How would you like to see your community, your home and your livelihood threatened by an abusive state law and an indifferent local government? Christina Walsh, a coordinator with the Arlington, Va.-based Castle Coalition, said Wednesday that a pending City Council vote could fracture the neighborhood character that has brought prosperity to Lincoln Square in recent years.
“You’re protecting the American dream, and you’re helping each other,” said Walsh, who represents a nonprofit that opposes abusive eminent domain infractions.
Walsh was speaking at Save Lincoln Square, a community forum on Dec 5 for residents to learn more about how the city’s decision might affect their property.
The forum was held at Chicago Soccer, 4839 N Western Ave, a property that sits squarely in the middle of the Western Avenue North TIF district. The storefront rubs elbows with 15 other businesses that are threatened by a pending decision to give the city authority to seize so-called “blighted” properties for the betterment of the neighborhood. It was standing-room-only by the time the hosts opened the forum.
Ald Gene Schulter (47th) (not present at the Wednesday meeting) believes he’s protecting property owners from the rampant big-box development that gobbled up portions of Lincoln Park. By controlling the properties, he says, the city would be able to stave off irresponsible developers and preserve the character of the neighborhood. But at the same time, Schulter has backed a plan that would renovate the retail corridor and build low-rise condos along Western Avenue. “If we didn’t control this area, you would have had unbelievable things happening with growth,” Schulter said in the Trib on Friday.
Of course, property owners see it differently. One of the first speakers at the forum was Tim Van Le, a Vietnamese immigrant who fled Saigon in the 1980s. Four years ago, Le and his wife purchased a storefront on Western Avenue to open a furniture showroom. And this year, Le was given notice that his property was one of 16 included in Schulter’s redevelopment plan for the historic neighborhood. Under the plan, Chicago would be given authority to seize the properties, thereby giving the city considerable control over the future development of the corridor. In today’s Sun-Times, Schulter called the plans “hypothetical ideas,” perhaps signalling that he’s backing off on the proposal.
But the threat is real. Just ask Le, who still clings to the notion that success is just around the corner.
“I’m not living under communism anymore,” he said Wednesday at the community forum. “I’m in America. I’m living the American dream.”
One of the most commonly applied criteria for gauging the health of a neighborhood is the presence of vacant buildings. But Wednesday, community leaders countered that argument. Organizers invited Nick Toma, a Romanian immigrant who purchased a vacant building next to the Walgreens in Lincoln Square, to describe his nightmarish account of trying to renovate the building.
Toma said project was stymied by indecision on the part of the city, and his narrrative was all the more poignant when he alluded to his own efforts to escape communism in the 1980s. “It’s the same,” he said of his ongoing experience with the vacant property. For now, Toma must struggle to meet his mortgage each month on a building that’s generating no income for him. And the building itself, despite having a determined developer in Toma, can be used by the city to justify blight.
Later in the evening, Walsh described how eminent domain had been used and abused around the country. Because the definition of blight is so vague, virtually any property can be declared blighted. Walsh recounted one example of a property in Ohio that was classified as blighted – because it lacked three bathrooms and a two-car garage.
“What we need to do is apply pressure on the city to get them to take this off the table,” she said Wednesday. “There are plenty of opportunities for us to get in there and knock on their doors and tell them it’s not business as usual.”
The next step in Lincoln Square’s grassroots effort will come on Dec 12, when the City Council is expected to approve Schulter’s proposal for the neighborhood.
Correction needed; Walgreens is not vacant. It is open and has never been vacant. A building next door is vacant and it is the building Mr Toma purchased for more than a million and plans to renovate.
She makes some salient points, but there are a few others here who absolutely despise anything that reeks of NIMBYISM. So be it.
eminent domain abuse have nothing to do with “nimbyism,” which is the hands-down most inappropiately & overused term on this blog.
dammit, “abuses have nothing to do,” still getting used to a macbook keyboard, sorry.
Chris Moran: Good catch, it’s been fixed.
I know this is an important issue, but did anyone else notice that Ms. Walsh looks pretty hot in the above photo? We need more of these types saving the country.
I do agree this eminent domain grab in this case seems pretty fishy. That part of Lincoln Square seems to do wonderful job servicing the entire community, from the psuedo yuppies like me to the immigrant families around the Lawrence cooridor.
Unless those buildings are dangerous and beyond repair, I find it hard to believe the city needs to protect us from dastardly “irresponsible” developers (?) by eating up this giant piece of land and “controlling” it.
I find this scary as hell. You know this is the tip of the iceberg. I’ll bet they intentionally picked Gene Schulter’s ward as the kick off point since he’s polished and politically untouchable and can make it seem semi-legit. There are 49 other aldermen all licking their chops right now.
I agree, this is the kind of thing that must have the founding fathers rolling in their graves.
confiscating one piece of private property to turn into a different piece of private property is about as un-American as it gets.
and that’s before considering the potential for abuse and corruption a city like Chicago adds to the mix.
Um yes, Rojas. That is a very important issue. Maybe you can help her form a group called Hotties for Yuppies. Gag.
Forget about the spokes-woman. How about the guy who’s front and center staring intently at her. Where is his line of sight leading?
More seriously– I don’t think anyone ever intended “eminent domain” to be used for an Alderman’s preferred development. Sure, some of the storefronts bordering Western Avenue are beat down right now. But this is pretty suspect.
I thought, that around the time of the CT/Supreme Court debacle about – New London, was it – that I heard Illinois (or Chicago) law was more stringent about eminent domain takeover. Or was it other states/federal laws that were made stricter about this? My point being, yes, it is, that it was my understanding that for other than infrastructure type “common good” projects, it would be much, much harder to take private property for redevelopment. Can anybody else remember whether or not this is the case in Illinois?
I think you’re right FG, but the leap-in-logic here is that increasing the tax base serves a common good the way a new school, or airport or highway does.
Frankly, even the traditional eminent domain uses have been contentious in already-developed urban areas (see the UIC/Little Italy case, the neighborhoods 90/94 tore up, etc), this is so far beyond the pale it should warrant a criminal investigation.
FG, according to Christina Walsh’s comments on Dec 5, 42 states passed legislation in the wake of Kelo v. New London that was MORE stringent than the Supreme Court decision (effectively slapping the court in the face and saying “You screwed up, now step aside and we’ll deal with this.”).
Unfortunately Illinois’ law, while marginally more progressive, was still rather weak compared to some other states’ laws. It’s easy to sidestep, Walsh said, especially in a place like Chicago that can call upon the almighty “blight” when necessary.
The points above are all from her commentary on Dec 5.
Thanks Patrick, that’s exactly the information I wanted.
Carter, funny you mention UIC, I think Humboldt Park actually WANTED UIC to come there, albeit for racial defense reasons, while Little Italy didn’t.
FG, Patrick,
The legislation passed following Kelo was not, I think, a slap at the Supreme Court.
It was more of a slap at the municipalities that had stretched their state-granted eminent domain powers beyond what state legislatures deemed legitimate.
Kelo v New London started with an exercise of local, state-granted eminent domain powers by New London, not as a result of anything at the federal level. The Supreme Court is always inclined to grant great deference to the actions of local, elected bodies. Those bodies should have been restrained by the states in the first place. Had the states clarified the powers they were granting in the first place there would have been no Kelo decision.
Chach,
As to the front and center guy staring at the girl, he was probably recalling William Butler Yeats thoughts on politics:
“How can I, that girl standing there,
My attention fix
On Roman or on Russian
Or on Spanish politics?”
The Sun-Times is reporting that Ald. Shulter is revamping his proposal so that “any acquisition north of 4807 N. Western Avenue will occur only on a volunteer basis, where the terms of purchase are mutually acceptable.”
As Clausewitz put it, war is the continuation of politics by other means. Shulter’s apparent retreat is most likely a declaration of war.
I’m betting that the business owners will become “volunteers” once they see the firepower an alderman can train on them.
I wouldn’t bet on that Joseph. Shulter is one of those alderbeasts that will hold a community meeting on a subject and if 200 people are against something and 199 are for it he will go with the 200. Democracy at its best or worse depending on your point of view.
If he starts to put undue pressure on the property owners they will squeal and he will likely cave in. He ain’t Mayor Daley da first, blessed be his memory, tearing down Little Italy and too hell with anyone who gets in his way.
I didn’t pay enough attention to the specifics in this case to have an informed opinion outside agreeing with Eric Rojas that the outside agitator is attractive.
When eminent domain is used the owners and renters of any property need to be fairly compensated.
I know from experience that the city of Chicago likes to lowball owners and try to bully them into selling. Then perhaps a city employee suggests if you hire a certain connected attorney the offer will go up exponentially to a more than fair price. Then perhaps you take out a running tape recorder and ask the city employee to repeat that and magically your problems and lowball offer disappear. Or perhaps not. Maybe I made it all up. This is YoChicago where commenters just make stuff up and expect it to be fact. Sounds like a bad novel. “It was a cold, dark, dreary, Chicago day. The message was delivered in the nearly indecipherable accent of the white ethnic south side of yore.”
By the way, Rojas was right, that activist can activate me anytime.
irishpirate,
I hope you’re right about Shulter. That’s a bet I’d love to lose.
Don’t get too agitated about the girl – she looks too tall for you. Should we take up a collection and get you a step-stool?
Hell, she may be tall, but taller than me I doubt.
Many Irish may be short, dark and fugly, but I’m tall, light and fugly. Not everyone of Irish descent is a garden gnome like our current Mayor.
The women in my immediate family are nearly 6 feet tall. My mom was considered a giant in her day. Somewhere around 1945 I guess. I assume that height comes from the Norsemen rampaging through the west coast of Ireland back in the first millennium AD. The theory being that they took all the best looking woman they “met” in their “travels” back to Iceland. DNA and the looks of
Icelandic women seem to back that theory up. Ain’t no place I would rather be than Iceland in July. Good looking women and alcohol to lower their standards.
I am not opposed to eminent domain or TIF’s on philosophical grounds. They have their uses. Unfortunately, in this city things are so corrupt that the true agenda at work is always suspect. When eminent domain is used the owners and renters need to be more than fairly compensated and serious efforts should be made to relocate businesses in the area if possible.
Sometimes it may mean “phasing” in a development. Tear down one building. Build another. Move some or all businesses. Tear down another building. Etc.
Alderbeasts and city government in general need to stop thinking that they can do whatever they want.
Time will tell as to what Shulter does.
Time will tell.
It doesn’t bode well that Shulter went as far as introducing an ordinance before realizing how much community opposition he’d face. That’s what makes me suspect this is the usual “if you can’t beat them, beat them a different way” Chicago dodge.
I meant in no way to suggest that Irish are short. Pirates, however …
come on IP, bring up the Firbolg folk, you know you wanna.
Carter,
I’d rather bring up the Icelandic women. Rowr.
By the way study of Icelandic DNA largely shows mostly Norse ancestry on the male side and Irish ancestry on the maternal side. Why do I know these useless facts you ask? Well theoretically I could have been in a steak joint/bar near O’Hare one time with a bunch of Icelandic flight attendants who swore I was of Icy descent. It was a fun night, but that was when I was young, thinner, and had more hair on my head than I do on my back.
There are few Icelandic women in Chicago, but show me a woman with “dottir” in her last name and I get all hot and bothered. Sorta like a member of the religious “right” at a family values rally checking out “God’s cheerleaders”. Only with less guilt.