Progress is not something that is easily defined, and it has different connotations to different people. On the South Side of Chicago, in the historic Bronzeville neighborhood, many residents don’t believe that being uprooted from their long-time ho
Progress is not something that is easily defined, and it has different connotations to different people.
On the South Side of Chicago, in the historic Bronzeville neighborhood, many residents don’t believe that being uprooted from their long-time homes to make way for the Olympic Village housing for the proposed 2016 Summer Olympics is progress.
We don’t either.
We don’t want to stand in opposition to the city’s Olympic bid. We think it is a feather in the city’s cap if we’re able to secure the bid. We know that the potential for millions of dollars of investment can come to the city with the hosting bid. We also recognize that one of the things the International Olympic Committee will be looking for is a united community, united around the Olympic effort. That means everyone should be on board, and we are.
But we also recognize that no one segment of the population should have to bear the burdens of securing that bid. Right now, residents of Bronzeville and other neighborhoods surrounding and adjacent to the closed Michael Reese Hospital are facing that burden.
The city has agreed to purchase the site of Michael Reese and have it developed into an Olympic Village site. Even if the city does not get the Olympic bid, they will sell the land to a developer to turn into mixed-use developments.
Unfortunately, those plans pretty much guarantee that some of the housing surrounding that site will also have to be cleared for infrastructure and other improvements. That means those residents, some of whom have lived there for the greater part of their lives, will be displaced.
We know progress dictates that the Olympic Village project will go on and eventually provide a significant improvement in the housing of that area.
We know that those Olympic Village apartments, built to service the Olympic athletes during the 15-day event, will remain as permanent housing for Chicago residents.
But real progress doesn’t simply run roughshod over current citizens. Real progress seeks to make sure current residents, and new residents, share equally in the largesse of the Olympics. That could mean that residents of that area are provided with some kind of guarantee that they can stay in the area, or get first choice to some of the Olympic housing, at a price they can afford. Perhaps even part of the funding for the Olympics can be set aside to provide money for transitioning and reestablishing those residents.
It should not be a case of urban removal but instead a case of the city recognizing that all of its citizens are important and that the Olympic rings should not be used to choke the life out of a community.
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