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| What Chicago's Talking About |
| | Get Ready for the Heat Wave | Yeah, yeah, June was a mild start to summer. But now, Chicago is set to feel like 100 degrees all week, with actual highs in the 90s. [NBC 5] | | | Will CPS Lock In Budget Earlier This Year? | Chicago Public Schools leaders expect to approve a budget for the upcoming school year by the end of July. Facing a projected $700 million deficit, they hope to wrap up the budget early to secure a short-term loan needed to cover operating costs. [Tribune 🔒] | | | Are Chicago’s Parking Meters Cursed? | Chicago’s infamous parking meters are up for sale, and in a meeting last week, alders (finally) got more insight into the mayor’s rescinded bid to buy them back. Reps from prospective buyers also weighed in. All that and more on today’s podcast. [City Cast Chicago 🎧] | | Orchards on the West Side | Ten vacant lots in Garfield Park, along West 5th Avenue between Sacramento and Kedzie, are turning into community orchards. In addition to providing fruit, they’ll help prevent flooding by increasing the tree canopy. Ground broke last week. [Block Club] | | | Chicago’s Next LGBTQ+ Hub | In the last two decades, same-sex households more than doubled on the Southeast Side, including South Shore, South Chicago, East Side, Hegewisch, and South Deering. Residents cite lower costs of living compared to North Side “gayborhoods” and changing attitudes in areas that were more conservative. [Sun-Times] | |
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| A Guide to Woodlawn — Plus Coffee! |
|  | Build Coffee and Books in Woodlawn. (Chima Ikoro, Jacoby Cochran / City Cast Chicago) |
| Grab a free coffee on us tomorrow at Build Coffee and Books in Woodlawn. And while you’re there, take a walk around the neighborhood to see some of our favorite sights. Including, but not limited to, a certain hometown president’s new library. | | While that opening is already changing the neighborhood, we want to highlight other spots to visit while you’re in the area. |  | You can walk south from the Obama Presidential Center, hitting Build and eventually ending at Stony Island Arts Bank. (Google Maps) |
| What to Do | If you managed to snag tickets, begin your walk at the Obama Presidential Center. If not, don’t worry — more OPC tickets drop soon. Plus, you can get to Build sooner. | | Build is the perfect way to start a morning in Woodlawn. In addition to coffee on us, they’ve got a banging breakfast sandwich and loads of books about social justice and local politics. | | Build is part of Experimental Station, a community center that’s also home to Blackstone Bicycle Works, plus rotating events. Coming up: The Portal, led by Sam Thousand’s ChiBrations. | | Experimental Station also hosts the 61st Street Farmers Market every Saturday: “The best place to experience diversity in a segregated city,” as our friends at South Side Weekly say. | | Continue down Blackstone Avenue, and you’ll hit 62nd Street Community Garden alongside Beehive Park. The perfect spot to sit and read a zine you picked up at Build! | | From there, head down Dorchester Avenue till you hit the Metra underpass murals. Here, non-OPC-ticket-holders can enjoy a mosaic of Barack and Michelle. |  | 7323 Chicago Cafe offers good grab-and-go meals. (Jacoby Cochran / City Cast Chicago) |
| On this route, 7323 Chicago Cafe may seem a little out of the way. But it's absolutely worth a stop for lunch. They’ve got homemade ice cream sandwiches, smoothies, mini cheesecakes, paninis … When you’ve hit the shipping container on Woodlawn Avenue, you’ve made it. | | From there, it’s a 15-minute walk east to Stony Island Arts Bank. | A Grand Finale | Technically the Stony Island Arts Bank is not in Woodlawn — it’s just over the border in Greater Grand Crossing. But we’ll take any excuse to plug this one-of-a-kind space. | | Artist Theaster Gates turned the century-old abandoned bank into an exhibition space and archive in 2015. Now, after recent renovations, it’s reopened with a conceptual tea salon and cocktail lounge. |  | Jacoby inside the Stony Island Arts Bank’s Johnson publishing library. (Jacoby Cochran / City Cast Chicago) |
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