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Eight years later, Chicago has just found out that Streetwise is in big trouble. “The current economic slowdown has hit this 16 year old non-profit in the pocketbook like a ton of bricks,” said a Monday news release from the paper’s City Council champion, Alderman Manuel Flores. “The iconic Chicago organization now finds itself at risk of being out on the street.”
The article focused on street papers in Seattle and Portland, and Suzanne Hanney, editor in chief of StreetWise, told me she knew those papers “and they are very well run and they are very newsworthy. I don’t know if Chicago’s harder to please, harder to impress, or more conservative. It may be that everybody’s crunched in Chicago. When you have more to give, you do.”
Crane said StreetWise is a couple months away from the brink, and it raised an alarm now because “it would be irresponsible if we waited until it was too late.” He said he had two things to tell the public. “One. Look at your vendor and realize it’s his livelihood, and he and his family may depend on this. Two. Consider sending some money to StreetWise. Ten bucks goes a long way.”
