Reader:
Ben Joravsky, as usual, brings an interesting perspective to his discussion of the ongoing debate over the future use of Wilson Yard [The Works, April 29]. But there is more to say about this deal than was revealed in the article.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
To begin with a small point. Wilson Yard is indeed a very eccentric site: wedge-shaped, bounded on one side by the CTA Red Line, confined on two other sides by buildings. For any commercial developer, this parcel would be a real headache in terms of automobile access and parking. To suggest that the CTA’s selling price for Wilson Yard is too low based on more or less random comparisons with other sites in the vicinity is highly speculative. And by failing to examine the zoning constraints on the parcels under discussion, Joravsky and his informants further tug their site-comparison exercise into the realm of fantasy.
Finally, some of Joravsky’s informants suggest that the Wilson Yard project has legs due to a behind-the-scenes deal between Mayor Daley and a former foe, 46th Ward alderman Helen Shiller. Helen Shiller has been on the City Council for nearly two decades, so her bona fides as a card-carrying revolutionary probably are compromised. But we should also consider this irony: in countless local elections in the last 40 years, political insurgents have been branded as impractical bomb tossers. And the reason to stick with your rock-steady Democratic Party mediocrity is because he/she can get things done. Here’s the headline I wish the Reader had run with Ben Joravsky’s story: “Insider Deal Produces Much-Needed Affordable Housing in Desirable Neighborhood Setting.” Now that represents a new chapter in the unfolding saga of Chicago politics.
