Post-Olympic Decision: What’s the Fate for Real Estate in Washington Park and the South Loop?
Many of you wanted to discuss what impact the Olympics would have on housing in the Washington Park neighborhood as well as the South Side in general, where the proposed Olympic Village would have been located.
Now that Chicago will not be getting the Games in 2016, the discussion is still warranted.
We’ve chattered about Washington Park housing before.
Remember this 10-bedroom brownstone mansion at 5919 S. Calumet?
We last chattered about it in January 2009.
It is now being sold “as-is” and has been reduced $90,500. Remember, it had been divided into 4 units over the years.
See our prior chatter and interior pictures here.
Arzak Mobarak at Classic Realty Group, Inc. now has the listing.
The listing calls it a “great opportunity at this price for the savvy investor.”
See one picture and the current listing here.
5919 S. Calumet: 10 bedrooms, 5 baths, no square footage listed, 4 car parking
- Sold in February 1989 for $30,000
- Was listed in January 2009 for $189,500
- Cancelled
- Re-listed in August 2009 for $99,000
- Currently listed for $99,000
- Taxes of $4916
- No central air
- 3 fireplaces
What about the rest of the South Loop- which was banking on an influx of investor interest and building buzz about the Games to help clear out the condo inventory that continues to grow by the month?
I was not a proponent of the olympics. Never saw an ROI on the deal. Maybe now the city can focus on the real problems.
It’s entirely possible (I’m speculating) that the promise of the olympics actually held up the development of this blighted area. One of the big problems on the south side is that the redevelopment is scattered all over the place. You’ll have a few nice buildings surrounded by abandoned buildings and empty lots. Who wants to live there? Perhaps the owners of the empty lots and abandoned buildings were holding out for olympic gold. The city doesn’t need the olympics to encourage contiguous development. They need to just do it.
I supported the olympics bid, though not from a purely economic ROI perspective.
I agree with your point Gary, the little islands of redevelopment can be very iffy. The idea of walking 2 blocks and being perfectly safe and walking 1 more block and being in the midst of a crime ridden slum is not appealing.
North of Washington park, some pretty substantial reinvestment and redevelopment going on for quite awhile. The area immedietly around IIT and US cellular field has been in flux for awhile. A lot of condemned public housing buildings have been knocked down and replaced with newer condominiums. It is definetly a work in progress, but it does seem to be a gradually increasing sphere of influence. That is around 30th to 37th street, but it is expanding southward so, it may eventually come to reach down to the north of Washington Park.
The olympics would have cost every Chicago taxpayer a lot of money. Revenues are always less than budgeted. Expenses are always WAY higher than budgeted. Chicago politicians line their pockets. Citizens face a tax increase.
Thank frickin god we didn’t get the Olympics. We’re already indebted up to our ears and the last thing we need is a $50 billion dollar grab bag for everyone to stick their dirty hands into.
As for the South Side, yeah its probably screwed even if we got the olympics since the only building going on was in the already nice part of the south side. Hopefully Daley will continue to blow up the projects and ship these clowns out of here and to Kankakee or Decatur or Champaign or wherever they get shipped to.
The south side for the most part will suck, and continue to suck as long as the communities continue to not care about where they live. Littering, not snitching, single parenting, gangs, the list goes on and on.
“Littering, not snitching, single parenting, gangs, ”
Yeah get rid of the littering and the single parents, and that’s half your problem. Those two issues don’t make the top-25 of problems facing the southside.
You don’t think broken households or littering are a problem? Ok lets see your “top 25” list then.
Although littering is not the top priority of the city it is something that really bugs me – across all parts of this city. It’s a symptom of a real cultural disease here. I routinely see people drive down the street and throw stuff out the window of their cars. I see people walk down the street and fling bottles and wadded up paper bags down on the ground. It’s indicative of a mentality that they’re not responsible for anything and someone else should clean up behind them. It’s an entitlement mentality and it’s worse in the poorer sections of the city. This is what happens when the government provides.
Quick threadjack: If I transfer a property owned outright, no mortgage, to an LLC where I am the sole member is it considered a taxable event?
I never know where/when to ask these real estate yet non pertinent questions..
I actually heard someone say that the reason they litter is “because they are creating jobs” by littering… I kid you not, this is a 100% true story!
“Quick threadjack: If I transfer a property owned outright, no mortgage, to an LLC where I am the sole member is it considered a taxable event?”
Not yet, but I have had a tax attorney tell me not to be suprised if this happens in the future as the city/county/state look for additional revenue sources as transactions are down.
“broken households”
There are more than plenty of examples of single parent households being more than fine. It is not the existance of single parent (broken? haha. cuz it would be so much better if daddy-felon were around?) households is not the problem, it is the identity and resources of the single parent that are the problem.
As to a top-25, it’s not interesting enough to me to take the time, but if “not snitching” is an example of the specificity of a problem (and I agree it is a *big* problem), then there are easily 25+ problems bigger than littering and single-parent households (b/c if the single parent were educated, not poor and didn’t have 4 different baby daddies, all of whom are “in the system”, then there wouldn’t be a problem with being single–and that’s 4 problems that aren’t inherent problems of s-p households).
I was in Atlanta when they got the Olympics and it didn’t do squat. Bad neighborhoods were still bad neighborhoods. The hoods that did gentrify were already gentrifying and would have without the olympics – close to downtown, good housing stock, etc.
The only folks that made any money were the mayor’s cronies. 1
I agree with Sonies, it is the little things that will help the Southside, not the big developments. The communities I have seen gentrify all started by the residents starting to Give a F*ck. Picking up trash, planting flowers, gardens, taking care of their property. It has nothing to do with being poor or disadvantaged. My grandparents were dirt poor, but they and their neighbors still didn’t litter and found ways to take care of their modest properties.
In Atlanta, there were several blighted communities but the houses were close to downtown and had great architectural appeal. Gay white men started moving in because of the cheap houses. Painting, cleaning up, callin the cops on the thugs on the corner, etc. At first, things were tense, but once momentum started, it now cost you $400k+ to get nice 3/2 house in that area when 10 year ago those same houses were $150k.
These communities have been destroyed by liberal policies. I ain’t no republican by any stretch, but the policies that concentrated poor decision making in one area have absolutely destroyed those communities.
“the policies that concentrated poor decision making in one area ”
Those aren’t just liberal policies. They are government policies. Ain’t gonna find a republican that’s sad that the poor are concentrated in a neighborhood that isn’t theirs. The liberal policies throw money at them (which is a bad idea, too), but both parties have had a hand in concentrating the poverty (unless you think jim crow and redlining and etc were “liberal” policies).
“The communities I have seen gentrify all started by the residents starting to Give a F*ck”
it is easier said than done, the major issues or top 25 as sonies and anon are promoting, have been passed down generation to generation which are now a part of a culture and as the years pass become more acceptable and are becoming hard to change.
i was lucky cause my hood hasnt been bad for that long and people still remember when it was good. a lot of community support and families wanting a better life helped. what our few blocks have done have now stalled the past two year and has not spread as it has been.
but i can tell you first hand its hard to change a culture that is more than two generations deep.
If you don’t like poor people, litter and single mothers then move to the suburbs already. It’s not about quality of life, it’s about the way of life, and this being a big city, you should get over it really fast.
“If you don’t like poor people, litter and single mothers then move to the suburbs already. It’s not about quality of life, it’s about the way of life, and this being a big city, you should get over it really fast.”
Yeah that’s the attitude, nothing will ever change, so get used to it!
Um, I don’t know if you’ve been drinking this morning or what, but I’m just going to have to disagree that there is nothing wrong with littering or broken households.
What I don’t understand is that at the height of the civil rights movement, it seems that the goals of all those involved were the same: get an education, get a job, live a productive life, and so on. (perhaps “live the middle-class american dream”?) But it seems that in response to a possible cultural “assimilation”, the resistance to that created a, frankly, anti-social, anti-upwardly mobile culture instead. What went wrong? The pendulum swung to far in the other direction?
I’ve also heard someone say, “if there’s no trash around, what’s the garbage man going to have to do?”, as if making work for someone else was totally acceptable. That also went hand in hand with an attitude of “what’s a little garbage? what can one person do?”
Boggles my mind, but I really see very little hope for the distressed south/west sides, and throwing money at it won’t help. The communities are aimless and hopeless.
Jobs…jobs….jobs….No one seems to be talking about this issue. Yes there are some ingrained cultural issues from years of having projects exist and so on, but the key is jobs. Have you ever heard a drug dealer on one of those COP shows say he sells drugs for any other reason that he knows no other way to achieve the same income level? Fix jobs and you will fix many social as well as real estate issues. Quick fact in from a recent Wall Street Journal article is that approximately 50% of men work in construction or manufacturing, which have some empployment hit the hardest.
“Have you ever heard a drug dealer on one of those COP shows say he sells drugs for any other reason that he knows no other way to achieve the same income level?”
And don’t anyone say “you can’t get a job that makes as much money as dealing w/o an education” without citing any stats about what dealers make–the more thorough recent info sez that street-level dealers mostly make less than minimum wage. Which isn’t to say these guys are smart enough to figure that one out, but it is all about jobs.
And, so, define a “broken home” for me. And what makes it “broken” as compared to a non-poor family with the same missing family members?
So anyhow, from a personal business standpoint, I’m disappointed that Chicago didn’t win the opportunity to host the Olympics. I hoped that it would have helped put people back to work and assisted in driving the real estate market. Perhaps that’s a short sighted point of view, but I need to make a living.
I agree, there were plenty of things that could have gone wrong had we won the bid, but that’s pretty much the norm.
Homedelete,
Wow! Trash makes the city exciting? Yeah, I guess so…in the same way that beating up honor students with railroad ties makes it exciting. Personally, I can do without that kind of excitement.
ThinkSmall- it’s not about jobs, it’s about wanting it all and wanting it now without having to pay your dues. Don Lemon did a special on Chicago’s streets about a month ago and this street pharmacist told him he sells drugs bc it’s the only high paying job you can have without a degree. It has nothing to do with your neighborhood. Michelle Obama is from the hood. Ben Carson (top neurosurgeon at Johns) is from the hood too, etc.. In a way I wish CHA hadn’t torn down the projects bc ever since then crime has been through the roof
As far as the Olympics real estate investors….way to get had! I don’t understand how so many people bought properties in Englewood and Washington Park based on the possibility of the Olympics coming here.
Yeah, I love the plastic-bags-hanging-in-trees aesthetic.
How about the approach taken by Dublin? 150-euro fines for littering, and hilarious signs on public waste bins that state (I kid you not): “Litter is disgusting, and so are those responsible.” I have never seen such clean city streets and sidewalks.
And, frankly, I’m surprised that the Daley machine hasn’t figured out a way to make litter ticketing a new revenue stream. (Granted, much of the airborne garbage originated from city bins.)
Littering is an illegal offense punishable by fine. 10-8-480 Casting refuse and liquids.
It shall be unlawful for any person, in person or by his agent, employee or servant to cast, throw, sweep, sift or deposit in any manner in or upon any public way or other public place in the city, or in or upon the waters of Lake Michigan, or any river, canal, public water, drain, sewer or receiving basin within the jurisdiction of the city, any kind of litter. Nor shall any person cast, throw, sweep, sift or deposit any litter anywhere within the jurisdiction of the city in such manner that it may be carried or deposited, in whole or in part, by the action of the sun, wind, rain or snow, into any of the aforementioned places.
Litter includes but is not limited to the following: (a) picnic or eating utensils, such as paper plates, cups, napkins, towels, plastic utensils, metal foil, cellophane, wax paper, paper bags, or any food wrappings; (b) liquid or beverage containers such as beer, soft-drink, and juice cans, beer, soft-drink, liquor and wine bottles, and milk or juice cartons; (c) tobacco and confection wrappers, such as cigarette packages, candy, ice cream, popsicle, gum or any other type of dessert or confection wrapping or container; (d) food wastes, such as fruit or vegetable peelings, pulp, rinds, leftovers or any other type of table wastes; (e) newspapers, books, placards, handbills, pamphlets, circulars, notices or papers of any type; (f) or any other type of rubbish, garbage, refuse matter, article, thing or substance such as discarded clothing, boxes, dust, manure or ashes.
Provided, that this section shall not apply to the deposit of material under a permit authorized by any ordinance of the city; or to goods, wares, or merchandise deposited upon any public way or other public place temporarily, in the necessary course of trade, and removed therefrom within two hours after being so deposited; or to articles or things deposited in or conducted into the city sewer system through lawful drains in accordance with the ordinances of the city relating thereto.
Any person violating any of the provisions of this section shall be fined not less than $50.00 nor more than $200.00 for each offense.
@ Think Small
I remember back in the late 90’s early 2000’s when there wasn’t enough workers to fill the available jobs in Chicago. The Reader did a piece on how a coffee shop in Evanston had to up its hourly pay to $11 an hour just get someone to steam milk and brew espresso. I remember having to literally BEG semi acceptable applicants to take a $25K a year job (starting pay) answering the phones in my ‘high profile’ office…. nothing more than answering phones, will full health/dental, 2 weeks paid vacation. Not a life career I agree, but perfect for a grandma, 2nd income, someone who wanted to get their feet wet in the business, etc. You have no idea the amount of flip-flop wearing gum chewing mall/slang talking applicants who showed up… none of which really wanted the 9-5 brutalities of working for a living.
I also remember that neighborhoods, just like this one, were just as filthy, gang/drug infested, crime ridden, system sucking, as they are today. You think teenagers being brutalized in areas like this is something new and only because of the current jobless recession? The only thing new is that they all have cell phones and can capture it on camera.
When I moved into the Sheffield area almost 30 years ago, the same muti-million dollar neighborhood everyone seems to love today, it was just about as badass as this neighborhood was – ah, the hot summer night shootings. The difference was that the new neighbors, mostly pre-yuppies and gays, took back the area from the thugs that controlled it… all without government/city help! Few were rich, far from it as many were lower income artists/creative types, but the change came FROM the people within the area… they took responsibility for themselves and their neighborhood. No, this area is never going to change – jobs or no jobs.
honestly, littering is kinda disgusting and is socially wrong.
but the real filth here is the stereotyping of single parent homes on this thread.
note the word ‘stereotyping’. good people and bad people can come from all types of homes, and by segregating you are not contributing to a solution. it just makes you a bigot.
“Dublin? … I have never seen such clean city streets and sidewalks.”
Really? Dublin’s pretty dirty, in my opinion; dirtiest city in Ireland, that I’ve ssen. Ever been to Germany?
But yeah, really clean compared to US cities. Of course, try charging $.25/bag for plastic bags and you’ll see an end to plastic bags blowing around Chicago, too.
“Really? Dublin’s pretty dirty, in my opinion; dirtiest city in Ireland, that I’ve ssen. Ever been to Germany?”
Yup, been to Germany, and I stand corrected. Still, as you point out, Chicago is still on another (lower) level. In Dublin, I didn’t see much in the way of overt “litter cops,” but the bag charge probably does much to drive the lack of plastic precip.
“Jobs is the problem? The reason these people are underemployed is because”
Forgot numbers 4 and 5.
4) They have no incentive to work because they can collect more in handouts than they can earn by working.
5.) They don’t know anything different because they are a product of the system our govt created. Their parents, parents’ parents, friends parents, ants, uncles, etc never worked, so that’s all they know.
While you are all discussing race theory and public policy, I’m actually interested in that house. A 10 room brownstone mansion for under $100K!
It looks like you could also get nice lots on either side of the building too.
I’m not looking to buy real estate any time soon, but when I do, I’d love to get a deal like this. I’m a fearless white guy, who could care less about the “dangers” of the south side. A big ass barking dog would be all I need.
Jay, you bring up many great points. Finding employees was a major issue in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. The key dynamic change is that high paying manufacturing jobs ($20+ per hour) have essentially disappeared, non-union construction (lower wage rates) has taken off (people want cheap prices and high wages) and funky labor market over the past 8 years has forced people to lower their salary expectations given the global economy. Prior to the recession, most expected a labor shortage to be a coming “crisis.” This does seem likely in the future with declining birth rates.
“Littering is an illegal offense punishable by fine.”
Chicago fines are a joke, particularly to those who aren’t worried about their credit score. A toothless process if I ever saw one.
1)Skip the hearing, fine goes to $500.
2)They send you threatening mail telling you its now $500 and they will refer it to collections.
3)They then refer it to collections.
4)Collections agency sends threatening letters.
5)Collections agency goes away after awhile and no response.
And all of this assumes this will be one of the rare instances where the CPD will write a citation for littering. The people this fine targets don’t give a darn about their credit score or collection letters.
Bob- Lmao at your Tales of the Hood
Danny- What you save in mortgage on that house is exactly what you’ll pay in security. I’ve heard from many people that Washington Park has always been full of the city’s finest: pharmacists, commodities traders and Recruiters (IE. druggies, drug dealers and prostitutes)
“Yep – European colonialism.”
How did Eastern Europe rebound so quickly from Russian colonialism that ended in 1991?
Occam’s razor is sharp indeed for imaginative politically correct minded academics.
As has be mentioned, the Olympics really were not going to be a long term jobs/real estate benefit to the City or the neighborhoods. It would have perhaps pushed improvement to key portions of Metro/City/neighborhood infrastructure, but no one was going to become the next Trump from the Games.
As for this property and the Washington Park neighborhood in general, I see this the property having to drop within the 1989 price, maybe $40-60K at most. 59th St. is way too far from anything major, and although Calumet Ave. is relatively close to the west edge of Hyde Park.
There is no there there.
The land that may have the most impact on real estate pricing is the Michael Reese campus area. The city will soon be desperate to unload the property. It will be interesting to see if it eventually turns into something Dearborn Parkish or if some developer tries to do a high-density project or ?????
“As I said before, the olympics wasn’t going to save anything on the South side. It would be Daley’s buddies construction companies doing the work, and the work would already be in areas that have been bought up and are still shitty”
i agree to the last part of that, but i do think i would have brought work to people in the trades which have been hit hard in the recession
“i agree to the last part of that, but i do think i would have brought work to people in the trades which have been hit hard in the recession”
Not much work though, all these big construction companies like Walsh, that have a ton of employees looking for something to do would be the ones doing the jobs. If you think Mom&Pop’s painting crews and other small businesses would be getting in on olympics contracts, I have a bridge for sale.
“If you think Mom&Pop’s painting crews and other small businesses would be getting in on olympics contracts, I have a bridge for sale”
i would never think that, the walsh’s and palumbo’s will get the contracts but even then they have scaled back and would have needed more crew which would lead them to rehire and contract out some jobs. it wouldnt trickle down to “Sonies tuckpointing and computer repair” but some Large mom and pop contractors.
Painting & Computer Repair I could do (and have done) 🙂 Tuckpointing… no thanks!
Bob, I thought I would warn you…the city hires attorneys to aggressively pursue collections through the court system. Even cases as small as $500.00. They want only one thing: a brick in your paycheck. I see it all the time.
I’m going to talk about real estate instead of whatever the heck everyone else is gabbing about.
The one nice thing about this whole Olympics issue being resolved, is that we finally know what to expect. No more speculation on that issue (of course we can always speculate on where the economy is going.) Now we know the facts: South Loop is oversaturated has has no magic influx.
Andy,
the south loop does have a magic bullet, the same one its always had, location, which will manifest itself as soon as the economy calms down and the middle class can grow again. young people I feel find that area appealing, maybe not to own, but rent and live.
It doesn’t matter who the contractor is, they all employ tradesmen and hire from the same halls.
Wow, a lot of hate on this thread. The challenges facing folks on the southside are mixed, dynamic, and cannot be summarized in a few statements. A lot of who you are today is from what you saw growing up, what opportunities you had, good parenting, access to resources, etc. It’s not black and white.
So some determined people “cleaned up” Lincoln Park years ago. So what? What happened to the people there? They were displaced somewhere else… and now a once okay neighborhood is now “down and out.” How do we change people not just neighborhoods. That’s the real question… probably beyond the scope of this blog.
I won’t go into making a point of all the problems that face this city, but there are so many that were not addressed and this is what caused the city to lose any chance of getting these games. For Chicago to be eliminated first must have been a huge embarrassment to those who were pushing so hard to get them, but at the same time, it was plain to see that no one had any clue as to what it would take to impress those who determined where they were going to be held.
It seems as though there is no sense of pride that comes from actually living in Chicago. No sense of community and no interest in solving the problems that face this city…and not just the Southside. It also seemed that merely putting cosmetic patches on these problems was going to be enough to earn that games. While many investors, mostly amateur, were willing to put all they had into purchasing property that they planned on putting half an effort into rehabbing, there was really no thought beyond that.
Classic view into how greed drives some RE investors.
I recall the first few RE people I spoke with when I first moved here. Their advice was to invest heavily in the South side as I would be guaranteed that these rehabs would be sold quickly once the announcement was made. While having no intention of going any further south of Roosevelt, I did ask a few agents about the area and almost all of them refused to even show me any listings there. That was a pretty good indication that there would be little improvement in the area, even if the games were to be held here.
The problems this city faces go much deeper than littering and single parent households…they are the end products of the crisis in this city, not the cause.
While I agree there needed to be some attention paid to CHA and it’s deteriorating conditions, to evict the residents and demolish the complexes was definately not the way to go about solving this problem. While doing so did improve some neighborhoods and allow new construction to happen, it only served to cause the deterioration of others. Many areas of the city have such low rental requirements and low rents that the problems that ‘element’ (and no I am not saying all CHA residents are part of that trouble causing group) cause were then spread throughout the city.
In the end though, I hope that everyone comes to the realization that having the games awarded to Chicago would have caused even more problems here. To go into this competition so blind to all of the issues the Southside faces was a huge mistake and one that has cast an even more negative view of the city to the nation.
west loop
“It seems as though there is no sense of pride that comes from actually living in Chicago. No sense of community and no interest in solving the problems that face this city”
the pride and community is lost when people here just flee to the burbs. something i have been strongly vocal about on crib chatter.
but i do disagree that there is NO pride and community, its still here and chicagoans will be quick to give a black eye to anyone from NY talking down about their city or sports team.
now the pride and community isnt there like the before.
“but i do disagree that there is NO pride and community, its still here”
It certainly is. But if you focus on the transient, transitional and decimated neighborhoods, you see a lot less of it. But even the worst neighborhoods have pride and community, it just sometimes manifests itself in unfortunate ways (the Fenger murder was the result of a fight b/t members of two communities exhibiting their “pride” in an anti-social manner).
The other thing WL is somewhat mistaken about is the destination of (many/most) of the former-CHA residents–they’ve been moving in large numbers to the south suburbs. And that’s been intentional; the city and HUD have wanted to get more public housing residents out of the city, and have done a reasonable job of it.
Totally off-topic, but a 2007 vintage mortgage rolled across my desk today…2006 IRS returns show an income of $22,000 yet the 2007 mortgage was for $252,000….9x income…and it was a legitimate loan, not a refi or fraudulent transfer. They scraped by and made the mortgage payments for nearly two years…..god only knows how many more of these loans are out there…but I’ll tell you that the 2007 vintage has got to be the worst class of loans out there…
Personally, I already bought in Lakeview. I am very interested to see what Olympic decision will do to South Loop prices though. I hope it will stop the speculation and allow units to start moving – even at reduced prices. The south loop has a great appeal to young professionals I know that work in the Loop or commute south, especially the Printer’s Row area.
I see that one South Loop condo that I had on my watch list, a 250K 2bed2bath, went to Contingent status the Monday after the decision.
“the pride and community is lost when people here just flee to the burbs. something i have been strongly vocal about on crib chatter.
but i do disagree that there is NO pride and community, its still here and chicagoans will be quick to give a black eye to anyone from NY talking down about their city or sports team.
now the pride and community isnt there like the before.”
I can’t agree with your opinion stating that pride and community is lost when city residents relocate to the suburbs. Usually when projects in inner city neighborhoods are demolished in the regentrification process, those neighborhoods are then populated with a new group of residents who bring along a renewed sense of community. In most cases here in Chicago, I do not see this happening. It is as though those who are in the position of guiding the regentrification of neighborhoods are not at all focused on doing what needs to be done to accomplish a solid base on which to build community.
I can point to several cities in the country (Denver’s Capital Hill area is a perfect example, areas in Atlanta, South Beach another) where low income transients were removed in whole and replaced by a more educated and moneyed population. In these instances, because of the combined effort of city planners, developers, city council members and new residents, the establishing of new neighborhoods were a success. Once those groups did their work, the new residents did establish a sense of community and they were truly proud of their new homes.
I am sorry, but I just do not see that guidance happening in any areas where CHA demolished their projects. Instead of being involved in the process of relocating their low income population from beginning to end, it seems once their buildings were destroyed the plans were just left up to the developers to implement. In order for a regentrification to be a success, there needs to be heavy involvment from city officials up to the point where the (for lack of a better term) yuppies move in to their new homes.
In Chicago’s case, the low income CHA residents were forced to fend for themselves. This ended up with them populating other areas that were on the verge of regentrifing themselves. Were the south side suburbs ready and able to support such an influx of new residents?
I have developed friendships with a number of city representatives, developers and others who are vital to this process. 99% of them agree with what I have stated above…the city just pulled out once what they determined were eye sores and trouble spots were torn down. This is the point where there needs to be real involvement and a team work type of outlook…and it just has not happened here.
I would not be aware of these facts had I not been involved in the regent process in many cities. It is a long and hard process to undertake and one that Chicago is obviously not prepared to take on. Had they been capable of doing so, I think the outcome of the Olympics would have been in favor of Chicago.
I hope now that the city has gone through this process, the major players have learned a few valuable lessons. In order to impress an organization such as the Olympic Committee there has to be more than a small handful of amateur investors who bought up delapidated properties. Merely rehabbing a few old houses with minimal effort does not result in success for any of the cities inhabitants.
Look, I am not so against Chicago that I am jumping for joy that the Games are not going to be held here. I think it is a great city…that said, there needs to be some highly educated and experienced city planners and others who are able to guide this process from beginning to end. At present this just does not exist.
I do like you Groove, but to have that old ‘give you a black eye if you talk bad about my sports team’ does nothing positive in changing the reputation that Chicago has. Yes Chicago possesses a ton of great attributes, but such statements are the opposite of what you, as a proud Chicago resident really desires to project.
“Were the south side suburbs ready and able to support such an influx of new residents?”
No, but do you think that was of any interest to the powers-that-be in Chicago? Get em out of the city, and it’s someone else’s problem.
“Had they been capable of doing so, I think the outcome of the Olympics would have been in favor of Chicago.”
Nothing (except huge bribes) was taking it away from Rio; the stated goal of the Games is to spread sprt around the world, Rio had built up an excellent bid, had (basically) unlimited financial backing from their national governement and two years to work out any kinks shown by the World Cup. And Chicago was saddled by a fight b/t the IOC and the USOC. Nothing short of demonstrated magic powers for construction would have changed the result. Nothing.
Oh, and removing ALL of the low-income people from any part of the city is unpopular b/c (1) the aldermen count on those votes and (2) the aldermen don’t want to be called racist/classist/whatever.
West loop
“I do like you Groove, but to have that old ‘give you a black eye if you talk bad about my sports team’ does nothing positive in changing the reputation that Chicago has”
i guess it came off wrong, i tried to over simplify a complex mindset with light hearted comical comments. didnt want to type war and peace like you just did 🙂
This is a subject that is best disscused over a heavy dinner and a few beers not the internet.
community is lost when flee to the burbs is the easiest option.
community is lost when what surrounds you is deteriating and it looks as local goverment doesnt care or help. i.e. as you said “CHA residents were forced to fend for themselves”
community is lost when…ah too much to type i hope you get my point 🙁
But outside the “green zones” and trendy hoods in chicago you will find pockets of long time residents and huge amounts of “pride and community”.
most people wont come accross it cause these hoods are not off lincoln ave and are west of western. these areas wont get media coverage or even hit the radar of upper middle class.
“The government who robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul,” -George Bernard Shaw
Can we talk about this house instead of things like littering? I know I would like to hear peoples opinions of what they would do to this house, cost issues, remodeling, prices, etc.
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