Verella’s Round-Up: Chicago COVID-19 Eviction Ordinance

Verella Osborne, President, Legal Document Management, Inc.

Fall, 2020

Well, I’ve thought long and hard to find any good news for Illinois housing providers and the situation just gets bleaker. Most of you have been advised, ad nauseum, of the Illinois moratorium on filing and enforcing residential evictions now extended through the end of the year, with additional extensions likely.

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Around Rogers Park: RPBG Donates to Dead on Damen after Vandals Destroy Display

Over the past decade, Dead on Damen has become a Rogers Park Halloween tradition, growing in size and popularity with each passing year. Its annual displays of Halloween ghouls and ghosts on the east side of the 7500-block of North Damen have delighted locals and visitors alike, and have become an integral part of the Halloween season in the neighborhood.

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Around Rogers Park: Twisted Tapas Closes

Rogers Park has never been place where higher-end restaurants can easily take root and prosper. The pandemic has clearly made it even harder for the few that have tried. For Twisted Tapas, the pandemic proved to be one challenge too many. The Spanish eatery is the latest example of an upscale restaurant that tried, but ultimately failed, to find success in the neighborhood.

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Around Rogers Park: Howard Street – Rising Crime and Community Impact

Several RPBG members with properties on or near Howard Street have noticed a disturbing trend in the general area around the Red Line Station since the beginning of the year – a noticeable increase in loitering, drug dealing and general criminal behavior. This has made life harder for property owners who own buildings in the area. These property owners are hearing from residential and commercial tenants alike who are concerned about safety and the impact this activity has had on their businesses and their concerns about their own personal safety. In at least some cases, tenants are choosing to leave the area due to these concerns.

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RPBG Charitable Giving – 2020

This year has been challenging in ways that most of us could never have imagined. All the more reason for RPBG to be true to its mission and support our community that has rarely been in greater need of our good works.

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Response to George Floyd Tragedy

Rogers Park Builders Group is a diverse group of property owners and business people who are active in the Rogers Park community – itself, Chicago’s most ethnically and racially diverse neighborhood.

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Accessory Dwelling Units

Men line up outside the Chicago Urban League at 3032 South Wabash Ave.
in Bronzeville in 1922 Read more here

Fashion is a funny thing. Today’s must-have item can quickly turn into tomorrow’s pariah, and then back again when a new generation rediscovers an old look.

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Dysfunction on the Far Left

Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, 35th Ward Alderman

If you were asked to guess which group of local politicians were the strongest supporters of affordable housing, you would probably say the Aldermen and women who identify as Progressives. Maybe you would single out the six members of the Democratic Socialist Caucus since these individuals have been especially vocal in their calls for more affordable housing.

But, a quick review of the track record of some of these Aldermen yields a surprising result. The often dismissive and combative stance they have shown to housing developers has resulted in multiple missed opportunities and failed developments. This, despite the diligent efforts of many builders to forge relationships with these Aldermen and to work toward compromises that would result in much needed affordable units. The surprising truth is that there is a major disconnect between the rhetoric and the results of these politicians.

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The List

It is fair to say that property owners and developers feel increasingly under siege, both in Chicago and across Illinois, with the flood of legislation that has been proposed or passed at all levels of government in recent months.

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Owners and Advocates - Closer Than You Think

Same problem. Shared goals. A real solution.

By:

Stacie Young, Preservation Compact Director, Community Investment Corporation
Summer, 2020

My dad’s personal philosophy was based on the premise that people are basically good, and will try to do the right thing if they can. They want to be understood, not defined by stereotypes and misconceptions.

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