Join us at Tuesday night’s public meeting with elected officials to talk about bringing jobs to Chicago’s West Side through a Community Benefits Agreement.
CCH co-leads organizing for the Westside Community Benefits Coalition, which is hosting the 6:30 p.m. meeting on Tuesday, July 14 at First Baptist Congregational Church, 1613 W. Washington Blvd. Other partners in the coalition include the Community Renewal Society, Action Now and the Westside Health Authority.
The coalition is calling for a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) before any public subsidy, such as tax-increment financing (TIF), is awarded to Gateway Development Partners’ planned $300 million redevelopment at 2020 W. Ogden Avenue, in the Illinois Medical District. The development will include a hotel, retail businesses, restaurants, and more than 200 units of housing.
Gateway’s project is projected to create more than 1,000 permanent new jobs in a neighborhood with the some of the highest rates of unemployment in the U.S.
A CBA is a legally enforceable contract between community groups and a developer, setting forth a range of community benefits, including hiring for jobs created by the redevelopment.
These elected officials committed to attend: Aldermen Walter Burnett (27th Ward), Jason Ervin (28th), Emma Mitts (37th) and Chris Taliaferro (29th), and Cook County Commissioner Robert Steele. Alderman Michael Scott (24th) agreed to send an aide.
July 15 update: Four aldermen (Burnett, Ervin, Mitts and Scott) committed Tuesday that they would not agree to public subsidies for this project without a signed Community Benefits Agreement.
For more information, contact CCH organizer Rachel Ramirez at rachel@chicagohomeless.org
– Anne Bowhay