Nausea-inducing NIMBYism in Streeterville?

Last week we reported that the affordable housing component had been scrapped in favor of offices in the proposed development at 410 E Grand Ave in Streeterville.

Some background from the Greg Hinz on Politics blog:

At issue were plans recently announced by Golub Real Estate to build two residential structures on what now is a parking lot: a 45-story, 490-unit market-rate tower — in Streeterville, “market rate” means upscale — and an adjacent building with 200 or so units, all of them to be filled with people making well under the metropolitan area average income.

Officials at Golub, who didn’t return several phone calls from me, argued at a recent public hearing that the affordable building would be home to nurses, medical technicians and others who work at nearby hospitals but can’t afford to live in the area.

Not surprisingly, nearby residents “hated” the proposal, showing up in big numbers to protest, Mr. Reilly says.
So, as the alderman wrote in his weekly email to constituents, Golub now has submitted a revised proposal, which dumps the affordable housing in favor of a commercial-medical office building.

I wasn’t at the public hearing, so it’s hard to judge exactly how much not-in-my-back-yard sentiment was expressed.

Did Streeterville residents really object to having nurses and other hospital workers as their neighbors? If so, as a former hospital worker who was married to a nurse for 20 years, I find their behavior nausea-inducing. Did the Alderman have any part in Golub’s revising its proposal?

Has Streeterville finally realized the Captain’s dream of seceding from the United States – or at least from civilized society?

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