We will post articles here that we believe are relevant to the positive life of the Southeast Chicago and Northwest Indiana Communities. Contentiousness can be found on Facebook and most social media, as well as on metropolitan and national media. We choose to limit our material to that which, in our opinion, does not erode the soul of the community. However, we will also reserve the right to comment about community matters that concern us. Our site, our choice. 🙂 -- k/j
Guide for Meeting Leaders
Kevin P. Murphy
During the 1960s and '70s, I designed and subsequently taught a course on "Conference Leadership & Problem Solving for Managers" at what was then known as the Advanced Management Institute (A.M.I.), at Lake Forest College, in Illinois. It was an evenings-only course, and the "students" during the years that I taught that course (among others) at A.M.I. were all managers from corporations located in the Chicago, northeastern Illinois, and southeastern Wisconsin area.
Looking back, now, I wonder why I did not label the course "Meeting Leadership . . . etc.," because I had designed it to meet a strongly felt need among the "student body" for help in planning and conducting work-related meetings. But, whatever the reason for the actual labeling, the focus was on the meeting-running aspect of their work -- which was a constant, and frustrating requirement for them.
The document included in this article was developed during that time. I updated it, in 2007, to attempt to improve meetings in which we were regularly involved, in the Southeast Chicago and Northwest Indiana region, where meetings were still being conducted in a manner that made us feel that we were living in the movie, "Groundhog Day." That was true for almost every meeting in which we participated -- and they were abundant at that time. (The exceptions were delightfully productive.)
I do not recall whether or not there was an opportunity to share the document with anyone at that time (2007), since our access to digital media was more limited than it is today, but I do know that the need for improved meeting leadership is still great. That is one reason that we prefer e-mail to physical meetings -- much less of our time is wasted on redundant, repetitious, unproductive gatherings allegedly intended to solve problems, devise plans and procedures, etc.
We have seen at least one organization atrophy and die due to such "Groundhog Day" paralysis, while opportunities for its survival beckoned and pleaded for attention but could not break the horrible communication patterns that blocked progress.
So, in hope that there are still potential meeting leaders/facilitators in the audience who might see the value of it, I offer the following "Tips for Problem-Solving Meeting Facilitators."
Tips for Problem-Solving Meeting Facilitators:
The role of meeting leader/facilitator should be "to facilitate: make (an action or process) easy or easier." (Oxford American Dictionaries)
With that definition in mind, here are some caveats regarding the Facilitator's Role in the Problem-Solving Meeting group.
Here are suggestions for effectively facilitating a meeting:
Following this sort of procedure is much more likely to lead a group toward solutions to problems, improved plans for events, the establishment of better ongoing procedures, and the like, rather than leaving such things to the off-chance that an unprepared, unskilled leader will have the magic to incorporate the meeting group members' resources in a productive way. Decades of empirical observation suggest that that will not happen. ###
Looking back, now, I wonder why I did not label the course "Meeting Leadership . . . etc.," because I had designed it to meet a strongly felt need among the "student body" for help in planning and conducting work-related meetings. But, whatever the reason for the actual labeling, the focus was on the meeting-running aspect of their work -- which was a constant, and frustrating requirement for them.
The document included in this article was developed during that time. I updated it, in 2007, to attempt to improve meetings in which we were regularly involved, in the Southeast Chicago and Northwest Indiana region, where meetings were still being conducted in a manner that made us feel that we were living in the movie, "Groundhog Day." That was true for almost every meeting in which we participated -- and they were abundant at that time. (The exceptions were delightfully productive.)
I do not recall whether or not there was an opportunity to share the document with anyone at that time (2007), since our access to digital media was more limited than it is today, but I do know that the need for improved meeting leadership is still great. That is one reason that we prefer e-mail to physical meetings -- much less of our time is wasted on redundant, repetitious, unproductive gatherings allegedly intended to solve problems, devise plans and procedures, etc.
We have seen at least one organization atrophy and die due to such "Groundhog Day" paralysis, while opportunities for its survival beckoned and pleaded for attention but could not break the horrible communication patterns that blocked progress.
So, in hope that there are still potential meeting leaders/facilitators in the audience who might see the value of it, I offer the following "Tips for Problem-Solving Meeting Facilitators."
Tips for Problem-Solving Meeting Facilitators:
The role of meeting leader/facilitator should be "to facilitate: make (an action or process) easy or easier." (Oxford American Dictionaries)
With that definition in mind, here are some caveats regarding the Facilitator's Role in the Problem-Solving Meeting group.
- It is NOT the Facilitator's responsibility to comment on every statement that group members make, nor to summarize every thought that is expressed within the group.
- It is NOT the Facilitator's responsibility to approve or disapprove of comments that members make.
- It is NOT the Facilitator's responsibility to "direct traffic" -- that is, the Facilitator should not be the focal point through whom communications must flow. A Problem-Solving Meeting is not a classroom, with a teacher at the front and students raising their hands for permission to speak. Communications should flow from the issues, with members commenting freely on the ideas being shared, and offering their own ideas to enrich the mix.
- It IS the facilitator's role to insure that all members who wish to speak get the opportunity to speak.
- It IS the facilitator's role to diplomatically curtail discussion monopolizers, if group members, themselves, do not do so.
Here are suggestions for effectively facilitating a meeting:
- To start the meeting, remind the group that it has a two-fold focus:
- content: the question that the group is attempting to answer, the problem that it is attempting to resolve, the event that it is attempting to plan, etc..
- process: the procedural guidelines for maximizing the group's effectiveness:
- Remind the group that discussion rules require that everyone have an equal opportunity to express ideas, that one person should be allowed to finish her/his statement before the next person begins.
- Then, the Facilitator should get out of the group's way. (See the caveats, above.)
- When the group is clearly at a discussion impasse, the Facilitator may pose question(s) to rekindle the discussion, or may recap what has been said up to that point to stimulate further discussion. If possible, pose a question that might encourage the group members, themselves, to do the recapping.
- If the group is clearly straying widely from its stated objective, AND IF that straying has not become more important than the stated objective, AND IF no group members attempt to refocus the discussion, then the Facilitator should intervene, point out that the group is moving away from its objective and ask them if they wish to return to that initial focus. Then, it is up to the group to decide what it will do.
- If the group is to report to others, or simply in need of a summary that all can access, then someone (NOT the Facilitator!) should record the main ideas agreed on during the discussion, and read them aloud to the group to insure agreement with the substance of the summary (or, if time is a problem, e-mail them to the group to insure agreement with the substance of the summary).
Following this sort of procedure is much more likely to lead a group toward solutions to problems, improved plans for events, the establishment of better ongoing procedures, and the like, rather than leaving such things to the off-chance that an unprepared, unskilled leader will have the magic to incorporate the meeting group members' resources in a productive way. Decades of empirical observation suggest that that will not happen. ###
UIC Students Exhibit Designs for Steel Museum at USX Ore Walls
by Joann Podkul Murphy
On Friday, March 15, at the invitation of the Steelworkers Park Advisory Council, three teams of students from the UI-Champaign-Urbana School of Architecture, accompanied by Professor Sara Bartumeus, exhibited their mid-term work-to-date on the concept of a steel museum between the still-standing ore walls at the former United States Steel South Works/USX site.
Viewed by the community as the iconic remnants of the steelmaking industry in South Chicago -- a place where almost everyone has family or other historic connections to the site -- the two sets of walls housed the raw materials for steel production.
The student projects were wide ranging, from a modest raised walkway through the space between the walls to a glass enclosed steel museum perched on top of them. Numerous other options and facilities were included. Among them were temporary housing, movable sculptural pieces, picnic space, a community center and library, a farmer's market, buildings for art, restaurants, shops for retail and training, an exposition gallery, and even a brewery, with hops grown on site.
Recreational spaces included skate parks, basketball courts, a swimming pool in the boat slip, and other park and open space amenities.
Above all, the designs envisioned a space for memorializing and celebrating the steel-making process that had a global reach, and the steelworkers with their stories, through stunning exhibits, murals and raw materials related to steel production. One project included an iron ore mound and, very likely, other examples of raw materials; another built a replica of the rail line running through the mill linking production centers.
While environmental issues may continue to plague the site, students employed green concepts in the process of renovation. One was using plants to cure contaminated soil. Merely preserving the walls rather than demolishing them is in itself conservation writ large.
Some designs took the project past a single set of ore walls to the older set along the slip by envisioning an art space in the tunnel on that side, which would also serve as an entrance to the whole facility.
For residents who have waited for more than a generation for something to spring up in the mill space, these student projects help us to realize that people from outside of the area can also be highly impressed with what we have in our backyard and their proposed uses might actually be a basis for the renovation of the space while paying tribute to its original purpose. The walls are at best a slender core or spine in the enormous property, but by working with these existing structures, this could be the start of something big. Wouldn't that be a blast?
###
Viewed by the community as the iconic remnants of the steelmaking industry in South Chicago -- a place where almost everyone has family or other historic connections to the site -- the two sets of walls housed the raw materials for steel production.
The student projects were wide ranging, from a modest raised walkway through the space between the walls to a glass enclosed steel museum perched on top of them. Numerous other options and facilities were included. Among them were temporary housing, movable sculptural pieces, picnic space, a community center and library, a farmer's market, buildings for art, restaurants, shops for retail and training, an exposition gallery, and even a brewery, with hops grown on site.
Recreational spaces included skate parks, basketball courts, a swimming pool in the boat slip, and other park and open space amenities.
Above all, the designs envisioned a space for memorializing and celebrating the steel-making process that had a global reach, and the steelworkers with their stories, through stunning exhibits, murals and raw materials related to steel production. One project included an iron ore mound and, very likely, other examples of raw materials; another built a replica of the rail line running through the mill linking production centers.
While environmental issues may continue to plague the site, students employed green concepts in the process of renovation. One was using plants to cure contaminated soil. Merely preserving the walls rather than demolishing them is in itself conservation writ large.
Some designs took the project past a single set of ore walls to the older set along the slip by envisioning an art space in the tunnel on that side, which would also serve as an entrance to the whole facility.
For residents who have waited for more than a generation for something to spring up in the mill space, these student projects help us to realize that people from outside of the area can also be highly impressed with what we have in our backyard and their proposed uses might actually be a basis for the renovation of the space while paying tribute to its original purpose. The walls are at best a slender core or spine in the enormous property, but by working with these existing structures, this could be the start of something big. Wouldn't that be a blast?
###
Illiana Birds: Mute Swans found dead in George Lake, Hammond--Part 2
January 26, 2019 -- Carolyn Marsh has provided us with this update on that issue: https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/george-lake-dead-swans-point-to-larger-issue-of-region/article_336a4866-b88a-5054-8463-6bdc5f95b09c.html#utm_source=nwitimes.com&utm_campaign=%2Femail-updates%2Fbreaking%2F&utm_medium=email&utm_content=668518F976F24918D5B44168E84410A3DFC94AEA
Thank you, Carolyn.
Thank you, Carolyn.
Illiana Birds: Mute Swans found dead in George Lake, Hammond
by Carolyn A. Marsh
The holiday season kept many people very busy, but not the way we expected. At George Lake, next to the Lost Marsh Golf Course, Bob Lukacsek estimated he saw about 30 dead Mute Swans along the shoreline since September. John Madeka documented over 20 in the following months.
My concern was finding out if what killed the resident swans would affect the migrating swans. One day in November there were 18 Tundras and 3 Trumpeters mixed in with 23 resident Mute Swans.
Madeka delivered two dead Mute Swans to Indiana Humane Wildlife in Valparaiso and later the Indiana Department of Natural Resources picked up carcasses. They were taken to the Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in West Lafayette to determine the cause of death.
I contacted the US Fish and Wildlife Service and asked them to request the DNR examine the carcasses for lead and arsenic since Whiting Metals bordered George Lake. The US Environmental Protection Agency and Indiana Department of Environmental Management had sent a Notice of Violation to Whiting Metals for emitting twice the legal limit of lead into the air according to air monitor samples taken in August, September, and October 2018.
The DNR wildlife veterinarian found six carcasses had toxic lead levels in the kidneys. High lead levels can cause kidney failure in humans.
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson exposed the danger of toxic chemicals to wildlife and, by extension, to humans. Hopefully the swans didn't die in vain and people will benefit in some way from the investigation of their deaths.
The holiday season kept many people very busy, but not the way we expected. At George Lake, next to the Lost Marsh Golf Course, Bob Lukacsek estimated he saw about 30 dead Mute Swans along the shoreline since September. John Madeka documented over 20 in the following months.
My concern was finding out if what killed the resident swans would affect the migrating swans. One day in November there were 18 Tundras and 3 Trumpeters mixed in with 23 resident Mute Swans.
Madeka delivered two dead Mute Swans to Indiana Humane Wildlife in Valparaiso and later the Indiana Department of Natural Resources picked up carcasses. They were taken to the Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in West Lafayette to determine the cause of death.
I contacted the US Fish and Wildlife Service and asked them to request the DNR examine the carcasses for lead and arsenic since Whiting Metals bordered George Lake. The US Environmental Protection Agency and Indiana Department of Environmental Management had sent a Notice of Violation to Whiting Metals for emitting twice the legal limit of lead into the air according to air monitor samples taken in August, September, and October 2018.
The DNR wildlife veterinarian found six carcasses had toxic lead levels in the kidneys. High lead levels can cause kidney failure in humans.
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson exposed the danger of toxic chemicals to wildlife and, by extension, to humans. Hopefully the swans didn't die in vain and people will benefit in some way from the investigation of their deaths.
NOTE: Carolyn's article is well-timed, with respect to another event and discussion of this issue that we have recorded and placed on our YouTube website, at this address: https://youtu.be/uVIa3WkRThk
Shared with us by Michael Puente of WBEZ News:
Home Sellers In Historic Town Say Oil Giant BP Is Lowballing Them:
https://www.wbez.org/shows/wbez-news/home-sellers-in-historic-town-say-oil-giant-bp-is-lowballing-them/d8f8f076-231c-4e54-b30a-84342225d4c0
https://www.wbez.org/shows/wbez-news/home-sellers-in-historic-town-say-oil-giant-bp-is-lowballing-them/d8f8f076-231c-4e54-b30a-84342225d4c0
HERE IS THE TEXT OF THAT INTERVIEW:
WBEZ NEWS
Home Sellers In Historic Town Say Oil Giant BP Is Lowballing Them
Michael Puente
January 2, 2019
For better or worse, industry and East Chicago, Indiana have gone hand in hand for more than a century.
Nowhere is that more evident than in the city’s historic, planned worker community: Marktown.
The neighborhood is sandwiched between a massive steel plant and one of the nation’s largest oil refineries — BP, which has been buying homes and buildings in Marktown for years and clearing them away to create more green space. Marktown once had more than 200 homes and duplexes, but many have been torn down over the years and their occupants relocated.
Some of the remaining, mostly Hispanic and working class residents want to sell to the oil giant, but they say the amount BP is offering isn’t nearly enough for what their homes are worth.
“This house, I pay $30,000. I put [in] $20,000 because I fixed it,” said Marktown resident Ricardo Maldonado, who bought his home 14 years ago. “I don’t think it’s fair that they offer me $30,000. I think something fair is $50,000 or $60,000. Something like that.”
Built more than a century ago by industrialist Clayton Mark so workers could live near his factory, Marktown’s unique, Tudor-style homes are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s often compared to Chicago’s historic Pullman area that's just 10 miles away, but it’s never received the same effort toward preservation.
While some like to romanticize Marktown, it can be hard living there.
It’s isolated from the rest of the city of East Chicago, with no nearby grocery stores or schools within walking distance. And some residents say the air quality is terrible due to the nearby steel plant and refinery.
“Who wants to live with so much contamination?” asked resident Olivia Xelhantze. “The contamination and the odor.”
Xelhantze moved to Marktown with her husband, Juan, and two children seven years ago.
The air pollution is so bad that Xelhantze doesn’t let her children play outside in a nearby park. She and some of her neighbors want to move, but they contend the offers they’re received from BP are too low.
“BP has offered, in my opinion, a very unjust and unfair value that goes from $20,000 and in some cases $30,000,” said Juan Villarreal, a licensed real estate broker who’s representing 26 of the remaining 65 or so homeowners in their dealings with BP.
“What was once Marktown, a vibrant community, has now dwindled because of the devastation that the pollution has created, and people have been forced to sell their houses.”
Villarreal said some homeowners feel pressured to sell to the company.
“Sometimes we’re given an ultimatum by brokers that represent BP suggesting that if they didn’t take the offer now, which would be on average of 20 to 30,000, that they would be lucky if BP would even offer them half. And so there’s a lot of scare tactics,” Villarreal said.
BP Director of Media Affairs Michael Abendhoff said the company has been purchasing property around the refinery for more than 20 years in an effort to create more green space. That means clearing away historic structures, putting the future of Marktown in doubt.
“In all cases, the properties were purchased from willing sellers who owned homes that had been vacant or in disrepair,” Abendhoff said. “Where there were safety hazards, BP had the purchased properties demolished or removed. BP always negotiated in good faith and will continue to work with willing sellers to purchase properties around the perimeter of the plant as opportunities arise.”
East Chicago City Councilman Robert Garcia, who represents the neighborhood, thinks otherwise.
“BP just don’t understand,” Garcia said. “These homes probably aren't worth much, but a lot of those residents and homeowners have their homes paid off and that’s priceless to them.”
Garcia accused BP of “shortchanging” Marktown residents.“They make a billion dollars every quarter. If you want them out, give them a higher amount,” he said.
BP hasn’t explained why it wants to clear the homes, beyond saying it wants to create more green space. But local environmental activist Thomas Frank has an idea.
He said after a fatal explosion at BP’s Texas City, Texas refinery in 2005, the company may want a buffer between its facility and Marktown.
“They are mitigating against the potential for a blast,” Frank said.
As BP continues to make offers for Marktown homes, owner Juan Rivas said the money isn’t enough to make it possible to move.
“Where are we going? With $20,000, we won’t get anything,” Rivas said.
Michael Puente is WBEZ’s Northwest Indiana Bureau reporter. Follow him on Twitter @MikePuenteNews.
WBEZ 91.5fm Chicago
WBEZ NEWS
Home Sellers In Historic Town Say Oil Giant BP Is Lowballing Them
Michael Puente
January 2, 2019
For better or worse, industry and East Chicago, Indiana have gone hand in hand for more than a century.
Nowhere is that more evident than in the city’s historic, planned worker community: Marktown.
The neighborhood is sandwiched between a massive steel plant and one of the nation’s largest oil refineries — BP, which has been buying homes and buildings in Marktown for years and clearing them away to create more green space. Marktown once had more than 200 homes and duplexes, but many have been torn down over the years and their occupants relocated.
Some of the remaining, mostly Hispanic and working class residents want to sell to the oil giant, but they say the amount BP is offering isn’t nearly enough for what their homes are worth.
“This house, I pay $30,000. I put [in] $20,000 because I fixed it,” said Marktown resident Ricardo Maldonado, who bought his home 14 years ago. “I don’t think it’s fair that they offer me $30,000. I think something fair is $50,000 or $60,000. Something like that.”
Built more than a century ago by industrialist Clayton Mark so workers could live near his factory, Marktown’s unique, Tudor-style homes are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s often compared to Chicago’s historic Pullman area that's just 10 miles away, but it’s never received the same effort toward preservation.
While some like to romanticize Marktown, it can be hard living there.
It’s isolated from the rest of the city of East Chicago, with no nearby grocery stores or schools within walking distance. And some residents say the air quality is terrible due to the nearby steel plant and refinery.
“Who wants to live with so much contamination?” asked resident Olivia Xelhantze. “The contamination and the odor.”
Xelhantze moved to Marktown with her husband, Juan, and two children seven years ago.
The air pollution is so bad that Xelhantze doesn’t let her children play outside in a nearby park. She and some of her neighbors want to move, but they contend the offers they’re received from BP are too low.
“BP has offered, in my opinion, a very unjust and unfair value that goes from $20,000 and in some cases $30,000,” said Juan Villarreal, a licensed real estate broker who’s representing 26 of the remaining 65 or so homeowners in their dealings with BP.
“What was once Marktown, a vibrant community, has now dwindled because of the devastation that the pollution has created, and people have been forced to sell their houses.”
Villarreal said some homeowners feel pressured to sell to the company.
“Sometimes we’re given an ultimatum by brokers that represent BP suggesting that if they didn’t take the offer now, which would be on average of 20 to 30,000, that they would be lucky if BP would even offer them half. And so there’s a lot of scare tactics,” Villarreal said.
BP Director of Media Affairs Michael Abendhoff said the company has been purchasing property around the refinery for more than 20 years in an effort to create more green space. That means clearing away historic structures, putting the future of Marktown in doubt.
“In all cases, the properties were purchased from willing sellers who owned homes that had been vacant or in disrepair,” Abendhoff said. “Where there were safety hazards, BP had the purchased properties demolished or removed. BP always negotiated in good faith and will continue to work with willing sellers to purchase properties around the perimeter of the plant as opportunities arise.”
East Chicago City Councilman Robert Garcia, who represents the neighborhood, thinks otherwise.
“BP just don’t understand,” Garcia said. “These homes probably aren't worth much, but a lot of those residents and homeowners have their homes paid off and that’s priceless to them.”
Garcia accused BP of “shortchanging” Marktown residents.“They make a billion dollars every quarter. If you want them out, give them a higher amount,” he said.
BP hasn’t explained why it wants to clear the homes, beyond saying it wants to create more green space. But local environmental activist Thomas Frank has an idea.
He said after a fatal explosion at BP’s Texas City, Texas refinery in 2005, the company may want a buffer between its facility and Marktown.
“They are mitigating against the potential for a blast,” Frank said.
As BP continues to make offers for Marktown homes, owner Juan Rivas said the money isn’t enough to make it possible to move.
“Where are we going? With $20,000, we won’t get anything,” Rivas said.
Michael Puente is WBEZ’s Northwest Indiana Bureau reporter. Follow him on Twitter @MikePuenteNews.
WBEZ 91.5fm Chicago
Thank you, Mike, for sharing the article. -- kpm