The Chicago Tribune has recently revealed something that everybody involved in politics in Chicago should be embarrassed about. For some reason, people just aren’t as fired up about it as I am though. I grew up in a blue collar neighborhood in Chicago. Well, it used to be blue collar until the yuppies took it over. The reason they took it over? Well, in Chicago the alderman control the zoning for each square of property in their respective areas. As a result, the elected alderman have often received kickbacks from developers and anybody else involved in real estate. The developers are able to get zoning set pretty much to their liking regardless of what the locals in the neighborhood feel about it.

So what does all this mean? Well if I am a developer, I can buy a small house that is surrounded by other small houses. I can bribe the local alderman with a “political contribution” and then get the zoning set to where I can build a huge monstrosity that blocks out the sun from my neighbors, and doesn’t fit the look of the other homes around it. Since the property is huge and can now have several units, I can now resell the property at triple to 10 times what it was originally worth. Feeding pressure on the parking problems, sewage, police and other services provided to the neighborhood. It also pushes people that can’t afford the new, higher property taxes outside of the city, and makes way for the yuppies to move in.
Alderman in Chicago were originally given control over zoning in an effort to keep neighborhoods balanced. Instead, the reverse has happened. The Chicago Tribune keeps revealing more and more details on these acts with little reaction from the community. I personally am outraged since I have had to watch my entire neighborhood suffer from the transformation. The local residents and business owners have been rooted out to make way for overpriced condos. I myself have had to move completely out of the state to find something I can afford.

These alderman keep getting away with it. I guess nobody cares anymore. Corruption will forever haunt Chicago as it has since the Al Capone era.