a few thoughts for the new year

The new year inspired me to revisit a neighborhood blog that I've missed recently. I know that life can get in the way of writing and other pursuits. I've missed Jeff's thoughtful posts on his Main Street Beverly blog.

The auto parts store mentioned in his most recent blog post opened a while back. Barraco's new banquet and catering location a few blocks west is under construction. We've seen a few changes on 95th St., but not a lot that's worth noting.

A recent conversation with a friend on related issues inspired me to revisit Jane Jacobs' The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Though it was originally published in the 1960s, many of the observations she made about urban life and urban planning are as relevant today as they were 50+ years ago.

The long-term trend of car-centric planning, widening streets and highways and segregating residential and retail has been disastrous for the vitality of many neighborhood business districts.  Loss of old commercial buildings, as we've seen on 95th St. recently, creates additional barriers to the creation of new small businesses. The following passage from Jane Jacobs' book is as true now as it was in the 1960s.

"If a city area has only new buildings, the enterprises that can exist there are automatically limited to those that can support the high costs of new construction. These high costs of occupying new buildings may be levied in the form of rent, or they may be levied in the form of an owner’s interest and amortization payments on the capital costs of the construction. However the costs are paid off, they have to be paid off. And for this reason, enterprises that support the cost of new construction must be capable of paying a relatively high overhead.

Chain stores, chain restaurants and banks go into new construction. But neighborhood bars, foreign restaurants and pawn go into older buildings. Supermarkets and shoe stores often go into new buildings; good bookstores and antique dealers seldom do. Well-subsidized opera and art museums often go into new buildings. But the unformalized feeders of the arts – studios, galleries, stores for musical instruments and art supplies, backrooms where the low earning power of a seat and a table can absorb uneconomic discussions – these go into old buildings. Perhaps more significant, hundreds of ordinary enterprises, necessary to the safety and public life of streets and neighborhoods, and appreciate for the convenience and personal quality, can make out successfully in old buildings, but are inexorably slain by the high overhead of new construction."

The old pedestrian-centric practice of integrating small retail spaces into residential blocks makes a neighborhood more vibrant. Having small businesses adjacent to homes can make a block much more lively than nearby residential areas that are isolated from small businesses.

The Pullman Cafe in Pullman, Ellie's Cafe in Morgan Park, Kusanya Cafe in Englewood and Ain't She Sweet and Sip and Savor in Bronzeville are good examples of these kinds of spaces.

Conversations about expanding the Divvy Bikes service area further south inspire questions about where we might be able to put stations in between our major business streets and Metra stations in order to effectively service each new neighborhood. Neighborhood small businesses are natural destination for bike share, as well as being more suitable locations than in front of single family homes.

Independent neighborhood businesses can add a special vitality that isn't usually created by chain businesses. Well maintained vintage buildings add to the character of a neighborhood in ways that new construction rarely does. Let's not waste the resources we've got.

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For more info on the businesses above, click here:
Pullman Cafe
Ellie's Cafe
Kusanya Cafe
Ain't She Sweet
Sip and Savor

lack of transparency on 95th Street

I was concerned and disturbed to learn about the nature of a proposed zoning change and redevelopment proposal for the parcel immediately west of 95th St. Metra station. Another 19th ward resident wrote an insightful piece about why such a proposal makes no sense for a transit-adjacent parcel, where we should be prioritizing pedestrian-oriented usage.

1800 W 95th St.

The lack of public notice for this proposal is equally disturbing. Sticking a sign in a window at a location that few people walk past is NOT sufficient public notice. There's nothing at that location now to give people a reason to walk there and see that notice.

This is a significant change for a location that has the potential to attract a good volume of business from Metra riders - if it's the right business. A well-publicized venue for public input should be mandatory for such a major change. Why haven't the ward office and community organizations publicized this so that 19th ward residents and Metra passengers could have a voice in the decision? Hiding this until it's only one approval short of having a green light smells worse than last week's garbage.

95th St. is already choked with traffic for much of an average day. There are many existing auto parts stores within a few miles of this proposed location, including Auto Zone stores at 89th andAshland and 95th and Richmond and O'Reilly at Western and 92nd Place (less than 1 mile away). As much as I want to see more businesses on 95th St., this one is NOT a winner for the community as a whole.

Comments on this topic on EveryBlock have certainly been relevant:

* Yes, let's tear down a beautiful old building and put up an ugly box that will sit there empty after the store goes out of business like the auto parts store at 115th and Pulaski. How about using our brains and encourage a business that would cater to train "traffic". Put the box in the huge parking lot at the former location of Borders. Or do what some communities do...require that the new business conform to the architecture of the existing building and find businesses to create a boutique mall in the borders building. Jeez, is it that hard?

* When is the public hearing for this zoning change? There wasn't any proper meeting for those of us who will be affected.

* I just called the zoning department - looks like they approved this zone change already. I hope there will be some sort of opportunity for the community to review the design and voice opinions. Does anyone know what the next step for this proposal will be? Have they already purchased the existing building?

* Because of their design, most Borders are being repurposed into medical practices. Not in Beverly. The old library was supposed to become a Wishbone restaurant, more pizza place opened but not Wishbone? Now an Autozone to compete with O'reilly a few blocks away. We seem to have great people in place for urban planning and development! What about all the money spent in updating 95th street? Was it just to give contracts to some friends or was it actually to improve the business area? If so, Autozone doesn't need beautiful landscaping, never mind the traffic issues. somebody is not thinking very far here, while using our tax money. How about the mechanic shop down the street on 95th, are they trying to put them out of business? People walk to go to Metra, how about shops that cater to these people? When I get off the train, I'm not usually trying to bring home a couple of new tires and a new battery for my car in my purse. I love small squares and park, Beverly has those, in places that nobody wants to go to, and nothing around it. Anyone fancy reading a good book by busy 95th street, on the other side of the library parking lot? While I applaud green spaces, we can do better than that. More tax payer money spent in vain. How about the pedestrian crossing by 99th street Metra? On the wrong side of the street?!!!

Excuse my ranting, but I could go on as well as many of you. The problem is that you can't leave urban development to developers, they are just going to build stuff, make a buck and move on. ... If there is a petition going around against Autozone, count me in, I'll sign it.

* All good points. Why is everything decided in stealth mode? We need to remind our representatives that the represent us. They do not rule us.

Now we have a detailed EveryBlock post with research. Click here. And this is what it takes to appeal a zoning change.

Why didn't Alderman O'Shea give a reasonable opportunity for public input? Will there be curb cuts added to make 95th St. an even worse place for pedestrians? We don't want Beverly to look or feel like Evergreen Park. This kind of inappropriate change gives us a hard shove in that direction and makes Beverly less attractive as a place to live.