Part three of a three-part series.  Read part one and part two . One worry that has been aired since the beginning of the recession in December 2007 is that existing small businesses would suffer the most. Whether from lack of sales from reluctant buyers or the inability to get capital from banks, e...

Priory Hotel owners Suzanne and John Graf and General Manager Tim McGlothlin take pride in the details that make the Priory unique. Below: The new, "classic" rooms at the Priory feature king beds, custom-made furniture and artwork from Shaw Galleries Downtown. (Photos/Kelly Thomas) The Priory Hotel,...

Rivers Casino recently proposed an expansion to the state Gaming Control Board to increase the number of table games on its gaming floor. According to a petition filed, Rivers would like to add 19 more table games to the floor, including black jack tables and a roulette tables. This will bring the t...

Far from being a holiday only for African Americans, everyone can learn from and enjoy the universal values that Kwanzaa celebrates, said a spokesperson for the Young Men and Women’s African Heritage Association. For the past 12 years, the association has held a public Kwanzaa celebration, and this ...

Just because your neighbor has Verizon’s Fios internet and cable service doesn’t mean you can get it. The Chronicle recently learned that although residents on one side of a street on the Northside may have Fios services, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the other side does, too. For example, as o...

This summer, a garden at the corner of Manhattan and Adams streets in Manchester will look greener thanks to the Manchester Beautification Committee and a grant from the Sprout Fund. The neighborhood garden, started a few years ago by the committee with some help from Wal-Mart, covers nine city lots...

The Garden Theater Block awaits redevelopment at the hands of Zukin Development and Collaborative Ventures.  Zukin was chosen to work on the block earlier this year. (Photo/Kelly Thomas) In a year when headlines focused on the national economic crisis, Northside communities persevered to bring resol...

The law of cause and effect is one of the laws that I have learned to abide by in critiquing or improving my life. We often don’t realize how much power we have over own lives based on our own choices and the decisions we make. This law does not discriminate, waiver or only apply when convenient. Si...

Left: Bill Strickland, founder, president and CEO of the Northside's Manchester Bidwell Corporation, was appointed to the White House Council for Community Solutions by President Obama in December. (Photo courtesy Manchester Bidwell Corporation) The Northside now has a voice in the White House. Pres...

Matty, the mother of Amani owner Terra Jones, talks with City Council President Darlene Harris at a coffee tasting at Amani on Dec. 9. (Photo/Kelly Thomas) Coffee connoisseurs from around the city crowded Amani International Coffeehouse on Dec. 9 to sample almost 20 blends of coffee roasted in-house...