UPDATED 2/23/2008 WITH COMMENT FROM VALERIE LEONARD (BELOW)
About 50 protesters gathered outside of Chicago Mayor Daley's office today to protest an eminent domain "land grab." Mayor Daley was a no-show.The peaceful but vociferous protest featured many signs, buttons, stickers and people of all ages. The event was organized by the Lawndale Alliance, an informal group of people who live in North Lawndale. The protesters accused Mayor Daley of "hiding behind his doors."
The mayor's office, on the fifth floor of City Hall in Chicago's Loop, remained closed. Security guards quietly watched the protesters, but no trouble was evident.
More on the Lawndale eminent domain situation in the coming days. This story is still developing... (See RELATED ITEM)
Valerie F. Leonard said...
Hello,everyone. On behalf of the Lawndale Alliance, I want to thank you for all your support. As you have probably heard by now, the Community Development Commission voted 6-1 to forward the Proposed Ogden-Pulaski Redevelopment Plan to City Council, where it will go to the Finance Committee and then to the full Council. I need to get the dates for you.
This decision was made, in spite of the fact that the vast majority of the residents who testified indicated a desire for community input, creation of a TIF Advisory Council, and cleaning up the Acquisition List and the List of Housing Potentially Displaced--BEFORE THE PLAN IS APPROVED. There are still a number of occupied houses on the list that should not be classified as dilapidated; as well as errors in some of the PIN Numbers/Addresses. In spite of this, the City is proceeding with the approval process.
We have also learned that at least one person whose property was removed from the list of Housing Potentially Displaced was approached by the City to purchase her property on Ogden. There is another report of someone on Kedzie Avenue that was approached by the City to purchase her property. As you may recall, the original list of Housing Potentially Displaced included a significant number of properties along Kedzie Avenue and Cermak Road. Most of these properties were included because of the consultant's recommendation to re-zone the area to commercial/light industrial. The current land use for the properties is residential.
The moral to this story is we need to be vigilant. Just because properties have been removed from the Housing Potentially Displaced list does not guarantee safety. Vacant lots on the Acquisition List will be acquired over the next 5-10 years. City officials have indicated that if any homes on the Housing Potentially Displaced list were ever targeted for acquisition, they would need to come before the Community Development Commission before the City takes action. Our experience in North Lawndale is showing that if we're not careful, the Housing Potentially Displaced list could become an effective Acquisition List. In fact, the City is acting faster on some of the properties on the Housing Potentially Displaced than they are on the Acquisition List.
We have sent the City some pictures of some of the houses that could be potentially displaced, and asked them to go out into the field again to double check. While we would agree that some of the homes are in need of repair, they would not count as dilapidated, in our lay opinion. They have agreed to take another look.
I will give a full update next week, and provide links to news articles and blogs on the coverage of our press conference and the Community Development Commission hearing.
In the meantime, I am asking you to tune in to the Northwestern News Report this Sunday at 6:30 p.m. on WYCC, Channel 20. They will do a segment on the public hearing and interviews with people whose homes are on the list of Housing Potentially Displaced. Please record it on VHS or DVD and share with your neighbors, students, church members, organizations,friends and colleagues.
Sat Feb 23, 06:56:00 PM CST
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