I have been coming into CCJ as a volunteer for a good number of years now and it is the high point…read moreof my week every week. As the weeks have added together into years it has walked away with my most prized experience year after year. Coming here has taught me that I cannot receive but by giving. My years of trying to gain for myself by taking always availed less and less until I was left with little more than too much stuff and too many things. Nothing more. I bring an AA meeting directly to offenders who sit in each other's rot all day with no hope and no inspiration to break their cycles of relapse and failure. I bring hope to them and I can see it come back to me in their smiles and expressions of gratitude. There is nothing like it in the world! I read a lot about the intolerance and ignorance of the guards but my extended experience has been the polar opposite. I get out of my relationships with them what I put into them. Nothing more and nothing less. They are exposed to extreme toxic behavior that comes down from the top and up from the bottom every single day. I might end up acting out my own hostilities if I had to experience the poisonous environment that they vocationally live in. I challenge any normal human to tell me they wouldn't! But when I leave my AA experience and am able to walk out the front door a free man, I experience the sensation of flight for a brief moment. A total free fall escape from the dungeons and back into my life which, for these few moments, seems so blessed and blissful by comparison to what I have just experienced.

Evil people who do evil things run this hellhole. My charge was completely absurd and was dropped…read morealmost immediately after I was released. In the 28 hours I was held here: barely any water. unable to eat --the one "meal" they offered I couldn't consume because of a medical condition that causes severe illness when I consume wheat. Harassed and mocked for my gender identity (after an arresting officer unzipped my coat and grabbed my chest to determine my sex). Fellow inmate denied medical attention for symptoms of a concussion after being dropped on her head by arresting officers. Ignored and later mocked for screaming and crying for help for her. Denied necessary medications and then released feeling very ill and barely able to see straight. These guards could not care less who you are or why you are in there. They would literally not care if you drop dead. They are sick people who get off on others' suffering. Shame on them all.

I recently had jury duty in the "George N. Leighton" criminal courthouse. By the way, Judge…read moreLeighton has a great story of his own and I encourage you all to Google and find out. I saw a few yelpers' reviews on the courthouse itself and their experiences. There was no cafeteria anymore. Instead, there were vending machines, featuring Farmer's Fridge and other generic ones, inside the jurors' waiting room. Overall, the offerings were quite decent and eating surely would make the time go by a bit faster! I did use the bathroom a few times and the janitor came through several times to tidy things up. Fortunately, we were dismissed early due to the defendant' plea deal. To be honest, I would love to be called to the court room and get that "voir dire" process started. Anyway, I was fine either way since it would be a long way traveling back home and traffic wasn't heavy in the late morning/early afternoon. The information video seemed to be updated from the last time I served my first jury duty (sometime 2017), except Judge Timothy C. Evans' introduction filed in the 90's still existed. That part could use some new technology because it didn't sync with the rest of the contents. People couldn't be any nicer! Everyone I talked to was polite. I almost wanted to use the lactation room, as I found out we were going to be dismissed soon. I opted out but the facility would be available for nursing moms and I bet the clerk would be happy to help. For transportation options, CTA bus #94 drops passengers in front of the courtroom and parking lot. Jurors can park for free and there is an instruction on the summon. The Pink Line California station is approximately of a 10-min walk and it seems safe during the day, yet exercise your own discretion.

I was affirmed to be serving jury duty in person at this criminal Court in Chicago. Today, it was…read morean epic subzero day where most schools were closed. Jury duty members and members attending their court date arrived and entered the same entrance across the street from the parking garage. Getting in around 8:30, an hour earlier than the reported time, seemed to be a good idea, however, there was a bit of a lack of efficiency in the way the lines were queued up. If you are attending courts for any reason and you are not in jury duty, you must check your mobile phone or not bring it into the building at all. If you have a summons to be on jury duty, you are allowed to bring in a laptop, tablet, mobile device while the mobile device is officially allowed. There is a Starbucks stand after the metal detectors at entrance. But as the office of the clerk says, that thing is fake. They never opened it. So look at your hopes up. The cafeteria doesn't exist anymore on the first floor, you are relegated to vending machines, one of which is a farmers fridge. On the second and third floor. Floor. You will head to the third floor and spend the majority of your day through 4:30 p.m. I was selected shortly after lunch. At the roll call, your panel number paper is adorned with a red jury member badge. The 30 to 34 people seemed to include four to five panels. We were shepherded down, across and up to another location where the court rooms are. The walk from the third floor jury duty, waiting room to the courtrooms were through a few ornate corridors and stairwells. I suspect this building is pretty cool inside architecturally speaking. The room we were in was circular and the audio was well adjusted. I do not envy the people who have the hold court everyday. The judge asks the same questions to each of the first 28 people who were selected to be in the court room. There are rest rooms in the juror room (if you get picked after the completion of voir dire) or outside of the courtrooms at the exterior edge of the floor. Restrooms are one person at a time. This is the furthest I've participated in jury duty. At the end of the day, which ended about 5pm, I was not selected to be a jurer. The intent of this trial was to last through this Friday, at worst. Pay for the day is $35 USD and parking is free.

After a hit and run accident, I had to go in to file a police report. You'd be amazed at how many…read morehit and run incidents the CPD has to deal with. It's sad. Hopefully they catch the guy. Police were friendly, courteous and respectful. I back the Blue!

Interacted with respectful officers and a helpful team. Thanks for the information and assistance…read morethis year in 2025.

We decided to take the train to the Bruno Mars concert and we took the Metra into Union Station…read more When we arrived, the signage to exit is clear and easy to find. There are plenty of food choices (although we didn't get anything) it is really nice to know that you can eat there if waiting for your train. I didn't notice if it was clean as I we were rushing out. We were able to quickly get an Uber and the driver was able to meet us in a spot where it was not crowded. Overall, good experience and it is good to know for the future.

The woman's upstairs bathroom is in disrepair and hasn't been fixed for months. I don't k ow who…read moreto talk to but I told someone at the station months ago. The upstairs handicapped bathroom handle has been broken for many months. it started with almost not closing then progressing to the point of it not closing at all. Now the handle is GONE all together! I'm sure this is an ADA violation!!

Loved visiting this beautiful library on the University of Chicago campus…read more The open reading room is enclosed in a glass and metal elliptical dome. The closed book stacks are accessed and retrieved by robotic cranes. So interesting. Are you a fan of the Divergent films? The Mansueto was featured in that film. It housed the Erudite Headquarters in the Divergent series. Amazing. Such a beautiful library. A nice place to study and a nice place to visit.

There are other reviews of the Mansueto reading room at the listing for the Joseph Regenstein…read moreLibrary here on Yelp. But since the University of Chicago considers it a separate library, I'm adding the Mansueto as a new listing. Note however that the Mansueto has only one public entrance, which is by an enclosed corridor from the main lobby of the Regenstein Library. Originally conceived as just an expansion of the Regenstein (the main library of the university), the Mansueto proved to be more than that. Its outer manifestation is the shallow glass dome that rises from the ground to the west of the Regenstein, softening that brutal concrete structure. What no pedestrian or patron sees is the actual "stacks" of this library (with a potential storage space of 3.5 million volumes), that extend down 5 stories below ground level. Only about a third of the Mansueto's potential storage space is currently filled. Filing and retrieval of volumes is done robotically, using 5 massive cranes controlled by a computer system. The 50-ft. tall cranes operate at fierce speeds, bringing a metal bin containing the requested volume up to the reading room desk within 5 minutes. In that subterranean storage are stacks of 24,000 metal bins, whose books and journals are sorted according to size rather than any other classification (like all books at other libraries, each volume has an unique bar code label attached). There in the 60ºF bin racks, kept at 30% humidity, in addition to bound books and journals, are also odd-sized items (archival boxes of papers and dissertations, digitized material on optical discs, and over-sized "elephant" folios). Gaining access to the Mansueto is very restricted; You must register there as a student of the university, a visiting scholar, or a guest of the library. I visited as part of a limited tour group. Link to their site for more information and photos.

Everything went smoothly for our Global Entry appointments…read more There is some parking on Canal st just past building on same side of street if you are lucky. Through ParkChicago.com The staff and border patrol agents were extremely helpful and courteous Thank you

My package has been delayed for over a week. I recently read a review from another customer who…read morereported a similar issue, stating that their package had been stuck for weeks five months ago. This is an unprecedented situation for me, as I have never encountered such a long delay. It is concerning that my package has been sitting idle for an extended period. I hope that my package has not been stolen, as this is the reason for the "delay" mentioned in the review.

One of the smallest Chicago neighborhoods, I consider West Elsdon a rather pleasant neighborhood…read more The boundaries of West Elsdon are 59th Street on the south; railroad tracks near Central Park Avenue on the east; RR tracks near Knox/Kilpatrick on the west; and RR tracks/Orange Line elevated tracks that run near 51st St. on the north. PARKS Pasteur Park at 5825 S. Kostner Ave. Strohacker Park at 4347 W. 54th St. CHURCHES St. Turibius at 5646 S. Karlov Ave. Divine Word Polish National Church at 3842 W. 57th St. Christian Fellowship Church at 4220 W. 59th St. SCHOOLS *Peck Elementary at 3825 W. 58th St. *Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz Elementary School at 4120 W. 57th St. (Originally, St. Turibius Elementary School) *John Hancock High School at 4034 W. 56th St. (Originally, Lourdes High School) SHOPPING Plenty of businesses along Pulaski Rd., however, not anything too thrilling. For groceries: Jewel on the north end of Pulaski and West Lawn Foods/Pete's Market on the south end. There's Courtesy Plaza at 5160 S. Pulaski - Super Mall (indoor flea market) is at 5220 S. Pulaski and the biggest business in Courtesy Plaza. Across from Courtesy Plaza is another shopping strip with a GNC and Dollar Tree and some other small businesses. Red Lobster, McDonald's, Burger King and Dunkin are a few of the restaurants on Pulaski. Please, Note: Yelp lists stores at Courtesy Plaza and some other businesses (Red Lobster, for example) just south of the CTA Orange Line as "Archer Heights". Archer Heights is the neighborhood on the north side of the Orange Line, the boundary between the two neighborhoods. Yelp seems to have its own idea of neighborhood boundaries (and some other things also!) that don't always make sense to this southwest side/Chicago gal. HOUSING Single family homes are mostly raised ranch style built in the 60s. There are also some Chicago bungalows and other single family homes. There are a number of two flats with garden apartments that are mostly west of Pulaski Rd. A little HISTORY *Originally a marshy area of an ancient lake *Early settlers were German farmers and Irish railroad workers. *In the 1920s, Polish and Czech, some Italian, Yugoslavian and Lithuanian immigrants moved to the area. *St. Turibius Parish was established in 1927. *Lourdes High School was built in 1936. *Some streets were paved in the 1920s, but due to the Great Depression improvements halted. The area was still rural until 1938 and you could even find cows and goats grazing on 55th St. *For more history and info about West Elsdon, check out these websites : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Elsdon,_Chicago http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1336.html Conveniently located just east of Midway Airport and near Orange Line CTA station at Midway Airport (59th St.) and another at 51st and Pulaski, noise from planes and CTA trains could definitely be something to consider. Otherwise, West Elsdon is a pretty nice neighborhood. Review #1 - West Elsdon Neighborhood

West Elsdon was a great area to raise a family but there's been a rise in gang activity and…read moreshooting. Catholic schools and churches have been closing or consolidating. Traffic congestion has increased. There are plenty of enjoyable eating experiences but nothing you'd call fine dining. Walking to get groceries would be a pain so it's like a suburb in that a car is essential. Recreational walking is nice in the Summer and it's beautiful in Autumn. Parking on the street in Winter is a major pain but this is a garage neighborhood. With property taxes increasing again I wouldn't advise buying here.

Well, I only came here for a citizenship ceremony, but it was an OK place. Be prepared to park…read moreseveral blocks away because there is NO street parking around this block (or across the street because the federal prison is right there). We parked in a lot a few blocks away but it was hot so that kind of sucked. Security was... slow. They were very much like TSA agents who don't care about their jobs and are clearly phoning it in most of the day. It took awhile to even get through because everyone was just moving slowly and not giving a damn. The waiting before the ceremony was weird. We were corralled in one waiting room, then separated from the people who were becoming citizens, but still corralled together in a large room. We just couldn't be near them which was weird. Then they all went away and we just kept waiting for like 45 more minutes until we got to go in the room for the ceremony. Then way more waiting until finally the ceremony started. It was a lot of waiting in different bland looking rooms. Obviously, the ceremony was awesome, especially because my friend became a citizen. It was really cool to share that experience with so many people from so many different places. I think they said there were like 22 countries represented in that group of people so that's awesome.

Had my citizenship interview today, I was in and out in 90 mins and the staff were amazing. I want…read moreto give a big shout out to all the security staff, especially Floor 2 and 3, the lady and gent security were so friendly and were making it there job to put people at ease. The interviewer was also amazing. I have never had such great service from a government office before!