It is a lovely 62 degree day in Chicagoland, meaning I can take a long walk to the Jewel Food Store on Howard to pick up a few things for the School Board Candidates Forum I'm managing tonight. I'm about the quietest political activist you ever met, except for every two years when I make sure that our local middle school hosts a forum where parents and neighbors can ask tough questions of school board candidates.
One of those questions will be about finding funds for schools when property tax revenues are falling. One of those questions will be about preparation for perhaps dozens of students moving from private schools to public schools. This happened at the high school just this last September, 200 extra students unlooked for, and not preregistered from the middle schools arrived too late to plan extra teachers or classrooms for.
More surprises below.
At the Jewel I'm picking up some paper tablecloths and am very surprised to see an expanded section on the shelves: home canning supplies. Yep, boxes of a dozen jars, lids, pectin, wax, all those items needed to put away your crop of string beans and peaches. Now, there is a large Orthodox Jewish community nearby, with yards big enough for kitchen gardens. And, there have been several predictions in local media that home gardening will be picking up this year, apparently seed sales have been huge. But canning supplies on Howard?
Walking home, I pass by a block of small apartment buildings, the kind with six units, two bedrooms, and usually occupied these days by our Hispanic neighbors. I've been seeing many, many "For Sale" signs in front of the four-flats that were turned into condos, but this was the first time I saw a large, colorful sign right in front that said, "Welcome Pets", with a drawing of a cat and dog. This is really unusual. Most small apartments will allow a small dog or cat, but advertising with a sign shows that someone is thinking hard about how to fill those empty units.
Two days ago in the Chicago Tribune was a front page article about a very large and influential law firm that has closed its lobby coffee bar. What made news a leaked email from a partner questioned the decision, saying that it was really only saving small dollars to close the coffee station, even though free coffee was still available on the office floors. This same law firm had just laid off 100 staff.
Heisler said the firm also canceled a black-tie, 75th anniversary event at the Field Museum. The money saved will supplement severance benefits to staff employees who lost their jobs.
Free coffee at work. It's one of the first things to go, isn't it? At my bookstore one of the perks was fresh coffee in the break room. Then it was the "not so fresh" coffee, and then it was no coffee. Heck, I can pay 39 cents for an employee coffee, I'd just like to have a few managers back, and a few hours. Our store cut the hours we were open last year when sales dropped like a stone and CD sales disappeared. First the Sunday hours were cut, then late night hours. This year the big bookstore on the corner followed our lead, and now I'm seeing signs in stores all through downtown Evanston changing closing hours to 8 p.m., or 7, or even 6. It's a way to save on payroll, and no one is breaking down the doors to shop then anyway.
I work part-time, and my job does not support my family, so I didn't learn until late that our company had stopped contributing to the 401Ks of the full-timers. I didn't learn until too late that the "overtime pay" for working 4th of July, or Easter was cut as well. It was hard seeing the management positions cut, it was hard seeing whole layers of district community service and marketing people cut. It's harder to see the inventory slashed.
Cheerful people from non-profits still try to come in and solicit an auction item. That's how PTA's and pre-schools earn money around here, with fund raising auctions. The pickins were slim at our school's artist-in-residence fundraiser last week. (But I got a terrific cheese basket for dirt cheap) Our store can give nothing. Nothing. For the last year or so we have tried to raise funds for literacy by asking for $1.00 at the register. Now everyone is doing that, every time you go to the grocery store and there's been a big push back. We didn't do it at holiday time this year because the cashiers have so much else to do.
And now, sacrificed to the retail gods, the Michigan Avenue store. That was a shock, I would never have predicted it. But it makes sense. The lease probably came up, the store has been losing millions in sales, and the cost of keeping that store open could prop up every other Chicagoland store. But, it was our home base while shopping Michigan Ave. and we will miss it terribly.
I'm down to one day a week. And last time I was in I was told that if need be, I could get out from behind the register and help people. Yes, abandon the cash counter, because there's no one else left to help the customers. When they come in.
Our family lives in a little protected corner of our economy, and my spouse has an excellent job, and makes money for his company, so we will be OK. What other signs have you see while out and about that prove that this really is a whole new day for America?