CHICAGO | General Discussions

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Looks like Rosa’s little pet affordable housing project came back with a NIMBY inspired redesign.

To summarize:

Just as ugly
Now shorter with more parking

Yay for NIMBYs!
Yay for Rosa!
Dumb people are why we can’t have nice things

Is this the Emmett St project? Where do you see this news?

The only way we can ever have affordable housing in gentrified or gentrifying parts of town like Logan Square is to build non-market housing. Bickerdike's plan does this without squeezing market-rate developers, so I don't understand why you're so opposed.

If the height has come down - don't really care so long as the unit count remains the same. They could have changed the massing to keep the same number of units at a lower building height.

If there is more parking - this is troubling, as the site sits right next to the CTA station. Regardless of where poor people work, this housing should be incentivizing them to take transit, or incentivizing people who DO take transit to apply for an apartment here.

[SamInTheLoop]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

Sigh...

Don't understand how this is going to do anything other than encourage people to reconvert existing buildings to SFH...

For sure. Horrible policy proposal that will not lead to more affordable housing.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Is this the Emmett St project? Where do you see this news?

The only way we can ever have affordable housing in gentrified or gentrifying parts of town like Logan Square is to build non-market housing. Bickerdike's plan does this without squeezing market-rate developers, so I don't understand why you're so opposed.

Sorry, but you are wrong here. The Emmitt St proposal is Rosa channelling his political mentors Preckwinkle and Guitierez. It's old school Chicago clout mongering. Let's look at the facts:

- Rosa is giving Bickerdike a $4 million (which we all know is probably worth more like $8 million) chunk of city property for $1

- He is also proposing giving them an $8 million TIF handout

- The ground floor of the building will be used for "community meeting spaces" and Bickerdikes HQ

- The entire plan was devised in secret with only Rosa-approved community groups getting to see the plans and give input

- Bickerdike openly supported Rosa and busses in their residents in the last two elections to ensure his win. They did the exact same thing at the community meeting about this project, bussed in hundreds of supporters who they just so happened to provide with highly subsidized housing




Let's call this what it is: a no bid handout of city property to his political backers that will be used to construct a socialist bootcamp in the heart of Logan Square. Does anyone actually believe the "community meeting rooms" will be open to the public and not just used as a home base for Rosa and his enablers? This entire thing stinks to high heaven, it's literally a political patronage reward for Bickerdikes past political support. Honestly I'm willing to bet the FBI would find something to string him up on patronage relates crimes if they subpoena his emails with Bickerdike. There is no way he didn't openly state this is a reward for their loyalty.

Where did he learn this behavior from? Just look no further than the mentors who taught him everything he knows. Preckwinkle and Guitierez...


If this were an actual attempt at finding the best deal to provide the most housing, he would have led a public planning process with full open bidding. There is no way Related or Holsten or Habitat wouldn't have snapped this site up for $1 and probably required no TIF to build it. Hell I'm 100% certain the city could probably sell this lot for a discounted price ($2 or $3 million) to a real affordable developer who would then construct the same exact building but saving the City $10 million.

[the urban politician]

^ That's horrible

Are you thinking about moving out of Avondale? With all of the militant communists moving in, you might start dealing with some serious crime problems.

I so far have good tenants, but I screen them. Unfortunately, Buttwinkle and her gang are now making it almost illegal to do a criminal background check on prospective tenants.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ That's horrible

Are you thinking about moving out of Avondale? With all of the militant communists moving in, you might start dealing with some serious crime problems.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

Sigh...

Don't understand how this is going to do anything other than encourage people to reconvert existing buildings to SFH...

Are these Aldermen proposing to give back the land to Native Americans? If not, they're bunch of bullshitting hacks.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

If this were an actual attempt at finding the best deal to provide the most housing, he would have led a public planning process with full open bidding. There is no way Related or Holsten or Habitat wouldn't have snapped this site up for $1 and probably required no TIF to build it. Hell I'm 100% certain the city could probably sell this lot for a discounted price ($2 or $3 million) to a real affordable developer who would then construct the same exact building but saving the City $10 million.

I guess I don't see a better option for this lot given the political realities. It's a pretty decent chunk of housing, it's appropriately dense for being on top of a transit station, and it makes the local progressives all warm and fuzzy.

Yeah, no doubt there was backroom dealing... but that's how the game is played in this city.

I don't see a market-rate developer being able to cut a deal for this lot, even if it was a normal alderman like Hopkins or Burnett. The sale of the land and the zoning change both require the input of the alderman, and the developer has no "as-of-right" option for leverage since they don't control the land. Progressives would come out and protest (since they're smart enough to realize their elected representative holds all the cards) and then they'd start whining about how service workers need convenient parking and we need to keep the land as parking.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by ardecila

I guess I don't see a better option for this lot given the political realities. It's a pretty decent chunk of housing, it's appropriately dense for being on top of a transit station, and it makes the local progressives all warm and fuzzy.

I see no option other than totalitarian communism for North Korea, you know, given the political realities...

Also I don't want to make progressives feel all warm and fuzzy, I want good governance. We can't afford not to think things like this through more.

[lakeshoredrive]

As today is 9/11, I can’t help but think about what happened in New York. It’s scary to know that Al Qaeda had the Sears Tower and JHC as possible targets. Thank god Chicago wasn’t attacked.

[Handro]

https://www.chicagotribune.com/polit...n4m-story.html

Citing ‘dramatic effect’ on CTA ridership, Mayor Lori Lightfoot opposes reduced Metra fares backed by County Board President Toni Preckwinkle

"I’m not in favor of it based upon the analysis that we’ve done," Lightfoot said. "I’ve spent some time talking with (CTA President) Dorval Carter about it, and it looks like it is essentially a transfer of CTA passengers to the Metra line."

...

Thisted noted that under the proposal, the county would provide a subsidy to offset any revenue losses to Metra and the CTA.

This is disappointing. Seems like a very obvious politically motivated position instead of one motivated by the needs of constituents.

[Steely Dan]

^ already being discussed in the chicago transit thread.

please continue the discussion there: https://forum.skyscraperpage.com/sho...64#post8692464

[Handro]

I was just walking back to my office across the expressway on Adams and it struck me--what would it take to get some kind of fencing that would make that pedestrian experience more pleasant crossing the expressway (from Van Buren to Fulton)?: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8779...7i16384!8i8192

More and more people are living and working on either side of the expressway, it could do a lot to draw foot traffic East-West and vice versa.

something as simple as this: https://www.swagroup.com/projects/i5...ay-street-art/

But ideally some kind of hardy vine plant? I don't know, my knowledge of the options is limited but the point of some kind of fencing stands.

[Steely Dan]

^ i dunno, when i lived in the west loop i liked the current "chicago star" fencing.

[BrinChi]

^ Several years ago there was a proposal to cap a few blocks of the expressway around there. Hopefully something like that comes to fruition in our lifetime.

[Handro]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

^ i dunno, when i lived in the west loop i liked the current "chicago star" fencing.

In a vacuum the fence they have there is ok and actually pretty cool, but in the context of the (ugly, albeit subjectively) 8 lane expressway and the unprotected windswept walks, it's an unpleasant stretch to cross smack dab in the the most booming area of the city.

Originally Posted by BrinChi

^ Several years ago there was a proposal to cap a few blocks of the expressway around there. Hopefully something like that comes to fruition in our lifetime.

Ohh yea, I vaguely remember seeing that idea floating around. I wonder what ever became of it? Something like Klyde Warren Park in Dallas would be so damn cool:

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Handro

In a vacuum the fence they have there is ok and actually pretty cool, but in the context of the (ugly, albeit subjectively) 8 lane expressway and the unprotected windswept walks, it's an unpleasant stretch to cross smack dab in the the most booming area of the city.

i dunno, i actually kind liked looking down at all the traffic down below.

but i certainly wouldn't be opposed to capping the kennedy trench with a park, i just doubt that the money to do it will ever be found in my lifetime.

as for replacing the current fencing with taller, visually obstructive fencing, i wouldn't be in favor of that. if we can't have a park over the kennedy, then let's at east celebrate the piece of infrastructure for what it is and enjoy the open vistas of the cityscape that's being built up around it.

[Handro]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

i dunno, i actually kind liked looking down at all the traffic down below.

but i certainly wouldn't be opposed to capping the kennedy trench with a park, i just doubt that the money to do it will ever be found in my lifetime.

as for replacing the current fencing with taller, visually obstructive fencing, i wouldn't be in favor of that. if we can't have a park over the kennedy, then let's at east celebrate the piece of infrastructure for what it is and enjoy the open vistas of the cityscape that's being built up around it.

It will definitely help to have a more continuous canyon on either side of the expressway--the lots left dotting this stretch leave it feeling a little barren.

[LouisVanDerWright]

There will be a freeway park eventually, it might take a while and only be like one or two blocks. There should be a freeway cap built in front of CCH on Ogden like the one in Columbus Ohio as well...

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by Handro

I was just walking back to my office across the expressway on Adams and it struck me--what would it take to get some kind of fencing that would make that pedestrian experience more pleasant crossing the expressway (from Van Buren to Fulton)?: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8779...7i16384!8i8192

More and more people are living and working on either side of the expressway, it could do a lot to draw foot traffic East-West and vice versa.

something as simple as this: https://www.swagroup.com/projects/i5...ay-street-art/

But ideally some kind of hardy vine plant? I don't know, my knowledge of the options is limited but the point of some kind of fencing stands.

I like what Atlanta has done:

https://www.google.com/maps/@33.7865...7i16384!8i8192

and

https://www.google.com/maps/@33.7769...7i16384!8i8192

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

freeway

Expressway