So that's that. The site of the buildings that had become a "nationwide symbol for the failure of public housing" will be occupied by a big red bullseye, a symbol of American consumerism. more ›

Target and the Chicago Housing Authority are in talks to do a land swap which, if it goes through, would give the retail giant five acres of land where the William Green homes portion of Cabrini-Green once stood. In exchange, Target would give CHA land of equal value so they can build homes in the same area. more ›

If, on Monday night, you were to gaze up at the final building in the Cabrini-Green project left to be demolished, and saw hundreds of winking lights, you'd be well within your rights to ask the disembodied Yahoo Answers in your head: "Hey, what are all these winking lights doing in the last Cabrini-Green building left to be demolished?" more ›

Long after the last structure is demolished, Cabrini-Green will remain a potent symbol of 20th Century Chicago's complicated history of dealing with segregation and poverty. And long after the last resident moved out, Cabrini-Green will still be thought of as "home" by thousands of Chicagoans. Its complete story cannot yet be told, one local filmmaker is looking for help to put the latest chapter in the books. more ›

The Cabrini-Green housing projects are now part of history, but the lives and memories of hundreds of its former residents continue to bear witness. A few of them are captured most eloquently in a new interactive documentary, Out My Window. more ›

Annie Ricks has the distinction of being the final resident of Cabrini Green to leave the infamous housing projects. She and her family leave today to a new apartment at Wentworth Gardens, by U.S. Cellular Field. more ›

• The CHA has closed two of the remaining Cabrini-Green buildings, meaning just one remains open.
• Anita Kustok, the mother of Comcast SportsNet reporter Sarah Kustok and former Northwestern quarterback Zak Kustok as well as an elementary school teacher, was killed by a gunshot wound to the head.
• Jay Mariotti has pleaded no contest to one domestic violence charge while the other six were dropped.

Citing crime and safety issues as a primary concern, the Chicago Housing Authority issued 30-day eviction notices to the 31 families still living in the Cabrini-Green building at 1230 N. Larrabee Street. The families aren't pleased with the notices that they felt came out of nowhere. According to the Sun-Times, residents thought a new mixed-income housing development was planned for the future and believed they secured an agreement to stay via a federal lawsuit. CHA’s Plan for Transformation calls for a standard 180-day notice and a federal judge was overseeing negotiations between CHA and tenants seeking to consolidate into one of the four Cabrini-Green properties while awaiting new housing. more ›

True/Slant's Megan Cottrell brings us this stop-motion video of the demolition of the latest Cabrini-Green building to be torn down, shot by a pair of her friends who live nearby. more ›

ChicagoNow's Megan Cottrell wrote an excellent piece about the Chicago Avenue garden at Cabrini Green's southern tip that's run by Fourth Presbyterian Church's "Chicago Lights" outreach program. Cottrell reports on some of the relationships developing in the garden between Old Town and Cabrini Green residents, as well as the struggles faced in getting Cabrini residents to take part in the project. (via Windy Citizen) more ›

Situated in the Gold Coast steps away from the new Barneys store, Ogden International Elementary is considered one of Chicago’s finest public schools where students of well-off parents from the neighborhood can choose from a curriculum of after-school activities such as yoga and drawing classes. more ›

Shatoya Currie is looking for a new home, just like many other former residents of the Cabrini-Green housing project. However, Currie is confined to a wheelchair and unable to see or speak because of a 1997 attack that took place in the housing project. Currie was referred to as "Girl X" during the trial, since she was just nine years old at the time of the attack. Patrick Sykes was sentenced to 120 years in prison for the attack. A Time magazine article in 1997 contrasted public reaction to this case to that of the Jon-Benet Ramsey case. She is 22 years old now and is no longer eligible to stay at the Illinois Center for Rehabilitation and Education, so she must find a new home. more ›

Last month the Cabrini-Green building at 412 W. Chicago Ave. was closed due to concerns about violence and gang activity. The building, now gutted and boarded up with the gates welded shut, awaits the wrecking ball sometime this spring or summer. The Chicago Housing Authority says all 25 families living there have found a place to live but community advocates are concerned this may not be accurate. One former resident told the Chi-Town Daily News that the time-line to find a new home was too short and left people homeless and forced to take up residence in shelters or move in to overcrowded apartments with family. more ›

Five days ago, a New Foundland dog escaped from its owner's office in River North, not having been seen since. While it's fairly common to have a pup go missing in the city, most dogs aren't quite like Johnny B. Good, who weighs in at a staggering 125 pounds and stands at over three feet tall on all fours. His owner, Chad Munger, said that the dog opened two doors himself, using his head and... more ›

We want to like Vocalo, we really do. But we’re finding it hard to put their broadcast stream ahead of WBEZ podcasts, our iTunes playlist, and Radio David Byrne. more ›

The demolition of the old Cabrini Green housing projects has made for some interesting sightseeing. Chicagoist is like a little kid watching wrecking balls and big bulldozers mashing concrete, and this project has been on a rather grand scale. But apparently the teardown has had some audio side-effects too. more ›

NBC-5 reports that three men shot a film that attempts to show what life is really like in the Cabrini Green housing project. Shot over a period of five years from 2001 to 2006, the film shows images of violence, police confrontations and rhyme battles in addition to remembrances of friends who have died. The Chicago Housing Authroity objects to the film’s content on the grounds that it portrays only the gang activity within the... more ›

Chicagoist often gazes through Brown Line windows at the ever-so-dismal remains of the Cabrini Green community, and has wondered time and time again just what went wrong with some of the Chicago Housing Authority’s (CHA) most ambitious, and notorious, housing projects. For that reason, Roosevelt University's The Promise of Public Housing, 1936-1983 is situated firmly atop our “Damn, This Exhibit Looks Cool” file. Compiling more than 80 photographs culled from the archives of the CHA... more ›

Until yesterday, this year’s Oscar buzz resembled nothing more than a low, indistinguishable hum; the conventional wisdom was that no film--and few actors--had emerged as front-runners. But as Chicago starts to feel its first few bites of winter, one of its own is getting some long-overdue recognition. more ›