Your articles on North Kenwood/Oakland (“The Unmaking of a Ghetto,” Jan. 29, Feb. 5), provide an inspiring account of how an area can come back from decades of poverty and neglect to become a thriving neighborhood. For those who benefit, this is cause for celebration. But for former public housing residents of the Lakefront Properties, long ago promised the chance to return to North Kenwood/Oakland, the picture is bleaker.
First, many families were moved out with Section 8 certificates, which allowed them to rent units on the private market. Most of those families have ended up in substandard apartments in the city’s poorest and most segregated neighborhoods. And families that commit even minor violations under Section 8 can lose both both their housing and their right to return to new CHA units. We at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago are seeing an enormous increase in Section 8 terminations. Second, CHA has been slow to build the promised replacement units, and a small fraction of those units will be built in the North Kenwood/Oakland area. Half will be reserved for families making 50 to 80 percent of area median income (at least $37,700 for a family of four). Most CHA families, even if they are working, do not make close to that figure. For the other half of the units, there are strict screening criteria. These obstacles mean that few of the more than 600 displaced families will be able to return to the new housing.
While one measure of a community may be its rising housing prices and new retail shops, another must also be how a community cares for those most in need. For displaced CHA families, the community seems content to leave them behind.
RICHARD WHEELOCK / supervisory attorney, Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago
YOUR NORTH KENWOOD/OAKLAND article did a beautiful job of portraying the demand for urban living and the obstacles that have warped the market in favor of ex-urban growth-for everyone from longtime residents to young professionals to middle-class families. Vibrant neighborhoods with interesting people and cultural happenings, good job opportunities, short walks to nearby shops and train stations, accessible parks and waterfronts, and great housing stock are attractive to a wide spectrum of people.
Thanks to the hard work of neighborhood activists, local elected officials, the city administration and private sector leaders, more and more people are drawn to the ease and excitement of urban living.
But let’s not stop here: If Chicago-and the region as a whole-gets the schools right, invests in better transit and maintains an array of housing and retail options, we won’t be able to hold back the flood of people who want to settle in our great neighborhoods. And the ripple effect of a strong, healthy urban center will be felt throughout the region.
KIT HODGE / associate,
Metropolitan Planning Council
Meaty subject
As a vegan with both conviction and rectitude, I take umbrage at Leah Eskin’s implication that because I still enjoy a smoky flavor, reminiscent of the pig bacon I grew up on, I’m somehow dishonest for putting liquid smoke flavor in my tempeh bacon (Home on the Range, Jan. 22).
It confounds me when non-vegetarians refer to those of us who choose to live by our ethics as “smug.” If we bring a tofurky to Thanksgiving, it’s usually to show the meat eaters that we don’t have to slaughter an animal to have something filling to eat. We’re not trying to be smug, we’re trying to spread compassion.
The other processed fake meats that the column alludes to are mainly used by those who don’t have time or inclination to cook, just as processed fast foods are used by meat eaters. Is it dishonest for a vegetarian to want an easy, fast meal?
If you don’t want to eat tempeh bacon, by all means change the channel. But don’t disparage vegans as we try to find our pacifist way in a hostile world.
ROBIN HARTMANN / Bloomington, Ill.
MY GUESS AS to the reason some veggie food comes meat-shaped is either the manufacturer thinks vegetarians need to be weaned from meat or that by providing them with meat-shaped food, it makes the carnivores around them feel less guilty as they chew into their real drumsticks, etc.
DEBBIE GRAHAM / Evanston
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SEEKING SUPER PETS
Have you ever had a pet or animal companion who came to your aid in some unusual, even amazing way? A tabby that spared you romantic anguish by hissing at Mr. Wrong? A terrier that unearthed your long-lost keys? A parrot whose squawking woke you in time to flee your burning house?
We’re looking for true stories about pets of all kinds, and will select a few for an upcoming issue of the Magazine.
To be considered for publication, submissions should be 250 words or less and include the writer’s name, address and phone number (neither the address nor phone number will be printed). Writers of the stories we select will be notified.
Submissions must be received by March 31, 2006. Sorry, we won’t be able to return them. They can be e-mailed to tribmag@tribune.com or mailed to:
Super Pets
c/o Desiree Chen
Chicago Tribune Magazine
435 N. Michigan Ave., 5th floor
Chicago, IL 60611
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Write us
Send mail to The Editor, Chicago Tribune Magazine, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611, or to tribmag@tribune.com.
