[b0soleil]

I'm also out of town! Argh... I can't play my, I live a few blocks from here and blah blah card...


Can we get a show of hands on who can be there and volunteers on taking some of the points below? (ideally 1 or more people per point, rather than 1 person taking multiple points so it sounds good.) (anyone want to post in the general highrise section to see if we can get help?)

A few things that might help.

1. If each person raises their hand and makes 1 point (don't bother framing it as a question, no one else will.) (the nimbies will be direct in their complaints and numerous. We need to be direct and each take a very simple point. Sway and give voice to the reasonable people (or at least those who also could benefit from the building) and also make enough counter noise that the alderman feels that there is some neighborhood support.

a. Something to the effect of: I live in the neighborhood and looking around I think there is a large, silent majority that's not represented. I for one support this project, the taxes it brings in, and the vibrance it brings to our community rather than an empty parking lot. (the others of us then need to clap and hopefully others in the crowd will join in.)

b. Something to the effect of: Every additional floor brings in over $50k in taxes. Every 10 stories is $500k. Every 20 stories is $1mil. Who here is willing to make up for that lost income by increasing their OWN property taxes to pay for a shorter building?

c. (right after b.) I never thought about it that way... but if it's going to be pretty tall, better to make it 20 stories taller and get us $1mil in extra taxes for our schools than 20 stories shorter.

d. This building could be iconic and what the neighborhood needs to draw the same property values as on the north side of the park. Those who lose their views might lose a bit of property value, though it's not like this was going to be an empty lot forever. Everyone else's property value goes up because the neighborhood becomes hotter and more upscale! (let's get some of the nimbies who don't lose a view to think in terms of their immediate pocket book.)

e. (if there are enough of us) I'm sick of these crappy empty lots. I'm for a cool building that brings people, $$, and cache to the neighborhood. What I want is more retail space.

2. Anyone can talk to the developers in advance? Both 113 E. Roosevelt and the 1326 S. michigan developers didn't know what made the neighborhood tick. (giving benefits such as smaller units allowing for a more diverse income set or paying into the affordable housing fund isn't actually a positive for most of the nimbies (and one of them even went so far as to say that.).

It's about this raising the property values of the area like Aqua or 340 E. Randolph for Lakeshore East. It's about creating retail space on Michigan and keeping traffic congestion to a minimum via the wabash car entrance design. It's about mix use that will expose more people to the neighborhood who will then actually consider buying there in the future (and hence raising property values). It's about creating more options in that area of the south loop that brings more people to consider it as a neighborhood when buying (and hence increasing value for everyone.)