100 Years

Have you noticed all of the 100 year anniversaries in Blue Island lately? St. Donatus, the Blue Island Park District, Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church, St. Benedict’s. The original St. Francis Hospital was founded in 1905. The original Carnegie Library was built here in 1903. It makes me wonder what was happening in Blue Island 100 years ago that made people so pro-active about founding churches and making this community a better place to live. I think that the answer is: the city had money.
In 1909 only the wealthiest citizens would have had automobiles. In some areas, “speed” limits of 8 to 10 miles per hour were enacted for the safety of horses and pedestrians. Most people walked everywhere, and downtown Chicago was considered to be a day away, even by horse or automobile, and a trip there would require an overnight stay.
The people who lived here most likely worked here, and they spent the vast majority of their money here. I believe that was the secret to the success of Blue Island 100 years ago. You lived here, you worked here, you spent your money here. It was pretty much a closed circle, except for the merchants that brought in new product.
These days it is more like an ever-expanding outward-reaching spiral. You live here, most of us work somewhere else, and our money goes spinning out into the surrounding area, a good portion of it outside Blue Island.
For most of us, the largest monthly expense is the mortgage. Even if you mortgaged your home through a local bank or mortgage company, chances are that it has been sold, and you are now sending your check to someplace in New Jersey or elsewhere. If you watch the news, you know that mortgages are bundled and resold, over and over. That’s part of the reason we find ourselves in the nationwide financial mess that we are in. I would bet that back in 1909 people paid their mortgages to the First National Bank of Blue Island, and the money was reinvested by the bank into more mortgages and business loans.
Car loans are another big expense, and no doubt your check is being sent to the auto makers national headquarters somewhere, not in Blue Island.
I’m guessing that about 50% to 75% of your income is sent directly out of town, to either a mortgage company or a car manufacturer. That leaves little money to be spent on other things. Of the money that’s left, 68% of what you spend in Blue Island stays here, helping our local economy. That’s not much.
Let’s just say that like me you earn about $100 a week. After the mortgage and car payment you have $25 left to spend. If, like me, you make a concentrated effort to spend as much as possible in town, then you spend about $12.50 a week here. (I know that some of you saw me at Kohl’s the other day. What can I say? I admit that you can’t buy EVERYTHING in Blue Island.) So $8.50 a week of your hard earned money stays in Blue Island.
Back in 1909 probably 95% of your money would be spent here. So even if you only earned $10 a week, $9.50 stayed here; more than is retained today. No wonder our city is in the shape that it’s in. Imagine if 95% of your money was spent within the city limits. $95.00 a week! Things would be in much better shape.
Think about this the next time you’re tempted to head for Crestwood. They don’t need our money, we need our money.
Look for me on Western, with my $8.50 in my hand.

Candace Carr
CARR home-garden-holiday

Diversity

Blue Island certainly is a diverse community. Not only in the ways have we commonly thought of diversity either. Most of us think of Blue Island as Black, White, and Hispanic, but we go far beyond that. Chinese, Arabic, Egyptian, the list goes on and on. I met a woman from East Africa in traditional African clothing one day while walking to work. A woman originally from Mongolia stopped in the store.
The diversity of religion is evident, too. Catholics, Methodists, Lutherans, Baptists, Evangelicals are everywhere. A Muslim man was spotted on a prayer rug early one morning. I’m sure that there are atheists here, too. It’s hard to tell because they don’t have churches or public displays of non-worship, but I’m sure they’re here.
We embrace all of this; at least most of us do. What worries me is our lack of shopping diversity (you had to know that this was coming). I first noticed this years ago when I had what I refer to know as a “real job”. I had purchased a summer top from Kohl’s and wore it to work the very next day. Within a week, I realized that two other women had the same top, but in different colors. Now, I have never been one to panic if I was seen in the same outfit as someone else, but this was the beginning of my awareness of bigboxitis.
Bigboxitis is a disease which compels us to run to the nearest big box store whenever we detect a need in our lives. We become unresponsive to mistreatment and lack of service. It makes us slaves to price and convenience instead of value. As for the summer tops, within a month they were all misshapen blobs of faded fabric.
The monetary price we pay for bigboxitis seems small, and that is why it is so addictive. The personal price is far greater. Despite the fact that these places appear to be time saving and convenient, how many of us feel more time deprived than ever? Do you feel more connected to the community or less connected than you did five years ago? Shopping in town increases the chance that we will see a neighbor. Knowing the business owners makes us feel connected. Stopping to chat makes us feel that we know what’s going on in the community. Spending our money here supports the entire community, not just the business owners. It brings in jobs and tax revenue.
We are born with our ethnicity. It cannot be changed. We are born into our religions, we can change that if we choose. But, regardless of our innate diversity, we should patronize independent businesses or soon we will all be dressed in the Croft & Barrow uniform of sameness.
Just as in other aspects of our lives, we have a diverse group of programs we can subscribe to in supporting local business. You can go with my $5.00 a day plan, you can check out the 3/50 Project, you can pledge to 10PercentShift.org. They are all good ideas, and any of them, together or separately, will make a big difference to Blue Island.

Candace Carr
CARR home-garden-holiday

P.S. As far as I’m concerned, Hellman’s is the only “real” mayonnaise. Now that the Jewel is closed, you can find it at Family Dollar Stores, 2418 Vermont Street.

Invest in Blue Island!

It was a curious thing that happened. A woman came in and said, “I’ve got to start shopping Blue Island, and I’m starting here!” We talked for quite a while, and I asked if she lived here. “Oh no, I live in Oak Lawn, but I can see that more and more businesses are gone, and I would hate to see the entire business district close up.”
She told me that she and her husband have a business in Blue Island, and also own a few apartment buildings here. Supporting the businesses in Blue Island was a way to protect their investments. A city with an empty business district would surely see a drop in its property values. Who wants to live in a city with a shuttered and boarded up main street?
This leads me to wonder about the home-owners in this city. Are they concerned about the impact that the business district has on their property values? Do they realize that for every dollar they spend outside Blue Island the value of their home is decreased ever so slightly?
I don’t know how the math works on this, but let’s just say for the sake of argument that for every $100.00 you spend outside Blue Island, the value of your home is diminished by $1.00. In the not-too-distant past, this would not have been a big deal. Home prices were rising so rapidly, that it made little difference. As we know, things are very different now. I wonder if my house is worth what we paid for it 30 years ago. So now it becomes a big deal.
Every time you leave Blue Island to buy a greeting card, groceries, gas, clothing, tools, you name it, you are lowering the value of your property. I know that many things are not available here, but many things are available within the city limits. It’s time, as home-owners and residents, that we recognize the value-added proposition of a vibrant downtown. The more we shop on Western Avenue, the more successful the businesses become. The more successful the businesses become, the more new business is drawn to the area.
It is an idea so simple. Invest in your own property, invest in Blue Island, by doing as much shopping here as you are able to. The businesses that we are lacking will follow. Pick a business and spend your $5.00 today!

Candace Carr
CARR home-garden-holiday

The Closing of the Jewel Food Store

By now, everyone must know that the Jewel Food Store is closing. I actually hinted at this in a previous column entitled The Perfect Storm back in November of 2008 when I wrote “I have heard of three long standing Blue Island businesses that are relocating. They are not closing, but they are moving out of our city to greener pastures.” At the time, I did not feel it was my place to reveal who the businesses were, and at the time everyone was vehemently denying that the Jewel would close. Many people I knew had asked at the Jewel if they were closing and everyone in unison said “NO!” Even one of the managers said “If we were closing, I would know it, and I haven’t heard anything.” Must have been a big surprise to all concerned.
The thing that saddens me the most about all this is the loss of jobs and revenue to the city. Imagine the sales tax that is/was collected at the Jewel on a monthly, weekly, and even daily basis. Imagine the loss of jobs. Oh sure, Jewel says that everyone will be offered positions at other Jewels in the area, but there are some people who will be unable to take those positions. Then there is the question of “How will we know?” How will we know that all of these people have been rehired at other stores? Will they be rehired for the same hours? For the same positions? With the same seniority? How will we know for sure? Our city of Blue Island can ill afford to lose any of this.
I also recently heard that because Jewel owns the property, they may refuse to sell to another grocery store. Why should they? It is a competitive world out there, and if they can keep a competitor from opening in their place, then they probably will. Where does that leave us? There have been rumors about Walt’s, or Pete’s Market, or any number of other small chains being interested in the spot. But if Jewel does not sell to them, to protect their own interests, then Blue Island is left without a major grocery store.
Oh sure, we can drive to 119th Street and shop the Jewel there, or we can go to County Fair, but that will cost us extra in sales tax and that sales tax will not be returned to Blue Island. We will just be pumping more money out of our already beleaguered city.
Some people have blamed the mayor. Some people have accused him of keeping this information quiet until after the election. It’s really a moot point. This information was out there. A lot of people knew, and for various reasons, avoided making it public. Would it have looked bad to announce it before the election? Sure it would. Would it have changed your vote? (If you voted.) Probably not. The truth is, the mayor cannot stop a business from closing. If any given business decides to close its doors, the mayor by himself cannot reverse that decision.
It is only we, all of us, as a whole, that can determine the fate of our city. If we do not wholeheartedly support the businesses that remain, we can expect more to close.
Look for me with $5.00 in my hand, doing what I can.

Candace Carr
CARR home-garden-holiday

Let George Do It!

In George Boise’s last Reflections column, I noticed that he’s kind of taken over my job, encouraging people to spend their money in Blue Island. I think he did a much better job than I usually do, on top of it. People all over were asking me, “Did you read George’s column? It was hysterical! I never laughed so hard!” In general, I don’t think people laugh when they read my column, unless they’re laughing at me.
So this time, I’ve decided to take over George’s column, and talk about believing and faith. You see, no idea is ever going to work if you don’t have faith in it, and no plan is ever going to work if you don’t believe that your participation in it will make a difference.
Faith is defined as ‘the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.’ When I first came up with the $5.00 a day theory, I had complete confidence that it could and would work. I had faith! I believed wholeheartedly in a vision of Blue Island that was hoped for, but as yet unseen. I really thought that people would be willing to support this idea, because they too wanted to believe in a better city. I have to admit that later on, from time to time, my faith would falter. Was anyone listening? Did I still believe it could happen?
Faith is also demonstrated by continuing against the odds. I believed that even if it was just me, I could make a difference. I’ve turned down some pretty good deals, just so I could practice what I’ve been preaching. I’ve also caved in a few times, just so I could save a little money. What better test of faith than making a few mistakes here and there? I think George would refer to this as sin. If you get up, brush yourself off, ask for forgiveness, and try again, this is redemption. How am I doing, George?
In the meantime, I’ve heard some wild stories. People driving back to Blue Island on the fumes of a near empty gas tank, just to buy their gas here. People considering giving up their Costco memberships because Orland doesn’t need our tax money as much as Blue Island does. Even myself, looking for a new doctor, here in Blue Island, so that if I end up in the hospital, my insurance dollars will be supporting Metro South.
In a church, the following plea would be called an altar call, but in this column I’m just asking you examine your spending habits. If you think you’re too busy, if you think it’s going to take up too much of your time to help your own city by shopping here, if you are thinking “Let George do it” let me remind you that he already did, and he wrote about it, too. Belief is demonstrated by actions. It’s time for each of us to step up and support our business people, show a little faith in the vision of successful Blue Island, and spend our tax dollars here.

Candace Carr
CARR home-garden-holiday

Back to Business

The election is over, and whether your man won or lost, it’s about time to get back to business! It seems that so many things have tied our little city in knots over the past 12 months. The St. Francis Hospital scare, gas prices over the summer, the stock market collapse, the housing market collapse, the presidential election, the mayoral election. Meanwhile, the businesses on Western, and all over Blue Island, struggle to survive until all these messes clear themselves up.
One thing that we all should have learned by now is that life goes on. The hospital was sold, gas prices are down, the stock market and housing markets are showing signs of recovery. People feared that if Obama was elected that there would be rioting in the streets. It didn’t happen. People were skittish about our mayoral election. What would happen? What would happen? Whether your man won or lost, life goes on. The business of being city continues, just as the business of being a country continues. We can’t just stop living because things aren’t great.
So the question becomes: What do we do now? It’s time to start pulling together as a community, and realize that we are all in this together. It’s time to look around and figure out what our part in this city should be. I have been a strong advocate of spending $5.00 a day in Blue Island for over a year now. Recently I have discovered that someone else has a better plan, and it is taking root around the country. It’s called the 3/50 Project and it was created by Cinda Baxter. Local affiliates of CBS, NBC, and ABC have picked up the story and started to give it coverage. Caroline Kennedy is endorsing the 3/50 Project.
Having been an independent stationery store owner for fourteen years, Cinda Baxter understood the pain felt by retailers when the economy sank and consumers held back. What began as an economic downturn in the autumn had become a psychological tsunami by March 1st.
What the country needed, in her opinion, was a meeting of the minds between two groups that held valuable stakes in the game—small business owners and members of their communities.
Enter The 3/50 Project.
With a tag line “Save your local economy three stores at a time,” the project’s goal is to promote shopping in locally owned businesses while thanking customers for the positive impact that decision has on a local economy.
“We ask consumers to think about which three stores they’d miss if they disappeared, then remind them to return there,” explains Baxter. “Shoppers have become so rooted in thinking about the essentials that they’ve forgotten about the little store on the corner whose owner remembers their name.”
“Fifty comes from the idea that if even half the employed population spent a mere $50 per month in locally owned retail stores, those purchases would generate more than $42.6 billion in revenue,” she continues. “That’s a huge impact for a relatively small investment.”
Which leads to a third number on the flyer, sixty-eight—the dollar amount that remains in a community’s economy for every $100 spent in locally owned stores. By contrast, only $43 per one hundred remains local when spent in national chains; little or no revenue results from online purchases.
“In essence, the whole thing boils down to: Pick 3, spend 50, save the economy. It’s really that simple.”
If you’d like to learn more about the 3/50 Project, go to http://www.the350project.net/
In the meantime, you’ll still find me on Western, spending my $5.00 a day in Blue Island.

More Good News

Recently, on the Today Show (channel 5) there was a guest who urged people to shop locally. She actually said that there are better deals to be had from local merchants than from big boxes or internet sites. I hope someone beside myself was listening!
Here’s several reasons to spend your $5.00 in Blue Island:

1. Keep the Dollars in Our Local Economy
When you shop in our community you fund more services through sales tax, invest in neighborhood improvement, and promote community development.
2. Local Business Owners Invest in Community
Local businesses are owned by people who live in this community, are less likely to leave, and are more invested in the community’s future.
3. Support Community Businesses
The well-being of a community benefits when you shop locally. Our area businesses build strong neighborhoods by sustaining communities, contributing to local charities, supporting sports teams, festivals, service clubs, school activities and the list goes on.
4. It’s in Your BackyardWin – Win!
Reduce your environmental footprint and save money at the same time. Shopping in Blue Island means no need for long drives and traffic jams. You’re not burning fuel and contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.
5. Consider What Our Retailers Are Facing
They purchased their stock six months ago hoping to sell it today for a profit, pay their employees, pay their taxes, heat and water, donate to charity, and hopefully pay themselves. Instead they are being asked to sell it for a loss.
6. More Jobs and Wages
Supporting our local merchants means more jobs and better wages for our community. These wages, in turn, are spent again in our community as employees purchase goods and services from local merchants.
7. Keep Our City Unique
We have a variety of unique specialty shops and products. These businesses are an integral part of the distinctive character of our community. By choosing to support local businesses you help maintain our diversity and distinct flavor.
8. Get Better Service
Our area merchants take pride in hiring the right people who are passionate about their products and services....let’s support them by shopping locally. And consider if you have a problem with the item you have purchased you can easily return it to a local merchant for service.
9. Lots of Great Products
With so many great stores, markets, and restaurants, the choices are many. There is a broad range of products available.
10. We love our Community – Let’s Keep our Money
HereWe can encourage local prosperity by keeping our hard earned dollars in our local economy.

Candace Carr
CARR home-garden-holiday

Signs of the Times

1) I found a silver certificate in my pocket
2) I passed up a pancake breakfast
3) Unemployment surges in Blue Island
A few weeks ago, I decided to visit Stefanelli’s for lunch. I remembered there being a five dollar bill in my coat pocket, and without checking for it, I took off down the street with visions of hot mostaccioli dancing in my head. I picked up my lunch, went to the counter to pay, pulled out the five dollar bill, and lo and behold, it was a silver certificate!
For any youngsters reading this, a silver certificate was a bill printed by the U.S. Treasury that was equal in value to the same amount of silver coinage. Thus, a five dollar silver certificate would be equal to five silver dollars. The most readily distinguishable feature of these bills was that the seal was printed in blue. They ceased production of these over forty years ago, and people used to save them because they would be worth something some day.
I think that whoever had this bill before me was saving it for that exact reason. However, with the economy being what it is, I imagine that people are starting to spend whatever bills and coins they have stashed away just to make ends meet. I don’t know how I came to possess this bill, and for a minute I wondered what it might be worth. Then, no doubt like its previous owner, I realized that in the condition it was in, it was probably worth about $5.50. I imagined the time and energy it would take to find someone willing to buy it, and in the end I just handed it to the cashier.
Not long ago, a member of a local church stopped in to sell me tickets to a pancake breakfast. I am well known for buying tickets to every pancake breakfast and spaghetti dinner in town. There’s nothing like getting a good meal and supporting a neighborhood group at the same time. This time I had to say no.
It is important for members of community churches, charities, and organizations to support local business. These are the people that you go to for donations, door prizes, and auction items. If you are not spending your money with the businesses that you go to for donations, the businesses will not be around to support you. Times are tough for everyone, so shop in Blue Island and identify yourself as a member of your church, charity, or organization. The group you save may be your own.
Lastly, we recently received a letter from the Paul Revere Primary & Intermediate School Parent Teacher Organization. According to the letter, 65% of their students’ parents are currently seeking employment. The unemployment rate in Illinois was recently reported at 7.6%. The general Chicago area is 6.5%. An unemployment rate of 65% among parents in Blue Island is frightening. The PTO is holding a job fair on February 13th, and they are expecting 250 prospective employees to attend.
All the more reason to spend your money here in Blue Island. According to the National Small Business Association, over 50% of working people are employed by small businesses. If you are working for a real estate office, a restaurant, a beauty parlor, a law office, a doctor’s office, an independent retailer, a small grocery store, or any number of other small businesses here in our city, it is in your best interest to shop here. The job you save may be your own.
It is only by small business owners, employees, and community groups alike banding together and committing themselves to patronizing Blue Island businesses that we as a community will be able to survive this economic downturn. Spend your money in Blue Island, the city you save may be your own.

Candace Carr
CARR home-garden-holiday

Snowstorms and Partnersips

Quick recovery from a snowstorm requires a three way partnership. That partnership would be among the citizens, the Police Department, and the Department of Public Works. If everyone does their part the snow is quickly removed and we can all get on with our lives. At some point in time the City of Blue Island made plans for snow storms and snow removal. Many streets are marked with blue and white Snow Route signs. The signs warn that there is no parking after a snowfall of 2 inches or more until the snow is removed, and that violators will be towed.
The snowstorm that hit us on Thursday, December 18th was not a surprise. The weathermen had been forecasting it for two days, and originally it was predicted to begin about 2:00 p.m. on the 17th. I know that we all engage in wishful thinking. We hope that a storm will bypass us and we will not have to deal with it. However, on the morning of the 18th it was obvious that we had taken a direct hit. There was 4 to 6 inches of snow, encased in ice. This is when the snowstorm partnership broke down.
The general population made little attempt to move their cars or avoid parking on the snow routes. As of this writing (four days later) there are still cars plowed into place on residential snow routes around the city. People were parked up and down Western Avenue as if it were any other day. In front of our building there were at least two vehicles which were parked 5 feet from the curb because they either couldn’t see the curb or couldn’t get any closer. This put them partially in a traffic lane, which in and of itself would be deserving of a ticket. The vehicles remained there all day. This scenario was repeated up and down Western.
I can already hear business owners protesting that their customers have to park somewhere. How much better would it have been if those customers had waited for an hour or two until the streets were cleared? Many businesses still have lumpy snow in the street in front of their buildings. We have a 2 foot ice berm in the middle of the parking spots in front of our business. This is going to make it difficult and dangerous to park, not just for a day, but for several days to come. As for cars that remained parked on Western all day, I have to assume that these were business owners or employees. We should know better.
The Department of Public Works did what they could. The plows were out all day on the snow routes, plowing and spreading salt. But they can’t plow where cars are parked. I didn’t hear of one person being ticketed, much less being towed away.
As I write this it is 3 degrees below zero and the wind is howling. As a customer, I would not want to brave these temperatures just to be greeted with lumpy and icy parking spots. The partnership broke down, and the business district and sales tax revenue will pay the price until the next warm spell, which will be after Christmas at the earliest. Too late for any last minute Christmas shoppers. If it snows again on top this whole mess, things will just get worse. What were we thinking?

Spending my frozen $5.00 on Western.

Candace Carr
CARR home-garden-holiday