Thanks to a very generous grant ($20,000) approved from city council, the Red Sweater Brigade rides again and Bronzeville’s youth are once again off the streets and on the streets at the same time.  Staying out of trouble, building self esteem and getting paid for it while keeping the community clean, safe and a wonderful place to live.We will be re-allocating the Hamilton and Long project page.   It served a great purpose and helped in our fight to put the right building on that corner.  We may have lost that battle but we will win the war for appropriate, sustainable development in our community.

KLBNA’s Development Committee Pushes Residential Alternative 

  The King Lincoln Bronzeville Neighborhood Association’s Development Committee has been hard at work pushing a residential alternative to the commercial building proposed by the Gideon  Development Partners and currently endorsed by the Mayor’s office.

    In a very short time, a matter of a few months, the committee  went from publicly opposing the idea to developing a viable residential alternative to finding a developer who could not only build it, but finance it as well.

After several meetings with City Council members, with all their ducks in a row and accompanied by a scale model of the proposed ‘Garrett Building’ —seen here with KLBNA President Willis Brown — members of the committee visited the mayor himself.

 Although the two sides met for over an hour and a half, the sometimes heated discussion did not persuade Mayor Coleman that a 50,000 square foot office building will do nothing for the neighborhood, especially when all the office workers go home at five-o-clock.

  Despite voicing the neighborhoods many objections to the building and reminding the Mayor’s office that the neighborhood was never consulted about what would best serve its needs, the Development committee left shaking their heads wondering why the city would knowingly forsake one of its oldes, most beautiful neighborhoods.

  Members of the committee have met nearly every Wednesday night this year to discuss ideas and move forward on the corner of Hamilton and Long with an alternative construction solution that would benefit the entire Near East Side.

With a better, smarter plan, a willing developer, willing and able private and public monies and, most importantly, the support of the community, KLBNA’s development committee feels good that the building that will be built will be one that comes from the people, not a by-product of deaf city officials and back room politics.