Saturday August 24 -- Chicago
"They're destroying the community that already
exists. They're uprooting people from places
that they've lived for years. They're asking
them to pull out without any place to go and
it's like they're sending them out into the
streets, as if they were used furniture or
garbage .....because they don't have enough
money to live in the South Loop. So what it's
doing is destroying the neighborhood. It's
destroying the self-confidence that people have
in themselves, and it's making them feel as if
they're not worthy to be here. So where do
people go when they leave here? Do they go
back to the shelter, do they go back to the
street where they have been? Or do they stay
in the South Loop? ....And why are they doing
this?, so they can move the upscale people
into the neighborhood. They're not that
concerned about the welfare of the homeless or
the people that become unemployed. Their
interest is the almighty dollar..... They're
thinking of us as if we're not even a second
class citizen. That's what I feel about what
is going on in the South Loop."
The speaker was Joe, a man moving in and out
of homelessness over the years and one of a
hundred who on August 24th, were protesting
the city of Chicago's development plans for
the downtown area known as the South Loop.
Most of those who came to the late morning
rally were Black men, women and children -
from streets, shelters and public housing -
as well as activists for the homeless and
affordable housing. By planting a tree in
the middle of a downtown street, they were
there to send Chicago's Mayor Daley a
message: that low income and homeless people
have no intention of being displaced from
this community.
The protest was organized by the "The South
Loop Campaign for Development without
Displacement' - formed by the Chicago
Coalition for the Homeless and the Chicago
Affordable Housing Coalition. Activists
charge that the city has channelled $250
million dollars to redevelop the South Loop
for the benefit of private developers who
have built upscale housing at the expense
of community residents who are low-income
and homeless. One speaker pointed out that
only a short distance from where the crowd
gathered were new $100,000 and up condos
and lofts. Activists also criticized the
$40 million in bond funds used to upgrade
sewers and other street infrastructure in
the area for the nearby Central Station
development, a high priced luxury home
complex who's most famed resident is Mayor
Daley. While the developer had pledged to
set aside 20% of the units for low-income
families, activists note that he never
carried out his promise.
Another demand made by South Loop Campaign
is that the city "preserve, rehab or
replace" the more than 1,000 units of
single-room-occupancy housing in the area.
They also want an additional 600 rental
units in the South Loop affordable for low
income families - contrasting this small
figure to estimates of 15,000 new units to
be built in the South Loop area. They
charge that the city has not only refused
to protect this low-income housing stock,
but openly advocates the destruction of
several hundred units of SRO housing. Nor
are activists impressed by the city's
intention to build two new SRO's. They
point out that not only will those 370 new
units not make up for the potential loss of
1,000 SRO units, but that even more low
income housing is needed.
One of those endangered SRO's, the St.
James Hotel, sits right across from the
rally site. It is presently up for sale,
and according to the South Loop Campaign,
the city government had refused to use any
funds to rehab the building - claiming that
the more than $15,000 per-unit price tag
was "too cost prohibitive." However,
activists point out that the city has been
spending three times that in subsidies
given to for-profit South Loop developers.
To add insult in injury, the city has
reportedly spent upwards of $180 million
on the Democratic National Convention. $12
million had been for trees and flowers
alone. For that reason, activists from the
South Loop Campaign have charged that the
city cares more for a tree than the homeless.
Illustrating that point at the rally was Tree
Man, a homeless shelter resident dressed as
a tree. For the past week he has been
following Mayor Daley around, demanding more
spending on affordable housing in the South
Loop.
Toward the end of the rally the small silk
lilac tree was placed in a mound of dirt
boxed in by railroad ties. Some children
placed flowers around its base. This is
still OUR home it seemed to announce. As
one activist said, "we're putting down our
roots here."
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THE "MAYOR" OF THE "SOUTH LOOP":
WHAT PRICE DEVELOPMENT?
The Mayor and city officials hope
to focus the public's attention on
the glitter and gleam of the city's
development plans - be it freshly
paved streets, new fencing or new
upscale housing. The human costs
to those without money, at whose
expense this so-called development
takes place - that is often kept
obscured. It was at the rally, that
one example of that cost was told,
about a man pushed out of his home
at the end of his life.
He was known to his friends as the
"mayor" of the South Loop. For 34
years, Juan Rodriguez, he lived and
worked in that community. Together
with his wife, they raised two kids
- one now a banker in South Dakota,
the other landing a job with the
city. Juan worked his whole life,
though never making that much money.
For 20 years he worked as a cook in
the nearby Blackstone Hotel. After
that, he was the janitor in the
building that housed Catholic
Charities. When the building was
sold, a year ago, Juan lost his job.
Shortly after that, developers set
their sights on the building that he
and eleven other Latino families
lived in. It soon went up for sale.
And before and before he and the
other tenants could do anything about
it, a new owner came into the picture.
In the midst of this uncertainty,
Juan's health worsened, and he was
forced to enter a hospital. It seemed
he had cancer, but instead of any
compassion from the new owners, Juan
received the simple and cold hearted
calculations of dollars and cents.
Poor tenants bring in less money than
high priced condos. The rents were
jacked up $100, and with rents now
unaffordable, the tenants all
scattered. He died soon after, his
wife having lost not only her husband,
but her home. A hidden casualty of
the "development" that is presumed to
make Chicago a "world-class city."
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