Read My Back
So Many Questions
At the recent circle jerk show about the Pivot Point do- over, I was sitting in the very last row with The Bad Seed, listening politely to the performers and smiling occasionally as each new sign was thrust into the air.
LIAR.
At one point, the Alderman actually acknowledged The Seed and his silent protest with his own smile. I enjoyed that too. There was more sincerity in that small exchange than was wafting from the stage the entire night.
Eventually, after hearing some of my neighbors stand up and talk about the difficulty of finding affordable homes in our new and improved Wicker Park on the Lake neighborhood, I began to move forward. I was having trouble hearing the Alderman’s answers since his back was turned towards the audience.
One woman wondered how she was expected to afford any one of the four $1100.00, one bedroom CPAN apartments that were so magnanimously included in the complete new makeover plan for the Mistake by the Lake. I wondered that myself. How could $1100.00 possibly be within reach of my poor neighbors that live NOH?
I mean, I’m no math wiz but don’t you need to make a pretty darn good wage to be able to pay an $1100.00 mortgage and still have disposeable income left over for occasional splurges at Dominicks?
Anyway, if you were actually doing that well, why would you be living at The Mistake?
So Few Answers
So as I inched along the wall towards the middle of the room, I ended up next to Agent 99. I guess we were both having the same problem. The acoustics in that auditorium are awful. Then we realized what actually never occurred to either of us. The Alderman wasn’t responding at all to the questioners during this part of the show. These tough questions were fielded by the fidgety few on stage.
I guess it was written in the script that way.
Others in the audience were beginning to zone in on this housing issue too. Apparently having heard enough, the Alderman hoisted out of his chair and took the microphone and with an officious wave of his hand, declared his dedication to Progressive politics and his compassion for my NOH neighbors.
The Alderman declared that he was committed to helping my neighbors in their need for affordable housing, you betcha’. And in that progressive spirit, he had reauthorized another generation and a half of my neighbors to the horrible cycle of poverty by giving Aimco the new pin number to the money machine.
AIMCO got a 13 year contract renewal and a nod of approval to continue it's slumlord status NOH.
Shortchanged Again
Did renewal of the AIMCO contract, represent the best understanding and the latest progressive thinking at the time? After all, this wasn't a day pass. This renewal was for 13 years. Common wisdom should dictate that some homework might be in order before rushing to renew another thirteen year chokehold on an entire community?
Add this renewal to the previous 15 year fughetaboutit and you begin to understand the vision in it's totality.
To understand this in chronological social policy, H.U.D, had revised the Federal Government’s own rules regarding poverty, concentration and integration in Public Housing in 2000, three years earlier than the AIMCO renewal. The pages were chock filled with titles and text like this:
Promoting Deconcentration of Poverty and Income Mixing in Developments with Concentration of Poverty
And thanks to Mr. Yahoo aka Thomas Westgard for the link. It seems we have 2 generous search engines in blogland these days. Mr. Google and Mr. Yahoo.
Politics make strange bedfellows.
In 2003, a passionate progressive would have had this 18 page document on top of the stacks of saved and clipped articles on social policy. A true believer would have been so ahead of this curve and embraced this new H.U.D. philosophy with open arms, ready for a change and prepared with a daring and decisive plan for NOH. A progressive visionary would have sat us down in a real meeting, handed out homework and tried to make his case to boldly go where so few had gone before.
fughetaboutit.
I'm not suggesting that the new federal law relating to Public Housing is applicable to AIMCO's contract, but if the feds finally came to this deconcentration and mixed income solution, shouldn't that have raised a red flag somewhere, with someone here in the 49th ward?
Why would the Alderman want to perpetuate an economic and social condition NOH, that the Federal Government had declared unlawful in it's new Public Housing philosophy?
For those of you who think I'm spending time rehashing a just another pie in the sky possiblity, in another part of the country, the dedicated founder of a mixed income development company that was building success stories elsewhere, expressed interest in our NOH neighborhood. I'll tell you about it sometime soon.
I guess, good information was hard to come by in those days without the blogs.
But now, we have a broken shopping mall and we still have a broken social policy too. I suppose we have to be thankful for the $60,000.00 GED TIF sponsored seminar. We should just appreciate the stautus quo NOH and never you mind what hope is happening in the rest of the country and in Alderman Tillman's ward.
Apparently, she doesn't have time to fret over frois gros. She's got too much work to do and too many constituents to care for. Seems she's pretty chummy with "hizhonnor" too.
That's helpful in a pinch.
Gary Fuschi
So Many Questions
At the recent circle jerk show about the Pivot Point do- over, I was sitting in the very last row with The Bad Seed, listening politely to the performers and smiling occasionally as each new sign was thrust into the air.
LIAR.
At one point, the Alderman actually acknowledged The Seed and his silent protest with his own smile. I enjoyed that too. There was more sincerity in that small exchange than was wafting from the stage the entire night.
Eventually, after hearing some of my neighbors stand up and talk about the difficulty of finding affordable homes in our new and improved Wicker Park on the Lake neighborhood, I began to move forward. I was having trouble hearing the Alderman’s answers since his back was turned towards the audience.
One woman wondered how she was expected to afford any one of the four $1100.00, one bedroom CPAN apartments that were so magnanimously included in the complete new makeover plan for the Mistake by the Lake. I wondered that myself. How could $1100.00 possibly be within reach of my poor neighbors that live NOH?
I mean, I’m no math wiz but don’t you need to make a pretty darn good wage to be able to pay an $1100.00 mortgage and still have disposeable income left over for occasional splurges at Dominicks?
Anyway, if you were actually doing that well, why would you be living at The Mistake?
So Few Answers
So as I inched along the wall towards the middle of the room, I ended up next to Agent 99. I guess we were both having the same problem. The acoustics in that auditorium are awful. Then we realized what actually never occurred to either of us. The Alderman wasn’t responding at all to the questioners during this part of the show. These tough questions were fielded by the fidgety few on stage.
I guess it was written in the script that way.
Others in the audience were beginning to zone in on this housing issue too. Apparently having heard enough, the Alderman hoisted out of his chair and took the microphone and with an officious wave of his hand, declared his dedication to Progressive politics and his compassion for my NOH neighbors.
The Alderman declared that he was committed to helping my neighbors in their need for affordable housing, you betcha’. And in that progressive spirit, he had reauthorized another generation and a half of my neighbors to the horrible cycle of poverty by giving Aimco the new pin number to the money machine.
AIMCO got a 13 year contract renewal and a nod of approval to continue it's slumlord status NOH.
Shortchanged Again
Did renewal of the AIMCO contract, represent the best understanding and the latest progressive thinking at the time? After all, this wasn't a day pass. This renewal was for 13 years. Common wisdom should dictate that some homework might be in order before rushing to renew another thirteen year chokehold on an entire community?
Add this renewal to the previous 15 year fughetaboutit and you begin to understand the vision in it's totality.
To understand this in chronological social policy, H.U.D, had revised the Federal Government’s own rules regarding poverty, concentration and integration in Public Housing in 2000, three years earlier than the AIMCO renewal. The pages were chock filled with titles and text like this:
Promoting Deconcentration of Poverty and Income Mixing in Developments with Concentration of Poverty
And thanks to Mr. Yahoo aka Thomas Westgard for the link. It seems we have 2 generous search engines in blogland these days. Mr. Google and Mr. Yahoo.
Politics make strange bedfellows.
In 2003, a passionate progressive would have had this 18 page document on top of the stacks of saved and clipped articles on social policy. A true believer would have been so ahead of this curve and embraced this new H.U.D. philosophy with open arms, ready for a change and prepared with a daring and decisive plan for NOH. A progressive visionary would have sat us down in a real meeting, handed out homework and tried to make his case to boldly go where so few had gone before.
fughetaboutit.
I'm not suggesting that the new federal law relating to Public Housing is applicable to AIMCO's contract, but if the feds finally came to this deconcentration and mixed income solution, shouldn't that have raised a red flag somewhere, with someone here in the 49th ward?
Why would the Alderman want to perpetuate an economic and social condition NOH, that the Federal Government had declared unlawful in it's new Public Housing philosophy?
For those of you who think I'm spending time rehashing a just another pie in the sky possiblity, in another part of the country, the dedicated founder of a mixed income development company that was building success stories elsewhere, expressed interest in our NOH neighborhood. I'll tell you about it sometime soon.
I guess, good information was hard to come by in those days without the blogs.
But now, we have a broken shopping mall and we still have a broken social policy too. I suppose we have to be thankful for the $60,000.00 GED TIF sponsored seminar. We should just appreciate the stautus quo NOH and never you mind what hope is happening in the rest of the country and in Alderman Tillman's ward.
Apparently, she doesn't have time to fret over frois gros. She's got too much work to do and too many constituents to care for. Seems she's pretty chummy with "hizhonnor" too.
That's helpful in a pinch.
Gary Fuschi
11 Comments:
Depending on which source you might refer to, the % of households living at or below the 'poverty level' in NOH (census tract 101) ranges from 35%+ to 50%+. I'd call that concentrated poverty by any measure or definition!
thisaintoz-
welcome back.
1. if you believe noh is anything like the rest of rogers park, then i don't believe we have the same definition of concentrated poverty. whether it's vertical, as in a high rise or horizontal as in noh, the effects are the same on the people who live here.
the plan in ald. tillman's ward that i was referring to, and i did not specify it because people who have been following my pieces have read it before, is the "park boulevard" cha sponsored development.
it includes 311 total units, 100 cha residents, 72 low to moderate income families and 139 "market rate" condominiums.
it is consistent with the mixed income,social integration plans i have been suggesting for the last six months.
if you read "stop the plan" again, you might see that one of the concerns i have for my neighbors here and rp, is the escalating prices and taxes of the homes they have lived in and cared for. this is no small issue for me and i am sorry for the people in ald. tillmans ward who are experiencing this.
what is happening in her ward overall, is exactly what is beggining to happen in rp. uncontrolled development without a plan and without concern for the people who have, as you say, stuck it out through thick and thin.
i highlighted the park boulevard project because it is a plan and it might be a model for a solution noh.
btw. my information came from a tribune article, not a press release.i'm not sure why you would assume that.
ald. tillmans relationship with the mayor allowed the park boulevard project to happen.
thisaintoz-
park boulevard's ambitious goals include employment,rental homes and condominiums for families across all economic and social spectrums living in one development.
ald.tillman, in my view, has not "forgotten the poor" as you suggest. she is including them as they should be in this plan. her relationship with the mayor has allowed them all to take this huge step forward. sometimes it pays dividends to have a working relationship with the mayor.
if this project proves to be successful, it will allow more and more of these projects to be built.
park boulevard was conceived in 1999. 4 years before the aimco contract was renewed for noh.
my noh neighbors have been forgotten. the timeline tells the story. noh is not, by any stretch of anyone's imagination, a mixed income neighborhood.
Hi thisaintoz -
Could you please cite your sources for the information in your statement:
"In Dorothy Tillman's ward, people who lived there forever, and own their homes, and have their mortgages paid off are now being forced to sell because she has done such a good job of cleaning up the neighborhood and attracting higher income people to "mix" it well, that the people who stayed there through thick and thin (mostly minorities after white flight) and are now retired and on fixed incomes can no longer afford the property taxes in their own neighborhood."
I would like to read them. Thanks!
Paradise said -
"If I had had my way, when the jail was built, I would have zone the area completely off limits to residential, and relocated the few housing project residents remaining in the area to other buildings in other areas, then placed all the things strictly for cons and parolees in this area. A recent parolee would be forbidden to live anywhere else or be in a residential area."
I'm not sure where to begin to unpack this statement, so I will just begin by asking you to describe the difference between the parolee ghetto and the jail...oh, and also, who should be paying for the ghetto?
paradise-
we are beginning to connect the dots to a problem that has plagued noh for a long time. the aimco slumlord practice of lax security and seemingly non existent screening of residents that are allowed to live in thier buildings is a source of much of what you are describing.
we see it happen every day noh. the aimco rehabbing of northpoint is an example of the problem. the building was emptied, it was rehabbed and some of the old, decent hardworking residents were allowed to move back in. unfortunately, some improperly screened and after the fact people have moved in also.
it doesn't take many drug dealers and intimidators to infect and adversely affect a whole building. this is what has happened again this past summer. outside the entrance to northpoint this summer were, on a daily basis, 6 - 10 dealers, intimidators and lookouts on each corner of bosworth.
4 of the bars in the cast iron gangway security door were sawed off leaving an escape hatch and drug delivery opening for the dealers. i saw it happen every single day as did others, several times a day.
when neighbors complained about the escape hatch, aimco eventually fixed it. the dealers response was to then prop open the main gate and leave it open all day and night. during off peak dealing hours, a few young intimidators were there to disuade anyone from closing the door. of course, no one dared to challenge them.
the sting raid the police staged near the end of the summer has helped. but, typically, cold weather changes the streetscape and it is unclear yet if more new dealers have moved in to take thier place.
thisaintoz-
please try and hear my words.
no one here is "imposing" a plan on anyone. your responses continue to imply that these suggestions that are being fleshed out, are instantly going to become policy.
i'm not sure why you believe we don't have the right on this blog or in simple conversation and in this country, to talk about issues that need to be talked about in a responsible manner. you refer to the howardhellhole language as being awful and it is.
but that language is not and never will be spoken here by us.
your experience has allowed you to understand this issue differently than we do. that experience does not automatically suggest you are wrong or right when you speak. the same applies for us. why is your experience, as difficult as you describe it,the only experience that matters?
i live here noh. i've lived here for two and a half years. it has not been easy but this is my home and i am committed to helping to find answers to the issues here for everyone, despite your demands to do otherwise. we feel unsafe at times and my life has been threatened. not a small issue in my mind.the drug dealers on my block know who i am.
i'm fifty one years old oz' and i don't wake up every morning with a clean slate and no memories of how i grew up.
you have disqulified detroit or st louis as comparable urban environments, i guess n.y. probably doesnt work either. but here goes.
williamsburgh, brooklyn is very similar to noh and rogers park. i lived there for 10 tough years, ages 12 - 22. my family was on welfare the entire time. we went to the wic office to pick up the monthly alotment of block cheese and spam and were the only caucasion family there. i know just a little bit about not fitting in.
i was one of three caucasion kids in my junior high and i got beat up almost every day in school or on the way home for the entire 2 years.
i got beat up by caucasion gangs and latino gangs and african american gangs until i was 18. there was a terrible race war in my neighborhood that lasted an entire summer. many people were never found. we couldn't leave the house.
there was alcholism ,emotional and physical abuse in my nuclear family and every one of my relatives families.
i have been working since i was 14. before going to school, i would open the vegetable market where i worked, go to school, go back to the market and close up at 9. i did that all through high school. i understand the need for jobs like that that add a little to the family budget.it's how we survived.
when i was 23, my mom still lived in that same apartment and i rcvd a call from her telling me it was time to move. the drug dealers were knocking out the walls of the adjacent buildings one by one. in brooklyn, there are no gangways between buildings, they are continous. the buildings' plumbing was all copper. the drug dealers and their mates one, by one, during the night, broke through every buiding in that entire neighborhood. i had to move her out a day before they started on her bedroom wall.
she died of cancer a few years later, no doubt from stress added to her smoking and drinking habit. i don't know where or if my father is still alive.
you are not the only one who has had a difficult life.
you ridicule "well intentioned efforts and you disqualify anyone's experience as irrelevant" ok, now that you've covered all the bases, should we just forget about noh and act as though the problems don't exist?
i will not. i qualify as a person whose core beliefs, experience and compassion remain intact. i still believe that people who need help should get help and deserve our help.
i will not stop discussing it on this blog or anywhere else simply to satisfy your demand that i stop.
ps-
thank you for the links.
i do not arrive at some of my conclusions from just the newspapers. why would you assume that?
recent reading cover to cover HUD 2000 revised rule and
http://www.corcoranjennison.com/management/html/managed_properties.asp#mixed
thisaintoz -
First let me go on record as saying that I do not agree with Paradise's idea for an excon/parolee no-mans-land around correctional facilities. I thought that was implicit in my calling it a "ghetto", but apparently not. My intention was to challenge her, and as readers of RPR know, Paradise does not usually shrink from a challenge.
I will be more explicit:
Once upon a time some people who thought they were right about everything performed a little experiment with a ghetto in a city called Warsaw. The people who were sent to live in the ghetto were believed to be inherently criminal, either actual or imminent. History has demonstrated to my total satisfaction that the outcome of this experiment was very, very bad. So, I see no reason for anyone, anywhere to ever suggest it should be repeated (although I do realize that later iterations of this concept are being tested in many parts of the world as I speak).
As for my request for your sources, I do think that I am within my rights to ask you this. I do not assume anything in particular about where you get your information, but you often speak broadly with such an air of authority on so many things, that I thought it was time to challenge you a bit. For all I know you could be sending me a crate of public policy research papers right this minute...I was open to that possibility when I asked. Since I have not lived in Chicago that long, I am not as familiar with the Greens are you are, and have no idea who John Green is, or whether there is any connection between John Green and the creation of the Greens. Any clarification you can provide here will be much appreciated.
I would also like to second Gary's thought that the length of time one has been located in a place doesn't automatically make the one with more tenure the bigger authority. That is a dangerous path to go down. Don't believe me - fine. Go ask a recent immigrant what s/he thinks.
As for the moment of self indulgence you engaged in where you speculated about our personal origins and stories, let me say right off the bat that I find the formulation:
white= happiness
not white= misery
very problematic. In fact, I believe people are busy writing dissertations pulling apart this way formulating right now and have been for some time. That is not the same thing as saying that I don't acknowledge that there is a very specific history of organized oppression that informs your thinking. I do acknowledge it, gladly.
As for Gary's story, I hope you appreciate the courage and generosity that it took to share those thoughts with you. Living through events like these gives one a bit of a different perspective than simply helping and observing people who have does - not that helping doesn't contain the possibility of a particular nobility and dignity of its own.
I will also disclose that my story and Gary’s share many, many features, many more similarities than differences, just move the location from Brooklyn to South Central Los Angeles and move the dates forward a decade or so.
I hope this all gives you a better perspective on us and the orientation that informs much of what we do here.
thisaintoz -
We welcome dissenting opinion and argument on RPR. I believe that there may be some miscommunication going on on both sides. (Please see my post "fire extinguisher" for more thoughts on that.)
Thanks for your contributions so far.
oz,-
i did not say your thoughts or opinions are irrelevant. i would never say that to anyone. please read my comments again.
your tone and anger throughout your entire opinion more than implied that we had no right to discuss these issues, we had no qualificaions to discuss these issues, your tenure and experience uniquely qualified you to discuss these issues and we would never be succesful in our efforts?. is that a fair assesment? please read your comment again and let me know.
you say that an understanding of history is essential so as not to repeat the past. i could not agree with you more. yet your comment to me on the gateway essay i recently wrote chastised me for rehashing the past. so to use your words "which is it?" i'm sorry oz', but you can't have it both ways.
you are tracking with us and our approach when you say in this recent comment to "start small" and take incremental steps towards change.
oz', please tell me how much smaller a step can we take than two, unpaid, concerned neighbors who have started a blog to highlight issues that need to be discussed and ask our neighbors for suggestions ? ok, 1 person starting this effort would be smaller.
oz', please understand, this is a process and there are no experts here and there are no illusions about how difficult and complex these issues are. we don't believe we have the miracle cure.
we do emphatically agree that the problems need to be discussed. you have incredible energy and passion for the issues we are asking our neighbors to help us with.
please view OUR energy and passion as an asset and work with us to forward these issues. i will disagree in every possible way, your contention that our problems here NOH and the country cannot be solved. as you said.......small steps....a little at a time.
help us take those small steps. we have some ideas in the pipeline in that regard. maybe from these new efforts you will begin to understand that there is a commonality of purpose and that we can work together.
Post a Comment
<< Home