Hi All,
A fact of life in real estate is secrecy. The best way to get things done is to stay on the down low. Once a transaction is completed, the private property rights that form the basis of this nation’s economic system prevent most kinds of interference.
Others can protest, appeal, or beg, but once the deal is done they're at a huge disadvantage.
It is said the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing people he didn’t exist. In the same vein, I’ve heard dismissed as silly the notion there could be plans that are beyond the public awareness. And yet, things happen around us and we are continually surprised.
Put yourself in the broker’s shoes for a moment. If you want to execute a real estate deal, whom do you tell? Who would you share information with, knowing that each step of the conversations would be filtered through the agendas of others whose interests might be completely at odds with yours? That is why Hillary’s health care committee tried to meet in secret, and why Cheney’s Energy Task Force did so. Both understood their vulnerability in an open forum.
Things are happening right now that will determine the future of Rogers Park. Events like large-scale re-zoning and lakefront changes are a part of that. I hope I wasn’t too hard on the Alderman last week? But my point was that if you know something, say something. Don’t procrastinate or say people probably won’t care anyway. I don’t know what to conclude about the harbor proposal. I haven’t seen much of it, and I’m frankly more concerned about other plans that might appear once it is completed. But I’m certain there is nothing for the people living here to gain by keeping such proposals quiet.
Now I know that people often say: “Oh, we told you- you just didn’t care to look or pay attention.” But the question is this: Who actually knows about the issues? Because if people who care are unaware, it’s not adequately publicized. Its one thing for people not to come to a CAPS meeting; it’s quite another for them to say they care about crime yet not know that the program exists.
Going forward, I hope that we can consider all the plans for our future, without a confidentiality that only hurts the process of open deliberation. I trust my neighbor’s judgment when it comes to most things about our neighborhood. I believe in us to decide what kind of Rogers Park makes the most sense for us. And for us to be truly inclusive, we need to know what’s in the works.
What’s at stake here are events like the Artfest this past weekend. Force out all the artists, you have no Artfest. That’s happened in much of the city, and I think we must find a balance that yields long-needed investments along with affordable housing. That is planning, and is the only way to ensure that the diversity we all pay lip service to doesn’t become just a fleeting economic accident.
James Ginderske
10 comments:
>This larger than just Rogers Park, this is citywide.
Regarding Moore's claim, in his opening remarks at each of the recent zoning meetings, that the 49th is the ONLY ward taking the initiative on zoning issues, please see the following article. In Pilsen, residents forced their Alderman to open up the zonig process and conducted their own inventory of their neighborhood.
Zone sweet home
By LAURA PUTRE, 2/9/2005
If I could divide myself into 10 people, I could get a lot more done," Alejandra Ibanez says matter-of-factly, like she's not entirely ruling that out as an option.
In Pilsen, where Ibanez works as a community organizer, everyone and no one wants a piece of the neighborhood, and nothing is ever simple. Residents would like more jobs close to home, but not if they have to breathe toxic air. More housing affordable to working-class folk is highly desired, but then you've got to deal with developers wanting to build taller, more densely populated dwellings out of scale with the neighborhood to keep costs down.
Until recently, zoning hadn't figured into Pilsen's messy, real-life equation, at least at the grass-roots level. Cuts in public transit and absentee landlords averse to fixing a leaky ceiling-those are the things that stir people's hearts, not cryptic lettering on a piece of paper.
But residents' outlook began to change last year when a proposal by Concord Homes to build more than 130 high-end condos on 18th Street nearly slipped past residents. Troubled that they were being left out of the public process, Ibanez and her group, the Pilsen Alliance, put together a referendum stating that 25th Ward Alderman Danny Solis should be required to inform residents about requests for zoning changes.
The referendum passed, and Solis soon pledged to work with a resident-run zoning advisory board. The zoning advisory board was important, says Ibanez, "but it wasn't the complete picture. Reacting to development wasn't going to be enough." Developers were slipping through the cracks, taking advantage of archaic, ill-fitting zoning already in place. A relatively quiet block of single-family homes and two-flats might see a 20-unit apartment building smooshed into a corner, thanks to a down-low deal made by a previous owner 30 years ago.
If they'd been more up on zoning, Ibanez says, residents might have been able to stop a luxury condo project at 16th and Carpenter before it began. They might have noticed that the site was erroneously zoned for residential use; it housed a factory and thus should have been zoned industrial. But they didn't, and now instead of trying to bring jobs to that site, they're dealing with a developer who is free to build 20 luxury condos there-and is pushing for a zoning change so he can build 65.
So when they heard the city was remapping the zoning after 50 years, Ibanez and others volunteered to go out and catalog what structures were really out there, and, based on that, make recommendations on what the new zoning should be.
"We met with the Zoning Department and said, 'We want to be able to do our own inventory,' " Ibanez recalls. "And they said 'Great, less work for us.' But we're not doing this to help out the city. We're doing this to put the process back in the hands of residents. For us, it's about self-determination. If the community is not part of the process, how can they effectively make those decisions about whether they want 18 wheelers parked on their block."
Members of the alliance teamed up with neighborhood activists at the Resurrection Project for the task, as well as enlisted the help of some 50 students from DePaul University to collect data, and University of Illinois at Chicago students to help process it. Right now, armed with pencils and forms, students and residents are going house to house, gathering information on the age and condition of structures, the number of stories, what buildings are being used for, who pays the taxes, and whether homeowners are taking advantage of proper tax exemptions. The information will go into a database for later analysis by the city and community groups for use in determining the new zoning.
Ibanez says she initially expected the inventory to take six months; now she's thinking eight to 10 months, which is still less than the year and a half other community organizers told her to expect.
Peter Skosey, vice president for the Metropolitan Planning Council, an independent regional organization that has conducted zoning workshops for lay folk, says that citizens' groups in Rogers Park, Lawndale, and Lakeview are also taking zoning inventory into their own hands. And it turns out, they aren't that different from the people of Pilsen.
"When we did our training, we intentionally chose communities that were racially and economically diverse, thinking there would be different things they wanted," says Skosey. "But it turns out they almost all want the same things. A range of housing options-single family and two-flats, affordable, and market rate. We see a uniform desire for walkable communities and neighborhood-centered retail."
Ah, zoning. The great equalizer. Apparently, it's a good way to get out and meet the neighbors, too. While taking inventory on Halsted just last week, Pilsen Alliance intern Jeremy Feldman ran into legendary neighborhood land baron John Podmajersky Sr. According to Feldman, Podmajersky promptly gave him a thumbnail tour of his domain and showed off some alleys that he had famously usurped for gardens.
Besides checking off boxes, by going house to house and then verifying information over the Internet, volunteers often find out stuff about their street that they didn't know before, like who is applying for a liquor license, which like-new building is actually an old rehabbed building, and who is doing construction without a proper permit.
"Community residents are able to see, wow, I'm right across the street from this manufacturing district," observes the Resurrection Project's Eleazar Vasquez. "Or maybe they're able to see there are several buildings not used the way they're classified, and property owners are paying taxes at a higher rate than they should be. They're able to really look at what's in the neighborhood and how that affects residents."
Ibanez hit the streets with a stack of surveys last weekend, completing the zoning inventory on her own block. During her excursion, she met at least one inquisitive homeowner. "He said, 'What are you doing?' I said, 'I live on your block, I'm doing a study.' His building was residential, but he thought it might be zoned commercial." Ibanez told the man that he should really delve further, because his taxes could go down if his property was rezoned. In a neighborhood where property taxes have tripled in 10 years, that's the kind of self-empowerment everybody can understand.
Thoughtful comments James, as usual.
Especially:
> "If we're even moderately helpful, the neighborhood potentates will join us to get a little credit and remain relevant, which is a good thing for the cause but might feel humbling."
I hope you are right about that; I also agree we need to beware of wasting our energy getting pissed if someone else claims the credit for something good resulting from any our ideas or hard work.
Perhaps now is the time for some of us to meet. I also think that the many RP blogs continue to be a good forum - and I hope putting the name with the face won't interfere with the freedom of opinion expressed on the blogs.
Jeff, I agree with you that it would be useful to get better organized and as you put it, aggresive. However, we need to channel the aggresion, that anger, in ways that will actually be useful to our objectives, a laser instead of a bonfire, so to speak. I think it would be useful to make a collective agreement to be extremely disciplined in any presentations we may eventually make outside the group - otherwise we'll just get written off as a bunch of whackos. It won't be easy - I'm sure if we start down this path we'll often get very, very frustrated.
I also just want to make a pitch for really doing our homework and being as strategic as we can. I think some of the conversations on this blog in the past days demonstrate the dangers of running with an idea before we've thought out all the possible downsides of our actions.
Thursday evening is okay for us, as long as it's after 6:30. Pratt pier is fine by us - I've got asthma, so the bars are difficult for more than 20 minutes or so.
I have a gig Thursday night, but I can stick around for a little while...probably till around 7:15-7:30 p.m. Let's do it.
James - Thank you for stepping up. If we are going to get organized, we need some leadership around here.
Hugh, this points to something I thought about at the zoning meetings - who exactly did the surveying and can we see their data. Do you know the answer to this?
The timeline that Joe described was also confusing. He spoke about closing the comment period in November, but it was clear that was just his preference. Do we have any leverage to persuade him extend the comment period?
I would love to meet with you folks on Thursday. 6:30 sounds good but it is supposed to be pretty chilly. Bring your mittens!
I was thinking it was the pier at Farwell too... are the one and the same?
Looking forward to meeting you all.
I think you all are in for a long walk off a short pier.
Don't worry Craig, we're all good swimmers.
I'm going to sneak up on y'all and take a pic for Craig to post so that Joe will know what y'all look like. (grin)
Me and sig other will be there as well.
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