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Permission to land?
TALKING POINT Uptown residents enter last week’s Fix Wilson Yard confab.Though the flames that destroyed Uptown’s Wilson Yard bus barn were quelled in 1996, the debate over the redevelopment of the semivacant land bordered by Broadway, Montrose Avenue and CTA Red Line tracks south of Wilson Station has never been more fiery.
Following an appellate court ruling in July in downstate Belleville allowing citizens to sue municipalities for abuse of tax-increment-financing (TIF) districts, a determined group of Uptown residents called Fix Wilson Yard has begun hosting community meetings to raise money for a lawsuit against the city, citing abuse of the TIF plan that’s funding the Wilson Yard redevelopment. (To revive specific areas determined to be blighted, TIFs fix the amount of property taxes that the county, schools and parks get from property within the designated area for up to 23 years. All new property tax dollars generated from development in the TIF district are reinvested into further development.)
The Wilson Yard redevelopment plan currently includes, according to 46th Ward Ald. Helen Shiller’s office, the addition of a Target (located beside the Aldi Foods that opened last year), 25,000 square feet of retail frontage on Broadway and two multistory affordable housing structures. The developer is Holsten Real Estate Development Corporation, run by Peter Holsten, a longtime contributor to Shiller’s reelection campaigns who specializes in affordable housing. It’s this affordable-housing component that Fix Wilson Yard organizers are calling “the elephant” of the project, likening it to notorious failures of Chicago public housing.
“This type of housing model—high-rise, high-density, low-income housing—doesn’t work,” says Fix Wilson Yard spokeswoman and real estate attorney Molly Phalen during a presentation at a packed public meeting last Monday inside Uptown dog salon Soggy Paws. “Cabrini-Green and Robert Taylor Homes have been torn down, so why are we building [similar structures]? Is this really a responsible way for our government to be spending our tax dollars?” Phalen says current trends in affordable housing—single-family units on individual lots or mid-rise, mixed-income units—are more sensible.
Shiller assistant Yvonne Odell defends the plan as a responsible way to preserve the diversity of Uptown, historically one of Chicago’s most economically and racially varied neighborhoods. “There’s no way this is going to be another Cabrini-Green,” Odell says. “Since the Wilson Yard TIF was established in 2001, many units in the neighborhood that were formerly rental units have gone condo. The trend in Uptown is certainly not a lack of market-rate housing.”
The Fix Wilson Yard objections are part of a “NIMBY” or “not in my backyard” view of affordable housing, says Jamiko Rose, executive director of the Organization of the North East, a group that advocates for diverse, mixed-economic communities in North Side neighborhoods. “This group of residents invested in real estate and saw Wilson Yard as a speedy way to gentrify the neighborhood. Now it’s not happening the way they wanted, so they’re spreading false information. There are fears that people have around poverty and race, and invoking Cabrini-Green definitely plays on those fears. The fact is, this is not Chicago Housing Authority housing,” Rose says. “In this struggle to maintain the diversity of this neighborhood, [Fix Wilson Yard] is hurting the community.”
Nonetheless, at the end of last week’s Fix Wilson Yard meeting, dozens of neighborhood residents whipped out their checkbooks, boosting the group’s total funds to $25,000—significantly far from its $100,000 minimum goal. However, Phalen says she’s “100 percent” sure Fix Wilson Yard’s suit will make it to court. “The community wants to be heard, and we feel the taxpayers’ rights are being abused,” she says. “It’s go time.”
Time Out Chicago / Issue 183 : Aug 28–Sep 3, 2008
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I don’t understand how anybody can think warehousing poor people is a good idea, let alone humane.
Target and a movie theatre could not pass a traffic survey at the Wilson Yards site. The place would be a parking lot - that is bad development. Robert Taylor and Cabrini were not 2 buildings - they were huge multi-block developments. I think it's fantastic that we are considering building low income housing close to public transportation and social services in the most diverse neighborhood in Chicago. Stop trying to make Uptown Lincoln Park or Bucktown. Poor people need a place to live too.
"Jamiko Rose of Stone Soup Coop said that the current set-asides are inadequate. She wanted to know if TIF money could be used for affordable housing at the old Flash Cab property at Clark St. and Leland Ave. " Look! It's Jamiko Rose again, operating under a different org name, in Ald Schulter's 47th Ward Ravenswood neighborhood. This makes the 3rd contiguous ward where Jamiko seeks TIF funds. ONE new offices were paid for by the the 48th Ward TIF. http://www.insideonline.com/site/epage/9227
And Jamiko Rose, an an organizer with Organization of the NorthEast, a community group in the area said, "It's quite obvious that given its demographics, this plan can be construed as a direct assault upon a community of color. " Oops, My bad. I have my Jamiko Rose ONE race cards mixed up. This would be her race card slur regarding Senn school. It does get hard to keep all her race cards straight. For the source of this quote see: http://www.susanohanian.org/atrocity_fetch.php?id=3203
Let's all remember that a TIF (Tax Increment Financing) District 's purpose is to capture local community real estate tax dollars today, invest them in development, and reap the future benefits of increased taxes from a increased tax base. ONE and Helen Shiller demanded that the city invest 100% of our real estate dollars in non-profit entities (including ONE itself) which never pay taxes. Why shouldn't taxpayers complain when their State investment program is turned into a giveaway program?
Let's be honest, Alderman Shiller just wants more people that she can bus over to vote for her come election time.
ONE 's mission statement is to build and sustain a successful, mixed income, multi-ethnic (African-American, white, Asian, and Latino) community thru community organizing, advocacy, & leadership development. Yet, it states that members who do not feel ONE is furthering that mission of a successful, multi-ethnic, mixed-income community, should just get lost & not renew their membership. Thus, like Helen Shiller, ONE says one thing, acts inconsistantly, and tells those who wise-up to get lost
The divisive comment made by the O.N.E. spokesperson places a motive on those who speak out, yet I doubt Ms. Rose spoke with anyone about this. This is another example of polarization that divides this community. If Ms. Rose really wants unity, she's sure not acting like it.
"The Fix Wilson Yard objections are part of a “NIMBY” or “not in my backyard” view of affordable housing, says Jamiko Rose, executive director of the Organization of the North East." Ms. Rose is right on target. The "Fix Wilson Yard" are just looking for a fix for their ME-FIRST real estate investments.
For clarification, Fix Wilson Yard is not demanding more market-rate housing. Fix Wilson Yard’s goal is to stop Wilson Yard in its current form because the Redevelopment Plan promotes a failed housing model and does not serve the purpose of promoting effective development in the Wilson Yard area.
Both HUD and the Illinois Department of Housing recommend that a thriving neighborhood has no more than 20% low-income housing. The census tracts surrounding Wilson Yard already has 36% low-income units, almost double the recommended percentage. Such a proposed development goes well beyond any reasonable level of concentrated poverty.
This Redevelopment Plan ignores modern urban planning models, is a complete mis-use of taxpayer dollars and utterly disregards the intent of the TIF laws. That is why we need your help. Please visit www.fixwilsonyard.org to receive updates and donate to the Fix Wilson Yard Legal Fund. Additionally, please also join the “Fix Wilson Yard” group on Facebook to show your support. Don’t forget to spread the word!
It IS CHA housing, just not under the CHA moniker. See <a href="http://www.fixwilsonyard.org/changes.html">Peter Holsten's signed document</a> giving preferential treatment to Section 8 voucher holders.
The article also doesn't mention the official letter signed by Peter Holsten guaranteeing first dibs to those who are currently holding Section 8 housing vouchers, and that first priority will go to those who are displaced by the tearing down of other public housing. Like Cabrini Green. Since Holsten has acknowledged that there will not be any screening of the residents admitted, there is a strong chance that senior citizens will be housed with dangerous gangbangers from Cabrini Green.
Pathetic. Truly pathetic. Alderman Shiller and her office continue to villify those who have invested their hard-earned money into Uptown, yet at the same time, it is those of us who own homes who will pay the most for this pathetic project. And Alderman Shiller should not be allowed to continue to state publicly that there will be a Target. There is no signed contract, no letter of intent. All there has been is discussion. To assert otherwise is a lie.
I've got a lot of respect for ONE, but who are we kidding? This has absolutely nothing to do with making Uptown diverse. If the goal was racial diversity, we'd be building affordable housing in Helen Shiller's neck of the woods (1248 W. Carmen), which, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, is less than 5% Black and less than 14% Latino. According to the U.S. Census, the Wilson Yards site is 41% Black and 23% Latino. ONE and Shiller should think twice before playing the Race Card.
"The fact is, this is not Chicago Housing Authority housing,” Rose says. True -- because the project was denied funds by HUD and goes against the CHA's Plan for Transformation based on its density and lack of mixed incomes. It's not CHA because even the CHA wouldn't touch the project.
The writer also failed to mention that the low income housing component will cost over $400,000 per unit! As a person of mixed heritage, I am really sick and tired of people using the race card. It has nothing to do with race and everything to do with patronage, poor planning and using MY tax dollars via a TIF to create the worst possible housing model available. Shame on anyone who tries to use race-baiting. It is just horrible urban planning using a Shiller campaing contributor to build it!
Also not mentioned by Ald. Schiller is there has been no confirmation of a Target on that site. No letter of intent, nothing. In fact, Target has slowed their expansion plans due to economic concerns. (Link: http://tinyurl.com/6p82t8) The original plan also included a 12 screen theater, which has also fallen through. So now that there are no retail anchors for the neighborhood, whats left?
I don't believe the community is against low-income housing. They are against poorly designed low-income housing that is not utilizing best practices in its design. It's also not mixed-income as is done everywhere else. What is also especially concerning is the cost of each unit of affordable family housing: $447,000. As a social worker who works with families in poverty, I believe low-income families deserve better for the money that's being spent.