CHICAGO, Aug. 21 (CIMC) - Speakers from a group of twenty people of the Coalition to Protect Public Housing (CPPH) addressed the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) Board of Commissioners with very strong words at the board's meeting this morning.

Amid supporters, the board and an audience of about 80 people Rev. Victor Coriano raised the issue of schoolchildren who must move from unit to unit with their families, a mandatory process that disrupts the continuity of their learning and socializing.

"One move equals 4 to 6 months of lost schooling. Two moves translates into 1 year lost," said Coriano, a member of the Orchard Street Christian Church, CRS Interfaith Network and CPPH.

"I do not need to speak for CHA residents -- they can speak for themselves. But we stand in solidarity with them. There are many people who are not heard: women, the poor, people of color. The Word of God says that whatsoever you do for the least of my people you are doing for me. The system is always talking 'not enough money' but they should provide consistent schooling and not remove school-aged children from their schools."

Julie Welch, an attorney with the Public Guardian's office, reported on the findings of a January, 2000, study by two Loyola University PhDs which shows that students who changed schools fell behind a full school year by age 6.

Coriano emphasized the need for the board to establish a specific policy to eliminate alleged nepotism.

"No board member should be personally affiliated with any city contract," he stressed. "You need to do the right thing because we know what happens when the fox is left to guard the chicken coop."

Rev. May Lord of the Chicago Disciples Union, CRS Interfaith Network and CPPH stated that the board is entrusted to care for the housing needs of low-income tenants.

"Yet we see demoilition, land sold to developers and children tossed from school to school while you and I return to our comfortable homes. I would like the rest of my two minutes to be spent in silence while we think about the homeless."

Mary Sistrunk, mother of six, rose to speak.

"Everything you've done to me you've done to my children," she said. "Since 1997 I've had to move six times because each apartment failed redetermination inspections. Does the board think that moving would help a drug problem? My last job was as a security guard, which I had for seven years. I had to quit that job in order to go look for a new apartment. The one I have now has no closet and a small kitchen."

John Donahue, Director of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, set a deadline of seven days hence for the board to respond to the CPPH core policy proposal. Its seven points revolve around the twin basic aims of stopping the practice of relocating CHA families and their students during the school year and of providing students with access to stable educational environments as they undergo transitions in their living arrangements. The proposal contains provisions for transportation, tutors and tracking of services to displaced students.

Further comments from the speakers list ranged from praise for CHA Chief Executive Officer Terry Peterson's administration to intensely damning accusations of cronyism, lack of accountability and the use of illegal bidding processes for city housing contracts.

Devera Beverly, Local Advisory Council President of ABLA Homes, began her address to the board with a markedly similar defiance as Daniel Romero's.

"Dear Ms. Gilliam, I need to read something to you, and it's going to take two and a HALF minutes," she stated. Beverly went on to indicate that outstanding construction work on ABLA contracts from 1996 and 1998 needs to begin immediately.

"Thank you, we need our houses," she said.

The next CHA Board of Commissioners meeting will be on Tuesday, September 18, at Lake Parkside Apartments at 5670 W. Lake St.