Despite a late politically motivated charge by Harrington and the other guy, the Chicago Planning Commission voted 9-0 to allow Loyola University to build the Information Commons Center on it's campus.
Here's a history lesson. Some folks aren't to sure how things work in Chicago. I'll fill you in. Once a project is presented to the commission "downtown," it's a lock to pass. Unless you got a group of 200 students and neighbors screaming and yelling in bull horns, no ones going to listen or give a damn. 20 passive kids reading endless text on a sheet doesn't cut the mustard. Boring.
If you want to grab the attention of the commissioners, get the media stoked on the issue. Bring the bells and whistles. Waving hand made protest signs helps with the effect. Simple sayings like "Not in my back yard", and "It's all Joe's fault." The media loves that stuff. Then the cameras turn on the Alderman, and they hate that stuff.
With-out that, you think things will change, you are fooling yourself. If you ask people to take time off work to support a done deal plan, you are wasting their time too. What kind of leader would ask you to stick your head in a guillotine? Harrington and the other guy would.
3 comments:
how hard did the students lobby directly with Loyola? i would think, being tuition paying students, they would have more success dealing directly with Loyola.
Or, had they tried that, and after not getting the results they wanted, went to a plan B?
If I were on the city council, I too would not have any objections to this. If the students wanted to fight their school to be a part of the planning process, I would have no problems with that.
jim witts-
thanx for keeping an open mind.
"how hard did the students lobby directly with Loyola?"
they tried very hard jim.
"Or, had they tried that, and after not getting the results they wanted, went to a plan B?"
The campus has lost its one quiet sanctuary on the lakefront- definitely a loss for the community and the students in my opinion.
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