 Every
week over 100 youth travel to the Blessed Sacrament Youth Center
in Chicago’s Lawndale neighborhood after school for tutoring
and recreation.
For nearly 10 years Blessed Sacrament Church, who runs the youth
center, and community members have tried to expand their cramped
space into a vacant lot located next door, only to have their plans
set aside due to false promises and a lack of action by their Alderman,
Michael Chandler. The small space limits the number of youth who
can attend each day and the opportunity to reach out to more youth
in the community.
“This is not just a place for youth who attend the church
but for the whole community. The lot has been just sitting there
in my eight years here. We could have been serving so many more
youth in a community where there is a great need of after school
programs. There obviously haven’t been any plans for the space
if it has been vacant for so long,” said Mary Quinn, director
of the Blessed Sacrament Youth Center.
Over the years, the church has made a substantial investment into
purchasing the lot, with only a three-inch thick file folder documenting
their efforts to show for it. In 1993 they had the old abandoned
building on the property demolished for safety reasons. At that
point representatives for the church and youth center were promised
that the demolition costs were all they would need to pay to acquire
the lot. The church then raised $5,000 (to cover the demolition
costs they were originally promised), which has been sitting in
the bank all these years and they have drawn up plans of what they
would do with the space. Even the youth who attend the center go
over and pick up trash on the lot to keep it clean.
Over the last 10 years, neighborhood residents and the church have
invited Alderman Chandler out to community meetings and asked him
for assistance on numerous occasions in acquiring the vacant lot.
Chandler has always promised he would help the youth center acquire
the land. “He has given us lip service many times that he
will support us but he has yet to do any real work to make this
a reality,” said Father Bill Bueche, a pastor at Blessed Sacrament
Church.
Recently, after a surprise visit to city hall, members of the Lawndale
Neighborhood Organization and the church discovered Chandler is
a member of the Chicago City Council Committee of Housing and Real
Estate, which deals with ordinances pertaining to land acquisition.
“He has told us to go this office and that office when, as
our alderman, he is the person who has to start the process moving
downtown. Also, being on the committee that decides on these very
issues he is aware what needs to happen,” said Father Bueche.
The lack of follow through by the alderman has community members
worried there may by other plans for the property. “There
are many new developments going up in this area. We don’t
want to lose this because the Alderman is dragging his feet to cut
a deal with some developer,” Father Bueche added.
After having their calls for a meeting ignored by Chandler, the
group decided to pay him a visit at his local office. 20 community
members and youth went to the office to demand a meeting to begin
serious talks about getting the vacant lot. The alderman wasn’t
there but his chief of staff set a meeting for the following Tuesday.
The alderman did not show for the meeting and again ignored calls
from the group to find out why he didn’t come or to set up
another meeting.
The
group decided to go back to his office - this time with 45 people.
The alderman was there and the group demanded a meeting for the
next day. The alderman was not happy but agreed. At the meeting
the alderman was presented with a list of demands, including that
Chandler write a letter of support on Monday morning to the city’s
Department of General Revenue Services, which deals with land acquisition.
They also set up a timeline with a target date of August 15, 2003
by which time the church should have the property.
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