^^^^Nice find and good luck to poetry magazine

lets hope their architectural tastes are as intrepid their literary when they were helping to launch the careers of Ezra Pound, TS Eliot , and J Joyce

I wonder what the scale will be....my bet 15 - 20 stories

Aw, that's a real bummer. One of those buildings is the "Moana" building - you see it when you come out of the Whole Foods underground parking garage. It's a terracotta beauty with original wood windows some beautiful neoclassical detailing. Not to mention the crystal globe spelling "Moana" near the parapet.

It would be great if somehow they could save that one and building on the parking lot and nasty PoMo-ized building to the north. It seems like a small org. like Poetry could make use of the small Moana building for something creative.

^ I felt the same way that it would be an unnecessary loss of a nice looking building. I hope we're gaining some significant height for this useless demolition

In case you didn't know:
http://www.newcityskyline.com/Columb...tudioGang.html

Columbia College has selected Gang Studio as an architect for a new media production center. The proposed center will be located at southwest corner of 16th/State. Gang Studio beat 29 firms all over the country for this project. Congrats to Jeanne Gang and her team.

Gang has come a long way from Rotterdam to where she is now. it's been a joy seeing her succeed and grow.

Awesome news!

Any renderings of their proposal yet?

From http://www.siteselection.com/issues/2007/may/topGroups/

:cool:

Gang really needs to design a supertall for us.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/3...zone08.article

Zoning merger in works?
CITY | Chief might be one who led 'crash pad' crackdown

May 8, 2007
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter/fspielman@suntimes.com

Mayor Daley is exploring the possibility of merging the city's Zoning Department with the Planning and Development Department and putting the new superagency in the hands of Zoning Administrator Patty Scudiero, City Hall sources said Monday.

The proposed merger would elevate the status of Scudiero, a longtime aide to Zoning Committee Chairman William Banks (36th). She marshalled crackdowns against illegal conversions and "crash pads" near Midway Air-port.

As zoning administrator -- and as a project manager in the Planning Department before that -- Scudiero forged a close working relationship with Lori Healey, the former planning chief now serving as Daley's 11th chief of staff.

Healey is in the process of reshaping the mayor's cabinet and filling six vacant or interim positions. Since her appointment, speculation has run rampant in anticipation of the latest round of musical chairs and a possible downsizing of city government.

The proposal to create a superagency comprised of Zoning and Planning and Development could be the biggest change of all.

At a time when Chicago is vying to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, it would merge a $17.9-million-a-year, 129-employee agency that oversees planning and land use with a $2.5-million-a-year, 41-employee department charged with implementing zoning changes, policing zoning violations and enforcing Chicago's newly revamped zoning code.

"It would be a very positive move. It would create more speed and cohesiveness dealing with . . . development issues," Banks said.

"I've never favored the idea over the years, but that doesn't mean it's not a good idea now. In the past, the departments were more independent and didn't work as closely as Zoning and Planning do now. A lot of that had to do with the personalities involved."

Not everyone was gung-ho about the merger.

Ald. Tom Allen (38th), who has crusaded against illegal conversions in his Northwest Side ward, expressed concern zoning crackdowns would get short-shrift if Zoning and Planning are combined.

The Zoning Department has 11 inspectors responsible for the entire city, a level aldermen call "woefully inadequate." Because of illnesses and injuries, they're down to nine.

"Zoning inspectors are important in the Bungalow Belt. I wouldn't want them to get swallowed up by a think-tank, which the Planning Department is. The bigger the department, the less control and the harder it is to maneuver -- just like the federal bureaucracy," Allen said.

Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) added, "Planning people go out in the field. They've got to deal with the community and the alderman on what the community wants and build up economic development. Zoning deals specifically with the zoning code. It would take something from one of them if you put them together."

Although Scudiero's expertise is on the zoning side, Banks said he has no doubt that his former aide could handle the mega-department.

"She's been involved in the concept of zoning and planning and for many, many years -- right on the front lines. She attended every zoning meeting I had. She is very knowledgeable with regard to these issues," said Banks, who hired Scudiero to work part-time while she was still in high school.

http://www.chicagojournal.com/main.a...95&TM=1397.395
5/9/2007 10:00:00 PM Email this article • Print this article
Neighbors kill seven-story condo plan
Flores adds Walgreens site into proposed historic district

By TIMOTHY INKLEBARGER
Staff Writer


Following neighborhood opposition to a seven-story condominium on the 1300 block of Milwaukee, 1st Ward Alderman Manny Flores says he's sending the proposal back to the drawing board.

Flores also said the parcel of land that currently houses a Walgreens drugstore on the corner of Wolcott and Milwaukee will be included in the proposed Milwaukee Avenue Historic District. The district, which runs roughly between Paulina and Damen, was given preliminary approval last week by the Landmarks Commission, setting in motion a number of aesthetic guidelines for rehabs of existing buildings and new construction.

At a community meeting in late April, neighbors almost unanimously rejected the proposal by Chicago-based Preferred Development to construct a 79-foot-tall building with 81 units and 153 parking spaces.

"There is no support for the project," Flores said. "Some [neighbors] were dead set against it, and then there was a real concern about the size."

In order to build the massive structure, the project would have required a significant zoning increase. But with the approval of the historic district, the developer also will have to follow guidelines set forth by the city's Landmarks Division. Although the Walgreens is included in the historic district it is not considered an historic structure that contributes to the district. Preferred Development still could demolish the building-a proposition most neighbors welcome-but the development would have to stay within the scale of the existing two- and three-flat buildings.

The current B1-2 zoning allows for a 50-foot-tall building with 32 units.

"If [the developers] would ever ask for some type of city privilege or benefit like those under consideration, then they are going to have to continue with the same [public] process," Flores said.

He said he hopes the developers engage the community if they build under the current zoning.

Craig Norris, chairman of the Wicker Park Committee's zoning subcommittee, said it is in the best interest of the neighborhood to include the building in the landmark district. He added that the modern "glass-box" proposal is not a "cutting-edge" design.

"The landmark ordinance says that scale and density have to be respected, and the current zoning on Milwaukee is four stories," Norris said.

Typical...one of the city's most vibrant streets, Milwaukee Avenue, in one of the densest, most walkable parts of town can't handle a seven story building? And the horror that it was a glass box! There are so many modernist single family homes going up near by you'd think someone would have seen the benefit of something modern there. Wicker Park is supposed to be our largest concentration of creative types but the NIMBY patrol is in full force making such a huge uproar over what could have been a great use of space.

B1-2 zoning for that parcel is a disgrace. Who's going up against the wall for that one?

This is such an underutilized plot too, isn't this the dinky Walgreens with a surface parking lot?

No the true creative, bohemian types were mostly priced out of wicker park years ago.....it has been turning into Lincoln Park west for sometime.


though I detest this type of nimbyism....i have to admit I was not a huge fan of the proposal as executed....the height I had no problem with.....I know I'll take a beating for this, but I am not as big as a "glass" fan as many on this board are. I would prefer a 7 story building that harkened back perhaps to the 20's or 30's....perhaps it would not been seen as as disruptive


also that amount of parking ---at least on its face ---appears to be absurd

Yes, and two blocks from an 8 story building with no parking, and about 3 blocks from the 12 story Coyote. Of course, both of which could never be built in this nieghborhood today because of the high concentration of Fucktard NIMBYs, even though these buildings are part of the landmark district they love so much.

Don't forget the 20+ story Noble Square Co-op highrise less than 2 blocks away, either :)

I hope the developer ends up building a 4-story building to the lot line in every dimension, with exactly 1 spot per unit or whatever the smallest amount allowed by zoning is. And might as well make it as sinfully ugly as possible, too, to spite the community (a nice random pattern with those various cartoon colored yellow, purple and blue bricks that are popping up in infill around town, and definitely some insulting 'historic' details like mini-faux-collonades). Which developer is it, and does anyone have contact info for them? I'd like to send them words of encouragement, that some people actually do like the concept of high-density development in markets that can support it....

Intelligence and common sense prevails
 

House rejects idea of Blagojevich tax plan



May 10, 2007

(AP) — The Illinois House overwhelmingly rejected the idea of a massive new business tax proposed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich, although the governor tried to portray Thursday's vote as a positive.
Not a single lawmaker voted for the $7.6 billion tax, while 107 voted against it.

But before the vote, Blagojevich made a surprise request of lawmakers: Vote no.

He said House members should reject the resolution as a signal that they think it's too soon to take a firm position on the tax.

Lawmakers of both parties scoffed at his request, calling it an attempt to put a positive spin on what would otherwise have been a clear-cut defeat for his plan.

Republicans displayed signs saying "'No means no,' governor!" Only one lawmaker, a close ally of Blagojevich, suggested the vote was not a referendum on the proposal itself.

House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, for the first time took a clear public position on the proposed gross receipts tax.

"The gross receipts tax is a regressive tax," Madigan said. "There is a passthrough to the ultimate consumer. Many times those people are the least able in our society to take on additional costs."

Maybe next year, some groups can come to Springfield already prepared to discuss a state constitutional amendment that would allow for imposition of a graduated income tax. The clear solution is to raise the income tax, but obviously certain people on the left don't like the idea of a tax that has the same rate for everyone (of course, a flat income tax IS NOT a flat consumption tax, so it's not really regressive, it actually is 'flat', but, whatever) so they are unlikely to increase it from its relatively low level.

Or, perhaps, there's some politics involved. It could yet be dealt with this year. The reason I say this is, there is still the "overtime" session that follows the end of the regular session (May 31). In overtime, I think any new laws require a supermajority to pass, instead of a simple majority. What does that mean? Well, before May 31, a tax increase, if passed, could do so on a party line vote; i.e. Democrats could vote to increase taxes while Republicans all vote against it, the tax passes, and voila, the Republicans campaign in future years about how those Taxocrats are screwing you, the upstanding citizen of Illinois. So, it seems fully plausible that the Democrats (led by someone like Mike Madigan, who incidentally is expecting his daughter, a Democrat, to run for Governor in the near future) are consciously putting off any -real- discussion of a new revenue package to pay for the essentials until after May 31, so that it has the fingerprints of both Democrats and Republicans on it, thereby taking that issue away from the Republicans at the next election.

Of course, this makes some logical sense for the Democrats, if their only concern is their self-interest as opposed to that of their constituents; if there is a budget deadlock and a crisis ensues, each party can blame it on eachother and ultimately, everyone currently in office will be hurt. If something does pass in overtime, the Democrats can claim the benefits while at the same time, many Republicans would lose the tax increase as a campaign point.

Playing a personal power game of chicken at the expense of the well-being of your constituents? All in a day's work for a politician.

:banana:

Thank god.

^ I can't believe how stubborn Blago is. But then again, there really is no good solution to this problem. Somebody's gonna have to pay