* Responding to Michael K's Sad Response From DevCorp North

Here is one of the 79 comments ( as of today ) made on this topic.

Everyone I know was stunned to see that Gateway ushered in a major national Halloween merchandise chain to compete directly with Lost Eras. With two kids in our family, we shop at that great and quirky store on Howard every Halloween, and drop in sometimes to look for newly acquired green glass items which my partner collects.

Think short-sighted vision. Think lost opportunity in commercial development, again and again in Rogers Park. I continue to be stumped by DevCorp North, our very own chamber of commerce and city-funded economic development organization.

DevCorp has a 5% ownership interest in Gateway. Someone from DevCorp at some meeting there should be evaluating business outreach and recruitment work on a weekly basis. Giving a 3-month contract to the Gateway Halloween vendor would have won an immediate veto from me.

And, it should have prompted the question, "What have we done lately to support Lost Eras and the many other good community-based businesses in our neighborhood?" Yes, community-based. The owner of Lost Eras lives a few blocks from me, in one of those great Rogers Park homes we hope stay around for a few more years.

While I'm at it, I recall that 3 years ago the owner of Gethsemane Garden Store talked with shock about what happened when they tried to secure a storefront at Gateway mall. You know Gethsemane? It's an eye-popping jewel of a plant and and landscaping business on Clark Street in Edgewater. They are an attraction magnet, a huge shopper destination, and also a major employer of communty residents. Ranked as a pre-eminent business operation on Chicago's north side, most communities would sell somebody's child if that's what it took to get them to open a new shop!

Well, one of the Gethesemane owners was at a meting of my Sherwin/Chase block club (yep, the Gethsemane husband-wife owners also live here in the 49th ward). She talked about trying to get a call-back from Gateway management. When she finally did get someone, she was stunned when they quoted her the per sqaure foot cost of a storefront. Get this - Gateway's rents were significantly HIGHER than the cost of similar retail space in Wicker and Lincoln Park. Suffice it to say, we "lost" a chance at having a new Gathesemane Outlet store in Rogers Park. This issue of the cost of renting at Gateway comes up regularly.

The deals that were made, the million$ of city dollar$ leveraged to build it, and the political donation$ that helped pave the way for pouring all that concrete clearly haven't served us. Now, I do believe we absolutely needed the Dominick's store. But did we have to swallow the rest of that TIF area boondoggle for it?

Some good neighbors on this blog have pointed, as we all do, to the continued over-the-top success of Andersonville and Edgewater in nurturing entrepreneurship. They seek out and encourage the community-focused businesses which provide the goods and services that we all expect to be available to us in Rogers Park. There are practical strategies that the united political and community leadership in those commuinties have used to GET WHAT THEY WANT.

What's needed in our local leadership, from top to bottom, is an aggressive approach business recruitment and retention. We have to work at it.

We also have to tackle the issues of crime and public safety, and stop pretending that those factors have no effect on shoppers or businesses interested in taking a gamble on Rogers Park. We must support and promote our good businesses, and even help them sharpen their goods, services, and skills if need be. We have to honor and celebrate the creative spirits and assets we already have. While some DevCorp activities are aimed at that, clearly there's far too much other stuff happening in the wrong direction.

Finally, we have to ask who is in charge here? What the heck are the powers-that-be doing with the responsibility and authority we've allowed them to have?

# posted by Michael J. Harrington : 1:28 PM