In the 1960s, the University of Chicago was subjecting Hyde Park and South Kenwood to a harsh regimen of urban renewal. It invoked eminent domain to take control of property in areas of “blight” and redevelop them, displacing many low-income residents and businesses. When it turned its gaze southward, however, it met far greater resistance to its gentrifying influence. The Temporary Woodlawn Organization (now The Woodlawn Organization, or TWO) united Woodlawn residents, activists, and religious leaders in opposition to the University’s agenda and the neighborhood’s decline. Led by then-president Arthur M. Brazier and helped by renowned community organizer Saul Alinsky, TWO protested against the unresponsive, underhanded practices of local businesses, landlords, and city officials. Its members called for an end to landlords’ neglect of their buildings and the sale of inferior products at inflated prices. On both counts they won small victories, but 1964 marked a major triumph: TWO extracted a promise from the University not to expand south of 61st Street. Read the rest of this entry »

Development in Hyde Park has been a contentious issue since the urban renewal of the 1950s, and judging by the crowd at the panel discussion “Making Hyde Park: Development in our Community,” it’s as hot a topic as ever. Over one hundred students and Hyde Park residents crowded into an undersized room in Ida Noyes on Tuesday, March 4, to listen as a diverse group of panelists put forward their visions for the future of Hyde Park. It was an occasion for “conversation, not debate,” as moderator and University Community Service Center director Wallace Goode emphasized, but that didn’t mean voices were not raised as the panelists argued about issues like retail, density, architecture, and the University’s involvement in development. Read the rest of this entry »