Sliding Billy

"I ain't what I used to be, but who the hell is?"

My baby takes the morning train

Every day, I ride the local commuter rail line between my home and the office I work at in downtown Chicago.  This train line goes through the western suburbs and the west side of Chicago.  That means that every day, I see the innumerable empty, weed-choked lots that litter that part of Chicago.  I ride past blocks that have more empty lots than houses, where concrete slabs that once supported buildings now lay bare, occasionally serving as parking spaces.

These are hardly new, these hundreds of empty lots.  Fifteen years ago, I would ride the L through these same neighborhoods, and the number of empty lots doesn’t seem to have shrunk.  I imagine that these lots have lain bare since the late 1960s, when riots convulsed Chicago.

I don’t understand why this remains the case.  Why hasn’t the city put these lots up for sale?  After all, if no one owns these lots, potential tax revenue is being wasted.  Or, if they bear no responsibility (which I doubt), why hasn’t an enterprising real estate speculator bought a number of them, built inexpensive housing, and returned this fallow ground to the tax rolls?  Failing either of these, why not build public housing?

(Interlude) This train is operating approximately seven minutes late, due to Metra being run by the Three Stooges.

(End interlude)  I suppose that nobody wants to put any money into the west side of Chicago, although it seems that if the current city administration were to do so, they would win an awful lot of votes come the next election.

posted by: SlidingBilly at 12:56 | link | comments (2) |

Comments:

#1  14 August 2006 - 13:18

 

Yay, a new voice... welcome to Mo'time.

howard

#2  14 August 2006 - 23:29

 

I bet you blinked and missed the fact that you were featured post for three plus hours today. Congrats, and keep up the good writing!

InMyLife

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