PAWS Chicago

By Katrina Kopeck and Katelyn Lorenz

High ceilings and large windows cast light into the open space. The floors are shiny and the air smells fresh. A bookshelf, sofas and a fireplace keep the atmosphere home-like and friendly. To the untrained eye, this feels more like a hotel lobby than a dog shelter.

The lobby at PAWS Chicago. (Photo by Katelyn Lorenz)

The PAWS (Pets Are Worth Saving) Animal Shelter, formally named Pippen Fasseas Adoption Center is located at 1997 N. Clybourn Avenue. Its location in Lincoln Park provides more incentive for people who are looking to adopt a new cat or dog companion. The facility was strategically placed in Lincoln Park for a reason too.

“Research shows that people don’t want to adopt because they don’t want to go where the shelters are,” said Paws volunteer and former pet foster mother, Susan Barrish.

“Typically a shelter is run by a city or county government, or a charity like us–they don’t have a lot of money, so they have to go where they can afford the square footage they can retrofit for low-cost, and that’s all industrial areas,” said Barrish, “ACC [Animal Care and Control] is at 27th and Western…think if you live in Highland Park; you’re not going down to the shelter. So, we took that excuse off the table by building in Lincoln Park…we did it on purpose.”

Baseball

Lincoln Park Muggings in Summer 2009

Several muggings were reported in Lincoln Park in the summer of 2009.  The attacks drew a lot of attention from the Lincoln Park and DePaul communities, as well as from large Chicago news stations. So far, no arrests have been made.

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Police believe that the first four attacks are related.  All four of these victims were men in their early to mid-20s who were walking alone late at night.  Each man was confronted on foot from behind by at least four attackers, who were also men in their 20s. The victims were asked for their wallets, then beaten in the head and face, causing two of the victims to be hospitalized.

While no arrests have been made, the victim in the 3 a.m. August 1 attack identified an arrestee in a physical lineup. The suspect was later released on lack of evidence.

Andrew Huff on Gapers Block and Freelance Blogging

From a “labor of love” to a well-established website, Gapers Block points viewers to the happenings in Chicago.

Gaper’s Block is a website dedicated to hyper-local Chicago news.  Gapers Block’s co-founder, Andrew Huff, said he likes the term “gapers block” because it’s “an inside thing for Chicagoans,” a Chicago term meaning rubbernecking.  When something interesting happens, people tend to slow down to stare, open-mouthed.  This creates a traffic clog, and hence, a gapers block.

Huff spoke to Chicago journalism students at DePaul University on Wednesday, telling them about his personal journey and the life of a blogger.

Huff started Gapers Block in 2003, when he and his Gapers Block partner identified a need for a single place to find out about neat things around the city.  He said there were a lot of great projects on the web, but to find them, viewers had to jump from blog to blog.