Neighborhood Watch Barbeque and The Spindle
Sorry for the long posting.

Tonight, Wednesday, as previously announced, is a barbeque at Proksa Park from 6 to 8 pm. This is being sponsored by the Neighborhood Watch Program. Come, eat and meet those that attempt to keep us safe.

Below was sent to me:

Save the Spindle Bike Ride

THOUSANDS OF CYCLISTS STORM BERWYN TO SAVE THE SPINDLE

Friday July 27, Chicago Critical Mass participants are proposing to ride from the Picasso to the Spindle to save a cultural landmark in Berwyn, IL.

A beloved public sculpture is set to be toppled over to make way for yet another Walgreens "convenience" store, but public resistance is mounting to keep Cermak Plaza’s iconic Spindle sculpture standing.

The Spindle, aka Car Spike or Kabob, was created by California-based artist Dustin Shuler. His sculpture is the most notable of a variety of giant public art works that give Berwyn's Cermak Plaza it's unique charm. The car spike was featured in a memorable scene in the movie "Wayne's World", which helped cement the sculpture as an American icon and put Berwyn Illinois on the pop culture map, so it's pretty easy to see why local residents are angry about corporate interests erasing their town's identity.

Berwyn, it's not too late to take a stand! Participants of Chicago Critical Mass are proposing to send a cavalry of cyclists to protest this kind of predatory corporate development, which whitewashes our communities and trades civic pride for shareholder profits. When the Spindle is torn down and replaced by a Walgreens store, part of Berwyn dies and a sacred community space will look no different from any other stripmall in any other town. The participants of Chicago's Critical Mass will not quietly pedal by as corporations deface our communities transforming the world into a characterless monoculture.

Why would a group of cyclists care about a monument to car culture?Perhaps we see the Spindle as a prophetic symbol of a future where cars are reduced to fossil remains as they go the way of the dinosaurs that fueled them. We know the car spike will become more meaningful and infinitely more valuable when America finally closes this dark chapter of unsustainable living and ecological destruction. It is an Ozymandias for the industrial age, mocking the moral insanity of planned obsolescence and providing a deliciously twisted look into our throw away junk culture.

Now the dark forces of indifference, convenience, and profit are conspiring to dispose of this great work of art, but what the Spindle's opponents have not bargained for is that great art connects with people in subtly profound ways as we emotionally connect with our cultural landscape and develop a sense of pride for the spaces and places we call home.
Chicago Critical Mass bike rides have been gathering at the base of the Picasso sculpture in Daley Plaza the last Friday of every month for the last 10 years, we understand how public art and space can galvanize a community.

If some greedy developer and heartless corporation came along and tried to take our sculpture and plaza, we would raise hell. Critical Mass has no leaders or formal structure, so I cannot say for certain that cyclists will vote on Friday to ride all the way out to from the Picasso to the Spindle. However, the word on the street is the citizens of Berwyn need some back up to help preserve our cultural heritage and save an important work of art, and many of us can't wait to storm Berwyn's Cermak Plaza.

What we want: an end to cultural identity theft. If Walgreens and Concordia Realty Management want to move the Spindle, they should help the Berwyn Arts Council pay for it's restoration, transportation, and installation. It's time corporations stop turning our communities into company towns that resemble board games filled with generic pop-up box stores that make every city and town look the same.

We invite the citizens of Berwyn to join us at the base of the Spindle this Friday July 27 around 7:30pm. We are working to help you get the story out and to make corporations and developers accountable to the communities they claim to serve.

Act now by signing the Save the Spindle Petition at the website for the Berwyn Arts Council, and check back often as fund raising t-shirts will be available for sale online soon! Click here to stay informed on the latest efforts to Save the Spindle!

Steven Lane
Critical Mass Participant and Website Volunteer July 22, 2007
Join hundreds of Chicago cyclists at Daley Plaza (Washington & Dearborn) every last Friday of the month.
- posted by Mark @ 12:37 PM