NCPOA's area committee met on Labor Day with the neighbors who will be most affected by the Near North project. After reviewing changes made by the developers in the past few days, we agreed that the project is now acceptable. We no longer oppose its approval by City Council.
Tom Fitzsimmons will present our position at Council's public hearing on Near North today. We plan to schedule our own meeting next week to discuss the implications of the project and the continuing threats to North Central and other near-downtown neighborhoods.
I read about this in the paper today and I am very surprised by this turnaround. My understanding is that the "scaled back" version now has no units available for families (no two bedroom units). That is not compatible with any of the conversations I have heard on this topic from families near this location.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I did not see any discussion of the retail space provided for in the plans. My understanding is that the only retail so far proposed is a liquor store on the first floor. I do not see how this jives with Avalon's mission or creating postive change in our community on the near north side. We've had a hard time up here for a long time and I do not see how this helps us at all.
Help me understand how this is a good idea because I still don't get it and remain vehemently opposed to this project.
I don't think any of us would say it's a good idea, Susan--just that it's not as bad as it used to be. About the two-bedrooms, we really wanted them, but Avalon really didn't. We agreed give them up in exchange for the changes that, as Peter Pollack says, "compacted" the building--taking it down a floor and (finally!) making the setbacks big enough for trees to grow front and rear.
ReplyDeleteIt's still a very strange project--"affordable" housing at double or triple the cost of the housing it replaces. But Avalon was just too powerful politically to fight. If you watched the public hearings, you saw how many good people are convinced that anything that group does is a good thing. For better or worse, we'll now have a chance to see if they're right.
ps we're no fans of the liquor store, either--but at least we've made sure that there won't be two of them side by side. Under the terms of the agreement, the new store will only be built if and when the old store is torn down.
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