Dan M. Parker <ParkDan@aol.com> Date: Thu, 9 Jan 1997
Chancellor Broski:
I would like to take this opportunity to state my support for the movement to incorporate a Maxwell Street Historic Preservation District into the University of Illinois's redevelopment plans. You must realize that Maxwell Street is still a very important place to Chicagoans: as an entry community for numerous immigrant groups, as one of the birthplaces of blues music, as the original site of one of the world's most famous open-air markets.
During the summer of 1994 many television and newspaper stories implied that the market's relocation was "the end of Maxwell Street." The Halsted/Roosevelt commercial area has yet to shake this false supposition.
Additionally, Mayor Daley and his administration -- as well as UIC - have helped nurture the idea that "progress" can only mean "tear down and start over." People almost seem to take this for granted. This thinking is short-sighted and dangerous. Look at New York City: buildings are commonly reused for different purposes. Creative planning can save the Maxwell Street area's existing structures, allowing them new life with different, possibly multiple purposes.
Let me tell you a bit about myself and my relationship to Maxwell Street. As a student at the University of Illinois at Chicago, I lived on Maxwell Street during the 1989/90 school year (at the "UIC Gymnastics Chalet" at 1336 S. Newberry). I graduated from UIC in 1991 with a B.A. in Psychology. Currently, I am pursuing my M.A. in Sociology at DePaul University. I am working on my thesis, which is an ethnographic case study of Chicago's Maxwell Street. As part of this project, I have interviewed a number of vendors who participated in the old market. I have also taken hundreds of photographs at the old and new markets, as well as of the Maxwell Street area in general. I am planning to graduate this June. I cannot overstate the fact that the sights, the sounds, and the people on Maxwell Street profoundly affected my life.
I am of the opinion that schools should serve their students, as well as the community at large. This is an opportunity for the University of Illinois at Chicago to give back something special to the City of Chicago. I appreciate you taking the time to read this.
Sincerely,
Dan M. Parker
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