Quote:
Originally Posted by Ch.G, Ch.G
...or the downside of aldermanic privilege.
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Aldermen have entirely too much power, but that's not my point. We used to do big things downtown without much fuss, because nobody had to live with this stuff in their backyard. Just a few days ago we all cheered the addition of several hundred residential units at Block 37, but those are several hundred new people who will be calling Brendan Reilly to bitch about how the neon signs along State are too bright. This is America - we have this expectation of control over our own neighborhoods and we legitimize our fears of change by citing lowered property values, often with no basis in reality.
I don't really see how you avoid this problem. Some cities are able to build bold new areas with dense mixed-use, parks, and transit on the ashes of former industrial districts, and there's nobody around to complain, but Chicago eliminated this option with the creation of PMDs.