With all the info-mercial development flyers I have been getting lately from the Alderman's office I was surprised Michael Land didn't send me this one? I got this from a neighbor of a neighbor. I was asked to pass the word.
On Tuesday, February 28th at 7pm an important down-zoning meeting will be taking place at Paschen Park Fieldhouse. Paul Bluestone put together this information claiming to have a petition with 120 signatures of neighbors looking to have certain areas of the ward down-zoned. According to Paul's little invite letter, the Alderman is on board.
Again, the down-zoning meeting will be held at Paschen Park (Damen & Lunt), February 28th, (tomorrow), at 7 pm.
13 comments:
I would advise my neighbors to read their petition REAL careful.
Single Family Home Tear Down Continues.... Again
Secret's From The Alderman's Office
Rogers Park residents view block plans
By Julie Segraves, The Chi-Town Daily News, 2006-01-26
"Mr. Land informed attendees that the Alderman knew of this project eighteen months prior to the down zoning of the rest of the block to R-2 and this property had been excluded from the petition."
Hello. I've been lurking on this site for some time although I don't live in Rogers Park. I have several friends who do, so I've been visiting the area with increasing frequency. I'm curious as to whether or not people are actually buying more expensive housing in RP? I'm seeing half a million dollar "luxury condos" going up in what appears to be the highest-crime section of your neighborhood! The other night as I walked up Rogers Ave I passed by $349,000 condos with a lovely view of the bus depot across the street. I imagine this building has the added benfit of allowing one to relax on the roof and enjoy the flashing of the blue crime-watching camera two blocks over.
Are you seeing an influx of new neighbors or are these buildings just sitting there? Maybe at some point development and zoning won't be such an issue if and when developers realize hardly anyone wants to move into their overpriced buildings. Or maybe people ARE moving in?
Bea,
Others on here may disagree, and I can't speak for all areas of Rogers Park. However, the new developments and rehabs within a few blocks near my home (Near Morse stop), have been selling.
Bea:
There's a condo at the corner of Fargo and Sheridan that is slowly beginning to fill up.
_/\---/\_
<[o]_[o]>
/__^___\
\_meow_/
Hey Leased Weasel. Watch out for ferral cats.
> Joe Moore cares [more] about the neighbors (who are the voters, BTW) than the developers
May I ask, what is your evidence for this?
We just get one vote each, but a $1500 campaign contribution from a developer buys a lot of votes.
We have all attended many paid public appearances called by Alderman Moore at which he touted a campaign contributor's project. Or he explained why he is selling his services as a legislator to a change our laws to accommodate a developer. Or he explained to the the neighbors how powerless they were, "there's nothing we can do, the developer is within his rights." On the other hand I have NEVER attended or heard of a neighborhood meeting, initiated by Alderman Moore, at which he convened neighbors to pro-actively explain to them their options under law for protecting or preserving the character of their neighborhood.
Most of the single-family homes, two-flats, and three-flats in Rogers Park are overzoned, they are in the RT4 districts so prized by the tear-down for cinder block luxury condo specialists who sponsor Moore. That is true now, it will be true when the Pratt/Touhy/Ridge/Ravenswood neighbors are done, and it will still be true when Moore is done with his sham "zoning map rewrite." And Moore and his developer pals like it that way.
"Hi, I'm Joe Moore, your Alderman, and I called you all here tonight to talk to you about downzonig your neighborhood."
yeah, sure
Thanks for the responses, Jim and Dan! I guess my question was too boring for everyone else. :-( I'll just have to keep my eye on those buildings and see what happens.
If the condo you mention is the one I'm thinking of, I think the units start at $189,999. That's not bad, and I like that corner. I can understand why those are selling. The $450,000 condos down the street from abandoned buildings, not so much.
> Daley the 1st ... sold out our neighborhood in the 1960's ... and upzoned to R4
It was explained to us that the rampant overzoning in Rogers Park is an artifact of the original zoning of Chicago in the post-WW II era, as explained by Heather Campbell of the Metropolitan Planning Commission, who was Moore's featured guest speaker during Alderman Moore's Fall Zoning Tour.
> the Alderman Paul Wigoda went to jail for zoning offenses
I think you would be hard pressed to blame all the overzoning, nursing homes, and 4+1 in Rogers Park on Paul Wigoda.
> I remember being at one, called by the Alderman, at Pottawonomie Park a couple of years back explaining exactly how to go about downzoning.
Are you perhaps refering to the neighbor's downzoning efforts in & around Touhy west of the Metra? The process was initiated by neighbors. Of course Moore calls ALL the meetings, if you read his flyers. Moore "called" the meeting at Pascen, too!
> one recent example ... the 1300 block of chase
OK, Moore helped you downzone your home, good for you.
Sure, Moore has done other downzonings.
Have you already made up your mind, or would you agree we should consider the record ON BALANCE? For every downzoning for neighbors you can come up with, it is a simple matter to come up with 10 Moore zoning changes favoring developers.
Moore reverses neighbors' down-zoning
Zoning change for S & C Electric
Zoning change for Lunt & Glenwood
Morse and Greenview Development
2.5x density increase for the SE corner of Pratt & Ridge
etc.
Furthermore, should we consider the vast areas NOT being downzoned?
> Daley the 1st ... sold out our neighborhood in the 1960's ... and upzoned to R4 ... Joe Moore inhereted this mess.
Moore carefully preserves vast areas of overzoning to keep the tear-downs for campaign contributions engine stoked while meanwhile orchestrating high-publicized but relatively small areas of downzoning.
Toto:
Tear down! Tear down! Yeah team!
Sing along with Toto:
Tear down Rogers Park
Every new condo in RP is a victory!
Tear down Rogers Park
Go after a variance ever so fearlessly!
Who cares if they are an aberation
We like the 8 unit formation.
Tear down Rogers Park
Then you price druggies out of town!
You'll be the pride and joy,
of all Illinois.
Tear down Rogers Park!
(o)_(-)
kiss kiss
> Joe Moore does sell tickets
Moore sells legislative services.
> ... downzonings also require a certain amount of petition signing and such ...
In conjunction with his Fall Zoning Tour, Moore announced a new process for downzoning which did not require petitions and initiated zoning changes without them.
Also, upzonings for developers do not require petitions - just cash.
> Joe Moore does not just decide to rezone your block and tell you about it later.
During his Fall Zoning Tour Moore explained to his audiences that, no, he did not ask permission from owners for the zoning changes he proposed.
> I challenge you to find one instance when homeowners have wanted to downzone at least a cluster of home and Joe Moore has refused them.
Moore frequently calls meetings to explain to neighbors that "there is nothing we can do, the developer is within his rights."
Moore frequently calls meetings to explain to neighbors that he is changing our zoning laws to accomodate a campaign contributor.
Moore NEVER proactively initiates meeting to educate his constituents about their rights and options under law.
> I completely blame the Machine and Wigoda for all of the overzoning, 4+1's and nursing homes. It's a fact.
You calling them facts does not make them facts. You are grossly oversimplifying.
> Joe Moore inhereted this mess.
This sounds like Bush on the economy. This might have been an amusing claim in, say 1993 or so, but after 15 years of his twiddling, the zoning map of Rogers Park is Moore's map. He owns it.
> I think the fact that every zoning change gets first reviewed by his zoning advisory committee keeps the zoning decsions above board.
Moore's zoning advisory committee process keeps zoning decisions in the back-room, in the hands of insiders, developers, and campaign contributors.
Post a Comment