* DevCorp North Riles Neighborhood Bloggers

Morse Avenue Muralgate

DevCorp North has come under fire again, with no less than four (4) Rogers Park bloggers challenging a questionable Mural Project being done at the Morse Avenue EL. We at the 'Broken Heart' of Rogers Park believe there is a DevCorp North Muralgate scandal brewing. Here's what the bloggers had to say.

From Rogers Park Neighbor.... > " It looks the DevCorp may have stepped in something stinky. I know my heading says the "real story" but I'm sorry to tell you that I do not have it. The "real story" is what we need to hear from DevCorp. Hopefully, they will share their decision making process with us. Transparency ya know. Taxpayer money ya know."

From 27/4 Howardwatcher Toni....> "Do we see a recurring pattern in the manner in which business is conducted? When someone tells you they have your best interest in mind, don’t you expect them to follow through? I do. But then, I’m not in touch with reality!"

From The Living Room of Rogers Park...> "The Rogers Park Bench reports that a graduate journalism student from Northwestern is doing a piece about the mural being put up at the Morse El by artists from outside the community, who apparently got the assignment through DevCorp North. There's been some noise about how this came about, along with pushback by locals satisfied that the best folks are putting up the mural. Maybe they are, although no one seems to know how they got the contract to do that without any apparent competition."

From the Rogers Park Bench - Tom Mannis said ....> "THIS IS DEEPLY OFFENSIVE. Wouldn't DevCorp have been furthering its own professed mission by hiring artists from Rogers Park? Artists, after all, are business people, too. They sell their services and their products. Artists are valuable contributors to Rogers Park. But the artists in our neighborhood have been shunned by DevCorp, a corporation paid with our tax dollars to hire artists from outside the very neighborhood we pay them to help improve!"

From the Rogers Park Bench - Commenter Eyes on Eastlake said ....> " That truly stinks! How did this come about? Was there an open submission process? Did our Alderman put a posting on his site announcing an opportunity to submit a portfolio, slides, or a prospectus? Perhaps i missed it. "

BLOGNOTES: For as long as I've been blogging about the lack of transparency with DevCorp North, it looks like nothing has changed. Will we ever find out the truth on DevCorp North's Muralgate? Such as, if any tax payer money was spent on this project? And how much money was spent?

And why didn't DevCorp North do something about the 'arth 1992 Mural' in the above photograph first. Just look at this ugly thing. It's missing it's E in [e]arth. The mural looks like crap. It's paint is chipping off all over the place. It's weather worn and ready for replacement. And NOW. This should've been their first priority when it comes to a mural project. Not some super-hero, wonder-woman, fantasy figure Kimberly Bares can drool at as she's looking down the street from her new office.