When Gentrification’s Neighborhood Name Game Runs Into True Identity

03-23-15 betancurnews

John Betancur, former GCI faculty scholar and associate professor of urban planning and policy, is quoted in NextCity.org on the practice of real estate developers renaming neighborhoods or sub-neighborhoods, the use of those names as an indication of gentrification, and the blurring of neighborhood boundaries by the real estate industry.

John Betancur, an urban planning and policy professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, thought of 11 examples of recently renamed sections in Chicago alone before saying, “You know, it’s all over the place.”

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While an overall dread for the g-word can be observed in news articles, forums and community meetings, the popularity of new neighborhood names reflects a desire to create distance from old stigmas, and in the process, local character too. The old guard may find this “alienating,” explains Hwang, as legacies and conventions they may cherish appear snubbed. Betancur notes that it might read to some longtime residents as prejudice veiled under a different “code.”

Full Story from Next City »

RTA: Fare hikes, service cuts ‘very likely’ if Rauner budget flies

The Chicago Sun-Times quotes Steve Schlickman, executive director of the Urban Transportation Center, on the likelihood of RTA fare increases and service cuts under the Rauner budget. Schlickman says similar actions in the 1990s caused ridership loss that took years to recover.

Steve Schlickman, head of the Urban Transportation Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago, noted that it took the CTA and Metra years to recover the riders they lost when they faced a “doomsday” scenario in the early 1990s and enacted steep fare increases and service cuts.

In lieu of some other revenue generator, Schlickman said, “There is no real alternative but to increase fares or cut service or do both.”

Full Story from Chicago Sun-Times »

Real Estate Developers Look for Transit Input

The Morgan Street station helped boost property values and transform the neighborhood

The Morgan Street station helped boost property values and transform the neighborhood

Globe St., a real estate website, interviewed Steve Schlickman, executive director of the Urban Transportation Center, about a recent UTC study that evaluated value capture as a means to finance transit improvements in several American cities. In value capture arrangements, developers help pay for transit improvements that will benefit their developments. Schlickman said that Chicago has made less use of value capture than it could, in part because of the tradition of aldermanic approval of developments.

But a research team from the University of Illinois at Chicago recently met with a group of private real estate developers in Chicago, and concluded that the city might not be doing all it can to capture the value created by transit projects, and to do so officials and CTA planners should better coordinate their planning efforts with the development community.

“They feel that they don’t get that information early enough and could certainly use it strategically,”Stephen Schlickman with the university’s Urban Transportation Center tells GlobeSt.com. The researchers looked at value capture methods in San Francisco, New York, and Washington, DC, and compared the results to transit projects in Chicago. Essentially, they found that the three other cities were more proactive in bringing developers into the process early, and in a meaningful way, and as a result had the most success at capturing the value created by improvements and then defraying the costs.

Schlickman cautions that it is difficult to make direct comparisons between the CTA and its counterparts in the other cities. “I don’t think CTA has had the opportunities that the other agencies have had.” The structure of Chicago’s government, for one thing, with its tiny aldermanic fiefdoms that have great influence on any redevelopment effort, can make planning a little more challenging. Still, the other cities’ efforts “are led by managers that have experience and/or training on both sides of the table,” meaning both transit and real estate development.

Full Story from Globe St. »

Equal-Access City? 25 Years of the Americans with Disabilities Act

Karen Tamley, Commissioner, Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities

Greg Polman, Senior Vice President, Chicago Lighthouse

Robin Ann Jones, Project Director, Great Lakes ADA Center

Steve Schlickman, Executive Director, UIC Urban Transportation Center

Wednesday
March 18, 2015
Gallery 400 Lecture Room
400 South Peoria Street, Chicago, IL 60607
12 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Lunch provided.

Panelists, Karen Tamley, Commissioner, Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities; Greg Polman, Senior Vice President, Chicago Lighthouse; Robin Ann Jones, Project Director, Great Lakes ADA Center; and Steve Schlickman, Executive Director, UIC Urban Transportation Center, will explain the monumental changes the ADA policies brought about, and have a discussion of some of the short comings that could still be improved.

This event will take place in the Gallery 400 Lecture Room, and lunch will be provided.

For disability accommodations, please contact Christiana Kinder, (312) 996-8700, christia@uic.edu

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Universal Design: The Next Step in the Equal-Access City?

The mechanics of universal design. Source: fujixerox.com

The mechanics of universal design. Source: fujixerox.com

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was enacted on July 26, 1990. This act proscribed a number of incremental changes to cities. Because of the act, urban infrastructure has been modified. Public transportation, telecommunications, and the built form have been updated to better accommodate all users. These changes have improved the daily lives of the disabled Americans in our communities as they have increased access to jobs and public life.

But have we done enough? Moving around the city, there are still many obstacles that may not be readily noticeable to the abled body. A crack in the sidewalk can be a tremendous hurdle to a person who requires a wheelchair. Silent electric cars can be hazardous as persons with no visual ability negotiate across streets. A lack of station signage on a busy train can render a city commute all the more difficult for someone with a loss of hearing.

What more can we accomplish? A concept called “universal design” can make our cities not just more accessible for those with limited abilities, but much more livable for all in our communities. Universal design makes infrastructure safer, easier, and more convenient for all abilities. According to UniversalDesign.com, the concept “takes into account the full range of human diversity, including physical, perceptual and cognitive abilities, as well as different body sizes and shapes.” In this way, infrastructure can be designed to be more functional and user-friendly for everybody.

Instead of placing ramps away from the main flows of human movement, sloped access is central in universally designed entrances, thus welcoming all users. Transportation platforms are designed so that everyone can enter directly onto a train or bus, speeding up boarding for all without the need for a slow and/or inconvenient ramp. Street crossings are designed to provide for groups of school children and elderly shoppers to cross at their own pace without danger from the hurried driver.

Due to the increased costs of retrofitting infrastructure, some may argue against universal design. However, improving access for everyone produces economic as well as social benefits. Building beyond the requirements of existing standards helps business avoid costs of reconfiguration; future surpluses can be used to grow business rather than to comply with expanding legal requirements. Furthermore, embracing all customers is good for business’ bottom line.

Universal design should be the next step in the progression of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The act should be expanded to require that cities be made accessible universally. One should not have to second-guess how they are going to get to work or school that day because of an obstacle in their travel. One should not be flustered because the restaurant or store their friend recommended to them cannot accommodate their abilities. You should be able to go about your daily life without ever having to experience the duress of not being able to access your own city.

Join us this Wednesday, March 18, at 12 noon in the Gallery 400 Lecture Room at 400 South Peoria, to hear a panel speak on this topic in Great Cities Institute’s event, “Equal-Access City? 25 Years of the Americans with Disabilities Act”, and engage in the conversation on this important topic.

About the Author:
Jackson Morsey, GCI Economic Development Planner: Primarily working within GCI’s Neighborhoods Initiative, Jackson works in collaboration with community-based organizations, university faculty, and staff to provide technical assistance and services for community and economic development projects.

Chicago on the Rise, Universities in the Wings

Dear GCI followers,

We are at a historical moment in the City of Chicago. For the first time in its electoral history, the City will have a runoff election for the office of Mayor. Incumbent mayor, Rahm Emmanuel, faces challenger County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia in the April 7 election. This is a time when Chicagoans can debate their vision for the city and who is most likely to help them attain that vision.

At Great Cities Institute, we have been concerned about many issues facing residents of the city and the region, including,

  • Moving from poverty to prosperity,
  • Creating jobs and insisting upon responsible economic development
  • Rebuilding neighborhoods for neighbors
  • Enhancing local governance and community participation

In November, we hosted an event entitled, City on the Make: Race and Inequality in Chicago. At that event, which featured Andrew Diamond from the University of Sorbonne, Jesus Garcia was among the panelists who presented their thoughts on addressing issues of inequality in Chicago. The video of this provocative panel, filmed by CANTV, is available here.

Other events in our Poverty to Prosperity Series are also available through our website. In spring, 2014, a luminary panel followed the presentation by Bob Herbert, former New York Times columnist.

Pedro Noguera, Professor at New York University spoke on Great Cities, Great Schools.

Clearly, a comprehensive approach is necessary to replace poverty with prosperity. Among the strategies that can make a difference, providing jobs is central. Economic Development should be about jobs. Tax incentives should be tied to job creation. In addition, we know from some of our work, that Worker Cooperatives, Small Business Incubators, and Youth Entrepreneurship Programs can be effective vehicles in tackling economic development at the neighborhood level.

Besides adding jobs, rebuilding neighborhoods also means ensuring the viability of its anchor institutions, such as schools, and in addition, providing commercial revitalization. At Great Cities Institute, we support community efforts to revitalization their commercial strips. Recently, we featured the work of the Little Village Chamber of Commerce and the South Chicago Chamber of Commerce.

At the heart of a strong community, is the participation of its residents. Among the GCI community participation work, we have been a key actor in promoting participatory budgeting in Chicago. This is a process whereby Aldermen work with residents in a ward to determine how to spend capital improvement allocations for their district. GCI’s work on PB is highlighted in a recent report on PB. We also believe that democracy can and should be engaging, as demonstrated in Josh Lerner’s book discussion, Making Democracy Fun: How Game Can Design Can Empower Citizens and Transform Politics.

As Chicagoans debate their future, we at Great Cities Institute continue to bring the resources of a public university to Harness the Power of Research and provide Solutions for Today’s Urban Challenges. Using this as our tag line, the Great Cities Institute, has four major research clusters:

  • Employment and Economic Development
  • Local and Regional Governance
  • Dynamics of Global Mobility
  • Energy and the Environment

Urban universities have the responsibility to be engaged in addressing the issues of the day. At the University of Illinois at Chicago, we are proud to be an engaged university, with a Great Cities Commitment. It is with these values in mind, that we applaud the Pritzker Foundation for the $10 million grant to the University of Chicago to add to their crime and education labs an additional three labs: health, poverty, and energy and the environment.

There is plenty to do and many challenges to address. As we move forward in the city of Chicago, our mutual commitments and collaborations may lead to a more prosperous city that extends from the downtown to the reaches of its neighborhoods.

Sincerely,
Teresa Córdova
Director

An argument for inflating Illinois’ flat income tax

Kiichiro Sato, AP

Kiichiro Sato, AP

In a column advocating a higher state income tax, Chicago Tribune columnist Melissa Harris cites a study by CUPPA’s Voorhees Center for Neighborhood and Community Improvement that included a “gentrification index” showing that more Chicago neighborhoods are declining than are gentrifying.

A recent analysis by the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Nathalie P. Voorhees Center found the worst parts of Chicago are getting bigger. Chicago neighborhoods of low and very low socioeconomic status have grown from 29 in 1970 to 45 in 2010 while just nine neighborhoods have gentrified or are gentrifying, the study found.

Full Story from Chicago Tribune »

 

Discontent With K-12 Agenda Helps Force Chicago’s Emanuel Into Runoff

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel pauses as he speaks to supporters after he was unable to win a majority vote in the city’s Feb. 24 mayoral election. He now faces Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, a candidate backed by the Chicago Teachers Union, in an April runoff. —Charles Rex Arbogast/AP

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel pauses as he speaks to supporters after he was unable to win a majority vote in the city’s Feb. 24 mayoral election. He now faces Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, a candidate backed by the Chicago Teachers Union, in an April runoff.
—Charles Rex Arbogast/AP

Education Week quotes Pauline Lipman, former GCI research scholar and professor of educational policy studies, on discontent with Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s school policies among Chicago teachers and parents.

Pauline Lipman, a professor of educational policy studies and the director of the Collaborative for Equity and Justice in Education at the University of Illinois, Chicago, said that the mayoral and aldermanic runoffs and the overwhelming approval of the nonbinding school board question all demonstrated that Mr. Emanuel and the majority of city residents have fundamentally different philosophies about the future of education in the city.

It’s a divide Mr. Emanuel could not overcome even with a campaign war chest of more than $13 million, the advantage of incumbency, and endorsement from high-powered friends such as his former boss, President Barack Obama, who visited Chicago to provide a last-minute boost, according to Ms. Lipman.

“We’re seeing a growing education movement in Chicago that’s flexing its political muscle,” Ms. Lipman said, along with the “growing power of parents, allied with the Chicago Teachers Union, in supporting an alternative to Mayor Emanuel.”

Full Story from Education Week »

2013-2014 PB Chicago Research Report Highlights

The Great Cities Institute is pleased to release the second annual evaluation report of the Participatory Budgeting Chicago (PB Chicago) initiative. The research effort examined the 2013-2014 PB cycle and sought to determine who participated in the initiative and why they chose to participate, to assess what new knowledge or skills participants gained as a result of their participation, and to evaluate which outreach techniques were most effective in encouraging participation.

Researchers administered 2,520 surveys to participants and systematically observed the PB process over the 2013-2014 cycle. Key findings include:

  • More people of color, low-income individuals, and youth participated compared to the previous year’s cycle (2012-2013). In the 49th Ward PB vote, African Americans increased their rate of participation by 7% and lower-income individuals increased their rate of participation by 9% from Year One (2012-2013).
  • Targeting youth at assemblies held in schools during school hours increased their engagement and turnout. Approximately 30% of 22nd Ward PB voters and approximately 10% of 49th and 45th Ward PB voters were under the age of 18.
  • Over $1.6 million in additional funding beyond the commitment of aldermanic menu money was leveraged for community projects identified through the PB process. In the 45th Ward, for example, Independence Park will be renovated to be accessible to children with disabilities using $100,000 in funding from the PB Vote, $100,000 in privately raised donations, and $560,000 in State of Illinois funding.
  • PB is becoming institutionalized into the City of Chicago government. In November 2014, the Mayor and City Council voted to fund the hiring of a new City of Chicago Assistant Budget Director whose primary task is to support alderman as they implement PB projects.

At the start of the 2013-2014 cycle, the PB Chicago City-Wide Steering Committee renewed three fundamental goals for the year: community building, equity, and inclusion. Research and evaluation data also demonstrate some success in achieving all three goals. Additional findings as well as detailed information and data on each of the three participating wards can be found in the full research report.

The 2014-2015 PB Chicago cycle is currently underway with a public vote coming up in April 2015. Stay tuned for the full public voting schedule so you can witness direct democracy in action!

About the Author:
Thea Crum, GCI Economic Development Planner: As an Economic Development Planner for GCI’s Neighborhoods Initiative, Thea works in collaboration with community-based organizations and university faculty, staff, and students to provide training and technical assistance on community and economic development projects. She is the lead staff person on the Participatory Budgeting Chicago initiative.