BY KAY SEVERINSEN

Not long ago, while waiting in the lobby for a job interview, I realized my cell phone was gone. Most likely it fell out of my purse on the bus. I tried to put the loss out of my mind to focus on the interview but I didn’t get the job.

Employment prospects are one thing, but the lack of a fashionable place for women to keep their cell phones is a problem on an entirely different plane – a monumental, world-wide phenomenon that like every other gender-based inequality, threatens to keep us tied to the kitchen, where there may be a landline, or at least a countertop on which to put your cell phone.

Take a look at the average male cell phone user. No matter how large the Samsung Galaxy or the iPhone gets, it always fits snugly into the back pocket of the average pair of men’s Dockers, dress pants or shorts. There it vibrates coyly whenever a call or text comes in, that gentle butt cheek vibration keeping  men in the loop. No matter what they are wearing, it almost always has a back pocket that they can reach before the message goes to voicemail.

Not so for women. Aside from traditional jeans, almost none of our clothing has a good place for a cell phone. Unfashionable pleated trousers with side pockets work sometimes, but typically the pockets are too shallow to safely hold a phone. It will fall out whenever you least expect it, but definitely just before you are expecting a call.

The fact is, ladies, while the behinds of your male friends gently vibrate, we are being left behind.  It is time to rise up and demand either improved fashion choices or better cell phone technology.

Let’s face it, our currently fashionable skinny pants and tight-fitting tops leave little room for a rectangular bulge. But even clothes that are designed to fit a little more loosely make almost no accommodation for cell phones. Most women have to carry it in their hand, or as I did, find a place in their purse. But to keep it safe, it has to be buried in an inside pocket where we will never feel it vibrate or even hear it ring. Even if you carry your purse with you 24/7, it’s not a solution.

The fashion industry could help by accommodating the tech world. Perhaps we can gather some ideas from the fashionistas of past decades. For example:

Pillbox hats a la Jackie Kennedy – She looked so chic in her pink pillbox, but imagine if it cleverly had also hidden her cell phone.  “A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Ambass –“ Ring ring! And just like that, she  unpins her cute little hat and talks to John-John.

Enormous shoulder pads a la Lauren Bacall – Here’s the scene : You are interviewing a private eye with a startling resemblance to Humphrey Bogart. You light a cigarette. Suddenly, your shoulder pad begins to vibrate. You toss the cigarette onto his desk, unsnap the epaulet and whip out your cell phone. “The money?” you snarl in a throaty voice. “Show me the money!” Oh wait, wrong movie.

Full-skirted dirndls a la June Cleaver –  Whether you are happily vacuuming the living room or presenting in the board room, your flirty skirt would hide a deep pocket within its gathers.  The problem with a dirndl is that it’s loose and you won’t feel the phone vibrate when the noise of the vacuum cleaner also is drowning out the ringtone. Perhaps your pearl necklace could be a remote sensor device?

The fashions of yesteryear offer more options. Think how easy it would be to have felt that butt vibration if the phone was tucked into a bustle. A false pleat in your mutton-chop sleeve could have stowed a device. Marie Antoinette could have slid her phone, heck, even an iPad, into her up-do.

The issue with these otherwise-sensible suggestions is that they are still dependent on clothing construction that changes based on what you’re wearing. Men are always wearing pants. Well, almost always.

While there’s certainly an advantage for phone manufacturers to have half the population regularly losing and replacing their phones, companies could also capture the market of satisfied phone buyers if they made a phone for the rest of us. What might this tech solution look like?

I have a half-baked idea that it will look something like Dick Tracy’s wrist phone, with a difference. Tucked fashionably inside a cuff bracelet, when the phone rings the user releases a mechanism to stretch the entire phone across the palm.

Samsung, Motorola, iEverything – this is your moment. Give me a phone I can use and not lose.

BY KAY SEVERINSEN

On a warm summer evening, multi-colored Chicagoans line up at Beverly’s Rainbow Cone. The customers, whose ancestors came from Ireland, Africa, Poland, Latin America and many other lands, are united on one delicious obsession – a cone piled high with five flavors of ice cream.

Rainbow Cone has been around since 1926, far longer than the historic Beverly/Morgan Park neighborhoods have been ethnically integrated, but there is something especially fitting about seeing the famous ice cream shop’s rainbow sign at the edge of one of Chicago’s few, truly multi-cultural neighborhoods.

Today, the sister neighborhoods of Beverly and Morgan Park have a population mix of approximately 60 percent Caucasian, 35 percent African American and 5 percent other backgrounds.

Beverly and Morgan Park, says historian Ellen Skerrett, is “one of the most diverse neighborhoods in Chicago. This neighborhood doesn’t get the credit for achieving an integrated neighborhood. People have had a long-standing commitment to it for 40 years now or more. We see it as a positive.”

Like many of her neighbors, Skerrett and her husband are returnees, second generation families that grew up in or near Beverly and Morgan Park, and who returned to raise their own families there.

In fact, according to a BAPA survey of new residents, the number one reason that people gave for buying a home in Beverly/Morgan Park was because they wanted to be near friends and family.

“We are very proud of that,” said Matt Walsh, executive director of the Beverly Area Planning Association. “People want to come back here.”

It all started with Border’s

Many decades ago, the shopping area along 95th Street, west of Western Avenue, was known as “Quality Mile,” and was lined with popular clothing and furniture shops that catered to their moneyed neighbors. Sometime around the 1960s or 1970s, along with the rise of shopping malls and big box stores, 95th Street began to decline, and Beverly/Morgan Park residents shopped elsewhere.

But area business people and elected officials have been working hard to change that and in recent years, there has also been an influx of strong new retailers.
“Now we are seeing a resurgence,” said Lois Weber, executive director of the 95th Street Beverly Hills Business Association. “People don’t have time to go to malls; they’re just too busy. We have weathered many trends in retailing, and 95th Street has come through all of them.”

It’s been slow-going. The current turn-around began more than 12 years ago when Ald. Ginger Rugai was alerted that Borders was looking for a city location.
In 1998, after more than a year of finagling and negotiating, a team of area officials headed by Rugai was able to convince Borders Book Store to open a store on 95th Street between Leavitt and Oakley.

It was a difficult sell, since the lots along 95th street are smaller than most retailers want. Most of the lots are no more than 120 feet deep, and popular national retailers want acreage, with plenty of room for a big parking lot.
“To get Borders here, we had to acquire several parcels of land from several different owners,” says Lois Weber, executive director of the 95th Street Beverly Hills Business Association. And we were able to offer an incentive to the developers. They were our anchor.”

With the help of city conservation tax increment financing district funds, the Borders spread out east and west, and added a parking lot running linearly along 95th Street.

“That was a huge addition,” Walsh said, “and it’s now one of the top-producing Borders in the region.”

Borders’ success has encouraged other businesses to take another look at Beverly, officials say. In 2007-2008 a strip of businesses known as the “Shops of Beverly” has opened at 95th and Bell, among them a Cold Stone Creamery, a Panera Bread, a Chipotle, a GameStop and other retailers. More recently, and after many years of negotiations, the owners of the property on the corner of Western and 95th Street sold, and now the property is gearing up to house an AT&T, a Potbelly’s, a Back to Bed, a Fatburger, and more.

“We thought it would be easy (to get the next businesses in),” Weber said, “but it was still rather difficult. We were able to convince developers that we have a ready market here. We are a border community and sometimes it’s easier to do a project in the suburbs. But we have had developers come and be very impressed by our demographics.”

A recent survey of new residents in 2008 by BAPA found that 59 percent of the new residents had household incomes of $100,000 or more and 84 percent had attained at least a bachelor’s degree. Of the new buyers that year, 80 percent were Caucasian, 10 percent African American, and 10 percent mixed and other races. Among the surveyed households, 58 percent were Catholic.

And overwhelmingly, the reason they moved to Beverly was because they had friends and family there. A typical response to the question was along the lines of, “Grew up here, moved away, moved back!”

Returning residents are seeing other improvements along the main thoroughfares besides the new stores. A new Chicago library was built at 95th and Damen, while the old library, at 95th and Hamilton, is likely to be revamped into a Wishbone Restaurant, which will bring yet another high end dining place into the neighborhood.

A new, LEED-certified firehouse just opened a few blocks away as well. Along with all the business growth, the 95th Street Business Association is starting a streetscape program, and in coming years, visitors will see repaired sidewalks, improved lighting and landscaping as well as a new sign welcoming them to Beverly.
After 12 years of planning, the site of a tragic fire that took the lives of two firemen has been purchased by the Chicago Park District and will become a memorial park along Western Avenue.

Pretty streets

Beverly’s strong sense of community may be one reason that home prices did not drop as much as some other neighborhoods in the city, Walsh says.

“Our prices never went up dramatically like many neighborhoods so when we came down we weren’t hurt as bad,” he said. “People don’t buy here to be speculative, but to live here.”

The boundaries of Beverly and Morgan Park will vary depending on who you ask, but there is some consensus that the northern boundary is 87th Street and the south 119th, with the dividing line between Beverly and Morgan Park at 107th. On the east they point to Vincennes and on the west, California. Look at a map of Chicagoland and just about where the Dan Ryan splits and grows legs, Beverly bounces on the knee bone of I-57.

Walk along any neighborhood street on a nice day, and you’ll be shaded by mature trees, soothed by the flowering, meticulously tended lawns lined with brick Georgians, bungalows and more than a few historic homes by famous architects. Until about 15 years ago, the neighborhood suffered from cut-through traffic, but after cul-de-sacs were installed in key locations, the streets quieted down, and burglaries decreased.

Depending on the street, you will find modest bungalows and brick homes built after World War Two, larger Georgians and Tudors set back from the street on wide, deep lots, three Frank Lloyd Wrights home, as well as several other landmarked homes, and a handful of newer homes. The neighborhoods have four landmark districts and historic Rock Island stations.

While most of the neighborhood offers single family housing, some streets sport townhomes or apartment buildings, either vintage and new. Closer to Longwood Drive, Vincennes and Pleasant, the terrain becomes hilly. The last Ice Age left a ridge here which is still s the highest point in Chicago.

The high terrain gives the mansions along Longwood an especially regal look. But one structure doesn’t just look regal, it’s an actual castle. The Givens House is a replica of an Irish castle built in 1886 of Joliet limestone.

We’re not in Kansas any more

More than one North Sider or East Coaster has been known to marvel over the Shangri-la-like enclave. North Siders compare it to Lake Forest or Wilmette; East Coasters say it reminds them of home. Typically, says Walsh, they will think they are in a suburb, not the city of Chicago. It’s not just the neighborhoods’ appearance, it’s the close-knot community that sets it apart from many places.

“I’ve been on this route for 31 years,” says mail carrier William Edwards. “I know everybody. I’ve watched their kids grow up.”

He is retiring next year, and, said one long-time resident, “everybody is just sick about it. We’ll miss him so much.”

But that sort of neighborliness and “everybody knows everybody” is commonplace in the leafy neighborhood.

“Many people who live here could live anywhere but they choose this,” said Skerrett. “It’s quite an extraordinary place.”

Because Beverly neighbors look out for each other, she said, parents can let their children learn independence by riding their bike to school or to Ridge Park, or by taking the train downtown.

“Those of us who grew up in the 1950s take that for granted,” she said, “but it’s not the case in the suburbs where everything is dependent on the car.” Her three daughters, now adults, learned self reliance by being able to get themselves around the neighborhood, she said.

“For me, I keep coming back to a sense of place and roots,” she said. “And here, our kids can have some of the freedoms that we enjoyed.”

The neighborhood has a very strong sense of community, and is a place where neighbors look out for one another.

During a recent thunderstorm, several thousand residents were left without power. Immediately, neighbors came to one another’s rescue.

“Extension cords were running across the street from houses that did have power to ones that didn’t,” said Rugai. “People were carrying food back and forth, checking on elderly neighbors. In Beverly, people don’t say, ‘someone should do this or that.’ They just do it.”

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Edgewater artists find display space in empty storefronts

Graphic artist’s page proof

BY KAY SEVERINSEN

You may have a place to live, but is it home? Is it really the place you are from, the home of your heart?

A new Pew Research Center survey has found that a majority of us don’t feel as though the place we are living now is really home.

That’s because so many Americans are mobile; they grew up in a place where they no longer live.

Pew calls this perceived real home the “heart home.”

That might not make any sense to you if you are one of the 40 percent of Americans who have never moved from the town or neighborhood of your childhood.

In fact Chicago is full of people who consider anything outside of Cook County as a foreign land. Many of my husband’s lifelong friends always have lived within a couple of miles of the South Side neighborhood of Beverly.

Some seem reluctant to visit us in the western suburbs, since the Land Beyond the Tri-State would be too far to travel without an overnight stay.

But for the rest of us, we might not live anywhere near where our hearts live. Pew found that people tend to define their true home in different ways.

For some, it is where their family of origin is; for others, it is where they went to high school or where they lived for the longest period of time.

My parents have lived in downstate Macomb for 46 years, but they might still say they are from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, even though they have not lived there since 1951. And even though my husband has not lived there since he was 18, he still considers himself a South Sider.

“Did you know so and so is from St. Sabina’s?” he asked me just the other day. (If you are a Catholic Chicagoan, there is really no other way to describe your neighborhood than by parish.) He was as happy as if he had found a long-lost friend while hiking the Himalayas — a fellow traveler from the heart home.

The Pew survey asked questions about American mobility and in one of the most surprising results, it found that fewer Americans have moved in the past year or so than at any other time since the Census Bureau began collecting data in the 1940s.

In a year spanning 2007 and 2008, only 11.9 percent of the population changed residences. Until the mid-1980s, it was more common for around 20 percent of Americans to move every year, but that number has been slowly declining since around 1985.

Most Americans say they have moved for job-related reasons, and have stayed for family reasons. College graduates are more likely to move; those with less education are more likely to stay put. Region-wise, the Midwest has more stay-putters than every other region of the U.S., and rural areas tend to keep their residents more than urban areas. And, the younger you are, the more likely you are to be mobile.

At a recent meeting, when I brought up this topic, the room exploded as everyone had to tell a story about where they had lived.

So if you need a conversation starter, try this one: Where are you really from?

BY KAY SEVERINSEN

Not so long ago or far away, in a presumably “safe” neighborhood where children frolic in the middle of the streets and neighbors don’t always lock their homes or cars, a McMansion started, then went into foreclosure, its bare Tyvek exterior surrounded by high weeds. Down the street, a drug dealer has moved in, and on another street, a pedophile.

Due to road construction elsewhere, one street has become a cut-through, bringing hundreds of commuters through at rush hour. In several homes bought in better times for investment, renters come and go, sometimes skipping out on the rent, sometimes damaging the property on their way out.

With apologies to Edmund Burke, all that is necessary for good neighborhoods to go bad is for good neighbors to do nothing. That might sound like an empty statement this summer, with the wave of shootings across some Chicago neighborhoods. In such places, a different strategy may be needed, even in those we think of as traditionally “good” neighborhoods. Just ask Chatham, still reeling from a series of shootings and cold-blooded murders. Long considered a “good” neighborhood with active neighbors, things have changed and Chatham is now dealing with different issues than just a few years ago.

Still, in many places, a vigilant neighborhood attitude can work, especially in places where residents think they don’t need to worry about excessive crime. Those neighborhoods become — or stay — safe because the residents work at it.

Activist neighbors and the “eyes on the street” philosophy are branches of the now-classic “Broken Window” (http://bit.ly/cj45zI) theory of neighborhood decline. Comparing a neighborhood to an abandoned building, the researchers noted that if a building has no broken windows, it is far less likely that one will be broken by vandals. But if it has one broken window that does not get fixed, in short order vandals shatter more windows because it seems as though the owners don’t care.

Similarly, if nearly every home in a neighborhood is cared for and its residents are engaged, it is more likely that the neighborhood will stay that way. But if one home or building becomes unkempt, abandoned, or inhabited by miscreants, it is far more likely that others will follow. After all, no one cares.

For burglars and other criminals, ”the best deterrent to crime is a nosy neighbor,” says Beverly neighborhood court watcher Roberta Kleinman, “They look for neighborhoods where people don’t know each other. If they don’t make eye contact, that’s a good sign they don’t talk to each other.”

But neighborhood problems can start with something less serious than a burglary. Neglected property, blight, loud music and lots of late night parties, are examples of early “broken windows.”

Our first response when hearing about a neighborhood problem is usually – “I can’t do anything about it.”  If the activity or issue is not actually illegal, we have no options, right? So we get mad, we despise the neighbors and we gossip about them. If we have never met them, we have no interest in meeting them now.

Or, maybe we screw up our nerve and confront them. If we have never had a relationship with them before, this is not exactly the best way to introduce ourselves. If we do know them, maybe the discussion will bear fruit – or maybe you’ll never speak again

Maybe you call the cops or the local officials. In the case of drugs or other illegal activity, this might help if the perps are caught in the act.

While these may be the appropriate responses, something about them doesn’t feel right. Muttering, calling the authorities or getting pushback from the neighbor make us still feel helpless, like the old codger yelling “get off of my lawn,” at kids who mock him. That’s why neighborhood watch groups and their cousins, such as “positive loitering,” are getting such a good reception in some parts of the city, such as parts of the 48^th Ward. As an example, in Andersonville and Edgewater you can find residents actively working to keep their streets safer.

Positive loitering, neighborhood nights, neighborhood watches and vigilance regarding abandoned properties are just a few of the constructive efforts throughout the ward, says Dana Fritz, aide to Ald. Mary Ann Smith (48^th).

“Positive loitering is just going out on the street and maintaining a positive presence to counteract the negative loitering,” Fritz said.  As an offshoot of that effort, “Neighborhood Nights,” were started last year by resident Dan Kleinman and the Edgewater Community Council. Those events occur regularly on weeknights and include games and activities for children while giving adults something to do while they loiter.

Other positive loiterers bring their dogs, shoot the breeze with neighbors, or go on small missions, such as to find and record locations of graffiti or poor night lighting, he said. The addition a few years ago of the Uptown Puptown dog park in a corner of Lincoln Park has had the unexpected benefit of curtailing problems with homeless people in that area, Fritz said. “Mary Ann (Smith) is a big proponent of dog parks as an anti-crime initiative,” he said. “They bring people out into the streets.”

Loitering with your neighbors is just one way to connect and make sure a strong sense of community binds the stakeholders in a neighborhood. When we are busy and disconnected we tend to isolate, and then we are less likely to care about those around us.

“Unfortunately, our society is becoming less dependent on one another,” says Sgt. Gregg Bell, a suburban policeman. “Now you can do everything with a cell phone. Some people even mount cameras outside their house instead of meeting the neighbors. But if you do have a block party, and get all your neighbors out, that’s a good venue to bring things up.”

Neighborhood watch programs are another way to keep vigilant. The original program was started in the 1970s by the National Sheriff’s Association, which still administers USAOnWatch.org.

Typically, neighborhood groups get started when there is a sudden problem, said Chris Tutko, director of the national program. Once the problem dissipates, the groups tend to disband if members aren’t feeling useful.

“People don’t want to come to a meeting to have a cookie and go home,” he said. But USAOnWatch offers a toolkit of information and topics that can help neighbors address bullying, domestic violence, internet problems, burglaries and more.

While early organizations focused on gang issues or drugs, today the program includes those basics and more – including terrorist awareness and pandemic issues, he said.

Ed Kuske, the CAPS (Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy) facilitator of beat 2024 has developed a robust summer neighborhood watch program. Pulling at least 30 members from three area block clubs, the neighborhood watch patrols during the summer along Sheridan Road.

Though less of an issue in dense neighborhoods of high rises, foreclosures and distressed properties have added to the list of concerns in recent years, Tutko noted. “In places like Vegas, we have whole subdivisions with nobody in ‘em. They can have meth labs, all kinds of criminal activities because no one is there to look at them.”

Even neighborhoods with just one or a handful of vacant properties can suffer the consequences, particularly if the home’s windows are boarded up or if the lawn is not tended.

While some Neighborhood Watch members patrol their neighborhoods in fluorescent vests and carrying flashlights, not all watches include patrolling, he said. In fact, just posting some signs can help.

“If you put up Neighborhood Watch signs, the guy selling drugs thinks, ‘now there is some stupid citizen staring at me, maybe taking my picture, but in essence, he’s going to go somewhere else,” Tutko said.

And if you have a block party or a Neighborhood Night, you will pull everyone together for fun that has a secret purpose:  Good friends will help friends. Good neighbors will help neighbors stay good. And nosy neighbors – they have their purpose, too.

BY KAY SEVERINSEN

A growing family needs room. That’s the thinking behind the move-up house. At first we buy what we can barely afford, then the family grows. Equity builds. OK, used to build.

But still we need more space. The eat-in kitchen has no counter space. We need a fourth bedroom, a home office, a third garage space. We think we need these things and we go looking at the big move-up homes.

If we can make the dollars work, we find one or build one, and we make the move. But bigger is not always the answer to our space needs. And sometimes I wonder what all that space does to family dynamics. Perhaps someday, sociologists will study this and tell us what we already instinctively know – humongous houses can make families remote and disconnected from each other.

When our family of five lived in a 1,200-square-foot split level, I always knew what the kids were doing. If they weren’t right underfoot, I could hear them, and with a little dancing around, I could usually see them, too. But the kitchen was impossible and the neighbors were troublesome, so off we went to a bigger house with a nice, big remodeled kitchen.

And in the new house, which was actually a rather ordinary 2,200 square feet, I seldom saw the kids. Teenagers now, they could burrow in their rooms up on the second floor, while cooking and other chores kept me downstairs. More than once, I called them to dinner on their cell phones. Oh, yes, you’ve done it, too.

And more than once, I have emailed my husband in his upstairs office – from the family room. Oh, what have we done!?

Gale C. Steves, author of a new book, “Right-Sizing Your Home: How to Make Your House Fit Your Lifestyle,” might say we could do with a little less space between us. We just need to make better use of the space we already have.

“I have been looking at this for a long time, even in the mid-eighties, when people started building ego homes,” she explained when she was in town for the Kitchen and Bath Show. “More space doesn’t mean you live better. You need to have rooms that function.”

With the economic downturn, many people are finding they just can’t finance a larger home, and have to make do with what they already have. Instead of complaining about your home, Steves suggests a carefully laid plan, each step illustrated with color photos.

Among her ideas:

* Do a space audit by measuring your rooms. Then think about what the rooms are used for, and what they could be used for. Instead of calling a room by its traditional name, (i.e. living room) call it what you actually use it for, or could use it for. (i.e. actual use: furniture museum; possible use: music room.)

* What kinds of space do you actually need? Could the seldom-used dining room double as a home office with different lighting and furniture? Could a wide hallway double as a study hall if it had a desk and a kid’s computer? If your kitchen had more usable cupboards could you get by with less square footage? Steves recommends getting a good friend to help you sort out what you want from what you need.

* Can the clutter. I cannot count how many times I have seen people move because they needed room, not for themselves, but for their stuff. In places where domiciles are very small, people have to constantly reclaim their limited space from their stuff. When I interviewed a New York City author last year about how she found an 800-square-foot condo for her family, she said she now has room for 10 pairs of shoes. When she buys an 11^th pair, one old pair has to go.

* Use the space you have very well. Look for existing wasted space, such as that triangle of storage possibilities underneath a staircase, or the space between wall studs behind a bathroom door.  If you are going to remodel the kitchen, consider changing the heights of things. Why can’t the dishwasher be elbow height? The oven, too. If you are tall or short, countertops can be of different heights to accommodate your comfort.

* Steves offers a know-thyself room analysis for each part of a home, and helps readers know their own user style. She also offers diagrams that explain how much space different kinds of furniture need. You need a minimum of 36 inches between a kitchen island and the cupboards across from it, preferably 48 inches. You’ll need 42 inches of clearance between a door and the nearest piece of furniture.