------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> 4 DVDs Free +s&p Join Now http://us.click.yahoo.com/pt6YBB/NXiEAA/mG3HAA/tOsolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: CPPH_Info-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ There are 2 messages in this issue. Topics in this digest: 1. TENT CITY From: Grant 2. WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE on TENT CITY From: Grant ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Message: 1 Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 07:09:37 -0700 (PDT) From: Grant Subject: TENT CITY If you need copies of the flyers e-mail Asa at the JCUA From: Asareel Kriener Hey everyone Attached is the flyer for the tent city coming up next Monday. See you next Monday, the 26th of August at 4pm at the Roosevelt Hotel, (Roosevelt and Wabash) for our journey to Millennium Park Take care and see you there Asa here come the text of the flyer for those who can't open the file. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DO WE NEED HOUSING OR A MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR PARK? Chicago is in the midst of a catastrophic housing crisis! 1. There is a citywide shortage of over 150,000 affordable rental units. 2. Nearly one in five Chicago residents pay more than 50 % of their income to housing and approximately 38 percent of Chicago-area renters pay more than 30 percent of their income for rent. And rent in the Chicago area is so high that a person making the federal minimum wage would have to work 110 hours a week to afford a two bedroom fair market rent apartment (estimated at $619 per month). 3. There are 52,000 eligible families on Chicago Housing Authority's waiting list. 4. There are 38,000 eligible families on Section 8's waiting list. 5. Under the Chicago Housing Authority's Plan for Transformation of Public Housing, over 18,000 units will be demolished, leaving over 6,000 families to find housing in the private market. 6. Chicago has an extremely tight private rental vacancy rate of less than 4%. Statistics never tell the whole story. Families are being forced out of their neighborhoods where they grew up and have lived their whole lives. Children are being torn from their schools as their parents have to move out of Chicago in search of affordable housing. The elderly are wrenched from their homes by soaring rents and property taxes. Other households have to choose between paying rent or buying food to eat. Some lose everything they have worked for and become homeless. As taxpayers, we have all been asked to help build Chicago. Yet when development comes to our neighborhoods, we must go. This is not right and this is not fair. HOW MILLENNIUM PARK IS STEALING NEEDED HOUSING DOLLARS. Millennium Park is Mayor Daley and Architect Frank Gehry's dream for the revitalization of Grant Park. Costs for the park are expected to exceed $370 million (Chicago Tribune 5/26/02). Due to numerous cost overruns, the City has dipped into Central Loop TIF funds to cover the tab: $35 million in May 2000, $280,000 in July 2001, and on Jan. 1, 2002, Daley used $3.1 million in TIF funds to cover a debt payment on Park construction bonds. TIF monies are supposed to be used to help redevelop "blighted" areas. More than 2,870 units of affordable housing could have been built with these funds, using an average City affordable housing subsidy of $128,880 per affordable unit created. Millennium Park symbolizes the direction of Chicago's development plans. Millennium Park will primarily serve the well-to-do downtown luxury apartment dwellers and condo owners who have forced out low-income residents. The Roosevelt Hotel stands as another example of our City's development plans. The Roosevelt Hotel was once a SRO that up until very recently provided affordable housing as low as $300 month to low-income people. Now the building is closed and being rehabbed. A sign outside the former SRO proclaims units starting at $890/month. Many other places that have provided housing for the very low income are at risk in the downtown area and in gentrifying neighborhoods across the city. WE HAVE AN AFFORDABLE HOUSING CRISIS AND THE MAYOR IS LOOKING AT THE LAKE! The Coalition for Fair Community Development is not opposed to parks. We do demand that the City take this housing crisis seriously and take steps to ensure that all the City's residents can benefit from development. We demand: * A Rent Stabilization Board to prevent rent gouging and excessive rent increases * Landlords who fail to maintain their properties should be legally prevented from raising rents * A mandatory set-aside program for all new and rehab construction to provide affordable housing for moderate, low and very low-income people. * Increased support for Public Housing. To join the campaign contact Coalition for Fair Community Development, 773-292-4980 x 224 or email fairdevelopment@hotmail.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? HotJobs - Search Thousands of New Jobs http://www.hotjobs.com ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Message: 2 Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 10:38:07 -0700 (PDT) From: Grant Subject: WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE on TENT CITY --- "Allan J. Lindrup" wrote: > Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 12:38:07 -0700 > From: "Allan J. Lindrup" > To: principles@tenants-rights.org > Subject: TENT CITY: WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE WHY to send out > on listservs. > > > PLEASE JOIN US IN THE FIGHT FOR MORE AFFORDABLE > HOUSING!!!! > > Who: The Coalition for Fair Community Development in > conjunction with > community groups and non-profit organizations around > Chicago... > > What: ...are launching a protest march followed by a > "tent city" to > demand that the City prioritize the creation and > retention of more > affordable housing... > > When: ...on Monday, August 26 (Next Monday!). The march > will begin at 4 > P.M., followed immediately by a rally and the > construction of a tent > city and cardboard shantytown at 6 P.M.... > > Where: The march route will begin at the former Roosevelt > Hotel, 1152 S. > Wabash at the Corner of Roosevelt (12th Street) and > Wabash Ave. From > there, the march will proceed West on Roosevelt, one > block, to State > Street, and then will turn North on State Street. A > couple of stops will > be made on State Street to highlight examples of > affordable housing > sites that are at risk of being lost (tentatively the > stops will be at > The New Ritz Hotel, 1008 S.State; and The Pacific Garden > Mission, 700 S. > State). The March will then turn East on Monroe Street > and will proceed > to Millennium Park, at the corner of Monroe and Michigan > Ave. The Rally > will be held at this corner in Millennium Park, while a > tent city and > shanty town is then constructed. The plan is for at least > 10 individuals > to camp overnight in the tent city, occupying the park > past closing time > and past the morning rush hour. The occupation will end > around 9 A.M., > on Tues. Aug. 27... > > Why: ...to make the statement that tents and shanties are > all low and > middle income Chicago taxpayers will be left with unless > City Government > addresses the affordable housing crisis. Nearly $400 > million, a large > share of which came from "blighted area" TIF funds, was > used to build > Millennium Park. These funds could have been used to > build nearly 3,000 > affordable housing units. Solutions to the City's > affordable housing > crisis could be found through legislating mandatory > affordable housing > set-asides on constructed multi-unit developments, > through inclusionary > zoning laws, through the creation of a rent stabilization > board, through > more support for public housing, and through penalties > for landlords who > fail to maintain their rental properties. > > FROM: A. ANNE HOLCOMB, CFCD Member > uusjajl@enteract (773) 643-8061 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? HotJobs - Search Thousands of New Jobs http://www.hotjobs.com ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Your use of Yahoo! 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