Anti-Violence Mothers Group Fears Loss Of Vital Safe Space

By Stephen Gossett in News on Jan 19, 2017 7:34PM

Signs for Mothers Against Senseless Killings / Facebook

The mastermind behind one of Chicago’s most visible and successful grassroots community campaigns against gun violence is worried that the slow wheels of city bureaucracy will stop her from continuing her outreach.

For the past two successive summers, Tamar Manasseh, founder of Mothers Against Senseless Killings, has turned the corner of 75th Street and Stewart Avenue into a community safe space from the specter of violence. She and neighbors and volunteers set up lawn chairs, bring games and foster a sense of community for children.

But Manasseh said she was pushed last year from her usual spot after complaints to the city from a corner property owner. Undeterred, she applied for adjacent vacant parcels, located on the southwest corner of the same intersection, through the city’s Large Lots program last year. But the red tape she’s encountered could keep her off the space through the summer, when Chicago violence tends to peak, she worries.

Despite what Manasseh called a “face-to-face guarantee” from Mayor Rahm Emanuel last September that the lot would be hers by the summer, the city is now telling Manasseh that she’ll have to reapply in August.

The director of the city's Large Lots program did not immediately return a request for comment.

Manasseh is eager to get the space excavated and prepped for summer but can’t take those steps until the property is transferred, she told Chicagoist.

“It’s literally about saving lives, keeping from people from being murdered,” she told Chicagoist.

One of the parcels Manasseh seeks to acquire will be under county control rather than city; but the Cook County Land Bank is still in the process of issuing that deed from the current private owner. Rob Rose, executive director of Cook County, told Chicagoist that the bank should be able to transfer the property to Manasseh in April or May.

Still, the city lot remains up in the air, according to Manasseh, and she worries the clock may expire before ownership is turned over. There are no contingency plans, she said, other than re-claiming the corner as she has in the past.

"If I'm threatened with trespassing then that that’s what I'll do," she told Chicagoist. "We won't disappoint the community."