Letters to the Editor

Chicago’s dire financial position will keep getting worse without drastic action. Making it easier to build homes and expand the city’s tax base is critical to addressing this budget gap. As housing costs continue rising, Chicago must make more homes. Failing to build new homes steals opportunities from families and pushes higher costs of living onto current and future Chicagoans.

Patricia Sharkey and Edgewater Residents for Responsible Development repeatedly invoke a 2006 downzoning referendum as proof that Broadway’s rezoning violates “community-driven planning.” They present that vote as a democratic ideal. It wasn’t.

In the editorial “Scrap this catastrophic transit tax grab, House Democrats, and be more realistic in the spring” from Oct. 30, the Tribune Editorial Board writes that “major events from our famed sports teams and at our superb concert venues are core to Chicago’s identity.”

I wish I could say I was surprised by the opposition to the proposed Broadway upzoning, but after 15 years of living in Edgewater, this feels like another instance in which my neighbors, who are otherwise well meaning, will end up putting parking over people and their own property values over everything else.

Rezoning Broadway will not be as dramatic as opponents such as Patricia Sharkey think it to be (“Edgewater residents offer a win-win compromise for Broadway,” Sept. 2), and it certainly won’t change Broadway overnight.

It is not surprising that we have seen recent opinion pieces opposing new housing: Patricia Sharkey’s op-ed on Broadway and Corinne Svoboda’s attack on the Old Town Canvas project (“YIMBY support for Old Town project sets dangerous precedent,” Sept. 4). With Old Town moving forward, Broadway’s upzoning headed to a vote, the elimination of parking minimums near transit and the potential approval of accessory dwelling unit legislation, Chicago is reaching a tipping point. The pro-housing YIMBY movement has arrived.

The opposition to sensible housing policy along Broadway reveals an uncomfortable truth about how some view community membership. Opponents tout their credentials as longtime residents and neighborhood saviors. But I must ask: Does living here longer grant them veto power over decisions affecting thousands of current and future residents?

Steve Weinshel’s argument against reducing parking requirements along transit corridors misses the mark and clings to a 20th century urban planning mindset (“Cutting parking requirements while upzoning Broadway will create a crisis,” July 20). It is not utopian to imagine a Chicago where most people do not own cars. Many of us already live that reality. My spouse and I moved to Edgewater because we can live here without a car. We walk, bike and take transit because that is what a city should offer: the freedom to get around without being forced into car ownership.

If you drive along Broadway between Montrose and Devon avenues, you’ll see the types of strip malls, drive-thrus and big-box stores that are more reminiscent of the suburbs than a city.