M. Nack’s Blog

Here’s a “Letter to the Editor” that appeared in Crain’s today. I found it thoughtful and interesting. The author is president of the Grant Park Conservancy.

“All Things With Exuberance!”

mary!

Letter to the editor: Development keeps city dynamic
April 16, 2007

Aldermanic elections and run-offs create anti-development rhetoric.

One would think that real estate development in a once run-down, gritty, rust-belt Midwestern city is bad. With little urban-planning research, the anti-development bandwagon seems one to join.

We see the many virtues of developing a city still losing population to suburbs and warmer climates — competition for residents and economic investment is fierce. Chicago must remain competitive.

Being anti-development appears virtuous: Not enough parking, congestion, gentrification and density are the buzzwords. Digging deeper, what is really happening? Residents with a piece of the pie don’t want others to impinge. This is hypocritical and not in the interests of us all. Chicago must grow. It was gutted by mass exodus and lack of egress into the city from the 1950s to the 1980s. We lost time and hundreds of thousands of people and economic development.

While our counterparts like St. Louis and Detroit struggle to stay relevant in this global marketplace, Chicago marches dynamically forward. Who would have dreamed it? We are competing with warm-weather, expanding cities like Orlando, Las Vegas and Miami.

Don’t reflexively hate development. Make certain it is designed well and that architects and developers create landmarks of tomorrow in a city world famous for architecture and revivals. With anti-development rhetoric, design is rarely mentioned. The cause should be world-class design with green architecture.

Bob O’Neill, president, Grant Park Conservancy, Chicago

Chicago is a funny town! Having once upon a time eschewed having anything as disruptive as The Olympics come to our sunny, albeit windy, shores, we are now all excited that the USOC chose us over L.A. It’s a matter of civic pride that the world love us as much as we ourselves love our town. We’re like insecure children asking Mommy and Daddy, “Am I really as good as people say?” Or that infamous scene when Sally Field accepted her Oscar, “You like me! You really like me!” It’s as if we share this “collective unconscious” that maybe we’re NOT quite good enough - expressed in the phrase “The Second City”. We, like Avis, “try harder.” And, actually, we’re ”The Third City” now - behind not only NYC but LA too. (Gasp!) 

It always seems to come as a surprise to native Chicagoans that tourists come here and actually LIKE our city. We seem to feel as if we ourselves have somehow been given a personal compliment. “You like Chicago?! OH! Thank you very much!” We carry this “Like me - like my city”  chip on our shoulders. But Chicago IS the City of Big Shoulders. Sure, we may be a little insecure about our likeability. You have to ask yourself how, with a climate such as ours, anyone can stand to live here. And, of course, that’s another point of civic pride - the fact that we’re “tough enough” to withstand such a whimsical and ridiculous climate. Anyways, how macho is it to really care whether we’re liked or not. We’re way too tough to make an assertion such as Sally Field’s. Whaddya take us for anyways? Sissies?

“All Things With Exuberance!”

mary!