LINCOLN SQUARE — With Chicago in the grips of a deep freeze, Mayor Rahm Emanuel visited a senior center Thursday and urged the city's residents to watch out for their most vulnerable neighbors.
"How are you? You staying warm?" Emanuel asked the regulars at the Northeast (Levy) Senior Center, 2019 W. Lawrence Ave.
After trading pool shots with Isa Zulu, the mayor made the rounds of the center, greeting seniors playing cards, participating in a chair yoga class and socializing.
The free activities at the center are "almost like a thank you to our seniors for building the city," said Joyce Gallagher, executive director at the Chicago Department of Aging.
Cecelia, who preferred not to give her last time, said she visits the center almost every day to exercise and join in karaoke.
"We can have up to 300 people here," she said, some of whom take two to three buses to get there.
"We'd be at home and bored" if it weren't for the center, said Doreen Berry, who gets a daily ride to Levy.
"You can tell ... the sense of community and family here," said Emanuel, who added that he was keeping warm from all the hugs he'd received.
While the seniors at the Levy Center are active and mobile, the mayor encouraged Chicagoans to check in on the disabled and housebound.
"I want everybody to play the good neighbor role," he said.
The cold can sneak up on people, he said.
"Everybody take care," Emanuel said.
For those who have to be outside, retired mail carrier Kosto Ljubenko, 87, had perhaps the best advice, stemming from years of experience: "Just keep moving."
The city maintains a number of warming sites, some of them open 24 hours a day. Residents can call 311 for the nearest location.
The Chicago Heat Ordinance requires landlords to heat rental units to at least 66 degrees at all times. To file a heat complaint, call 311 and an inspector from the Department of Buildings will be alerted.
