Over the past three decades, American public housing authorities have advocated the demolition of high-rise public housing projects. Since the late 1980s, governments and local groups have developed plans to tear down the Cabrini-Green public housing project located in the Near North neighborhood in Chicago. The plans call for the demolition of the Cabrini high-rises and replacing them with mixed-income neighborhoods. The new communities are intended to help the public housing residents by reducing their social and economic isolation. Some of the Cabrini residents have fought the redevelopment plans in court because they argue that the new communities are not adequate for the number of displaced residents. Due to court injunctions, the redevelopment has been a slow process: while some of the high-rises have been torn down and several mixed-income developments have been built near Cabrini, a number of high-rises remain. Questions surrounding the resistance at Cabrini-Green and implications for the future of public housing policy are briefly considered
J.S. Fuerst and D. Bradford Hunt , When Public Housing Was Paradise: Building Community in Chicago (Westport, CT: Praeger , 2003).
2.
See Sudhir AlladiVenkatesh, American Project (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000), 49-51; Alexander Von Hoffman, House by House, Block by Block (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 140-41; Susan J. Popkin, The Hidden War: Crime and the Tragedy of Public Housing in Chicago (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2000), 12-13; Alex Kotlowitz, There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up In the Other America (New York: Doubleday, 1991).
3.
Chicago Housing Authority, "Chicago Housing Authority: Plan for Transformation." (2000). Accessed March 6, 2007 at: http://www.thecha.org/transformplan/files/plan_for_transformation_year_1_english_final.pdf.
4.
Von Hoffman, House by House, Block by Block, 141-42.
5.
The deplorable situation at Cabrini-Green was highlighted in 1981 by the decision of Chicago Mayor Jane Byrne to move into one of the high-rises for several weeks. See Larry Bennett, "Do We Really Wish To Live In A Communitarian City?"Journal of Urban Affairs20 (Summer 1998): 99-116.
6.
Ed Marciniak, Reclaiming the Inner City: Chicago's Near North Revitalization Confronts Cabrini-Green (Washington, DC: National Center for Urban Ethnic Affairs, 1986).
7.
The contrast in 2004 median income between Cabrini-Green and nearby neighborhoods is striking. The average income for residents living in Cabrini South and in the Rowhouses was $8,479, while the Green Homes average family income was $7,166. The Chicago median family income was $42,724, the Gold Coast median income was $113,080, and the median income in Lincoln Park was $137,030. See Patricia A. Wright, Richard M. Wheelock, and Carol Steele, "The Case of Cabrini-Green" in Where Are Poor People To Live? ( Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2006), 169-70.
8.
Arnold Hirsch, Making the Second Ghetto: Race and Housing in Chicago 1940-1960 ( Cambridge: Cambridge University Press , 1983), 22.
9.
Stephen Grant Meyer, As Long As They Don't Move Next Door (Lanham, MD : Rowman and Littlefield, 2000), 32.
10.
Hirsch, Making the Second Ghetto, 17.
11.
Hirsch, Making the Second Ghetto, 23.
12.
Roberta M. Feldman and Susan Stall, The Dignity of Resistance: Women Residents' Activism in Chicago Public Housing (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 31.
13.
Hirsch, Making the Second Ghetto, 236.
14.
Feldman and Stall, The Dignity of Resistance, 39.
15.
Alexander Von Hoffman, "High Ambitions: The Past and Future of American Low-Income Housing Policy,"Housing Policy Debate7, no. 3 ( 1996):431.
16.
Hirsch, Making the Second Ghetto, 241-42; Martin Meyerson and Edward C. Banfield, Politics, Planning, and the Public Interest: The Case of Public Housing in Chicago (Glencoe, IL: Free Press, 1955).
17.
Alexander Von Hoffman, "The Curse of Desirability: Why Housing For the Poor Was Built To Last," Journal of Housing & Community Development55 (September-October 1998):34-38.
18.
Susan J.Popkin, The Hidden War: Crime and the Tragedy of Public Housing in Chicago (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2000), 12-13.
19.
Devereux Bowly , Jr., The Poorhouse: Subsidized Housing in Chicago, 1895-1976 (Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1978), 112.
20.
Feldman and Stall, The Dignity of Resistance, 41-43.
21.
Chicago was chosen, according to Martin Luther King, Jr., because "If we can break the backbone of discrimination in Chicago, we can do it in all the cities in the country." See Hirsch, Making the Second Ghetto, 264.
22.
Hirsch, Making the Second Ghetto, 264.
23.
Meyer, As Long As They Don't Move Next Door, 183-88.
24.
Bowly, The Poorhouse, 188-89.
25.
Hirsch, Making the Second Ghetto, 265.
26.
Curtis Lawrence and Kate N. Grossman, "Coming Full Circle," Chicago Sun-Times, March 25, 2001.
27.
Irving Welfeld , "Gautreaux: Baby Steps to Opportunity" in New Directions in Urban Public Housing (New Brunswick, NJ: Center for Urban Policy Research, 1998), 226.
28.
Lawrence and Grossman, " Coming Full Circle."
29.
Welfeld, " Gautreaux: Baby Steps to Opportunity," 226-34.
30.
Venkatesh, American Project , 49-51.
31.
Venkatesh, American Project , 112.
32.
Venkatesh, American Project , 116-18.
33.
Maudlyne Ihejirika ," CHA Races GOP Ax on Replacement Plan," Chicago Sun-Times, December 23, 1994, 15.
34.
Lawrence and Grossman, "Coming Full Circle."
35.
Von Hoffman, House by House, Black by Block, 141-42. Also see Cha. "Chicago Housing Authority: Plan for Transformation." 2000. Accessed March 6, 2007 at: http://www.thecha.org/transformplan/files/plan_for_transformation_year_1_english_final.pdf .
36.
Lawrence and Grossman, "Coming Full Circle "; Von Hoffman, House by House, Black by Block, 142.
37.
Lawrence and Grossman, "Coming Full Circle."
38.
David E Thigpen, "The Long Way Home," Time, Aug 5, 2002, 42-44.
39.
John Handley , "Redeveloping Public Housing; CHA Aims for Integration, Not Isolation, in Demolishing and Replacing High-rises," Chicago Tribune, August 22, 2004, 1.
40.
Susan Clampet-Lundquist , "Moving Over or Moving Up? Short-term Gains and Losses for Relocated HOPE VI Families,"Cityscape7 (2004):58.
41.
The Near North Side is one of the seventy-seven community areas in Chicago. This area is well-known for its diversity, with the Gold Coast on Lake Michigan and slums on the west side. See Marciniak , Reclaiming the Inner City. For an earlier study of this neighborhood, see Harvey Warren Zorbaugh, The Gold Coast and the Slum: A Sociological Study of Chicago's Near North Side ( Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1929).
42.
Larry Bennett and Adolph Reed, Jr., "The New Face of Urban Renewal: The Near North Redevelopment Initiative and the Cabrini-Green Neighborhood" in Without Justice For All (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1999); Marciniak, Reclaiming the Inner City.
43.
Marciniak, Reclaiming the Inner City, 25. Here is a description of the housing of the slum.
44.
Meyerson and Banfield, Politics, Planning, and the Public Interest, 123.
45.
Bowly, The Poorhouse, 35, 117.
46.
Feldman and Stall, The Dignity of Resistance, 43.
47.
Bowly, The Poorhouse, 35, 116, 118.
48.
Kate N.Grossman, "14 Cabrini High-rises to Close; CHA Whittling Complex to 3 Buildings as Residents Fight to Stay,"Chicago Sun-Times, January 10, 2005, 8.
49.
"CHA Population: An Outline,"Chicago Sun-Times , July 5, 1994, 6.
50.
This slow rebirth of the Lower North Side led one commentator to predict that a confrontation was looming between Cabrini-Green residents and those who would want to tear down the high-rises. See Marciniak, Reclaiming the Inner City, 158-59.
51.
Bennett, "Do We Really Wish To Live In A Communitarian City?"
52.
Maudlyne Ihejirika , "Cabrini Rehab in Doubt; Rejected by HUD Angers Lane,"Chicago Sun-Times, August 26, 1993, 1.
53.
Maudlyne Ihejirika ."$50 Million to fix buildings, raze others,"Chicago Sun-Times, December 1, 1993, 1.
54.
Patrick Reardon , "Cuts Imperil CHA Plans for Cabrini,"Chicago Tribune, February 10, 1994, B5.
55.
Maudlyne Ihejirika , "HUD Sticks to Lane's Plan, Asks Cabrini-Green Residents to Move,"Chicago Sun-Times, July 15, 1995, 5.
56.
Gilbert Jimenez , "HUD Gives $110 Million Boost to CHA,"Chicago Sun-Times, October 10, 1995, 10.
57.
Bennett, "Do We Really Wish To Live In A Communitarian City?"
58.
North Town Community Partnership, "Project Hope: Commitment to Community Change." ( Chicago : North Town Community Partnership, 1995):1.
59.
Bennett and Reed, "The New Face of Urban Renewal."
60.
Wright, Wheelock , and Steele, "The Case of Cabrini-Green,"172.
61.
Blair Kamin and Flynn McRoberts, "Planners to Fast-forward Design for Cabrini-Green,"Chicago Tribune, December 12, 1996, A1.
62.
Nancy Ryan , "Cabrini Alternative is Proposed,"Chicago Tribune, March 28, 1997, A4.
63.
Andrew Fegelman , "Cabrini Residents Waiting to be Invited to Unveiling,"Chicago Tribune, February 15, 1997, A5.
64.
Olivia Wu , "Cabrini Plan Disputed,"Chicago Sun-Times, February 23, 1997, 18.
65.
Phat X.Chiem and Flynn McRoberts, "Cabrini Tenants File Suit to Halt Razing More of Their High-rises,"Chicago Tribune, October 25, 1996, B3.
66.
Andrew Fegelman , "15 High-rises in Cabrini Left Out of Big Plan,"Chicago Tribune, February 21, 1997, C12.
67.
Wu, "Cabrini Plan Disputed."
68.
Nancy Ryan , "City Officials Feel the Heat on Cabrini Plans,"Chicago Tribune, February 23, 1997, D3.
69.
Ryan, "Cabrini Alternative is Proposed."
70.
Editorial, "Another Cabrini-Green Milestone,"Chicago Tribune , May 18, 1997, A22.
71.
Flynn McRoberts and Jeffrey Bils, "Residents Will Allow Cabrini Teardown,"Chicago Tribune, July 29, 1998 , 2C1.
72.
"On Cabrini, A Deal Best Not Made,"Chicago Tribune, August 3, 1998, A22; Curtis Lawrence, "Cabrini Pact on Hold as Dispute Continues,"Chicago Sun-Times , May 12, 1999, 10.
73.
Leon Pitt, "Judge Stalls Cabrini Renewal Deal; CHA `Mini-war' with Developer Cited,"Chicago Sun-Times, July 31, 1999, 12.
74.
Mickey Ciokajlo , "New Cabrini Agreement May End Residents' Suit,"Chicago Tribune, August 16, 2000, C32.
75.
Curtis Lawrence , "OK Today for Cabrini Plan,"Chicago Sun-Times, August 15, 2000, 4.
76.
Kate N. Grossman, "Money Flows for New Cabrini Homes,"Chicago Sun-Times, August 15, 2002, 4.
77.
Jeff Glasser , "From Big and Ugly to Small and Promising,"U.S. News & World Report, September 11, 2000, 42-44.
78.
Wright, Wheelock, and Steele, "The Case of Cabrini-Green,"177.
79.
Natasha Korecki , "Cabrini-Green Residents Sue CHA Over Relocation Notice,"Chicago Sun-Times, June 4, 2004, 29.
80.
Wright, Wheelock, and Steele, "The Case of Cabrini-Green,"182.
81.
Larry Finley , "New Role for Public Housing,"Chicago Sun-Times, June 25, 2004, 1.
82.
Handley, "Redeveloping Public Housing."
83.
Gilbert Jimenez , "Tenants Make a Difference in CHA High-Rise,"Chicago Sun-Times, April 7, 1996, 16.
84.
Ibid.
85.
Maudlyne Ihejirika , "Cabrini-Green Shapes Up as Tenants Take Charge," Chicago Sun-Times, May 14, 1992, 5.
86.
Maudlyne Ihejirika , "Cabrini Tenants Awash In Still Another Success,"Chicago Sun-Times, November 3, 1994, 3.
87.
Nancy Ryan , "Tenants to Manage 7 Cabrini-Green Sites,"Chicago Tribune, March 4, 1997, 2C3.
Kate N. Grossman, "Chicago Police Help CHA Oust Cabrini-Green Resident Managers,"Chicago Sun-Times, June 10, 1993, 18.
90.
Janita Poe , "Housing Complex Wary of Changes,"Chicago Tribune, July 17, 1996, B3
91.
Kate N. Grossman, "100 Cabrini Residents Protest Dismissals,"Chicago Sun-Times, June 11, 2003, 22.
92.
See Venkatesh, American Project; Popkin, The Hidden War; Alex Kotlowitz, There Are No Children Here.
93.
Marciniak, Reclaiming the Inner City; Zorbaugh, The Gold Coast and the Slum.
94.
Sociologist William Julius Wilson has prominently articulated the need to reduce the isolation of poor inner-city African Americans. See William J. Wilson , The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987); William J. Wilson, When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor (New York: Knopf, 1996).
95.
Editorial, "Joliet's Housing Dilemma,"Chicago Tribune, November 5, 2003, A26.
96.
Feldman and Stall, The Dignity of Resistance , 350.
