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26 Reasons to Oppose
Board Bills 31 and 32

[Presented by Brian Marston to the HUDZ Committee of the Board of Alderman on 6/27/01. The committee is chaired by 13th ward alderman Fred Wessels. The other committee members are as follows: Phyllis Young (7th ward), Steve Conway (8th ward), Gregory Carter (27th ward), Craig Schmid (10th ward), Ken Ortmann (9th ward) and Kenny Jones (22nd ward).]

1. The homes affected by the board bills are irreplaceable. Once they're gone, they're gone. Homes like them will never be built again.
   
   
2. 3539 and 3541 Hartford are two-story, brick single-family homes that add stability to neighborhood. They're completely viable and in good condition. In fact, people are currently living in 3539 Hartford. 3541 Hartford was occupied until about a month ago. 3539 Hartford has recently undergone fairly extensive renovation including a $4,800 new roof, a $3,500 interior painting job, and a $2,300 set of front steps and rails.
   
   
3. Board Bills 31 and 32 are a clear misapplication of blighting legislation. The properties in question do not "constitute an economic or social liability or a menace to the public health," with the possible exception of the three houses on the 3500 block of Juniata which have been owned by Tim Boyle for three years.
   
   
4. These houses are on good blocks where property values are rising. They're also in an area that's a potential historic district and demolition would jeopardize that by damaging the integrity of the block face.
   
   
5. The overwhelming majority of residents are opposed to the proposed demolitions. 477 people have signed a petition against them.
   
   
6. Frank and Rosemary Tomiser have lived at 3535 Hartford for 37 years. The Tomisers are model citizens. They are the kind of people who make our neighborhood a great place to live, the kind of residents this city needs more of. They have stayed in the city through thick and thin, and now their loyalty is being rewarded with a proposed demolition that would lower the value of their home by at least $25,000 according to two independent appraisals.
   
   
7. The Bread Company will not leave South Grand if it doesn't get these new parking spaces. It just won't expand.
   
   
8. The Bread Company on South Grand is not a regional draw or a destination business. It is exactly like the 300 other Bread Companies. No one is going to make a special trip to South Grand to buy asiago cheese bread when they can get the same thing at a location closer to their home or place of employment.
   
   
9. There is not an immediate need for more parking. Those in favor of the demolition have offered no hard evidence that there is a parking shortage on South Grand. At least four different people have methodically counted available parking spaces at peak times throughout the week, and all of them have concluded that there is ample parking.
   
   
10. Signage pointing out the existing parking lots would go a long way toward helping people easily find parking spaces. It's a matter of perception versus reality. There are plenty of available spaces; some people just don't know where to look for them.
    
    
11. Knocking down buildings for more surface lots should be a last resort, not a first recourse.
    
    
12. People who choose to shop or eat on South Grand do so because they enjoy the urban atmosphere. Part of what makes South Grand a unique destination compared to other business districts is the fact that the residential area comes right up to the commercial district. It would be a mistake to replicate the all-too-familiar asphalt terrain of suburbia on South Grand.
    
    
13. The foot traffic created by people who have to walk a couple of blocks to get to their destination is vital to the health of the business district. People will walk a couple of blocks from their cars to go to a unique business.
    
    
14. People walk much farther from their cars to go to a store at the Galleria than they would have to walk if they had to park at the back of the Commerce lot to go to the Bread Co. on South Grand.
    
    
15. We already have enough open space to use for future parking needs without tearing down more homes if we use it in a smart way. In particular, the surface lot behind Commerce Bank directly across the street form the proposed demolitions covers almost an entire city block and rarely has more than a few cars parked on it.
    
    
16. Gulf Coast Café, a relatively new business on Grand, expanded without adjacent parking. Mr. Tran recently opened a new cyber café on Grand called the Jade Room without a dedicated parking lot. MoKaBe's, Mangia Italiano, the King and I, Mekong, Lemongrass, and many other businesses on Grand are also thriving without additional parking.
    
    
17. Tim Boyle's South Grand Square development is a strip mall full of chain stores that are out of character with the funky, independent, international flavor of the rest of the business district.
    
    
18. Board Bills 31 and 32 don't solve the supposed parking shortage. They only benefit one developer (Tim Boyle) and leave other the other business owners and developers on Grand to carve out their own lots ten spaces at a time by tearing down homes.
    
    
19. The full scope of Board Bills 31 and 32 has never been presented at a public meeting before today.
    
    
20. The Cultural Resources Office voted against Tim's request to demolish 3539 and 3541 Hartford.
    
    
21. Doing an end run around the Cultural Resources Office to present these bills before the HUDZ committee is a slap in the face to the Preservation Board and the dozens of people who spent many hours of their time preparing for and attending those hearings. It also makes city government look inefficient and at odds with itself.
    
    
22. Ald. Ortmann and Ald. Florida have committed $16,000 for a community-based, comprehensive parking study and plan. Ald. Ortmann is undermining the community planning process by simultaneously advancing his own parking plan.
    
    
23. Taken together, Board Bills 31 and 32 greatly constrain the options available to the group participating in the community-based parking study.
    
    
24. Demolishing these buildings will release lead paint dust and possibly asbestos into the air and soil in a densely populated area.
    
    
25. Tim Boyle has a poor track record of development on Grand. In the three years I've lived in the neighborhood, he's made no progress on any of his buildings, and some of them have slipped backwards. He owns the "three stooges" on the 3500 block of Juniata (he bought them in 1998; they're currently boarded up with broken windows), the Anderson building at 2337 S. Grand (boarded up with several broken windows), 3139 S. Grand (the interior's been a mess since the Dickmann Bakery moved out; for months it sat with a black sheet of plywood instead of a front window), and 3617 Hartford (it took him more than eight months after he demolished it to start paving the resulting mud pit). The landscaping around his properties is atrocious. Tim has enough money and connections to tie up properties, but not enough to finish developing them in a timely manner.
    
    
26. Taken together, these two bills have the effect of swapping 100-year-old homes for cartoonish replicas. They open up the possibility of building homes on an existing parking lot and demolishing the historic homes across the street. If parking is so tight, why build on an available parking lot?

As I'm sure you understand, you have an important decision to make. It's not important because of the media attention this issue has received. It's not important just because of all the people who will be affected. It's important because it's representative of how city government conducts itself. If you wave Board Bills 31 and 32 through out of a misguided sense of aldermanic courtesy, you'll be sending a message that it's politics as usual. Or, and this is the option I like, you can show that the Board of Aldermen values citizen involvement and considers input from the constituents and neighbors who will be affected most by a decision. I hope you make the right decision.