By Ben Joravsky
Well, the mighty crash coming out of Albany Park last week was that other shoe landing with a thud. The city produced its final plan for the spot, and the Ainslie and its 88 units are coming down all right–along with some 80 other units of affordable housing a block west in the 4900 block of North Sawyer. But they aren’t making way for a park; they’ll be replaced by a much-needed school.
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The tenants managed to beat back the bulldozers, convincing the city last year to buy out the owners and install a new management team. “It’s much better run than it used to be,” says Arnold. But Laurino and block club leaders remained unconvinced. They continued to call for replacing the Ainslie with anything (a park, shopping strip, housing) that might clean up the area.
Mayor Daley sent mixed signals. At roughly the same time that his housing department was spending a million dollars to save the Ainslie, his planning department was suggesting that it and other “old” or “dilapidated” properties be torn down. The contradictions became apparent during an August 1998 meeting at North Park University. Ainslie tenants hooted and heckled as planning consultants hired by the city presented a “vision for the future” that the SRO was by no means certain to be part of.
The new middle school and adjacent Hibbard would be surrounded by an “urban park” of open land and playgrounds.
To critics, the plan was less about educating children than about pushing out the poor. “My kids go to Hibbard, so I know how much they need a new school,” says Israel Pinto, who lives on the 4900 block of Sawyer. “But everyone knows what’s going on. We knew why they’re putting it there as opposed to Foster. They want to get rid of the Ainslie and all the other buildings on Sawyer.”
