Why is UpTown considered bad? (Chicago, Sheridan: 2013, rent, hotel)

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

So true. Can't rep you right now.

I'll take a rain check.

On Uptown - it's coming. And you heard it here first, I have long predicted what is really happening is that connected developers are buying up huge numbers of properties *before* the City comes in and does some giant ethnic cleansing the way it happened in the South Loop.

Middle class people cheer, a homeless shelter and other support services move somewhere else, and of course, a handful of politically connected folks who knew ahead of time get filthy rich. Richer, I guess.

Anyone remember this?

Real Estate Near New Airport May Be Caught In Holding Pattern - Chicago Tribune

It's like knowing the winning lotto numbers ahead of time if you are *really* in the know. Nice work if you can get it!

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Chi-town Native

You're right from a bird's eye view of the whole City, but you're wrong (and really wrong) when you look at smaller areas.

All it takes is word to spread that a school is "on the way up" to have it change within 1 - 3 years.

My kid goes to Hamilton, it was supposed to be shut down maybe 5 years ago. Parents rallied. New principal came in with the all-important principal autonomy. We barely got in 3 years ago, and this year the Kindergarten wait list was 600 strong.

That's insane. Don't think this goes unnoticed by CPS... tackling endemic poverty, crime, single parent households, etc. is beyond the charter of a school system to address.

But gauging pent-up demand for a good neighborhood school, no problem.

There certainly is pent up demand as many see a move to the suburbs as a compromise, and I'm struggling to see where I have said anything that makes me "wrong (and really wrong)" in contrast to your comments. When my wife and I first seriously discussed having kids about seven years ago, we were very dedicated to staying in the city. We did school research, and identified the handful of North Side schools that seemed to be performing well. We already owned our home, so we weren't able to live in one of the better districts initially, but we figured we would move to the Nettlehorst attendance area or something similar when the time came. And we also thought that given the current trends, there would be more options for us by the time our kids were school age. This has definitely happened, and the options are getting better and better. I'm not contesting that.

Part of the reason that demand is "pent up" is that there still aren't enough options. And this feeds my argument that more can be done to retain middle class families in the city, though schools are only part of the equation.

I think that much of the North Side will continue to be a draw in this regard. I'm more interested to see what will happen on the South and West Sides at this point.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by ChiNaan

I'm curious, are you from the suburbs, by chance, or are most of your friends?

No, I've actually never lived in suburb before. Don't relish the idea.

I would say that most of the people I encounter professionally are from a suburb of some city in the U.S., but this is just where the bulk of the college-educated U.S. population lives in our time. More U.S. residents live in suburbs than all cities and rural areas combined.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Chi-town Native

On Uptown - it's coming. And you heard it here first, I have long predicted what is really happening is that connected developers are buying up huge numbers of properties *before* the City comes in and does some giant ethnic cleansing the way it happened in the South Loop.

Nice conspiracy theory. If it weren't Chicago, it might sound crazy.

The developers at work in Uptown now seem to be smaller players without a lot of clout. Unlike the South Loop, there aren't a lot of large parcels available. But the old Marysville academy site was made into a TIF district, so someone was pulling the levers of power there. It will be interesting to see what happens to that site. I've seen the current plans, but remain skeptical of their economic viability in this market (high rise condos, supermarket).

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

Nice conspiracy theory. If it weren't Chicago, it might sound crazy.

The developers at work in Uptown now seem to be smaller players without a lot of clout. Unlike the South Loop, there aren't a lot of large parcels available. But the old Marysville academy site was made into a TIF district, so someone was pulling the levers of power there. It will be interesting to see what happens to that site. I've seen the current plans, but remain skeptical of their economic viability in this market (high rise condos, supermarket).

The Maryville plan currently calls for apartments.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

The Maryville plan currently calls for apartments.

And now it looks like the developer is being bullied in to donating to the Low Income Housing Trust Fund to reduce the number of "affordable units" from 20% to 5%. It's a legal shakedown.

This **** drives me crazy. I once worked on a high-rise rental building project downtown, and the city started getting squirrely about affordable housing set asides during the permitting process. The profit margins on this project were so low to begin with that the developer would have had to abandon the project if the city didn't back down. But the developer was forced to make several other concessions to keep the project alive, and it took over a year to get through zoning approval. The margins ended up being so low that the one-bedroom units didn't get doors on the bedrooms. It was a "loft look" not because we designed it that way, but because the finishes were "value engineered" out of the project because the city was such a pain in the ass.

[another Uptown guy]

Originally Posted by RogersParkGuy

I lived in Uptown for 3 years 20 years ago, when the area was much "sketchier" than it is today. Uptown is not, nor was it ever, one of the worst areas in Chicago.

Uptown was simply one of the worst areas yuppies wanted to move to. Stories about how bad Uptown was were actually spreading as the neighborhood was getting more and more upscale. It just wasn't getting upscale fast enough to satisfy some people. The newer, wealthier residents wanted, and continue to want, nothing short of a total purge of poor people, so the area could become more like Lakeview or Lincoln Park. Now that longtime alderman Helen Shiller is gone, they are getting their wish. The new alderman, James Cappleman, is going on a major offensive to rid the neighborhood of minorities and poor people. This is ironic, considering that as a gay man, Cappleman is a minority himself.

Gee, addressing the horrible living conditions in some of these buildings and asking social services to do a better job of getting the homeless into a shelter doesn't sound like he's on the side of the wealthy to me. Can you support your claim with anything that he actually said or are you one of those people who believes everything you read?

[ChicagoMeO]

I dont see anything wrong with wanting to have a neighborhood where they "cleanse" the people that maybe should not be there. What to humanely do with them? I am talking about the homeless and mentally ill that should not be there in the first place, out roaming the streets and sleeping under the viaduct. Its going to come down to whether or not people that have money to rent/own a place will be served or will the homeless/mentally ill be served. If you read here even on this City Data forum, you will read where people are interested in living in Uptown, but they then do not feel it is safe, comfortable or welcoming. So now because of putting the needs of the homeless and mentally ill first, you are shooing out people that are more mainstream and since they want to rent/own, they have income of some sorts, maybe not much, but something. so whose needs are you going to put first? And then the people who have some income do want to have a nice store to shop at, so you put in Target and Jewel for example. Now the poeple are screaming because in order to put in these stores, the homeless and SRO's have to be torn down.. there goes another person screaming for the rights of the poor now gone. so whatcha gonna do? the city needs to be improved - just take this one area - Broadway under the El tracks over by TrumanCollege. Improve that. but someone is gonna be upset because it will displace the poor or homeless or alcoholics or whatever. You have to be humane, but also they have no power, no job, no good health, and time marches on, and progress marches on, and they will, as a naturally occurring consequence, be shooed out.

[nearnorth]

Originally Posted by ChicagoMeO

I dont see anything wrong with wanting to have a neighborhood where they "cleanse" the people that maybe should not be there.

Wow.

[urza216]

Originally Posted by nearnorth

Wow.

She was talking about the homeless and mentally ill population.

Those services should exist on the north side. But come on, now...