Toni has raised the flag about the latest addition to Howard St.. This is a jewel? More likely this is more of the same old stuff that does not necessarily appeal to those of us with some discretionary income to spend.
Not surprisingly, Paradise responds:
You have all kind of chain stores at the Gateway. Alot of those buildings on Howard are empty because the owners were/are selling/renovating. Why do you complain all the time? You seem like babbling idiots. If you don't like the area why did you move here? Real Estate speculation, a good price for housing? You wanted a big space over a yuppie neighborhood. So what, the whole neighborhood has to change to suit you all of a sudden, or you just don't like to enjoy yourself? Alot of people like Howard street. Alpana Singh, she's a yuppie, she likes Lost Eras and Jamaica Jerk. I like those, plus the bakery and the bag and gift shop. They have make up in there. The Lakeside has good veggies...I like Howard, its bustling, I like all the people, yo can't find a mix like that anywhere else, or that many Carribean places, or anything like Lost Eras. Why don't you just quit complaining about our neighborhood. Alot of people are happy here. You can't control everybody who wants to be here. It's not going to gentrify. Why not just move someplace you like? Is that unreasonable, that you could move someplace you like?
Howard is bustling? Well I suppose you could say it is if you consider drug dealing a legit business. I have been to Lost Eras and I consider Lakeside Treasures a better store. I actually attend the CAPS 2422 meetings (the last 2) and I wouldn't describe what I am hearing from the cops as an endorsement to walk about Howard, Greenview, Bosworth, Rogers or the area around Island Groove. The neighbors who attend aren't exactly overjoyed with the behavior of the folks visiting Island Groove, or the owners of the vacant buildings, or the squatters of same on several streets. I suspect Paradise either missed those jewels on Ashland/Fargo/Howard/Rogers or just prefers to ignore them.
It's not about control. It's about creating and maintaining a neighborhood that is emblematic of the real life and creativity that exists in RP vs one that simply mirrors individuals who don't know and don't care about the neighborhood they visit, and for whom criminal behavior is a way of life. Shootings in the area of Island Groove, breakins of houses within my block, vacant buildings that are occupied by squatters, and other crime issues are not the sort of thing that encourages people to stay in RP or move to RP.
Since when is crime an acceptable lifestyle? I ask this question since Paradise seems unable or unwilling to draw a line between the quirky and the illegal. If you need help doing that, I suspect Jocelyn or myself can help you figure out the difference between the two.
In any case, one more dollar store is just one more dollar store in a sea of dollar stores. I pass at least 2 on Broadway between Argyle and Thorndale. I gave up counting the number of dollar stores on Clark. Good thing I have a bus pass and can shop elsewhere. The dollar stores just don't do it for me.
3 comments:
I don't have any "discretionary" income. I buy what I need. You can get anything here, ask me anything! We're not talking about crime, we're talking about shopping. Who's going to shop at the boutiques everybody craves for the ambience, people be better off living near boutiques, I say. You want to displace the population, you moved here thinking, oh they'll have to move once there's enough rich people comming here. Oh pioneers! Curse the wilderness...you don't even want people to have a living wage, what do you want, boutiques? why don't you move to Lakeside? And they closed the drug market, it moved, I bet you did drugs in college and it was real cute "a way of life" why don't you move to some college town and stop the kids from using drugs?
I got a hot flash for you Paradise, you can't just "get anything here". I can't buy clothes that I can wear to work here in RP. I never shop Oak Street or boutiques either so what do you recommend? Aside from getting on a bus and shopping elsewhere? I work for the Federal government, which doesn't require high fashion but does require dressing as a professional.
It is about crime because crime is what will hold back any and all who might move to RP but believe it to be, in the words of a friend, "scummy." Or are you quite satisfied to have vacant buildings occupied by squatters who leave behind used condoms and paraphernalia? That scenario certainly fits my friend's definition pretty well, but I think Jarvis Square is a lot closer to what RP could be, and there isn't a boutique in sight.
All neighborhoods go through evolution. The direction that evolution takes depends upon who moves in and who moves out. The gangbangers and drug dealers need to be moving out, and it's up to each neighborhood and ward to do its part to keep them moving. Get them out and life will be better for everyone.
Regarding the dollar stores; the stores themselves are not what concerns me. What concerns me is that there are so many of them. That many dollar stores, and few options for the rest of us, speak to the current economic environment in RP. When RP reaches a critical mass that results in opening more stores that are not dollar stores, then we will know we are evolving into a neighborhood that has something for everyone.
Finally, you would do well to think before you make any assumptions about anyone and then start writing about it. My friends from college and Southeast D.C. will tell you that I don't and haven't done drugs. Also, in case you haven't noticed, Chicago is a college town, with at least 5 universities and several smaller schools represented. You don't get more collegiate than that.
To counter the point your stating paradise, I don’t think that things are exactly 'hunky dory' as you suggest. The Gateway is still half empty due to the fact that they're looking for chains-not independents stores. In fact, they're also asking rents that are equivalent to that of Lincoln Park or Highland Park. What sort of merchants do you think are interested In paying that kind of money to set up shop on Howard Street?
DevCorp North has existed for how long now and can you count how many places have flourished as a result of their assistance exactly? I can't even tell you of one and while the Gateway might be deemed as a success. Why can’t they fill it? They receive substantial funding to improve our neighborhood and so far with what little has been done with it.
I can only add that the results of Rogers Park continuing to miss out on the city funding and improvements that happen in other wards has everything to do with the leadership (or lack there of) and those who are under some spell that the impoverished or lower class will be forced out due to gentrification and for as far as I can tell with the economic indications-that's not happening any time soon. On the other hand, what is?
If Safeway ever sells Dominick’s or just outright closes that location. There won't be a lot of other options for buying food except for the Rogers Park Fruit Market unless you travel outside of the neighborhood. Given the potential rate hikes in the future. Does that sound feasible to have to take a bus to get your groceries?
I'd also add that the number of snack shops and shoe stores outnumber any other small businesses in the Howard Street corridor. Do the number of fast food chains crammed into these storefronts mean that there's an improved quality of life?
There's been several interested grocery chains such as 'Whole Foods' and 'Trader Joes' who've approached the community in the past but the powers that be decided that we didn't need 'those' types of merchants in our area. You mean the kinds that could offer real jobs to people who live in the community? *gasp*
The largest rental and most populated ward in the city didn't need another merchant? Must be all of those empty store fronts that I can count on Howard that are going to be bustling with activity any day now.
I grew up in this area and continue to live here and there are plenty of things that I have to travel outside of the area to shop for.
While there's generally less and less variety given the number of chains that take up the lion’s share. Our neighborhood could thrive and have more to offer people if there wasn't a fear of investing in the community and/or this idea that letting certain business' come here would cause some irreparable change for the worse.
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