At yesterday’s ground-breaking ceremony for Hansberry Square at Legends South, Ald. Dorothy Tillman (3rd) spoke about the need to develop more than just new housing if plans to revitalize the South Side are to succeed. “We want to build a community that you can live in, work in, play in — not just sleep in,” she said. Indeed, as we drove down East Pershing Road past one boarded-up building after another, we had to wonder how far residents of this community had to go for work. With homeownership, community centers and commercial development planned for Legends South, the people bringing the project to fruition see a bright future ahead for Bronzeville, for the South Side, and for the city.
But for the group of about 30 protestors who lined the gate some 50 yards away from the ceremony, the future isn’t coming quickly enough. Chicago Police swooped in right quick to stop their rally cry; we couldn’t make out the words over the distance and, on the whole, everyone at the event pretended the protestors weren’t there. We spoke with one of the men afterwards, and he told us that the group, despite the hard hats, wasn’t protesting the Hansberry Square development.
Their protest was a response to the recent immigration rally, and they hoped to draw attention to the plight of home-grown Chicagoans who can’t find work, especially in the neighborhoods where they live.
In a recent press release, The Michaels Development Co., one of the developers of Legends South, calls it “a holistic, comprehensive, and coordinated effort that will transform and revitalize the current site and surrounding neighborhood over a period of 10 years.” Of course, only time will tell whether Legends South can live up to the extraordinary expectations being placed upon it, and whether all the people outside the gates will finally be let inside.
