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Hot Dog! An Eatery Hires Ex-Offenders
October 01, 2011 posted by Steve Brownstein
by Esther Cepeda
You can't keep a good wiener down.
Last month, Felony Franks, which unabashedly hires ex-cons, proved that by getting its sign put up after having to go so far as to file a federal lawsuit to be allowed to properly mark the hot-dog stand's location.
At issue, according to Chicago 2nd Ward Ald. Bob Fioretti, who opposed the permit application process for the hot-dog shop at 229 S. Western, is the message that such a cheeky, out-in-the-open-about-being-related-to-ex-convicts business sends to his community.
"We want positive images for our kids," he told the Chicago Sun-Times last June. "We shouldn't be glorifying criminal conduct. It sends the wrong message to a community we're trying to uplift."
That viewpoint assumes that a person, even a young one, who sees the black-and-white striped hot dog with the ball-and-chain who boasts "Food so good, it's criminal," is: a) completely devoid of a sense of humor, or b) actually could be enticed into behaving in ways that will lead to a prison sentence by a gastronomic adventure called the "misdemeanor wiener."
Don't get me wrong, I'm 100 percent in agreement with Fioretti that communities shouldn't be glorifying criminal conduct , especially not in a city with fewer resources and jobs than ever before and a healthy population of ex-offenders who are disproportionately black and Hispanic.
But why not look at it from the other perspective: Felony Franks is not glorifying the glamorous thug culture that the media seems more than happy to feed us. They are honoring the basic premise that if you did something wrong and served your punishment, you get the opportunity to do better next time.
That's not exactly easy to do. Almost 10 years ago, Diane Williams, president and CEO of Chicago's Safer Foundation, a community organization providing resources to people with criminal records, told a conference convened to tackle the issue of ex-offenders boomeranging back to prison: "Access to livable-wage employment with career advancement potential is, arguably, one of the single most important factors in reducing recidivism rates, which now are approaching 45 percent in Illinois to more than 60 percent across the nation."
That factor is seriously suffering. Today the Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that nearly 70 percent of all released prisoners, nationally, are rearrested within three years, and those numbers don't reflect the pounding effects of the Great Recession. This year, the unemployment rate is expected to hit a 25-year high of 17 percent for African Americans and 14 percent for Hispanics, not exactly positive news for ex-offenders struggling to reintegrate productively into their community.
Felony Franks' owner, Jim Andrews, should be getting every little bit of help from the city as he actually does something about the profound lack of steady employment opportunities for those who have criminal records while slinging a few cheap and tasty eats and doing all he can to get the word out, which is, itself, special.
A survey of employer concerns about hiring an ex-offender found that one of the biggest fears is customers' discomfort if customers knew an ex-convict worked for them. Obviously, ex-convicts carry negative stereotypes about their past behavior. Brilliant marketer that he is, Andrews knows that if you can't fix it, you feature it. But catchy gimmick aside, the community only benefits by having role models of ex-cons who are holding down steady jobs and not hiding from their past.
Who knows if Andrews will get the $293,000 he wants from the city in damages for the business he has lost by not having proper signage for the last 2 1/2 years. But if he does emerge the, ahem, wiener, he has vowed to open more hot dog joints and employ more ex-cons.
That, in addition to the delicious dogs with the punny names, would be even more cause for celebration.
Hot Dog! An Eatery Hires Ex-Offenders
by Esther Cepeda
You can't keep a good wiener down.
Last month, Felony Franks, which unabashedly hires ex-cons, proved that by getting its sign put up after having to go so far as to file a federal lawsuit to be allowed to properly mark the hot-dog stand's location.
At issue, according to Chicago 2nd Ward Ald. Bob Fioretti, who opposed the permit application process for the hot-dog shop at 229 S. Western, is the message that such a cheeky, out-in-the-open-about-being-related-to-ex-convicts business sends to his community.
"We want positive images for our kids," he told the Chicago Sun-Times last June. "We shouldn't be glorifying criminal conduct. It sends the wrong message to a community we're trying to uplift."
That viewpoint assumes that a person, even a young one, who sees the black-and-white striped hot dog with the ball-and-chain who boasts "Food so good, it's criminal," is: a) completely devoid of a sense of humor, or b) actually could be enticed into behaving in ways that will lead to a prison sentence by a gastronomic adventure called the "misdemeanor wiener."
Don't get me wrong, I'm 100 percent in agreement with Fioretti that communities shouldn't be glorifying criminal conduct , especially not in a city with fewer resources and jobs than ever before and a healthy population of ex-offenders who are disproportionately black and Hispanic.
But why not look at it from the other perspective: Felony Franks is not glorifying the glamorous thug culture that the media seems more than happy to feed us. They are honoring the basic premise that if you did something wrong and served your punishment, you get the opportunity to do better next time.
That's not exactly easy to do. Almost 10 years ago, Diane Williams, president and CEO of Chicago's Safer Foundation, a community organization providing resources to people with criminal records, told a conference convened to tackle the issue of ex-offenders boomeranging back to prison: "Access to livable-wage employment with career advancement potential is, arguably, one of the single most important factors in reducing recidivism rates, which now are approaching 45 percent in Illinois to more than 60 percent across the nation."
That factor is seriously suffering. Today the Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that nearly 70 percent of all released prisoners, nationally, are rearrested within three years, and those numbers don't reflect the pounding effects of the Great Recession. This year, the unemployment rate is expected to hit a 25-year high of 17 percent for African Americans and 14 percent for Hispanics, not exactly positive news for ex-offenders struggling to reintegrate productively into their community.
Felony Franks' owner, Jim Andrews, should be getting every little bit of help from the city as he actually does something about the profound lack of steady employment opportunities for those who have criminal records while slinging a few cheap and tasty eats and doing all he can to get the word out, which is, itself, special.
A survey of employer concerns about hiring an ex-offender found that one of the biggest fears is customers' discomfort if customers knew an ex-convict worked for them. Obviously, ex-convicts carry negative stereotypes about their past behavior. Brilliant marketer that he is, Andrews knows that if you can't fix it, you feature it. But catchy gimmick aside, the community only benefits by having role models of ex-cons who are holding down steady jobs and not hiding from their past.
Who knows if Andrews will get the $293,000 he wants from the city in damages for the business he has lost by not having proper signage for the last 2 1/2 years. But if he does emerge the, ahem, wiener, he has vowed to open more hot dog joints and employ more ex-cons.
That, in addition to the delicious dogs with the punny names, would be even more cause for celebration.
