have to take the road I took," he said.
Floyd talked with the Residents' Journal and The Chicago Reporter about his life in street gangs and why he decided to give it up.
How did you get into a gang?
I met Jeff Fort, known as 'Angel,' and Eugene Harrison, known as 'Bull.' They were the leaders of the Black Stone Rangers. I was hard-headed at the age of 14. I kept following the older guys. They had money, and I wanted some, too.
We used to meet every Tuesday after school. We had to pay $2 in dues. I had to give them my lunch money or add up the small change that I got from family and friends to pay my dues.
Fort wasn't the leader at that time. Harrison was the leader, but Fort did most of the talking at the meetings. Behind them on the stage were 21 chairs with 21 high-ranking members known as the 'Main 21.' Fort told us that the dues were going toward buying guns and bullets to protect our neighborhood against the Disciples; that was David Barksdale's gang. Fort and Harrison extended the meeting to twice a week, every Tuesday and every Saturday, and each time we had to pay dues. It was hard enough trying to pay dues once a week. Now it was $4 a week.
Over a thousand guys were now involved with Fort. [They] had us marching around the community to show our strength.
What did the street gang do?
There were Jewish and Arab businesses in our community, so we extorted money from the stores. If they wanted to continue to do business in our community, they had to pay protection lees. As foot soldiers, we never got to keep any of that money. Only the ones such as the elite did.
I tell you what [the store owners] did for us: Every Friday night, we were told to go behind all the stores on Stony Island Avenue from 67th Street to 71st Street. Behind the stores there were boxes of food, new clothes and other new things that we could split between us.
From 1967 to 1968, there was a big wide void when the older guys on 95th Street went off to the Vietnam War, or started doing their own things. So, at the age of 18, I started my own gang: 95th Street Maniac Supremes. That's when I became a chief. I used all that I learned from Jeff Fort and Eugene Harrison and applied it to my gang.
How did drugs get introduced to your gang?
We saw a drug dealer by the name of Brick who was making a lot of money in our community. We extorted money from him and made him pay us to continue to serve in the community. Brick ran to Larry Hoover, who was the head of the [Black] Gangster [Disciples] Nation at that time, trying to get him to stop us from extorting from him.
Shocking truth about CHA
The Shocking Truth about CHA
Beauty Turner, Assistant Editor
Residents in the Robert Taylor Homes are being judged as non-lease compliant due to their electric utility bills and may lose their right to return to public housing units in the new mixed-income communities which are planned to replace the current developments. CHA's relocation contract with its residents stipulates that if a resident is not current or on a payment plan concerning their utilities, they will not receive replacement housing, a Housing Choice Voucher or have the right to return to public housing.
But the shocking truth is that CHA may itself be responsible for making many residents non-lease compliant. Back in 1998, CHA dropped the ball when it came to registering buildings in Robert Taylor Homes for electric utility service, according to an RJ investigation.
I talked to former CHA officials and Commonwealth Edison representatives and no one is willing to accept the blame for this problem. An earlier RJ investigation revealed that many Robert Taylor residents had high electric utility bills which they denied accumulating. One year ago, current CHA officials, including CEO Terry Peterson, promised to resolve this issue but apparently have not done so.
And now in 2003, as CHA continues to demolish public housing high rises and make way for promised mixed-income communities, many Robert Taylor residents are dealing with enormous electric bills which may stop them from getting replacement housing or a Housing Choice Voucher, and may stop them from moving back to their neighborhoods. These bills are ruining many residents' credit ratings and might even prevent them from getting into a private market apartment.
In recent months, residents from the Robert Taylor development at 4946 S. State St. - one of the buildings in the so-called "Cluster" - lit up my phone with a surge of calls concerning their high utility bills. Others called to say they were not receiving bills at all. The residents in 4946 S. State were energized over this issue because the building is due to be closed by September of this year.
Of the approximately 100 families left in the building, about one-half are non-lease compliant, the majority due to overdue or unpaid electric bills, according to the research I have been conducting in the building with Columbia University sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh.
Yet another source of confusion for the residents is that some of the residents who are lease compliant have outstanding light bills. Many of the residents were highly charged and upset when they received letters saying they were non-lease compliant due to their electric bills. "CHA is saying I'm not lease compliant because of my electric bill. I don't even have a meter. How's Commonwealth Edison billing me anyway?" one resident yelled into the receiver. This is one of the many residents who were referred to me while I was doing research about the residents of Robert Taylor.
Darnell "Bull" Montgomery, a longtime resident of Robert Taylor who is working with me on the research, explained the history of the problem. "Back in 1998, when CHA rehabbed the buildings in the Cluster, they didn't contact Commonwealth Edison regarding establishing meters or electricity in the new residents' names.
"After all, the 11th to the 16th floors in the 4946 building had been closed down for years before CHA rehabbed them," Montgomery continued. Commonwealth Edison spokesperson Todd Banks confirmed Montgomery's story. Somewhere on the playing field, CHA dropped the ball.
"CHA never let Commonwealth Edison know that that they were rehabbing those units (meaning in the Cluster). Never did they register for electricity, nor did they ever install meters in the residents' names," Banks continued. "Somewhere along the line, they dropped the ball."
I brought this dilemma to the attention of the current CHA, to Duwaine Bailey, who's over CHA Operations. "This matter will be investigated further and if it is found out to be true, then we will do all that's necessary to help our residents," Bailey said. I investigated further by calling Joseph Shuldiner who was the CEO of CHA in 1998 and who is now a consultant to the Gary, Ind., housing authority.
I talked with Shuldiner about the dilemma concerning the installation of the electrical utility meters in the Cluster when they rehabbed the buildings back in 1998. I explained to Shuldiner that Commonwealth Edison said that the meters were never installed nor were the residents ever registered.
"That has nothing to do with me," Shuldiner said. "You need to look at the people who were over the rehabbing process of those buildings at that time," Shuldiner continued. I asked him if installing the meters and registering tenants was the responsibility of David Anderson, who worked at CHA at the time? "Yes, but it goes farther than us. Other entities were involved," Shuldiner said.
I tracked down David Anderson, who is now working at the Chicago Department of Housing, and asked him about whose job it was to install meters and electric utility hook ups in the Robert Taylor Cluster back in 1998-99? "The responsibility lays on the residents. CHA provides heat and water, and by the way we had constant meetings with the residents and with Commonwealth Edison in those days," Anderson said.
This comment left me wondering. Banks told me that Commonwealth Edison didn't have any records of meeting with CHA or residents at that time. I called Local Advisory Council President Mildred Dennis in Robert Taylor (B) and informed her about the big problem concerning the electric utility hook ups dilemma in the Cluster.
"If this problem happened back in 1998, then I believe that the past management is at fault," Dennis said. I called Interstate Realty, the firm contracted by CHA to manage Robert Taylor, and spoke to Peter Levavi, a developer with Brinshore-Michaels, the company contracted to build the new mixed-income community on the ground where Robert Taylor now stands. Brinshore-Michaels is closely affiliated with Interstate Realty.
I called them to see who or what establishment sent out the non-lease compliant letters to the residents. Levavi confirmed the story provided by residents as well as Commonwealth Edison: CHA never installed the meters or registered the residents in the units they rehabbed in 1998.
Levavi said the problem may even be larger than the Cluster. Levavi gave me many numbers to call, including Interstate's main office in New Jersey. Interstate's representatives never returned my calls. After weeks of investigating this matter, Commonwealth Edison spokesperson Banks called me on April 17, at 7 p.m. on my cell phone, and informed me that about two weeks prior, current CHA officials finally registered the meters in 4946 S. State.
Banks said, "The building on 49th and State has now been IDed by our Engineering Department. "I know that there was an order put in about a couple of weeks ago to have meters put in at that location, and basically our Revenue Management folks - the people who manage the money - are aware as well.
"We are not going to do anything about disconnecting the services. This is in our Revenue Services [Department's] hands and any issue that they have in respect to money that is owed, they have the information to get in touch with CHA, and they have dealt with CHA extensively before. That's going to be a process to get our arms around. I just wanted to make sure you know that it's going to be a work in progress."
Banks didn't explain why Commonwealth Edison was installing meters in a building that is just months away from closing. He also didn't explain what Commonwealth Edison was doing to clear the bills which already had accumulated.
When this issue about the residents' high electric bills was brought up about a year ago, CHA CEO Peterson pledged at that time to resolve this issue. The residents who are having this problem are wondering why it is taking Peterson so long to make the right connections.
Beauty Turner, Assistant Editor
Residents in the Robert Taylor Homes are being judged as non-lease compliant due to their electric utility bills and may lose their right to return to public housing units in the new mixed-income communities which are planned to replace the current developments. CHA's relocation contract with its residents stipulates that if a resident is not current or on a payment plan concerning their utilities, they will not receive replacement housing, a Housing Choice Voucher or have the right to return to public housing.
But the shocking truth is that CHA may itself be responsible for making many residents non-lease compliant. Back in 1998, CHA dropped the ball when it came to registering buildings in Robert Taylor Homes for electric utility service, according to an RJ investigation.
I talked to former CHA officials and Commonwealth Edison representatives and no one is willing to accept the blame for this problem. An earlier RJ investigation revealed that many Robert Taylor residents had high electric utility bills which they denied accumulating. One year ago, current CHA officials, including CEO Terry Peterson, promised to resolve this issue but apparently have not done so.
And now in 2003, as CHA continues to demolish public housing high rises and make way for promised mixed-income communities, many Robert Taylor residents are dealing with enormous electric bills which may stop them from getting replacement housing or a Housing Choice Voucher, and may stop them from moving back to their neighborhoods. These bills are ruining many residents' credit ratings and might even prevent them from getting into a private market apartment.
In recent months, residents from the Robert Taylor development at 4946 S. State St. - one of the buildings in the so-called "Cluster" - lit up my phone with a surge of calls concerning their high utility bills. Others called to say they were not receiving bills at all. The residents in 4946 S. State were energized over this issue because the building is due to be closed by September of this year.
Of the approximately 100 families left in the building, about one-half are non-lease compliant, the majority due to overdue or unpaid electric bills, according to the research I have been conducting in the building with Columbia University sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh.
Yet another source of confusion for the residents is that some of the residents who are lease compliant have outstanding light bills. Many of the residents were highly charged and upset when they received letters saying they were non-lease compliant due to their electric bills. "CHA is saying I'm not lease compliant because of my electric bill. I don't even have a meter. How's Commonwealth Edison billing me anyway?" one resident yelled into the receiver. This is one of the many residents who were referred to me while I was doing research about the residents of Robert Taylor.
Darnell "Bull" Montgomery, a longtime resident of Robert Taylor who is working with me on the research, explained the history of the problem. "Back in 1998, when CHA rehabbed the buildings in the Cluster, they didn't contact Commonwealth Edison regarding establishing meters or electricity in the new residents' names.
"After all, the 11th to the 16th floors in the 4946 building had been closed down for years before CHA rehabbed them," Montgomery continued. Commonwealth Edison spokesperson Todd Banks confirmed Montgomery's story. Somewhere on the playing field, CHA dropped the ball.
"CHA never let Commonwealth Edison know that that they were rehabbing those units (meaning in the Cluster). Never did they register for electricity, nor did they ever install meters in the residents' names," Banks continued. "Somewhere along the line, they dropped the ball."
I brought this dilemma to the attention of the current CHA, to Duwaine Bailey, who's over CHA Operations. "This matter will be investigated further and if it is found out to be true, then we will do all that's necessary to help our residents," Bailey said. I investigated further by calling Joseph Shuldiner who was the CEO of CHA in 1998 and who is now a consultant to the Gary, Ind., housing authority.
I talked with Shuldiner about the dilemma concerning the installation of the electrical utility meters in the Cluster when they rehabbed the buildings back in 1998. I explained to Shuldiner that Commonwealth Edison said that the meters were never installed nor were the residents ever registered.
"That has nothing to do with me," Shuldiner said. "You need to look at the people who were over the rehabbing process of those buildings at that time," Shuldiner continued. I asked him if installing the meters and registering tenants was the responsibility of David Anderson, who worked at CHA at the time? "Yes, but it goes farther than us. Other entities were involved," Shuldiner said.
I tracked down David Anderson, who is now working at the Chicago Department of Housing, and asked him about whose job it was to install meters and electric utility hook ups in the Robert Taylor Cluster back in 1998-99? "The responsibility lays on the residents. CHA provides heat and water, and by the way we had constant meetings with the residents and with Commonwealth Edison in those days," Anderson said.
This comment left me wondering. Banks told me that Commonwealth Edison didn't have any records of meeting with CHA or residents at that time. I called Local Advisory Council President Mildred Dennis in Robert Taylor (B) and informed her about the big problem concerning the electric utility hook ups dilemma in the Cluster.
"If this problem happened back in 1998, then I believe that the past management is at fault," Dennis said. I called Interstate Realty, the firm contracted by CHA to manage Robert Taylor, and spoke to Peter Levavi, a developer with Brinshore-Michaels, the company contracted to build the new mixed-income community on the ground where Robert Taylor now stands. Brinshore-Michaels is closely affiliated with Interstate Realty.
I called them to see who or what establishment sent out the non-lease compliant letters to the residents. Levavi confirmed the story provided by residents as well as Commonwealth Edison: CHA never installed the meters or registered the residents in the units they rehabbed in 1998.
Levavi said the problem may even be larger than the Cluster. Levavi gave me many numbers to call, including Interstate's main office in New Jersey. Interstate's representatives never returned my calls. After weeks of investigating this matter, Commonwealth Edison spokesperson Banks called me on April 17, at 7 p.m. on my cell phone, and informed me that about two weeks prior, current CHA officials finally registered the meters in 4946 S. State.
Banks said, "The building on 49th and State has now been IDed by our Engineering Department. "I know that there was an order put in about a couple of weeks ago to have meters put in at that location, and basically our Revenue Management folks - the people who manage the money - are aware as well.
"We are not going to do anything about disconnecting the services. This is in our Revenue Services [Department's] hands and any issue that they have in respect to money that is owed, they have the information to get in touch with CHA, and they have dealt with CHA extensively before. That's going to be a process to get our arms around. I just wanted to make sure you know that it's going to be a work in progress."
Banks didn't explain why Commonwealth Edison was installing meters in a building that is just months away from closing. He also didn't explain what Commonwealth Edison was doing to clear the bills which already had accumulated.
When this issue about the residents' high electric bills was brought up about a year ago, CHA CEO Peterson pledged at that time to resolve this issue. The residents who are having this problem are wondering why it is taking Peterson so long to make the right connections.
"Washington Park want answers"
Transforming CHA: Washington Park Wants Answers
Beauty Turner, Assistant Editor
Washington Park Local Advisory Council President Mary Wiggins is facing a dilemma. She is concerned and wondering, searching high and low for an answer to a question that lays heavy on her mind like a wrecking ball against a Chicago Housing Authority wall.
She is confused and a bit puzzled why Saint Edmund’s Church Association, a group contracted by the CHA, will not rehab or open up a stretch of closed public housing row houses that dot the South Side like a bunch of choir lines, all in straight rows. Wiggins would prefer that residents live in the rehabbed row houses instead of the high rise at 62nd and Calumet, which now houses approximately 200 families.
Wiggins said, “I’m wondering why they won’t open up and rehab the smaller units such as the row houses and the 3- to 7-story walk ups? Its over 100 units that have lain dormant and unoccupied for almost 4 years now.
“We need them open so that my the residents that reside in Washington Park can begin to occupy those units instead of keeping the high rise open.
She added that these places have been unoccupied much too long. She feels that it would be in the residents’ best interest if CHA rehabbed the row houses and the walk ups that stretch from 46th Street and Indiana Avenue to 62nd Street and Calumet Avenue.
A resident who asked to remain anonymous said, “They need to put the residents in the row houses and the walk ups. Because with the high rise being the only one on this side, it sticks out like a big red sore thumb. Just look at it from the El - the Green Line. You can see (the building) a mile away.
I telephoned St. Edmund’s Village, located at 63rd Street and Michigan. A spokesperson for St. Edmund’s told me that all the units located on 62nd Street and Calumet Avenue and along Michigan Avenue are in the process of being rehabbed. Right now, the spokesperson said they dont know whos going to occupy those rehabbed units.
I was told to call back at a later date for updates concerning those properties.
I also called CHA St. Edmund’s Redevelopment office Director W.D. Billings, who said that St. Edmund’s is working with CHA on a joint venture concerning the properties that stretch from 62nd Street and Calumet Boulevard to Michigan Avenue.
“We have plans on redeveloping and rehabbing the row houses into town houses with the tax credit increment for families in the community as well as for other families that are not in the community. It will be for 50 percent to 60 percent of the median-income level.
Beauty Turner, Assistant Editor
Washington Park Local Advisory Council President Mary Wiggins is facing a dilemma. She is concerned and wondering, searching high and low for an answer to a question that lays heavy on her mind like a wrecking ball against a Chicago Housing Authority wall.
She is confused and a bit puzzled why Saint Edmund’s Church Association, a group contracted by the CHA, will not rehab or open up a stretch of closed public housing row houses that dot the South Side like a bunch of choir lines, all in straight rows. Wiggins would prefer that residents live in the rehabbed row houses instead of the high rise at 62nd and Calumet, which now houses approximately 200 families.
Wiggins said, “I’m wondering why they won’t open up and rehab the smaller units such as the row houses and the 3- to 7-story walk ups? Its over 100 units that have lain dormant and unoccupied for almost 4 years now.
“We need them open so that my the residents that reside in Washington Park can begin to occupy those units instead of keeping the high rise open.
She added that these places have been unoccupied much too long. She feels that it would be in the residents’ best interest if CHA rehabbed the row houses and the walk ups that stretch from 46th Street and Indiana Avenue to 62nd Street and Calumet Avenue.
A resident who asked to remain anonymous said, “They need to put the residents in the row houses and the walk ups. Because with the high rise being the only one on this side, it sticks out like a big red sore thumb. Just look at it from the El - the Green Line. You can see (the building) a mile away.
I telephoned St. Edmund’s Village, located at 63rd Street and Michigan. A spokesperson for St. Edmund’s told me that all the units located on 62nd Street and Calumet Avenue and along Michigan Avenue are in the process of being rehabbed. Right now, the spokesperson said they dont know whos going to occupy those rehabbed units.
I was told to call back at a later date for updates concerning those properties.
I also called CHA St. Edmund’s Redevelopment office Director W.D. Billings, who said that St. Edmund’s is working with CHA on a joint venture concerning the properties that stretch from 62nd Street and Calumet Boulevard to Michigan Avenue.
“We have plans on redeveloping and rehabbing the row houses into town houses with the tax credit increment for families in the community as well as for other families that are not in the community. It will be for 50 percent to 60 percent of the median-income level.
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