TribLocal Evanston - 14 2 September 2010
TRIBLOCAL.COM
Government to give \$15 million for AuschwitzBirkenau memorial Loyola football strikes early in shutout of Evanston
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Evanston | Skokie
VOICE OF THE TOWN
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SEPTEMBER 2-8, 2010 | SPONSORED BY THE
Woman in tree dispute learns condo is safe — for now
By Jonathan Bullington
TRIBLOCAL REPORTER
Skokie food pantry employee, James Tassev, stacking cases of food.
TribLocal photo by Brian Cox
Skokie food pantry sees spike in visitors
By Brian Cox
SPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE
Cynthia Carranza is trying to feed the hungry in Skokie even as she tries to knock down myths about the needy. “People think that there is no poverty up here, and that could not be further from the truth,” said Carranza, director of the Niles Township Food Pantry in Skokie. “I’m really trying to get people to understand this… We’re all in this crisis together. This is hitting everyone.” These are trying days for Carranza and the growing numbers of people who use the food pantry. Carranza said that the number of Skokie residents who depend on the pantry as a primary source of food has risen sharply in the past year while funding and
donations have taken a hit due to the sluggish economy. “The need in the community has doubled if not more,” Carranza said. “There are people who literally would not eat if they did not come here.” Help, in the form of federal funding, may be on the way. Carranza said she is waiting to hear if the food pantry will receive \$250,000 from an appropriations bill that the U.S. House of Representatives passed in July. She said U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-9th) proposed the funding, part of the Transportation and Urban Development Appropriations Act for 2011. The money would allow the food pantry to expand its cramped
PLEASE SEE PANTRY, PAGE 6
The Evanston woman embroiled in a long-running legal dispute with the city over the removal of a tree has learned that condominium will not be part of a tax sale — at least for now. Padma Rao faced losing her condo on the 2200 block of Sherman Avenue due to her three-year legal battle with the city over its efforts to collect a \$632 special assessment tax for an alley-paving project. Long since complete, the project included the removal of a tree located in part on condominium property. Rao challenged paying the assessment because it would cause her to violate her Hindu belief that living things should not be needlessly killed. The city sent several letters saying she would be reported to the Cook County Collector for lack of payment. She recently received a notice from the Cook County Treasurer’s Office saying she could potentially lose her condo in a tax
sale. But Rao’s property was removed from the tax sale list after she showed the treasurer’s office a 2008 Cook County Circuit Court ruling that vacated the city’s courtobtained warrant to collect the assessment while the case was under appeal. A state appellate court ruled in the city’s favor, and she has tried twice, unsuccessfully, to have her case heard before the U.S. Supreme Court. Rao said she would continue to fight the city “tooth and nail” to avoid compromising her religious beliefs. Rao, a radiologist, has lived in her condo with her mother for the last 24 years. In January of 2007, the city brought up the idea of paving and widening the gravel alley that runs from Noyes Street to Colfax Street, a small portion of which abuts her condo building. As part of the project, the city proposed removing a tree on the northwest corner of her building’s property, which Rao said was
PLEASE SEE CONDO, PAGE 6
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