VOCAL Neighbors

From someone who has to deal with landmarking in Old Town...

I suggest you read this, which was posted to the comments section: what the landmark proponents won't tell you (emphasis mine):

I am an architect who lives in the Old Town Triangle Historic District, and I thought you’d be interested in hearing about how the historic district concept has evolved into a nightmare.

I have never been involved in anything political in my life, but the hypocrisy underlying this drive for landmarking everything is disgusting. The system is broken and dysfunctional. The only accurate comment that I have ever heard a public official make on this issue came from 42nd Ward Alderman Burt Natarus. In the 7/16/2003 issue of the Chicago Tribune, he was quoted as follows: “These preservationists –it’s a one way street with them. They believe that a building lasts forever and either you are with them or against them. And if you are against them, they equate it with evil.”

The extremist preservationists are nut cases, and disturbingly, they are organized, and they play hardball. One of the reason they have had success with their agenda is that they have made allies out of those who feel zoning controls have let us down. When people see a new building erected that they find ugly, their reaction is that there should be a law against it. Not everybody believes in freedom of architectural expression. What they yearn for is community based design review, and Chicago does not have an ordinance for this. Therefore, the Landmarks Ordinance has been abused to fill this void.

Architects would prefer to not have others meddling with their work, but I think we could mostly accept properly structured design review. Unfortunately, the strange dynamic that has arisen in historic districts is not properly structured. Here is how the process operates.

The “historic” review process is 100% political. The Landmarks Commission members are appointed by the mayor, and he can fire them at will. He has given them standing orders. They are to give the aldermen anything they want within their wards. After an area gets landmarked, zoning laws and property rights are thrown out the window, and the alderman is free to micro manage EVERYTHING.

Needless to say, they love this power. Any time a squeaky activist complains about something, the aldermens’ reactions are predictable. You be one of my political operatives, and I’ll give you what you want.This has given rise to pockets of neighborhood “Nazis”, at least that is how the population of Old Town refers to them. In effect, it’s all back door community based design review, but the problem, besides having a hypocritical underpinning, is that the neighborhood Nazis can be unpopular extremists on a power trip. They’re not elected. They don’t have to reveal their philosophies or credentials. It leads to neighbors policing neighbors. It leads to intense animosities and vendettas. It has a bizarre effect on the urban environment.

In Old Town for example, we have noticeable blight in an affluent district. The neighborhood Nazis want the area frozen like a museum similar to colonial Williamsburg. This is absolutely contrary to the spirit and text of the Landmarks Ordinance. When a landmarks proponent claims that there will [be] flexibility, do not believe it.We’ve all heard the expression “Good fences make good neighbors”. It’s probably more accurate to say “Good zoning laws make good neighbors”. The historic district concept is bad zoning law. It’s been my observation that the creation of an historic district can also establish a pervasive and on-going poisonous atmosphere.

William Barrywjbarry@sbcglobal.net

posted by The Grants @ 3:08 PM