Residents, many hoping for jobs, packed the meeting room at Pottawatomie Park Wednesday night to hear the CTA's plans for the rehab of the Howard 'el' Station in Rogers Park.

Alderman Joe Moore (49th) sponsored the meeting which included representatives from the CTA, McHugh Construction, the Mayor's Office of Workforce Development, the Chicago Urban League, and several community groups who will be involved in assisting community members in securing the few jobs available for the project.

Mike Gould of McHugh Construction explained that the project will be completed in three phases, the first of which, track rehab, has already begun and should be completed in early June.

Amy Campbell of DevCorp North said business owners are concerned about weekend closures of Howard Street.

Some stores do most of their business on the weekends. According to Campbell, many are ready to shut down, in which case the CTA improvements will mean little to them.

Gould said the street will only be closed down for three more weekends.

The next phase will involve reconstruction of the platform and building. That will be completed in the second quarter of 2007, to be followed by the station house, both entrances on Howard, and rehabbing the retail space on the ground floor.

The station is expected to be fully operational by spring of 2008. There will be no interruption of service during the construction.

Gould's presentation then turned to jobs.

According to Gould, much of the work will be performed at night and on weekends, and will involve about 25 employees. Most positions are highly specialized, and all require union membership.

At present there are eight community members already on the project.

This was a disappointing revelation for many in the community, particularly members of Northside Power. They have been working with Moore to organize a pre-apprenticeship training program.

The training program has been turned over to Dawson Technical Institute which is affiliated with the Chicago City Colleges and already has a contract with the city to provide these services as part of the Bid Incentive Ordinance.

Moore then introduced Joan Archie of the Urban League, who has been working with Gould to diversify the work force. He prefaced the introduction saying, 'Neither I or anyone else in here wants to make any promises we can't keep.'

Archie gave an overview of unions and how historically they were closed shops. She said the Urban League's role was 'to identify qualified applicants' and to be advocates who 'work with the contractors and the unions to maximize this limited opportunity.'

She then gave an overview of the qualifications necessary to qualify for an apprenticeship or a pre-apprenticeship program and acknowledged that for this project most jobs will be taken by people who have a union card already.

'This is not going to be an economic engine for the community. There aren't that many jobs.'

The program they are setting up for Rogers Park will be similar to one currently being tried in the 46th Ward for the Wilson Yard project. Will Edwards of the Mayors Office of Workforce Development explained that the trades are not diverse so the pre-apprenticeship training program is being set up citywide through Dawson to expand opportunities for residents traditionally shut out of the trades.

With the Dawson program, contractors who hire Dawson graduates get a 1% preference on the next city job they bid on. The Rogers Park program will involve organizations with an established employment services track record.

Applicants, who must be 18 or older, begin with the Howard Area Community Center where their skills will be assessed and brought up to speed if necessary, including GED assistance.

They will then go to Heartland Alliance who will refer applicants to Truman College to take the test which will qualify them for entry into Dawson's twelve week training program.

The good news for potential applicants is that, should they be income qualified, the $2000 cost of the pre-apprenticeship program will be paid for with Howard-Paulina TIF money.

Members of Northside Power pointed out to Moore that they were told TIF money can't be used for pre-apprenticeship training. Moore replied that he didn't say it couldn't be done, he said it had never been done in the past.

In an interview with Edwards he explained that this is a concept they're trying, it's not an established program. 'We're building this and getting behind the the support that's already rolling.'

They're able to try it because TIF funded projects require city hires and they're using it as a conduit for companies accessing the workforce development system.