It appears that Ald. Shiller, who lives just down the street from 1470 W. Carmen, has had a change of heart. Not too long ago, she was certain an SRO was the best use for this building formerly known as "Carmen Manor." Well, according to an email forwarded to us today, there are now plans for a "boutique hotel" for this vacant building to be developed by "Matan Enterprises." Mat Olson, president of Winona Foster Carmen Winnemac Block Club (WFCW) has scheduled a special block meeting on October 30 at the Methodist Home, 1415 W. Foster at 7:30pm to discuss this.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Boutique Hotel Proposed On Carmen
It appears that Ald. Shiller, who lives just down the street from 1470 W. Carmen, has had a change of heart. Not too long ago, she was certain an SRO was the best use for this building formerly known as "Carmen Manor." Well, according to an email forwarded to us today, there are now plans for a "boutique hotel" for this vacant building to be developed by "Matan Enterprises." Mat Olson, president of Winona Foster Carmen Winnemac Block Club (WFCW) has scheduled a special block meeting on October 30 at the Methodist Home, 1415 W. Foster at 7:30pm to discuss this.
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Man, that's great news for us.
ReplyDeleteWhen my parents come to visit us, they prefer to stay in a hotel, due to allergies. As I've migrated north from Roscoe and Broadway, the Best Western - Hawthorne Terrace has gotten farther and farther away, but was still the best option for them.
I've been hoping that one would open up around here and was just reading in the Trib today about hotel expansion plans hitting the skids in the greater Chicago area. My first thought was, "Well, crap, we're never going to get one." So, keeping my fingers crossed that this works out.
Be suspicious. Define "boutique hotel." According to Matan Development's Web site, they are a realty development company that has done single family homes in the far suburbs and condo conversions in the city (Edgewater currently). They are small and have an intriguing promo on their site that proclaims "Coming Soon, Real Estate Development in Croatia."
ReplyDeleteWhy would Schiller want a property value-reducing SRO a few doors away, when she could finagle a nice Andersonville boutique hotel instead?
ReplyDeleteCarmen IS her "college campus, sweetie" and she'll do whatever she needs to do to maintain her property value, and keep her flock at arms length away - in the pits of Wilson Yard.
Sweetie....
ReplyDeleteA few misperceptions about her living at that end of Andersonville should be cleared up. She hasn't always been there and in fact rented an apartment for many years in Sheridan Park, in a part of the ward that has a lot of crime and gang activity. She never saw that as a negative and it didn't change her desire to foster chaos on her own block and protect the voting base she had cultivated.
Since she moved north, she has proposed an SRO for that very location and stepped in on an issue to protect the residents of a home the block considered to be a problem.
She does walk the walk. Whether or not you agree with her policies, programs or social beliefs is different. She's not protecting her property value, but her office. Or so it seems to me.
is that what SROs are going to be called these days? I'm suspicious.
ReplyDeleteLaura, I don't get your point. If I rented in a high-crime area, then moved away to a safer, prettier area and bought a home (or had one given to me) there and subsequently became active in my new neighborhood, how does that qualify as "walking the walk" in the crime-ridden prior neighborhood?
ReplyDeleteWhat am I missing?
Because even on the street that she owns a home on, the behavior and beliefs remains the same. She supported putting an SRO a block away from her house and intervened on behalf of residents who were considered a nuisance (drug dealing, loud, etc.), making it difficult for neighbors to take action against them. So, while I don't support her politically, I have to acknowledge that her policies aren't selective. She's no NIMBY.
ReplyDeleteJust to be really clear -- her activity is the same whether she's living in a crappy rental or in a home on a very nice block.
ReplyDeleteDon't assume that she doesn't support (or is wooing) something like an SRO, methadone clinic or subsidized housing for that nice street because she owns property now. That is what a lot of homeowners might do, but not our Alderman.
It's going to be an sro folks they are just saying boutique hotel.
ReplyDeleteA related yet tangental comment: I read recently that an SRO on Clarendon(sp?) had received a business license this past summer. My partner and I were perplexed as we were unaware of any flophouses in the immediate neighborhood. We checked out the address on our next outing(a place we've been walking passed many times in the last 6 years.)It turns out the SRO is a building I would have never guessed was such an establishment e.g. no loitering vagrants and no pan handling.
ReplyDeleteThe moral of the story is that not all SROs are created equal.
The take-away is that an SRO can be a responsible neighbor and the community should hold all SROs to that standard.
Sorry for the bad sentence structure on that last one. I meant to say "we've passed" instead of "we've been walking past". I need an editor.
ReplyDeleteThere is one just like it accross the street from me. I never would have known. Actually, one of my friends from Indiana commented on how nice the building looked!
ReplyDeleteBut, still there are too many people "attracted" to these places that don't belong around there.
That is why there is already ENOUGH of them in Uptown, and time for some economic developement.
Just a side note, a man was shot in the back of the head on that stretch of Carmen a couple of years ago. I nearly got mugged by some guy who was either crazy or hopped up on drugs not too far away from there.
ReplyDeleteNot to deviate from the topic, but I lived over on Winnemac when Carmen Manor was still active. One of the things that always bothered me was the patients/residents always out panhandling, sometimes being aggressive, and even hitting up the various churches for their meals. I realize that these people are likely mentally ill, but of all the places where they live, when I call they are pretty non-responsive. What is the deal with them? Are these nursing homes? I think my real concern is when I see some of the residents standing in traffic screaming at spitting at the cars that whiz past them, or when they run up to car windows and pound on them asking for change.
Sorry, sweetie, but Shiller has sold out. She's planning her retirement with Wilson Yard TIF dollars - It's about as clear as it gets.
ReplyDeleteShe has removed herself from Uptown - physically and mentally - and has removed all transparency about what's going on in the community.
Schiller may have waved her arms around and made some noise about an SRO coming to her street, but lo-and-behold, it's now a boutique hotel.
This is not the same Helen that was elected 20 years ago - her activity then and now is clearly not the same.
Laura why would H.S. intervene on behalf of residents who were considered a nuisance? (drug dealing, etc.) Why would ANYONE want a drug dealer in the neighborhood, let alone making it difficult for neighbors to take action against them. I simply don't get it.
ReplyDeleteDianne, you would have to ask her. From what I heard from people involved it was a personal rights issue. People have the right to do what they like in their own homes.
ReplyDeleteWhy would she support loitering? Sleeping in the parks, dangerous code violations in shelters, men sleeping in cages as affordable housing, concentration of poverty. Why would she support an organization that sues the police, or one that makes it near impossible for subsidized housing authorities to remove problem tenants? Or support a day labor organization that doesn't screen applicants across from a school and community center?
I don't know why but she does all these things.
And right now she's laughing at how the words "boutique hotel" has gotten people excited about something nice coming to the neighborhood.
Laura, I agree with you about Helen. As for her motives, I think she set out to ensure the area north of Montrose and south of Lawrence remains as crummy as possible so that it will be affordable for poor people. Period.
ReplyDeleteHelen is still an awful communicator to everyone, but she doesn't display the contempt like she does to the middle class who dared to move into the poor's designated area. The press and the lakefront see a whole different Helen. So did I before I moved into the designated poor people's zone. That's when I started witnessing her divisive nature and bullying tactics.
Ironically, her hostility to the middle class won't be her downfall. People are starting to have higher expectations for an alderman and she's mediocre at best. The Wilson Yard is making her look like a bumbling idiot.
I think there already is a boutique hotel in the heart of Uptown...on Wilson by the El stop...what's it called? Oh yeah, Wilson Men's Club, or something like that...
ReplyDelete