Nothing to See. . . Move Along

I went to the 2nd round of charretes for the Edgewater Red Line Corridor Revitalization Charrettes. I missed the first round since I did not know about it. The results of these charrettes should be online at the Edgewater Development Corp. website so I will not go into them in detail.

There was not much of a turnout for this session, I counted approx. 26 people, including the staff, presenters and facilitators, out of the neighborhood population of 146,200+. So I don't know how representative or conclusive the findings and results of these sessions will be.

My opinion/rants and raves/short notes:

The presenters and UIC bodies did an excellent job of setting up and running the sessions.

Most of those who went appear to be residents more concerned with their property values or those who wish to make the area be like Lakeview. Where are the representatives from the small businesses in the area? The immigrant communities? The thousands of renters? No one to speak for the student body of Loyola University?

For all the talk about wanting to keep the "diversity" in the community, there seems to be a lack of representation or voices for these so-called diverse population. I wonder if any of participants patronize any of the local 'diverse' businesses in their neighborhood, except for the rare foray into ethnic dining. There are at least 6 African restaurants in the area. I see very few adventurous diners in them whenever we go there. Maybe in a few years these restaurants will be gone and replaced with ones serving some kind of overpriced fusion-type menu or something.

I kept hearing Trader Joe's and Whole Foods being bandied around as preferred retail stores to enter the area. Nothing wrong with that I guess. The participants all agree they want quality businesses to move in the area, regardless of size. One fellow, one of only two minorities in the room, mentioned something about who determines the quality of these stores? Seems to him that a lot of the small businesses are set up by immigrant entrepreneurs or those with limited capital. I guess those businesses which cater to these immigrants and the working class will be gone someday. Progress.

One of my concern is that if and when the area does develop and becomes upscale, where will the working class families go? Where will they go to do their laundry or eat cheaply?

Maybe in Rogers Park or Uptown. . .