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Originally Posted by sentinel
^^But you and as you mentioned many other developers like you are benefiting because you're willing to essentially go along with it (perhaps by necessity). As long as people are benefiting from this type of system, it's not gonna change...which also brings up a bigger question (playing Devil's advocate), if so much aldermanic prerogative maintains this laissez-faire attitude for developments in their respective wards, enhancing the livability of their respective wards and it provides certain quotas for minority groups to be able to get work which would otherwise be restrictive to them, thus potentially providing an opportunity for better wages and ultimately a better quality of life, is that a bad thing?
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Personally I don't really mind the system all that much, I just hate certain aldermen who abuse it and allow negative changes using their power or extort developers who have existing, as of right, zoning. My response was to LMich's attack on "this bizarre tone that somehow local government oversight is some kind of intrusion into the divine right of developers" as if our local "planning process" is some sort of noble civic system. Perhaps I was reading too much into what he wrote, but the facts are the abuse of the system goes one way: Alderman->Developer. The developers are not the ones strong arming people into the clout system. Sure they "go along with it", but they really have no other choice as clearly indicated by various incidents such as the recent downzoning of that hotel site by Trump or Joe Moreno's downzoning of the old Gerber site in Logan Square to Manufacturing zoning (at California and Milwaukee, you have to be kidding me!) to screw over John Burns. There are very few, if any, instances of a developer approaching an aldeman and saying "you better give me this zoning change or else I'll do X to you" while there are virtually countless examples of developers being forced to do X,Y, and Z if they want to get a zoning change.
The only defense developers have is to drop a hammer on belligerent aldermen during the next election which, as we know, isn't always 100% effective.