September 2008

The Way We Gentrify Now: Derek Hyra's 'New Urban Renewal'
By EDWARD GLAESER | August 27, 2008 | University of Chicago Press

Three years ago, visiting New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, President Bush declared that "the great city of New Orleans will rise again." This was not a new promise, however, but an old refrain. In 1960, President Kennedy went to West Virginia and said "we must encourage — through a program of federal loans and assistance, on a sound economic basis — the long-term industrial development which is the key to West Virginia's future." For decades, Republicans and Democrats with presidential aspirations have repeatedly made commitments to bring back troubled places, such as Detroit and upstate New York. Local leaders have long justified expensive projects, such as monorails and sports stadiums, with claims that they can bring economic vitality to depressed areas.

But while promising to make places prosperous may be good politics, it is rarely good policy. The job of government is to enrich and empower the lives of people, not to make sure that there is more economic activity in Appalachia or Detroit or the foothills of the Rockies. If firms are more productive in New York City or Silicon Valley, then why is it sensible to bribe companies to move somewhere else, to a less economically productive region of the country?

Not only do place-based policies fail to make the economy more productive, they may also fail to improve the lives of people who actually live in the impacted area — the putative beneficiaries of the policy initiative. How much good did the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on rail systems in Detroit and Buffalo do for the disadvantaged children growing up in those cities? In some cases, subsidizing an area can hurt the citizens in that area, raising the cost of living and pushing up rents.

Derek Hyra's "The New Urban Renewal: The Economic Transformation of Harlem and Bronzeville" (University of Chicago Press, 224 pages, $22.50) examines two neighborhoods, New York's Harlem and Chicago's Bronzeville, where increasing prosperity harmed at least some of the long-standing residents.

A dynamic private sector, not government largesse, has made New York and Chicago increasingly prosperous places over the last 15 years. The worldwide economy has increasingly rewarded being smart, and you become smart by being around other smart people. The density of New York and Chicago attracts knowledge-intensive industries that thrive because of the proximity to people and ideas that occurs in big cities.

As these cities have done well, demand for space has exploded. We see rising demand in the skyrocketing price of space in Manhattan and in the cranes that seem to be a permanent feature of Chicago's Lake Shore Drive skyline. Booming demand has also increased the desire among middle-class people to move to formerly poor areas such as Harlem and Bronzeville: Upwardly mobile urbanites, priced out of more expensive areas, have become urban pioneers "gentrifying" areas that used to be poor. But just as the real pioneers weren't always such a blessing for the American Indians on the frontier, gentrifiers aren't always a boon for the established residents of an area.

Mr. Hyra reminds us that the changes in Harlem and Bronzeville don't simply represent the free market at work. Both Harlem and Bronzeville received federal subsidies as "Empowerment Zones," which were meant to encourage economic activity in small geographic areas. These zones are classic place-based policies that offer tax breaks to firms that relocate to or remain in particular places. Chicago has also torn down great swaths of public housing, displacing thousands, and turned the land over for private development. New York's public housing reforms have been gentler, but Gotham has also seen displacement as some projects have been privatized.

Mr. Hyra's main thesis is that many people in Harlem and Bronzeville have been hurt by the transformation of these neighborhoods. He starts the book by describing Lashanda, the owner of a Laundromat in Harlem. She is initially hopeful about the economic growth going on around her but, on the second page, we learn that Lashanda lost her business because her landlord wants to rehabilitate her space and raise the rents. The best statistical research on Empowerment Zones, done by Patrick Kline at Yale, delivers a similarly mixed message: Employment in the affected areas increases, but wages do not, and rents rise significantly. Those renters who were already employed before the zone took effect lose out because their costs of living rise but their income does not.

Of course, the fact that some people lose from gentrification doesn't mean that New York should hope to go back to bleaker times or that property markets should somehow be frozen. It is unfortunate that not everyone wins from economic change, but the right way to address poverty is to bolster the social safety net everywhere, not to stop cities from becoming richer.

Mr. Hyra's chronicle of the costs of urban transformation has more policy bite when he turns to Empowerment Zones and Chicago's destruction of public housing projects. Some Chicago projects, such as the Robert Taylor Homes, had become synonymous with poverty and social distress. Tearing them down may have been the right decision, but we should weigh costs and benefits carefully. Not everyone benefits when public housing is destroyed. Empowerment Zones are even more problematic. They do increase employment, but at a high cost. Those funds could surely find better uses in Joel Klein's hands, improving the education of the poorest New Yorkers.

While Mr. Hyra's heart is with the displaced tenants, he is wise enough to refrain from mixing research with policy advocacy. He does not render a verdict on Empowerment Zones or public housing or gentrification. Instead, he gives us an interesting and nuanced picture of how urban change impacts people's lives, and he reminds us that the growing prosperity of a place may leave many people behind. It is wise to keep this in mind when some politician starts lauding the place-making potential of a monorail.

Mr. Glaeser is the Glimp Professor of Economics at Harvard, director of the Taubman Center for State and Local Government, and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

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Beijing buzz: Chicago looking good
City called leader for 2016 Olympics

By Kathy Bergen | Chicago Tribune reporter
August 24, 2008
BEIJING

Chicago has emerged as the front-runner in the race for the 2016 Olympics, some insiders say, noting that the Windy City delegation's low-key, deferential approach is playing well among international sports leaders gathered here for the Summer Games.

"It's Chicago's to lose," said one member of the International Olympic Committee, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "If they don't muck it up, they should win."

Other insiders say it's too soon to call it, but acknowledge Chicago is in a position of strength. Its courteous approach is helping to dispel "ugly American" stereotypes, they say, and its downtown-oriented plan, with lakefront access for the athletes' village, is proving attractive to IOC members.

And a U.S. location draws bigger bucks from sponsors, who provide the lifeblood for the IOC.

Still, the front-runner label is one that many bid cities would like to avoid at this stage, remembering all too well London's last-minute upset over archrival Paris, which had been the favorite for the 2012 Games.

And Chicago rejects any suggestion that it is leading.

"We think it's still far too early in this race to identify any city as the front-runner, with four world-class cities in the race, all with compelling campaigns," said Patrick Sandusky, a spokesman for the Chicago 2016 bid team.

Often there are surprising turns in the final 48 hours, with the ultimate outcome determined by 11th-hour, back-room horse trading. Multiple rounds of voting take place, with allegiances switching after cities are eliminated.

A gentlemen's contest
So cordiality can pay off.

"You need to be seen as everybody's second-best friend," said one source with close ties to the IOC.

The decision will be made Oct. 2, 2009.

Finalist 2016 bid cities Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo launched the international phases of their campaigns during the 2008 Games, which end Sunday. And so far, it has been a gentlemen's contest, marked by endless rounds of meetings, briefings and receptions for IOC members and other sports leaders.

In contrast, the contest for 2012, which involved London, Paris, New York, Moscow and Madrid, "was much more of a dogfight," recalls IOC member Patrick Hickey of Ireland, who also heads the European Olympic Committees and backs Madrid's bid.

An aggressive approach, where cities say, " 'Can we count on your vote?' that doesn't happen anymore," said IOC member Nicole Hoevertsz of Aruba.

"A big gangbusters approach would be inappropriate," said Chicago 2016 bid leader Patrick Ryan in Beijing. Chicago's approach has been to listen and learn, to talk about the city and to establish relationships with IOC members and other influential sports leaders, he said. The bidders have until February to develop their final bid books.

Coming on the strongest in this campaign has been Rio de Janeiro, which has some ground to make up after coming in fourth in an IOC technical evaluation this spring.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in a briefing with reporters, declared, "When God made the world, he prepared Rio for the Olympic Games."

Carlos Arthur Nuzman, a popular IOC member and president of the Rio bid team, said at another briefing, "We don't want a favor, we don't want a gift, we deserve this for all we've done in the past." He was alluding to hosting earlier sporting events, including the 2007 Pan American Games. On Thursday, the bid team introduced soccer legend Pele as a bid ambassador.

So far, Rio's high-octane approach does not appear to be ruffling feathers.

"It's up to each country to find its own style, and maybe that's why Rio is more colorful and extroverted," said the source with close ties to the IOC.

Year for the Americas?
Rio could well be Chicago's toughest rival because 2016 is likely to be viewed as a year for the Americas, after 2008 in Asia and 2012 in Europe.

Its biggest hurdles will be overcoming concerns about its crime rate and about its ability to pull off an Olympics just two years after hosting the 2014 World Cup soccer tournament.

The city invested $300 million in public safety improvements for the Pan American Games, which went off without incident, organizers noted. And the federal government has committed $2 billion for a three-year program to aid impoverished communities, noted Carlos Roberto Osorio, general secretary of the bid. The nation's economy is on an upswing, as well.

"Rio has the emotional factor that the Games have never been in South America," said IOC member Richard Pound of Canada, who thinks it's too soon to identify a front-runner.

"If you want a well-organized, well-financed Olympics, Chicago will do it," he said.

Still, Chicago will get a run for its money from Tokyo and Madrid as well, which were No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in the IOC technical evaluations, and which are approaching the campaign with much the same sort of diplomatic, measured tone Chicago has employed.

Both cities are promoting the "green" aspects of their bids, a hot-button issue after the air pollution concerns in Beijing.

Tokyo, for instance, has committed to doubling roadside trees from 500,000 to 1 million before 2016 and to creating a forest on a former garbage dump in Tokyo Bay. This "sea forest" would be home to a number of events, including equestrian and rowing.

"All four cities will be considered seriously," said Pound.

"The Madrid bid will suffer to some degree because of London 2012 being in Europe and Sochi 2014 being in Europe," he said. "And Tokyo will suffer by its proximity to the Beijing Games."

As well, the Madrid 2016 team found itself on the defensive during the Summer Games after Spain's Olympic basketball team posed for a newspaper ad using their fingers to make their eyes look more Chinese, a move the IOC found to be inappropriate.

Antonio Fernandez Arimany, managing director of the bid, said the incident was a misunderstanding and that there was no intention to be offensive. He said he does not expect a lasting impact on the bid, and a number of IOC insiders agree.

"It will mean absolutely zero at the end of the day," said Hickey, adding the same holds true for a minor flap that cropped up involving the U.S. Olympic Committee, Chicago's bid partner.

The IOC reprimanded the USOC for offering $50 shopping vouchers to encourage U.S. team athletes to vote in an IOC athletes' commission election. Those elected also serve an 8-year term on the IOC. The USOC apologized for its offer.

The USOC was hoping U.S. soccer Olympian Julie Foudy would be elected as a replacement for Robert Ctvrtlik, a volleyball gold medalist whose term is expiring. But of 29 candidates for four positions, she came in seventh, which means the U.S. is down to two IOC members as Chicago pursues its 2016 bid.

"We're down a member, but even though I'm stepping down from that position, I still have quite a few international positions and will continue to work and will keep doing positive things for the U.S.," Ctvrtlik, who is also the USOC's vice president for international relations, told The Associated Press.

Election outcome
What could affect the bid more dramatically is the outcome of the presidential election, observers say. A win by Barack Obama would be seen as a shift in foreign policy and aid the bid, they said, while a win by John McCain is more of a wild card. Many IOC members bitterly recall that McCain chaired Senate Commerce Committee hearings on the IOC's operations in the aftermath of the bid city bribery scandal of 1998.

In any case, Chicago still needs to improve the technical aspects of its bid, observers said. The city came in No. 3 among the finalists in the IOC evaluation, with transportation among the areas needing work.

And Hickey had one bit of advice: "Chicago has a hidden jewel in its bid: They are not fully utilizing the mayor.

"He has a tremendous presence and personality," Hickey said, noting that he connects well with both dukes and ditch-diggers. Compared with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, "Daley is more genuine, more a man of the people."

Tribune reporter Philip Hersh and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

kbergen@tribune.com

For related articles and comments, please click here - Olympics 2008 -and 2016

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Hospital purchase a good deal or big risk?
ANALYSIS | Some oppose city's Reese purchase for Oly village, cite budget

August 24, 2008

BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter/fspielman@suntimes.com

The housing slowdown is largely to blame for Chicago's $420 million budget shortfall, according to top mayoral aides. And housing-related revenues are expected to remain in the tank for years, they say.

So why is City Hall rolling the dice that a depressed real estate market will come roaring back -- by borrowing $85 million to buy the 37-acre campus of Michael Reese Hospital to pave the way for construction of a $1.1 billion Olympic Village on the Near South Side?

A city official says the Michael Reese Hospital purchase is designed to keep taxpayers off the hook.
(Sun-Times file)

That's a question being asked around City Hall as Mayor Daley prepares to lay off as many as 1,000 city workers, possibly including police and firefighters.

"Given the depressed housing market and the fact that it may not bounce back for the foreseeable future, what are the implications for Chicago taxpayers if the city ends up holding the bag?" Ald. Joe Moore (49th) said of the $85 million purchase now before the City Council. "We are approaching a budget that, by even the most optimistic scenario, will results in layoffs and service cuts. Given the difficult times, we need to be approaching this Olympic bid with a skeptical eye. The city can ill-afford being left with a multimillion-dollar tab."

Planning and Development Department spokesman Peter Scales said the deal is structured to keep taxpayers off the hook.

Medline Industries, which owns the Michael Reese site, has agreed to make a "charitable contribution" of $20 million to cover demolition, environmental cleanup and interest payments tied to the 15-year borrowing.

The first five years of payments would be "interest-only" at a rate of 5 percent. If Chicago loses the Olympics, the price goes up to $90 million. Before the principal is due, the city expects to recoup its costs by unloading the property to a master developer.

"We're pretty confident that, even in a slow economic and real estate market, we'll be able to sell this property off at a reasonable rate," Scales said. "This is an incredible piece of property. Its sheer size and proximity to both the lake and downtown make it incredibly attractive.

"We're not laying out $85 million. They're gonna give us up-front money, and, before we need to make any payments on the principle, we have confidence we'll be able to turn it over to a private developer who will then take over the payments or give us enough so we could pay for the rest of what's owed."

The Olympic Village was originally scheduled to be built on air rights over a truck-staging area for McCormick Place.

Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th) pushed for the move to the west because the village could be built on solid ground at a lower cost and be better integrated into the surrounding Bronzeville community.

"It's still a really good idea and a really modest risk," Preckwinkle said. "There's no such thing as a sure thing, but this comes close. ... It's still a good idea to make long-term investments in the future of the city -- even in terrible times."

According to a report by Appraisal Research Counselors Ltd., Chicago's downtown condo market has an unsold inventory of 7,300 units, which could take several years to unload. The proposed Olympic Village would add 7,500 permanent dwelling units and 1,000 hotel rooms to that glutted market.

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Community benefits consultant Al Kindle standing right front in photo, convened a productive strategic planning meeting at the Chicago Urban League (CUL) last Thursday August 14 2008 from 4:30 to 6:00 PM. The public meeting sponsored by CUL involved Bronzeville resident stakeholders, business owners and heritage tourism practitioners seeking resources and technical assistance to establish entrepreneurial business enterprises associated with Chicago winning the bid to host the 2016 Olympics. In April 2007, Bronzeville was selected by the city of Chicago as the host community for the 2016 Olympics.
Photo credit: www.bronzevilleonline.com

Grabbing for gold

By: John Pletz for Chicago Crains
Aug. 16, 2008

Marchers on the South Side last week called for job set-asides and other benefits for those living near proposed Olympics venues. Photo: Erik Unger

With the cheers of Beijing's Olympics crowds ringing in his ears, Mayor Richard M. Daley returned home last week to a chorus of demands from local groups looking to capitalize on his own Olympics dream.

Hyde Parkers want better train service to the Loop. South Side activists want jobs. Neighborhood groups are pushing for affordable housing around Washington Park, proposed site of the stadium for the 2016 Summer Games Mr. Daley hopes to host.

"We are forcing ourselves on the (Olympics bid) committee," says Alderman Leslie Hairston of the 5th Ward, where transportation and parking are the big issues. "The Olympics is in our backyards and front yards."

Ordinarily, such groups would have little influence with the mayor. But they're feeling a rare surge of clout as the importance of their support for Chicago's bid becomes clearer. International Olympic Committee officials choosing a city to host the 2016 games are looking for the kind of grass-roots enthusiasm Beijing residents have shown this month for the 29th Olympiad.

"The IOC wants some assurance that the bid city population will embrace the games," says Paul Swangard, director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon and an adviser to Beijing on hosting this summer's games.

To win the street-level support he needs, Mr. Daley will have to meet at least some demands of local activists. That could drive up the cost of staging a Chicago Olympics and add another layer of complexity to an already complicated planning challenge.

Organizing activity has picked up in the past several weeks as the city marches toward a February deadline to submit its formal bid book to the IOC. A site visit by the IOC's evaluation team will follow in May or June, with the decision on a host city due in October 2009.

Communities for an Equitable Olympics was formed about six weeks ago, bringing together groups such as the local health care workers chapter of the Service Employees International Union, Action Now, Metropolitan Alliance of Congregations and the Grassroots Collaborative, which led the charge against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in the big-box minimum-wage battle. The umbrella group held a rally to press its demands last week.

"We want to be at the table and get our provisions and requirements into Chicago's application for the 2016 Olympics," says Jay Travis, director of the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, who helped organize the group.

Activists say they aren't trying to derail the 2016 bid. But they know Mr. Daley's desire to win the games gives them a chance to secure benefits for their constituents that they couldn't otherwise land.

Last year, the city negotiated contracts with trade unions that run through 2017, helping assure labor peace during the games. The mayor and Olympics bid committee also addressed concerns raised by Alderman Toni Preckwinkle (4th), who wanted the Olympic Village moved from a site near McCormick Place to the site of Michael Reese Hospital, which plans to close by yearend.

"They have gone out of their way almost more than you ever see the Daley administration do to reach accommodations with those groups who complained," says Dick Simpson, a former alderman who heads the political science department at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "They will continue to try to deal with groups big enough to potentially be major stumbling blocks."

Chicago 2016 doesn't have the power to spend money on the types of programs community groups are seeking. That's why Communities for an Equitable Olympics is turning up the political heat as the City Council prepares to approve the $85-million purchase of Michael Reese.

Ms. Preckwinkle wants 10% to 20% of the Olympic Village to be converted into affordable housing after the games. She's also calling for 24% of construction contracts to go to minority-owned firms and 4% to women-owned companies, with 50% of the overall work done by city residents.

Sheena Gibbs, 26, of Chicago, at right, joins hundreds of others marching on the Near South Side last week. Organizations are teaming up to demand jobs, housing and transportation for communities near the sites of proposed Olympics venues. Photo: Erik Unger

Ms. Travis calls those numbers standard, and Communities for an Equitable Olympics is upping the ante with a demand that 50% of construction contracts go to woman- and minority-owned firms. That will be a tough sell with City Hall, which is projecting a more than $400-million shortfall in this year's budget.

More than money is at stake. South Side community groups have chafed at what they see as a lack of inclusion by those planning Chicago's Olympics bid.

"We have had ongoing and long-term discussions with many community groups in areas around potential venues all over the city," a Chicago 2016 spokesman says.

Ms. Hairston, who holds monthly meetings about the Olympics with constituents, says a Chicago 2016 representative often has been in attendance. But the outreach, she says, "needs to be better and needs to be meaningful."

The alderman expects a formal meeting with city and bid officials to happen, eventually. "I hope it will be to have a dialogue as opposed to a lecture, as opposed to you telling me what will happen."

Recently, several big charities, led by the Chicago Community Trust, announced a $4.7-million fund to make grants to neighborhood groups on the South and West sides on behalf of Chicago 2016 to support economic development even if the games don't come.

"(Mr. Daley) is doing everything he can to keep those issues where they can be negotiated at a local level rather than become Olympic issues," Mr. Simpson says. "That's much harder in a time of recession."

©2008 by Crain Communications Inc.

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We regret the passing of one of
Chicago's most famous and important native sons

In this Dec. 4, 2001 file photo, comedian Bernie Mac poses for photographers backstage at the 2001 Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas. The award-winning actor-comedian has died at age 50 from complications of pneumonia, his publicist said Saturday, Aug. 9, 2008. (AP Photo/Eric Jamison, file)

Actor, comedian and exasperated dad Mac dies at 50
By FRAZIER MOORE – The Associated Press

Bernie Mac blended style, authority and a touch of self-aware bluster to make audiences laugh as well as connect with him. For Mac, who died Saturday at age 50, it was a winning mix, delivering him from a poor childhood to stardom as a standup comedian, in films including the casino heist caper "Ocean's Eleven" and his acclaimed sitcom "The Bernie Mac Show."

Though his comedy drew on tough experiences as a black man, he had mainstream appeal — befitting inspiration he found in a wide range of humorists: Harpo Marx as well as Moms Mabley; squeaky-clean Red Skelton, but also the raw Redd Foxx.

Mac died Saturday morning from complications due to pneumonia in a Chicago area hospital, his publicist, Danica Smith, said in a statement from Los Angeles. She said no other details were available.

"The world just got a little less funny," said "Oceans" co-star George Clooney.

Don Cheadle, another member of the "Oceans" gang, concurred: "This is a very sad day for many of us who knew and loved Bernie. He brought so much joy to so many. He will be missed, but heaven just got funnier."

Mac suffered from sarcoidosis, an inflammatory lung disease that produces tiny lumps of cells in the body's organs, but had said the condition went into remission in 2005. He recently was hospitalized and treated for pneumonia, which his publicist said was not related to the disease.

Recently, Mac's brand of comedy caught him flack when he was heckled during a surprise appearance at a July fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate and fellow Chicagoan Barack Obama.

Toward the end of a 10-minute standup routine, Mac joked about menopause, sexual infidelity and promiscuity, and used occasional crude language. Obama took the stage about 15 minutes later, implored Mac to "clean up your act next time," then let him off the hook, adding: "By the way, I'm just messing with you, man."

Even so, Obama's campaign later issued a rebuke, saying the senator "doesn't condone these statements and believes what was said was inappropriate."

But despite controversy or difficulties, in his words, Mac was always a performer.

"Wherever I am, I have to play," he said in 2002. "I have to put on a good show."

Mac worked his way to Hollywood success from an impoverished upbringing on Chicago's South Side. He began doing standup as a child, telling jokes for spare change on subways, and his film career started with a small role as a club doorman in the Damon Wayans comedy "Mo' Money" in 1992. In 1996, he appeared in the Spike Lee drama "Get on the Bus."

He was one of "The Original Kings of Comedy" in the 2000 documentary of that title that brought a new generation of black standup comedy stars to a wider audience.

"The majority of his core fan base will remember that when they paid their money to see Bernie Mac ... he gave them their money's worth," Steve Harvey, one of his co-stars in "Original Kings," told CNN on Saturday.

Mac went on to star in the hugely popular "Ocean's Eleven" franchise with Brad Pitt and George Clooney, playing a gaming-table dealer who was in on the heist. Carl Reiner, who also appeared in the "Ocean's" films, said Saturday he was "in utter shock" because he thought Mac's health was improving.

"He was just so alive," Reiner said. "I can't believe he's gone."

Mac and Ashton Kutcher topped the box office in 2005's "Guess Who," a comedy remake of the classic Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn drama "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" Mac played the dad who's shocked that his daughter is marrying a white man.

Mac also had starring roles in "Bad Santa," "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" and "Transformers."

But his career and comic identity were forged in television.

In the late 1990s, he had a recurring role in "Moesha," the UPN network comedy starring pop star Brandy. The critical and popular acclaim came after he landed his own Fox television series "The Bernie Mac Show," about a child-averse couple who suddenly are saddled with three children.

Mac mined laughs from the universal frustrations of parenting, often breaking the "fourth wall" to address the camera throughout the series that aired from 2001 to 2006. "C'mon, America," implored Mac, in character as the put-upon dad. "When I say I wanna kill those kids, YOU know what I mean."

The series won a Peabody Award in 2002, and Mac was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Emmy. In real life, he was "the king of his household" — very much like his character on that series, his daughter, Je'niece Childress, told The Associated Press on Saturday.

"But television handcuffs you, man," he said in a 2001 Associated Press interview before the show had premiered. "Now everyone telling me what I CAN'T do, what I CAN say, what I SHOULD do, and asking, `Are blacks gonna be mad at you? Are whites gonna accept you?'"

He also was nominated for a Grammy award for best comedy album in 2001 along with his "The Original Kings of Comedy" co-stars Harvey, D.L. Hughley and Cedric The Entertainer.

Chicago music producer Carolyn Albritton said she was Bernie Mac's first manager, having met him in 1991 at Chicago's Cotton Club where she hosted an open-mike night. He was an immediate hit, Albritton said Saturday, and he asked her to help guide his career.

"From very early on I thought he was destined for success," Albritton said. "He never lost track of where he came from, and he'd often use real life experiences, his family, his friends, in his routine. After he made it, he stayed a very humble man. His family was the most important thing in the world to him."

In 2007, Mac told David Letterman on CBS' "Late Show" that he planned to retire soon.

"I'm going to still do my producing, my films, but I want to enjoy my life a little bit," Mac told Letterman. "I missed a lot of things, you know. I was a street performer for two years. I went into clubs in 1977."

Mac was born Bernard Jeffrey McCullough on Oct. 5, 1957, in Chicago. He grew up on the city's South Side, living with his mother and grandparents. His grandfather was the deacon of a Baptist church.

In his 2004 memoir, "Maybe You Never Cry Again," Mac wrote about having a poor childhood — eating bologna for dinner — and a strict, no-nonsense upbringing.

"I came from a place where there wasn't a lot of joy," Mac told the AP in 2001. "I decided to try to make other people laugh when there wasn't a lot of things to laugh about."

Mac's mother died of cancer when he was 16. In his book, Mac said she was a support for him and told him he would surprise everyone when he grew up.

"Woman believed in me," he wrote. "She believed in me long before I believed."

Mac's death Saturday coincided with the annual Bud Billiken Parade in Chicago, a major event in the predominantly black South Side that the comedian had previously attended.

"It's truly the passing of one of our favorite sons," said Paula Robinson, president of the Black Metropolis National Heritage Area. "He was extremely innovative in putting his life experiences in comedic form and doing it without vulgarity.

"He was an ambassador of Chicago's black community, and the national black community at large."

Associated Press writers F.N. D'Alessio, Daniel J. Yovich, Caryn Rousseau and Carla K. Johnson in Chicago contributed to this report.

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Plan to Revitalize 43rd Street CTA Stop

Posted 7/15/2008 by Annie Slezickey

July 18, 2008 - Imagine walking off the CTA platform at State and Lake downtown and seeing vacant lots instead of Potbelly's and the Chicago Theatre. For Green Line passengers at the 43rd Street stop in Bronzeville, empty lots are a harsh reality. But that could change in the future.

Development plans for 43rd Street between King Drive and Prairie would transform city-owned, abandoned buildings and vacant lots into a mix of new business and residential units.

The development has already gained the approval of the city's Department of Planning and Development, said Ald. Patricia Dowell (3rd). But the proposal has a long road ahead.

Dowell said the plan is a new concept for her South Side community. "The plan will identify what the area should be," Dowell said.

The city's Committee on Zoning cleared the way for a mix-use development at its June 26 meeting by passing Dowell's proposed zoning change.

For residents, it's a badly needed change and overdue.

The wind blows an empty plastic bag down the block toward King Drive. There are no garbage cans in sight, and no one seems to notice the bag or the empty bottles scattered around.

"It's a ghost town," said Bronzeville resident Sharon Morgan about the area surrounding the 43rd Street stop. "I want to be able to do simple things within walking distance."

Morgan grew up on 48th Street and King Drive and said she saw it transform from a thriving, active community to a neighborhood where residents only come to sleep.

Morgan said she wants any new development to include restaurants, service businesses and shops like a dry cleaners, a nail salon and other retailers.

Dowell said an advisory council has been created with members from the CTA, the Department of

Planning and Development. and about 20 local residents. Their first meeting will be July 28 at a location yet to be announced. "We want people to have options that are accessible," Dowell said.

Morgan said residents near Bronzeville's 43rd Street CTA stop are accustomed to traveling elsewhere to shop. With gas prices soaring, Dowell said residents have an incentive to use public transportation and the development's location would lessen their dependency on cars.

Bennet Haller of the city's Department of Planning and Development is leading the city-wide Transit Oriented Development initiative, which also includes projects at the Red Line's Berwyn and Lawrence stops and the Green Line stop at Cermack and 18th Street.

The focus in Bronzeville, Haller said, is retail, housing and park space. A decision on retail tenants will be made later.

"We still need to develop a general understanding of the community's needs," Haller said.

It's too early to know the project's total cost, but the Regional Transportation Authority and the City of Chicago will provide matching funds initially, Haller said.

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L. J. McDowell and Alexis Hart McDowell bought a four-bedroom town home in Bronzeville. They're thrilled with the space — but could use a Starbucks. Photo: Andreas Larsson

Bronzeville keeps on ticking

By: Kevin Davis on July 28, 2008

Some of the best real estate bargains are south of the South Loop right now, but many agents, owners and potential buyers are frustrated by the missing amenities and commercial development they thought were coming.

With an economy that's held back business expansion, and desired retailers such as Starbucks closing stores rather than opening them, residents are going to have to be patient.

"It's frustrating when you have people used to being near the big stores," says Sheila Rugege Dantzler, an agent with Weichert Realtors-First Chicago. "We have to trek downtown to the South Loop or Hyde Park just to go shopping. That's part of the challenge for people moving here from downtown and the suburbs: They're used to being able to walk to get a coffee."

In February 2007, Chicago-based Capri Capital Partners LLC announced ambitious plans for 1 million square feet of commercial and residential development near 39th and State streets, though the project has yet to break ground. Progress is slow, too, on sections of Cottage Grove Avenue that are showing signs of activity.

Fits and starts in progress are part of the tradeoff, though, for buyers who opt for more housing for the dollar and more open space in areas that remain in transition.

Chicago attorney Alexis Hart McDowell knew that if she ventured beyond the South Loop, she would find better value.

She and her husband, L. J., a marketing professional for Sony BMG, moved last August from an apartment in West Town into a new four-bedroom townhouse in the 3900 block of South Drexel Boulevard in the Bronzeville neighborhood.

"At the price point we were after, it ruled out so many places to the north," says Ms. McDowell, 32, who bought the townhouse at a preconstruction price of $399,900. "We have over 2,500 square feet. There is so much space."

Ms. McDowell, who's expecting her first child in December, says the lack of shopping has been a downside. "As far as being able to walk for things, it's not there," she says. "If I want a Starbucks, I have to drive to 35th and State."

Still, some of the most active pockets south of downtown are within the neighborhood officially called Oakland but more commonly known as Bronzeville, stretching from 35th Street to 47th Street and from the lake roughly to Cottage Grove.

Median sale prices in Oakland rose 19% in the past year to $345,000. Sales in second-quarter 2008 jumped to 211 from 28 during the same period last year.

"Without question, the hottest community with the best architecture, renovated condominiums and new construction is from 39th to 47th, east of Cottage Grove," says Lauren Lowery, founder of Finders Plus Realty. "It's not high-density. It's not the South Loop, with its ton of high-rises. People can park here; there's grass."

Ms. Lowery agrees, though, that some potential buyers are put off by the lack of amenities. "Bronzeville is a really underserved community that is now getting attention," she says. "You had million-dollar homes there and no services."

And the reality is, buyers still must contend with crime and vacant lots: "You have to decide how comfortable you are on each block," she says.

©2008 by Crain Communications Inc.

#####

Bronzeville ready for its renaissance

Neighborhood faces challenges, opportunities amid revitalization efforts
By Deanese Williams-Harris | Chicago Tribune reporter
June 27, 2008

The Negro League Cafe is a tribute to the baseball league's players.
(Tribune photo by Terrence Antonio James / June 16, 2008)

Upscale dining, Isaac Hayes singing in Washington Park, new art galleries and front-row seats to the Bud Billiken parade are just some of the amenities available to residents in historic Bronzeville on the city's South Side.

Besides being in close proximity to Chicago's downtown, the McCormick Place, Lake Michigan and several of the city's expressways, moving to the up-and-coming area makes for a smart investment, said Aaron McDonald, real estate agent for Genesys Realty Group.

Once the equivalent of New York's Harlem during the Jazz Age, Bronzeville has a rich history as a vibrant center of African-American culture from the turn of the 20th Century until the 1960s, when the neighborhood fell into decline. The name Bronzeville refers to the skin color of African-Americans who migrated to the area from the South and was first used by James Gentry, an editor for the Chicago Bee.

Today, amid the renovated graystones and brownstones, Bronzeville is witnessing revitalization efforts.

Where 35th and State Streets meet rests a snapshot of what the neighborhood will look like in the next few years. Just steps away from U.S. Cellular Field sit newly constructed condos, townhouses and single-family homes that blend in with a trendy Starbucks and Jimmy John's sandwich shop.

The lakefront community sits minutes away from Chicago's major highways, including Interstate 55, Interstate 90 and 94, and Interstate 290. Residents can easily jump on the No. 4 Cottage Grove bus, the No. 3 King Drive bus or the Green Line train to head downtown.

About five years ago, neighborhood liquor stores and greasy spoons were just as much a fixture on State Street as were the Robert Taylor Homes and Stateway Gardens housing projects. Now several of those businesses are boarded up and vast stretches of empty fields await development.

"Although the housing market in historical Bronzeville mirrors the nations recent downturns, new development continues to be built and buyers are looking in full force to purchase new construction, gut-rehab graystones and state-of-the-art condos," said McDonald. While the market in Bronzeville may appear to be oversaturated with new development and foreclosed properties, McDonald said its an opportune time for buyers to catch great deals.

"This is how Donald Trump got rich," said McDonald. "It's a really good time to get in while the market is slow."

Accompanied by low-interest rates, he adds that developers are more than motivated to sell, offering incentives such as covering closing cost.

Price ranges in Bronzeville can vary depending on location. The farther north you travel, the more you will spend per square footage. A one-bedroom condo can run up to $200,000.

A single-family home can cost up to $500,000, and there are places in Bronzeville that could set you back $1 million.

Bronzeville, once predominantly African-American, is starting to see an influx of newcomers from diverse backgrounds and varied income levels, who value the area's rich cultural heritage.

In response, several area businesses have melded fine dining and the community's musical roots.

Blu47, at 47th and King Drive has combined dining with jazz and gospel music. Open since 2004, the restaurant features an upscale contemporary American menu. Famous for it's braised barbecue short-ribs and chicken lollipops, the restaurant showcases live jazz acts on Thursdays and gospel on Sundays.

The owner, Darryl Petty, has lived in Bronzeville for 15 years. "Our establishment is very family-oriented," he said. "I chose this location because the area is very up and coming, and business has been good since we've opened."

Other area businesses have also flourished, such as the Bronzeville Coffee House at 528 E. 43rd and the Negro League Cafe, at 43rd and Prairie.

Besides serving Caribbean and Southern-influenced entrees, the Negro League Cafe has entertainment on the menu, including neo-soul, hip hop, and rhythm and blues. There's even a spoken word and open-mic night.

More businesses have moved into the area in the past year, but there is still a need for more retail shops and grocery stores.

Quad Communities Development Corp. has been working to revitalize the Cottage Grove corridor, the eastern boundary of Bronzeville. So far, they are working on two small-scale projects that would bring more town homes and retail space to 45th and Cottage Grove Avenue.

The project is scheduled to break ground later this fall. The hopes are to bring more apparel stores, an additional coffee shop and juice bar to the area.

The corporation also has worked with the Mayor's Office of Special Events to bring a special farmer's market to the neighborhood. The Bronzeville Community Market debuted June 15 and is scheduled to run through late October. The goal of the market is to bring a larger variety of produce and goods to the area that has been challenged over the years to attract grocery chains.

"We decided to have the market on Cottage Grove to also bring attention to the many new businesses that have opened," said Bernita Johnson-Gabriel, executive director of Quad Communities Development Corp.

The housing downturn has forced a delay in the construction of the Shops at 47. It is to be built by Mahogany Ventures, a partnership between Skilken Co., a shopping center developer, and Troy Enterprises, an African-American development company. Both are based in Columbus, Ohio. The project, at 47th and Cottage Grove, now expects to break ground in 2009. It is to include 50,000 square feet of retail space and about 170 condo units, according to Frank Petruziello, Skilken's managing partner.

Talk of Chicago winning the bid for the 2016 Olympics, which would be held in Washington Park, has sparked discussion of other large-scale development projects in Bronzeville, including the possibility of razing the Lake Meadows Apartments, on King Drive at 32nd Street. That would make way for 7,000 new residential units, said Genesys Realty's McDonald.

"I always tell people to try to buy as close to Lake Meadows as you possibly can," he said. "I don't give people false hopes that the reason to buy is the Olympics. When the Olympics is gone, Chicago will still be here, the lake will still be here, and Bronzeville's excellent location to other places in the city will be what matters. Then you can tease all of your friends that you are in the best location in the city."

#####

Cheryl Colbert, Cultural Tour Coordinator for the Bronzeville Visitor Information Center (BVIC) served as a facilitator for marketing historic Bronzeville tours, answering questions and handing out information brochures during the first Bronzeville Community Market, hosted by Quad Community Development Corporation (QCDC).The outdoor summer time event took place this past Sunday June 15, 2008 on the vacant lot on the west side of the street in the 4400 block of South Cottage Grove. BVIC has joined in a collaborative effort with QCDC to bring antiques, collectibles and black memorabilia to the Bronzeville Community Market after operating the Bronzeville Antique & Mongo Market at Doolittle school for the past 2 years.

Bronzeville Community Market opens with local support, fresh food
—and hope

'Options for groceries are limited in the neighborhood.
It's close to being a "food desert." '

By Robert Mitchum | Tribune reporter

10:39 PM CDT, June 15, 2008

In the grassy field along South Cottage Grove Avenue where a giant concrete high-rise once loomed, friends Felicia Beckett, Carmen Mahon and Doreen Barrett sat and compared their day's purchases. Rustling through several bags at her feet, Beckett listed off her bounty: grapes, spinach, strawberries, apples, salsa.

"And sandals," Beckett, 42, said, showing off her new footwear. "Don't forget the sandals."

Beckett was one of many enjoying the first Bronzeville Community Market, which organizers hope will become a new Sunday afternoon staple for residents of the neighborhood and surrounding areas.

Conceived as a "hybrid market," combining traditional farmers market fare with antique vendors, prepared food, booths from local stores and live performances, the event's first day drew curious and enthusiastic crowds despite threatening skies and high winds.

"This is so great for the community," said Inona Hunt, 50, who grew up blocks away from the market site and was back selling bakery goods for Indiana-based Rice & Roll Bakery. "Everyone wants better health, and this is bringing it to the people. Where else could they have gone?"

The lack of weekend farmers markets in the area and grocery stores with full produce sections was the primary motivation for launching the new market, executive director Bernita Johnson-Gabriel said. A nearby market, held for years on King Drive near Dunbar High School, closed last year because of dwindling participation from local farmers, Johnson-Gabriel said.

"Options for groceries are limited in the neighborhood. It's close to being a 'food desert,' " said Johnson-Gabriel, using a term coined by social scientists to describe areas with few or no grocery stores.

At the market, "here we're talking really fresh food. It was just picked the day before," she said.

The market also was designed to draw attention to new stores in the neighborhood along Cottage Grove, 43rd Street and 47th Street, Johnson-Gabriel said, part of the historically African-American neighborhood's revitalization.

Faye Edwards, who owns faié, a gallery of African art on Cottage Grove, worked a booth displaying brightly colored sun hats from Madagascar and thread art from Kenya and Ghana.

But Edwards also played the part of happy customer at the market, bringing back a bulging plastic bag of produce to her booth.

"I bought the biggest Fuji apples I have ever seen," she said. "And tomatoes I love fine-grown tomatoes."

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 17, 2008
CONTACT: Toure Muhammad (773) 224-6500

Congressman Rush, community work to both preserve rich legacy of Chicago’s southside

CHICAGO—Determined to preserve the rich legacy of Chicago’s southside, a community coalition has joined Congressman Bobby L. Rush in an effort to designate the Black Metropolis District, including the historic Bronzeville area, of Chicago as a National Heritage Area.

According to the National Park Service, “a national heritage area is a place designated by the United States Congress where natural, cultural, historic and recreational resources combine to form a cohesive, nationally-distinctive landscape arising from patterns of human activity shaped by geography.”

On February 29, the last day of Black History Month, Rep. Rush introduced a bill to the House of Representatives, titled HR 5505: Black Metropolis District National Heritage Area Study Act, which calls for the federal government to “conduct a study to determine the feasibility” of designating the study area a national heritage area.

Black Metropolis District “has a cohesive and distinctive history that is worthy of national heritage designation,” said Rep. Rush. “This is more than nostalgia; by highlighting the past, we can inspire the future.”

Supporters of HR 5505 believe the effort will help revitalize the area culturally and economically, without compromising its history, which includes great accomplishments in culture, business, sports, education, health care, labor, politics, religion and social justice.

“The designation will support the ongoing development of Bronzeville as an international heritage tourism destination,” said Paula Robinson, President of Black Metropolis National Heritage Area Project.

The designated study area roughly stretches between Lake Michigan at some points and the Dan Ryan, from 18th street to 71st Street. The area includes the neighborhoods of Oakland, Kenwood, Washington Park, Grand Boulevard, Douglass, and Woodlawn.

The term Bronzeville was created by a then Chicago Bee newspaper editor. The First Mayor of Bronzeville was selected in 1934. The editor left the Bee and went to work for the Chicago Defender, where the term was made popular. Later, the heart of the study area was unofficially dubbed “Black Metropolis” following a landmark 1945 sociological study with that same title.

“The Illinois Institute of Technology is proud to be a long time member of the Bronzeville community and we are excited about the opportunities to help preserve the wonderful legacy of this area,” said David Baker, vice president of external affairs for IIT. “We plan to work with the Congressman to support the bill in Washington and to help with the creation of the National Heritage Area once it is designated.”

The Black Metropolis-Bronzeville District currently has nine structures designated as Chicago landmarks: Overton Hygienic Building, Chicago Bee Building, Wabash Avenue YMCA, Chicago Defender Building, Unity Hall, Eighth Regiment Armory, Sunset Cafe, Victory Monument, and Supreme Life Building.

“This is great, not just for the southside of Chicago, but it’s great for the entire city of Chicago and state of Illinois,” said Jan Kostner, Deputy Director, Illinois Bureau of Tourism, “Visitors from all over the world will have an opportunity to see firsthand the tremendous accomplishments of African Americans in business, politics, education, and so many other areas.”

Once the study is complete, Rep. Rush will draft another bill to actually designate the Black Metropolis-Bronzeville District a national heritage area.

#####

CHA Plan for Transformation poses challenges for Bronzeville

by Marisol Rodriguez
Mar 20, 2008
Lee Peebles, 74, lived in the Ida B. Wells Homes for 46 years – until they were demolished.

Marisol Rodriguez/Medill

Lee Peebles, 74, is content with her new public housing unit at Oakwood Shores.

Since 2005 she’s been happily sharing a two-bedroom apartment with her grandson Jeremy Day at Oakwood Shores, one of the new mixed-income developments built as part of the Chicago Housing Authority’s Plan for Transformation.

“I love where I am,” Peebles said. “I thought they could rehab [Wells], but they said the pipes were corroded too bad.”

Peebles is an anomaly. Just as soon as the Wells homes were gone, Peebles had her apartment at Oakwood Shores waiting for her to move in to.

Thousands of CHA residents were left to find a place to live during the interim of demolition and reconstruction, primarily through the use of Section 8 vouchers, through which renters pay a fraction of the rent.

Advocates for the displaced residents say that the shabby system of temporary relocation of these residents has left many in the Bronzeville/Mid South community skeptical of CHA’s vision and the de facto future benefits of the plan for this historically black community.

The Plan for Transformation was initiated in 1999 by CHA as an answer to the isolated pockets of public housing where drug abuse and crime became heavily concentrated.

Over the 10-year-plan, CHA is planning to spend $1.5 billion to rehabilitate or rebuild 25,000 public housing units, most within mixed-income developments.

At the end of 2007, CHA had completed 64.7 percent of the proposed housing goal, with 16,172 units built, according to CHA spokesman Bryan Zises.

“The Plan for Transformation is about saying, ‘You know what, we are all Chicagoans, lets take down these [high rises] and integrate the people into the rest of our society,” Zises said.

CHA has attempted to economically integrate residents of the new housing developments by allocating one-third of the units as public housing, one-third as affordable housing and one-third as market-rate housing.

However, the total 25,000 units of public housing promised by the plan falls short of the 39,000 units of public housing CHA had before implementing the plan.

According to the CHA, only 24,500 units were occupied as of October 1999, around the time the plan was implemented.

Despite this figure, some in the Bronzeville/Mid South area are critical of the fact that the original amount of public housing is being reduced substantially.

Jay Travis, director of the Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization, said that out of 4,086 units of public housing that once compromised the Lake Michigan, Madden Park/Darrow and Ida B. Wells Homes, only 1,320 units of CHA replacement units will be left after the plan is complete.

One neighborhood expert said the public housing residents who have had to find housing after the demolition have mostly moved farther south to areas like South Shore, Englewood and Roseland, presenting new challenges to these South Side neighborhoods and reinforcing traditional patterns of racial composition.

According to Harold L. Lucas, longtime Bronzeville resident and founder of the Black Metropolis Convention and Tourism Council, the influx of public housing residents into the South Side has left Chicago’s black community just as regionally segregated as it has always been, only with additional negative impacts.

“The antisocial behaviors that were contained in public housing have also been transferred into more stable communities further south,” Lucas said.

The antisocial behaviors Lucas refers to are the drug and crime problems that Chicago public housing was, at one point, nationally recognized for. “You don’t break those [antisocial] patterns overnight,” Lucas said. “They are endemic to the culture of poverty.”

Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th) said the plan has horizontally concentrated the poor, while traditional public housing vertically concentrated them. Horizontal concentration means by neighborhood; vertically concentrated, in high rises.

“The problem is that it was all done at once,” Preckwinkle said. “There wasn’t very much thought given as to what was going to happen to people between the time their buildings were torn down and the new buildings were built.”

The mixed-income developments that now offer housing in the Bronzeville/Mid South area are Oakwood Shores, Jazz on the Boulevard and Lake Park Crescent.

Lee Peebles who lives in one of the 126 public housing units at Oakwood Shores pays one third of her income to rent costs.

Market rate housing at the development costs about $1.25 per square foot; apartments range from 700 to 1,300 square feet, according to Joseph Williams, president and chairman of Granite Development, one of Oakwood Shores’ private developers.

To qualify to live in these new mixed-income communities, residents have to meet what some view as a stringent CHA leasing compliancy as well as additional requirements made by the private developers of each respective mixed-income site.

Such criteria, which are listed in the CHA’s Admissions and Continued Occupancy Policy, include rules governing work. For instance, applicants between the ages of 18 and 61 have to be employed a minimum of 15 hours per week at admission and 20 hours a week after two years of residency.

Non-compliance can result in eviction.

Applicants are subject to rejection based on past criminal activity.

Requirements that consider criminal history have the potential, some say, to leave black men out of new developments due to the epidemic rate of imprisonment of black males in the United States.

A study by a Washington D.C. research and advocacy group, the Sentencing Project, reported that 2,020 black men were imprisoned in Illinois, compared to 223 white men in 2005.

Private developers used community input to come up with their respective residency criteria. Preckwinkle and her constituents were involved in this process.

“We deliberately instituted very high standards for all residents in our new developments because we didn’t want new housing to be perceived in the same way that the old was,” Preckwinkle said.

Problems with the old, she said, included, “That they were places that were a refuge for people who had substance-abuse problems, weren’t working, criminal background and all the rest of it.”

The alderman added that what she called the high standard residency requirements were also a way to attract affordable housing and market-rate families who might have safety concerns due to the stigma public housing residents carry with them.

Lucas said that these public housing residents – he referred to them as “the best of the best” – will ultimately have to face issues of displacement because, in his opinion, the Plan for Transformation is an attempt to gentrify the community and prepare it for upscale redevelopment.

Lucas is convinced that the success of public housing residents lies with their ability to move up the socio-economic latter and to hold jobs that will enable them to pay market rate housing costs.

“At some point the goal is economic self-sufficiency and getting people to the point where they can pay their own bills,” Lucas said.

Neighborhoods across Chicago have struggled with gentrification.

The communities that have been seemingly successful in preventing displacement are those that have established themselves as unique ethnic neighborhoods—such as the Puerto Rican community in the West Town/Humboldt Park area.

This community has used landmarks, such as the pair of Puerto Rican steel flags that stand over Division Street as well creating and supporting Puerto Rican-owned businesses to define their neighborhood.

According to Lucas, the preservation of Bronzeville as an African-American cultural and historical district will provide this community with the stronghold it needs to secure its place during this period of transformation.

“We have the premiere tourism destination in the entire country on the Great Migration experience,” said Lucas, who leads tour groups through Bronzeville. He added that 46 percent of the Great Migration landmark buildings are in Bronzeville.

There is no question Bronzeville is changing, to the drum of the CHA Plan for Transformation. Some in the community embrace these changes, such as Lee Peebles of Oakwood Shores, and others are skeptical, such as Lucas.

But neither is willing to give up their place in Bronzeville.

When Peebles moved out of Wells into Oakwood Shores, she said leaving her new apartment would mean the undertaker was coming to get her.

“I don’t ever want to move,” she said.

Marisol Rodriguez/Medill

Oakwood Shores replaced longstanding, and decrepit, CHA housing stock.

Marisol Rodriguez/Medill

This building on the 3800 block of Ellis Avenue is where Peebles has lived for the past couple of years.

Marisol Rodriguez/Medill

Left-over public housing, pre-Plan for Transformation, can still be found in the Bronzeville/Mid South area.

Community retail needs begin to be met

Housing redevelopment in Bronzeville/Mid South has been followed by initiatives for improved quality of life for the residents of this area, specifically in the realms of transportation, retail and amenities.

The newest, Reconnecting Neighborhoods, is a study administered by the Metropolitan Planning Council in partnership with the City of Chicago, the Regional Transportation Authority and HNTB, a multidisciplinary engineering and architecture firm specializing in such areas as urban design.

Reconnecting Neighborhoods has met three times since November. All three have been directed at attracting Bronzeville/Mid South community members to share the changes they want to see in their neighborhood.

This study is also being conducted in the Near North and Near West, areas also being redeveloped via the Plan for Transformation.

The feedback will be gathered and compiled into a report to the study’s partnering agencies this November, according to Brandon Johnson, project manager for Reconnecting Neighborhoods.

Increased retail options were a significant part of the conversation at all of the community meetings.

Belinda Sparks, a Bronzeville homeowner, thought it was wonderful that this community need was being addressed.

Bernita Johnson-Gabriel, director of the New Communities Program of Quad Communities Development Corporation, has been most involved with the retail portion of the initiative. NCP is a long-term initiative to foster community-led development.

The overwhelming majority of retail options in the Bronzeville area are limited to beauty supply stores, nail salons and dollar stores, according to Johnson-Gabriel. “We have enough of those [businesses],” she said. “We are not trying to get rid of them, but we need other things to help balance those businesses.”

A 2004 survey prepared by Metro Edge for QCDC reported that Bronzeville residents saw the biggest need for food stores in their neighborhood, followed by restaurants.

Over the past couple of years, a number of community-owned businesses have opened up with the support of QCDC. Included coffee shops, shoe stores and a restaurant.

While the mixed-income developments may appear to pose a challenge in catering to residents of different income brackets, Johnson-Gabriel noted that Bronzeville has historically been a mixed-income community, initially due to the restrictive covenants that forced all black Chicagoans, regardless of their income, to live on the South Side.

While there has been an influx of public housing residents in the Bronzeville area, a number of middle- to upper-income black families continue to live in the neighborhood, according to Johnson-Gabriel.

“There has to be retail that will cover every segment of our economic population,” Johnson-Gabriel said. “We’re looking for a medium retail mix that has good quality goods and services.”

With the help of the Mayor’s Office of Special Events, QCDC has most recently succeeded in bringing Bronzeville a farmers market, which is scheduled to run every Sunday. The market will be open from June to October.

“We saw that other communities had healthy and vibrant farmers markets and we were wondering why Bronzeville didn’t have one,” Johnson-Gabriel said.

In past years Bronzeville had a farmer’s market in the parking lot of Dunbar High School; it eventually dwindled to one farmer, who occasionally showed up.

QCDC is working on creating a commercial/retail center on South Cottage Grove Avenue, between 44th and 47th streets.

Johnson-Gabriel said that residents need to have a central place they can shop for a variety of goods instead of having to travel to different places, depending on what they need.

“What we have to do is create clusters of businesses,” Johnson-Gabriel said. “We have to create critical mass.”

http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=84621

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On Wednesday, February 13, 2008 at 4:30 PM, the Bronzeville Community Development Partnership (BCDP) hosted a legislative reception and dinner celebration in the lower level lounge of Sebastian's Hideout in downtown Springfield Illinois. The legislative orientation reception was convened by the BCDP to educate African American legislators in the Illinois General Assembly on the importance of supporting African American heritage tourism development in Illinois. Bill Williams VP at the Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau and board member of the BMC&TC (Right in photo) makes a point during the lively and entertaining orientation session. Other legislative and civic engagement leadership participating in the session included Rep. Ester Golar 3rd Dist., Sharon Morgan, Gina V Driskell, Deborah Cuzan, State Senator Mattie Hunter 3rd Dist, State Senator Emil Jones Jr.14th Dist, Anne Walker, Cheryl Colbert and Paula Robinson.

The Illinois Governor's Conference on Tourism & Legislative orientation session -
February 13 to 15, 2008 Springfield, IL

By:
Gina V Driskell
marychances@yahoo.com

I had the opportunity to attend the Governor's Conference on Tourism as part of the Bronzeville Visitor Information Center and Black Metropolis National Heritage Area delegation. The tourism conference, for the seven visitor destination regions in Illinois included sessions on marketing, trends, partnering, international recognition and Internet communication and presence. The sessions designed to stimulate and make aware the different avenues, if not traveled, should be looked into for the regional bureaus to up the ante on visitors to their region. And of course the greening of the travel experience on all levels was the hot topic.

The Bronzeville delegation's reason for attending the conference was to bring awareness to the other regions and to make known the African American experience in Illinois needs to be recognized, that areas need to be preserved and funding for preservation and education is sorely needed. Not just in the Chicago region but through out Illinois, more recognition is needed to help remind visitors of the African American experience. There is not enough being done to document and preserve the movement and settlement of the African American throughout Illinois.

The Bronzeville delegation hosted a dinner and orientation session on the first evening of the conference to make state legislators aware these funds are urgently needed for the preservation, restoration, development and education of specific areas in Bronzeville and the Black Metropolis National Heritage Area that are an integral part of the African American experience not just in Chicago but throughout all of Illinois.

Illinois does not want to lose its link to the rest of the nation in documenting the Great Migration and experience of the African American in the United States. Chicago has a vast history to preserve to keep the experience of the African American migration alive. The Bronzeville Visitor Information Center presence was a strong reminder that the African American experience though ongoing, needs legislative help in preservation and education and more should be done for the African American tour experience in Chicago as well as Illinois. Funding for the African American tour experience is necessary and vital.

The conference was an excellent opportunity to further the message of the historic Bronzeville experience, the Black Metropolis Heritage National Area and the coming Great Migration Centennial to the legislators and other attendees. We came away with information to help us remain up to date and on track with the tourism plan as it relates to the other Illinois destination regions and the African American experience. As well, we were there to continue to remind those the African American experience in Illinois and of course Bronzeville, still exists and needs to be preserved and funded.

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Hotel planned near McCormick Place
Developer to buy site west of new building

By Kathy Bergen | Tribune staff reporter
January 8, 2008

Skokie-based Alter Group on Monday confirmed it has an agreement to pay $70 million for a 3.7-acre site directly across from McCormick Place's new West Building, where it would like to build a convention hotel of at least 1,000 rooms, along with some retail and residential units.

The plans, first reported by Crain's Chicago Business, could include a casino, though "it's not very high on our list of expected uses here," said Richard Gatto, executive vice president of the commercial real estate development firm.

The state has yet to decide whether it would authorize a downtown casino as part of a plan to rescue public transit. If it did so there likely would be heated competition for the new license.

The Alter Group plan targets a parcel directly across Cermak Road, between Prairie and Calumet Avenues.

It is directly east of a parcel being pursued for potential hotel development by the Metropolitian Pier and Exposition Authority, which owns and operates McCormick Place and Navy Pier. The authority, also known as McPier, will continue its eminent domain proceedings to acquire a Cermak Road parcel between Indiana and Prairie Avenues, Chief Executive Juan Ochoa said Monday.

"Over the last two years we have seen several plans for hotels by this owner," Ochoa said, noting that those plans have not translated into a project yet. "So we will continue the process unless we see something that is very concrete."

McPier also is planning a 600-room expansion of the 800-room Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, the existing convention hotel at the convention center.

Maine-based developers Pam Gleichman and Karl Norberg own the parcel to be sold to the Alter Group. They also own part of the parcel that McPier is pursuing for its plans. They could not be reached Monday.

The speed with which McPier proceeds with its site acquisition will depend on whether Illinois lawmakers approve its request for a debt restructuring, Ochoa said.

"If it is passed we can do it quickly," he said. "Otherwise, we'll have to be very fiscally conscious of what it would mean for the authority."

Meanwhile, the Alter Group "is in very early stages of due diligence" on its land purchase, Gatto said, adding that he would like to see the deal close at some point in 2008. It would take another 18 months to two years to build the hotel, he said.

kbergen@tribune.com

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TIME Magazine
Business in Bronzeville
Monday, April 18, 1938

Although Chicago has 100,000 fewer Negroes than New York, it is the centre of U. S. Negro business; last census figures showed Chicago's Negro establishments had annual net sales of $4,826,897, New York's were only $3,322,274. Chicago's Negroes all hail from the South, work generally as laborers in packing plants and steel mills, have a community feeling; New York's are less homogenous, work mostly in hotels and apartments. Great majority of Chicago's Negroes live in a south side section known as Bronzeville. Here the principal shopping districts are on 43rd, 47th, sist and syth Streets. Virtually all of this property belongs to whites, most of them Jews, and they make it tough for Negroes to go into business in these prize areas. Leases generally have clauses forbidding Negro tenants; and if a Negro manages to wangle a lease anyway, he is apt to find his rent tripled when the lease comes up for renewal.

When the Jones Brothers started the world's only Negro-owned department store they had to buy the property to get onto 47th Street. When dapper little Frank Howell Jr. started Mae's Dress Shoppe, he was forced to pay six-and-a-half months' rent in advance. This smoldered in Negro Howell's breast and continued to as he prospered. After Marva Trotter, fiancée of Prizefighter Joe Louis, bought her trousseau from Frank Howell, four other Mae's Dress Shoppes were started by rivals eager to cash in on the publicity; but Frank Howell's Original Mae's Dress Shoppe is today the biggest and most fashionable in Bronzeville.

Now something of a tycoon, Frank Howell decided to organize other Bronzeville bigwigs, hold a two-day Exposition of Negro Business for the double purpose of spurring Negro business and arranging a program to fight "fleecing" by whites. So last week to the shabby 8th Regiment Armory trooped no less than 110,000 Negroes to watch fashion shows, finger fancy caskets, see demonstrations of pressing the kink out of Negro hair, listen to church choirs and hot bands, munch free handouts or purchase raffle tickets from the 75 booths. No Negro gathering is complete without Joe Louis and he was on hand opening day to cut a ribbon across the door. As usual he was surrounded with admiring pickaninnies who well know his bodyguard's penchant of giving dollar bills to moppets so they will leave Joe alone.

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Bronzeville International Summit
&
Summer 2007 Heritage Tourism Review

Bronzeville Summit –
A Showcase of Development and Information about Bronzeville Today

Chicago, September 14, 2007 - Greeted by a standing ovation, Congressman Bobby L. Rush was the morning keynote speaker at the all day Bronzeville International Summit, convened by the Bronzeville Community Development Partnership on September 14, 2007 in the newly opened west building of the McCormick Place Convention Center.

Approximately 100 dedicated urban preservationists, community developers, city planners, students and other heritage tourism advocates blocked out their busy schedules to hear Congressman Rush, Democrat 1st District, in his opening address commit the power of his congressional seniority toward the creation of federal legislation in support of designating the Black Metropolis Historic District as a National Heritage Area.

The Bronzeville Community Development Partnership hosted the 2007 Summit, Bronzeville International. The summit showcased current projects in the Bronzeville Community Development Planning Studio and launched its formal bid to establish a Black Metropolis National Heritage Area. The event had the authentic distinction of being the first community/public event in the newly opened McCormick Place West building and celebrated the installation of the Bronzeville Portal on 23rd & Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, marking the civic gate of the world’s largest convention center.

Bronzeville is Chicago’s Black Metropolis, a historic “city-within-a-city” destination where more than a half million southern migrant families in search of a northern “promised land” adapted, innovated and thrived. They inhabited a narrow boundary know as the “Black Belt” which stretched along Chicago’s south lakefront. Their unique experience is imprinted in the music, literature and civil rights struggles of this amazing era. Some of the country’s great cultural and entrepreneurial business contributions were born here and have had a great impact on the world.

Over the last 15 years, the descendants of this rich history have worked with the state of Illinois, the city of Chicago and partners like the National Trust for Historic Preservation to preserve Bronzeville’s environment, the stories of its people and places and most importantly, its vision of promise for new opportunities and a better life.

The National Park Service has recognized the Great Migration as a nationally significant American Story and invited the neighborhoods that constitute Chicago’s legendary Black Metropolis to broaden their collaborative efforts towards securing a National Heritage Area (NHA) designation. There are currently 37 NHAs that have sustained their economic revitalization strategies through these congressional designations and the implementation of a comprehensive management plan. NHAs are eligible to attract $1 million a year in matching federal funds over a 10-15 year period.

Heritage Partners have pledged their long term support through community-based investment, in-kind services, resources and cash contributions or grants. Multi-year investment partners of $100,000 or more including East Lake Management and Development Corporation and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) have signed Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs).

“Illinois Institute of Technology is pleased to be a collaborative partner in the continued revitalization of the Bronzeville community and the proposed Black Metropolis National Heritage Area,” said John L. Anderson, president of IIT. “We invite others to be a part of this bold, historic and innovative initiative.”

Speakers at the Bronzeville International Summit event included:

· Congressman Bobby Rush

· Jan Kostner, Director of Illinois Bureau of Tourism

· John Cosgrove, President, Alliance of National Heritage Areas

· Paula Robinson, Managing Partner, Bronzeville Community Development Partnership

· Lilia Rach , Associate Dean and HVS International Chair at the Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management at New York University.

· Lee Bey, Executive Director, Chicago Central Area Committee

Community, business, political leaders and students attending the 2007 Summit Bronzeville International gained insight through these and other speakers, historical films, an Internet cafe, workshops and exhibits on current Bronzeville projects.

“We are beginning the process of establishing the Black Metropolis National Heritage Area in Bronzeville,” said Paula Robinson. “Our hope is that the summit ignited a spark and generated community enthusiasm for this inclusive, bottom-up grassroots effort.”

Sponsors of the 2007 Summit Bronzeville International included:

Illinois Institute of Technology

Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity

Metropolis Pier & Exposition Authority

Illinois Bureau of Tourism

Black Metropolis Convention & Tourism Council

Local Initiative Support Corporation

Quad Community Development Corporation

Partnership for New Communities

University of Chicago

National City Bank

Shorebank Corporatio