What's the deal with Uptown? (Chicago, Sheridan: apartment, condo, loans)

[romnation]

I'm surprised it is still so "ghetto" (don't flame me) in some areas. Seems like the perfect place to be the next hipster haven instead of Logan Square. So close to the lake, great transit, close to lake view, lp, the loop, and other nice neighborhoods. looks fairly nice, etc. Why has it not taken off like the other northside lakefront neighborhoods?

What is its deal?

[chicagobear]

The former alderwoman, Helen Shiller, was a hard-core leftist and was opposed to "yuppie type" development.

[Chicago76]

The deal with Uptown was that for many years a large chunk of it's population was a loose coalition of Chicago's "undesirables": poor seniors and general population, Appalachians, religious fringe groups, mental health patients, single room occupancy boarders, etc.

This coalition was held together by former Alder(wo)man Helen Shiller, who implemented policies that were resistant to gentrification and wide-scale redevelopment. There are two widely divergent interpretations of Shiller. If you're an idealist, you fall into the "great, everyone in the city needs a place to call home" camp. If you're more cynical, you fall into the "she's manipulating this motley group to stay in office" camp.

Regardless, she's not around anymore. SROs are falling by the wayside. Mental health facilities are hitting budget crunches and are closing/downsizing or are at least dispersing more around the city. Uptown will take the same inevitable gentrification path that other nearby neighborhoods have. It will just take longer given the area's history.

[marothisu]

^ Yep (and Buena Park is perfectly fine) while it probably won't see full scale gentrification fast, it will see a little. There's a new, nice 15 story apartment/condo high rise just completed on its southern edge, a new-ish building near the Sheridan stop, a proposal across the street from it and next to the Sheridan stop. New-ish Target near the Wilson stop, and the Wilson stop was OK'd for a large $200+ million rehab. If the entertainment center near the Lawrence stop took off and got funding, you'd probably see more gentrification. I think FLATS has a handful of properties in the area too.

[Larry Siegel]

It takes a long time for entrenched social services "clients" to leave an area. Basically they have to be relocated at government expense. They won't or can't afford or don't want to leave on their own. So Logan Square, where the population was working class and mobile, can turn over quickly while Uptown cannot.

[It'sAutomatic]

The skid row there is so entrenched I wouldn't expect it to ever completely disappear. That doesn't mean the neighborhood can't improve, though.

[mjtinmemphis]

I know there's where issues with gang shootings in the area that is a major turn off to some.

[Lookout Kid]

Do a search--there are dozens of Uptown threads on here already.

[coldwine]

Helen Shiller is the "deal" with uptown. I would say a big part of her political strategy was to maintain her position by appealing to the dregs of society while opposing any chance to remove them.

Consequently, Uptown was a great place if you were hooked on methadone and just wanted to space out in the streets between shots. I'd like to say that's an exaggeration, but it isn't. Not by much.

[nightlysparrow]

Originally Posted by It'sAutomatic

The skid row there is so entrenched I wouldn't expect it to ever completely disappear. That doesn't mean the neighborhood can't improve, though.

Well, the FedGov under HUD gave massive grants and loans to both individual homeowners (who did renovations), landlords (who did few renovations) and the City to clean up Uptown way back in the late 1960's. They did get the college built, but the rest of the money went??? Many blocks look exactly the same 50 years later; it's eerie.