When gentrification works

What a shame for Uptown... another generation being held down by the same projects shown to fail the entire community time and time again.

Cappelman, who lost an aldermanic race to Shiller, always pops up to post regarding Uptown, but what does he suggest for the development of Uptown and maintaining this community as a place that will not gentrify folks out of their communities. Uptown is glutted with undersold, over-priced condominiums. Creating affordable housing in conjunction with increased retail opportunities is responsible. Expand commercial development but don't rely on sloppy stereotypes about poor people to make a point.

Regarding the section on Uptown's Wilson Yard - you completely glossed over the utter corruption of this project. Shiller basically gave the land and tons of TIF money to her developer buddy Holsten. This housing isn't for existing residents either - its to bring in more voters for Helen. Does Time Out just blindly support Shiller without doing any research? Other candidates have ran against her who are more responsible and compassionate (and gay), yet you won't endorse them! What gives?

According to an IHDA report filed by developer Peter Holsten for the Wilson Yard, 79% of the housing will be for those with extremely low and very low income. The remaining 21% of the housing will be for families with low income. After reading this article, I believe most readers would have the mistaken perception that most of the families living there will be earning around $40,000 per year. The fact that each low-income family unit is to cost $447,000 to build is a whole other story.

And the development will be named "Cabrini Green North"

It is somewhat frustrating that the media continues to just take quotes from the 46th ward office without checking into any of them. These are the same misleading quotes that have been given to many news outlets in the Chicago area. The Alderman and her quotable staff have refused to discuss the project, the money being spent, the construction hours or anything else residents inquire about. If you write it is never answered if you send an email it is never replied to. But hey you got a quote

It's nice to see that Helen's representatives spend more time speaking (with forked tongue?) to magazines than they do with her constituents. The controversy with Wilson Yard is not over the WHO that will inhabit, but he HOW the thing is being built. NO public input. $62M in TIF funding (does housing constitute a valid argument for TIF? Short answer: no). The Wilson Yard controversy is not about housing, but about allowing Helen to use tax payer moneys improperly. Get with Time Out.

Do you do any reasearch or just print the press release from Helen Shiller's office? Ms. Shiller's office has said on many ocassions that the housing would be available to working class families such as firefighter, police officers and teachers. What a joke. As a resident who falls into this "working class" catagory I guarantee I would not be able to (or want to) live in Wilson Yard under the current plans. Do I not have any say in what happens in my community because I make more than $40k?

I thought you were giving examples of development the "responsible" way... is this the Onion?

The crazy thing is the schools in the area have a whole host of problems, the police in the area complain that they don't have enough man power, and this project is siphoning tax dollars to pay a developer $400,000 for two bedroom units. Gotta love this town....

Your article is very interesting, although the piece on Uptown is a bit misleading. Was the alderman's office your only source of information? The housing is for "working-class families earning $40,000 or less." Interesting, although Shiller's office failed to mention there is no minimum income requirement. 180 units of low income housing in multi-story buildings using TIF funds. No wonder there is a lawsuit against this project. Plus the area already has 6,000 low income units. Way too much.