UIC Freshwater Lab event:
“Condos, Controversy and Culture”
Panel Discussion on Waterfront Development in Chicago
October 4, 3:00-4:30 PM
UIC Latino Cultural Center
East side of Lecture Center B (LCB2) on the UIC East Campus between Harrison and Taylor, Morgan and Halsted
For more information, visit http://www.freshwaterlab.org/events/
The following is a guest blog post by Juan Carlos Linares, Executive Director of Latin United Community Housing Association (LUCHA).
A biker races past a mile marker along the 606 Trail making his presence known, “on your left!” A young Latina mother in workout gear pushes a stroller with an infant while her adolescent child wheels alongside them on his scooter. Other bikers whiz by, joggers jog and power walkers get their workouts in. This was the scene on my walk along the west end of the elevated 606 the weekend prior to our panel convening on “The Impact of Infrastructure on Communities: Three Rail-to-Trail Projects” at the UIC Great Cities Institute.
Convened on September 19th, the panel was kicked off with statements from Jamie Simone, previously a Director with the Trust for Public Land, highlighting the community engagement process and taking lessons learned from the High Line in NYC and the 11th Street Bridge Project in Washington, DC. After describing TPL’s lead role from reaching out to community groups to spreading awareness to nearby residents, she concluded that a 606 street festival takes place each June to celebrate both the 606 and the community it serves.
Recent photo along the 606 Trail
Geoff Smith was next, highlighting data published through the DePaul Institute for Housing Studies, which he leads as Executive Director. Notably, housing prices along the west end of the trail have spiked 48% since the trail opened. This opened up the conversation on both the benefits and the unintended consequences of constructing a community amenity in a neighborhood starved for green space. The local green space issue partially solved, displacement of long-time residents from increased taxes and rents has emerged as a reality, and one not yet fully addressed even if the data has been compiled.
DePaul Institute for Housing Studies Map showing increase in housing prices since the opening of the 606 Trail.
After my own discussion on strategies to combat displacement, Antonio Lopez gave forceful statements on the lack of coherent process or distribution of benefits from Chicago’s infrastructure projects. “Environmental justice is about human rights,” noted Dr. Lopez, former Executive Director of the Little Village Environmental Justice Project, referencing the planned development of a trail through Pilsen and Little Village that he believes does little to remedy the brownfields and pollutants left behind by the closing of the Crawford and Fisk coal plants. Dr. Lopez also took to task the name of the planned trail: the “Paseo,” which was put forward from city hall and not from LVEJO or other community members that originally envisioned the project over a decade ago.
Anton Seals, Executive Director of Grow Greater Englewood was just as direct, stating “government and the private sector have retracted from black communities.” Citing the lack of job opportunities, endemic crime and violence, and indifference from government, an Englewood Trail is likely not top of mind to most south siders. Seals noted that in his free time, he is a barber to young men in Englewood whose daily anxieties leave them living transactional lives- “I’m gonna get mine today because I might not be here tomorrow.” This mindset is perpetuated when City leaders forego the work of engaging them to plan for important community amenities like the Englewood Trail.
The hopes of the panel were that communities along the Paseo and the Englewood Trails, if built, will benefit from the lessons learned from the 606 which is used by diverse sets of peoples but which has accelerated housing pressures to long-time, working-class neighbors. At LUCHA, where I serve as Executive Director, we responded to the housing pressures with three strategies:
Strategy 1: Tierra Linda Affordable Housing Development– anticipating housing pressures, LUCHA purchased 6 vacant lots and were donated 6 city-owned lots, each near the west end of the 606 Trail, to construct 45 units of affordable housing, now under construction through the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program. This development will also feature one of the most energy efficient buildings in the Midwest, called a Passive House, to match the Health and Wellness theme inspired by uses of the 606.
Visual of Strategy #1, Tierra Linda Affordable housing Development.
Strategy 2: 606 Preservation Ordinance– seeing the demolition and de-conversion of 2-flat, 3-flat and 4-flat buildings (Chicago’s most naturally affordable units) replaced by luxury condos and single family homes, LUCHA partnered with Logan Square Neighborhood Association (“LSNA”), Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail and DePaul’s IHS to increase demolition fees to up to $500,000 per unit to go into a trust fund to preserve affordable housing in a 606 Pilot Area.
This ordinance was introduced to City Council in May 2017, but has been supplanted by a Mayoral proposal to amend the Affordable Rents Ordinance, which many believe may not go far enough to stem the tide of displacements. See Columbia Chronicle article.
See also DNAinfo article.
Strategy 3: Preserving local enterprise– Partnered with LSNA, Enterprise Community Partners and the SPARCC/L-Evated Chicago team, LUCHA contemplated the displacement of local businesses that have followed the out-migration of working-class, and particularly Latino households, including from the demolition of the Mega Mall. The collaboration is resulting in programming like “Push Cart Socials,” youth mural projects celebrating street food vendors and other tech-based projects to encourage local enterprise among Latino youth.
Recently, a LUCHA tenant described how she sends her kids to school down the 606 Trail on their bikes and skateboards, because it’s much safer than navigating Chicago’s busy streets. Rails-to-trails projects like the 606 have given communities a celebrated health and wellness amenity, much needed local green space and an informal transportation corridor. But the question remains, without robust planning with long-time neighbors, who will be left in the community to enjoy it?
521 Families lined-up over an 8-hour period in 90 degree weather to sign up for Tierra Linda Affordable Housing units, which will be along the 606 Trail.
In April, 2016 the National Park Service and the University of Illinois at Chicago entered into a partnership agreement to host a Park Service staff member at the Great Cities Institute. At this event, Community Planner Michael Mencarini will talk about how the Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program supports community led outdoor recreation and natural resource conservation projects and his work across the Midwest Region providing technical assistance for river access, bicycle trail development, and green space planning projects.
Michael Mencarini joined the National Park Service in April, 2016 as a Community Planner in the Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance (RTCA) Program. RTCA is a community partnership focused program that provides technical assistance to local governments or community organizations that are planning outdoor recreation or natural resource conservation projects. Through a partnership agreement with the University of Illinois at Chicago, his position is hosted by the Great Cities Institute.
Before joining the National Park Service he was a Presidential Management Fellow with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he was assigned as a regional office liaison to state agencies and tribal governments across the Midwest. Prior federal experience also includes positions working with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Chicago Federal Executive Board.
As a Community Planner with the Midwest Regional Office RTCA Program, he is currently working on strategic planning and community outreach initiatives across three states. These include a 300 acre park planning project in Michigan, river access and green space visioning projects in Chicago, and a regional bicycle trail planning project in Missouri.
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For disability accommodations please contact Christiana Kinder, (312) 996-8700 or christia@uic.edu.
This semester’s Real Time Chicago lecture series theme is ‘Critic(al) Infra-Structures’, examining the processes and procedures in the creation of new and renewed infrastructure and the impacts on communities from multiple scales and perspectives.
The first lecture in the series is ‘The Impact of Infrastructure on Communities: Three Rail-to-Trail Projects’. When new infrastructure is created in communities, what are the impacts on existing residents? This topic will explore the creation of three rail-to-trail projects in Chicago from initial dreaming to post-implementation community changes, and what is being done to remedy communities’ concerns.
Juan Carlos Linares is the Executive Director of LUCHA (Latin United Community Housing Association) Since 1982, LUCHA has served thousands of moderate and low-income families with Affordable Housing Development, Emergency and Senior Home Repairs, Home Buyer Counseling, Foreclosure Prevention and Legal Services. LUCHA owns and operates 153 units of affordable housing in the West Town, Humboldt Park and Logan Square Communities, and counsels hundreds of families on Home Buying in the Chicagoland area. Through its Freddie Mac Borrower Help Center, LUCHA counsels over 7,000 families annually. LUCHA partners with residents, community organizers, banks and government agencies to maintain its $22 million in real estate assets and to advocate for greater affordable housing options in the region.
Antonio Lopez is a Senior Advisor for LVEJO (Little Village Environmental Justice Organization), which initiated planning for the El Paseo trail as a way to bring much needed green space to the Little Village community. He received his doctorate in Borderlands History at the University of Texas at El Paso. Dr. López has written extensively on anti-poverty and anti-racist social movements in Chicago. He has also contributed to human rights, environmental justice, and economic justice struggles in Chicago and on the U.S./Mexico border. Prior to joining LVEJO, Lopez coordinated a mentorship program for youth incarcerated at Illinois Youth Center, St. Charles, and contributed to the Chicago Grassroots Curriculum Taskforce (CGCT).
Anton Seals is the Executive Director of Grow Greater Englewood, a coalition of residents, organizations and businesses who collaborate to cultivate a healthy and resilient food system. Established in 2013, the organization seeks to implement many of the goals from Englewood Quality of Life Plan to improve the health and wellbeing of residents and get the community more involved in the planning of their neighborhood. Grow Greater Englewood has become one of the driving forces behind the Englewood Line trail and organizing residents to work with CDOT and DPD on the plans.
Jamie Simone is the Bureau Chief of Program, Project & Safety Outreach for the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). Formerly, she was Program Director for the Chicago office of the Trust for Public Lands where she was instrumental in coordinating the community engagement process and implementation of The 606 parks and Bloomingdale Trail. She graduated from the MUPP program in 2004, and credits her undergraduate degree in social work with giving her the skills necessary to build trust and listen to communities, and problem solve issues.
Geoff Smith is the Executive Director of the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University. To this role, he brings years of experience producing research on the dynamics of neighborhood housing markets and connecting that research to a broad range of housing practitioners. Under Geoff’s leadership, IHS has positioned itself as a critical resource for timely research, policy analysis and data that inform the local and national policy debates around neighborhood stability and the preservation and production of affordable rental housing. In 2016, IHS produced the report “Measuring the Impact of The 606: Understanding How a Large Public Investment Impacted the Surrounding Housing Market”.
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This event will be live-streamed on our Facebook page.
For disability accommodations please contact Christiana Kinder, (312) 996-8700 or christia@uic.edu.
When new infrastructure is created in communities, what are the impacts on existing residents? This topic explores the creation of three rail-to-trail projects in Chicago from initial dreaming to post-implementation community changes, and what is being done to remedy communities’ concerns.
Juan Carlos Linares is the Executive Director of LUCHA (Latin United Community Housing Association) Since 1982, LUCHA has served thousands of moderate and low-income families with Affordable Housing Development, Emergency and Senior Home Repairs, Home Buyer Counseling, Foreclosure Prevention and Legal Services. LUCHA owns and operates 153 units of affordable housing in the West Town, Humboldt Park and Logan Square Communities, and counsels hundreds of families on Home Buying in the Chicagoland area. Through its Freddie Mac Borrower Help Center, LUCHA counsels over 7,000 families annually. LUCHA partners with residents, community organizers, banks and government agencies to maintain its $22 million in real estate assets and to advocate for greater affordable housing options in the region.
Antonio Lopez is a Senior Advisor for LVEJO (Little Village Environmental Justice Organization), which initiated planning for the El Paseo trail as a way to bring much needed green space to the Little Village community. He received his doctorate in Borderlands History at the University of Texas at El Paso. Dr. López has written extensively on anti-poverty and anti-racist social movements in Chicago. He has also contributed to human rights, environmental justice, and economic justice struggles in Chicago and on the U.S./Mexico border. Prior to joining LVEJO, Lopez coordinated a mentorship program for youth incarcerated at Illinois Youth Center, St. Charles, and contributed to the Chicago Grassroots Curriculum Taskforce (CGCT).
Anton Seals is the Executive Director of Grow Greater Englewood, a coalition of residents, organizations and businesses who collaborate to cultivate a healthy and resilient food system. Established in 2013, the organization seeks to implement many of the goals from Englewood Quality of Life Plan to improve the health and wellbeing of residents and get the community more involved in the planning of their neighborhood. Grow Greater Englewood has become one of the driving forces behind the Englewood Line trail and organizing residents to work with CDOT and DPD on the plans.
Jamie Simone is the Bureau Chief of Program, Project & Safety Outreach for the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). Formerly, she was Program Director for the Chicago office of the Trust for Public Lands where she was instrumental in coordinating the community engagement process and implementation of The 606 parks and Bloomingdale Trail. She graduated from the MUPP program in 2004, and credits her undergraduate degree in social work with giving her the skills necessary to build trust and listen to communities, and problem solve issues.
Geoff Smith is the Executive Director of the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University. To this role, he brings years of experience producing research on the dynamics of neighborhood housing markets and connecting that research to a broad range of housing practitioners. Under Geoff’s leadership, IHS has positioned itself as a critical resource for timely research, policy analysis and data that inform the local and national policy debates around neighborhood stability and the preservation and production of affordable rental housing. In 2016, IHS produced the report “Measuring the Impact of The 606: Understanding How a Large Public Investment Impacted the Surrounding Housing Market”.
From “hard infrastructure,” such as roads and bridges, dams and canals, to “soft infrastructure,” like parks and town squares, public art and rails-to-trails,a city’s overall infrastructure has a significant influence on daily life and links its residents, neighborhoods and businesses.
The former category features key facets that drive economic development and growth, while the latter type of infrastructure serves to improve residents’ quality of life.
The planning of projects where people work and play, and making well-designed connections between both, is often a political tug-of-war due to the intersection of public policy, markets and aesthetics.
Given the important role of infrastructure, the 2017 UIC Urban Forum is designed to raise issues related to uniting hard and soft infrastructures, the built environment’s lasting impact on a city and its people, opportunities for economic development, and the future of city design.
For more information, visit http://www.uicurbanforum.org/
How is India planning its diverse range of settlements, which vary from rapidly growing cities to remote villages? Have changes in the country’s polity influenced its approach to the spatial planning and development of urban and rural areas? Taking the regime change in the early 1990s as a point of departure, this book focuses on the complex nature of India’s ongoing urbanization and transformations in the interrelated, but rarely-studied-together, domains of infrastructure finance and development, local planning practice, and on-the-ground empirical outcomes.
Instead of discussing the largest cities—such as Kolkata, Mumbai, and Delhi—that dominate the discourse on urban India, the authors pay close attention to regional cities, rural settlements, and the nuances of the shift away from the Nehruvian planning and development model. This approach illustrates how the tensions between democratic and market-oriented impulses are shaping India’s existing and emergent settlements, drawing out useful insights for scholars and practitioners alike.
Sanjeev Vidyarthi is an Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Policy and a Senior Fellow of the Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Professor Vidyarthi co-authored the book, Understanding India’s New Approach to Spatial Planning and Development: A Salient Shift?, with Shishir Mathuris, Associate Dean of Research in the College of Social Sciences and a professor in the Urban and Regional Planning Department at San Jose State University, California, USA; and Sandeep K. Agrawal, Professor and inaugural Director of the Urban and Regional Planning Program at the University of Alberta, Canada.