VOCAL Neighbors

Who We Are.

Welcome to the Voters & Owners Coalition Against Landmarking (VOCAL) web page.

VOCAL is an organization that, as the name suggests, has members who are voters and homeowners, living in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of the City of Chicago.

Why did we organize?

In August, 2004, a long-term Lincoln Park resident heard an off-the-cuff comment from a Board member of a neighborhood association bragging that "it was a done deal" with Alderman Vi Daley to designate the majority of the RANCH neighborhood (city area bounded by the streets of Racine, Armitage and North, and the Chicago River), as well as parts of the Sheffield district, governed by the Sheffield Neighborhood Association, as a Landmark District.

Landmark districting has a monumental impact on the ability to use one's property, and places multiple layers of bureaucratic nonsense on homeowners looking to improve their properties. It takes away your autonomy over your property, and transfers it to the whims of the local alderman, neighborhood association, and unelected Landmarks Commission.

How could this happen, we asked?

And, more importantly, why had we, as the homeowners directly affected by such provisions, never heard of this?

We started to gather information, and found out that several closed-door sessions had already been held with the neighborhood associations, a few pro-landmarking individuals, and alderman Daley and alderman Matlak. A few of our founders learned that there was supposed to be an open meeting that would be designed to promote landmarking designation for the district, with presentations from Alderman Daley, the City of Chicago, and historic preservation groups supporting landmarking. The idea was that they would hold this unpublicized but "open" meeting to create the illusion of widespread support for the project.

Some of our members tried to spread the word to their neighbors. We found out that the meeting was to take place at St. Theresa's Church in September, 2004.

When we showed up, we were appalled at what we heard presented.

-Half-truths about property taxes that would supposedly go down.
-False promises about property values that would go up.
-Assurances that there would be no bureaucratic hurdles with landmark designation.
-Obfuscation about the actual procedural process that would be used to decide whether landmarking was appropriate or not.

Even more disturbing was that ordinary folks -- our friends and neighbors, not political people, not builders or developers, not brokers, who showed up at the meeting genuinely confused as to what landmarking was about, who wanted it, why it was good for them, and wanted to know what landmarking meant for their homes (in many cases, people's primary asset) -- were addressed rudely. They were shouted down. They were given vague responses that failed to answer their questions. They were told that their voices would be "heard" without saying how. They were treated to a litany of complaints about "neighborhood character" and aesthetics, but nothing concrete about why landmarking over 20 city blocks was the answer.

We tried to get more information individually. The problem is that when we started comparing notes, neighbor to neighbor, we found that we were getting conflicting information, from the Alderman's office on down. The promises of due process and voting made at a RANCH association dinner by the aldermen were contradicted by the City's own municipal code, which said that a majority of homeowners could vote against the idea, yet still have landmarking imposed upon them if the Alderman and the Landmarks Commission wanted it enough. The Alderman's staff would say one day that a street was under consideration, and then tell someone else that they did not have to worry about landmarking because that same street was off the map. We could not trust those who seemed to want to lull people into complacency. We could not trust our neighborhood associations to look out for us, as powerful Board members had been infected with landmarking fever.

All the usual checks and balances were gone.

So, we felt we had to do something different. We had to find someone who would explain what was really going on, who would take the side of the average voter and homeowner living in the neighborhood who just wanted to make sure that things were being done right. Someone who would be able to get vocal and communicate what the people really thought.

We realized -- that someone would have to be us.

So who are we?

We are the Voters and Owners Coalition Against Landmarking.

VOCAL is made up of an organizing board, and many homeowner-volunteers. We are trying to serve as a clearinghouse for information about Landmarking, and to assist people wanting to get straight facts. We also want to use our organization to communicate to Alderman Daley and Alderman Matlak that we do not take their interference with our property, our homes, lightly. That this stunt will cost them votes at the ballot box.

There are undoubtedly issues that arise in the neighborhood. Density, parking, taxes and the character of the streets are important to all of us. Perhaps the aldermen tire of hearing complaints about these things, and want to use the Landmarking process as an easy way out, shift the blame to some other faceless bureaucrat.

But these issues are not easy ones; they are part of the normal give-and-take that comes with City living. Some issues can be addressed through better guidance and enforcement of zoning regulations. Preservation of individual buildings can still be accomplished without landmarking the entire district. Complaints can be filtered through neighborhood associations. Private enforcement actions are permitted under the Municipal Code already for certain zoning violations left unaddressed by the City, and could be used more effectively by homeowners. Equity in property taxes needs to be addressed in the Illinois legislature as well as with the City.

VOCAL members support the idea of better enforcing zoning restrictions, and cracking down on variances to politically-connected developers. We are heavily invested in our neighborhood, and want to continue to see it grow and flourish. We do not want long-term residents to feel as though they are being forced out by ludicrously high property tax assessments, but we also do not want to permanently chase out the tax base of single-family residents who pay property taxes exceeding $30,000 a year per lot.

VOCAL members have thought a great deal about these issues, and what we do know is this: district-wide landmarking is not the answer.

Our next meeting will be at St. Theresa's Church at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, October 25, 2004. Information you may not yet have heard about how district-wide landmarking will harm your property will be distributed. We encourage you to come by. We hope that you join us, and become VOCAL. We look forward to meeting you.

Warmest regards,

Dee
Local homeowner, registered voter.

posted by The Grants @ 9:29 AM