Maxwell Renewal: Letter to the Editor by Bill Lavicka, Historic Preservationist and Real Estate Developer

Bill Lavicka, Chicago Tribune, Monday, March 24, 1997, Sec. 1, p. 14.


Following John McCarron's great column (Op-ed, March 17) on preserving the living essence of the Maxwell/Halsted market is no easy feat. The new and empty university parking lots and ballfields are slowly squeezing the vibrancy out of the remaining 50 stores and buildings.

The businesses that sell clothes, hats, hot dogs, jewelry, etc. to the teeming masses on the street will be replaced with the inward, cold vacancy of academia hiding behind granite columns. There will be no street life. There will be no action, no interest, no people.

Look to the north at the University of Illinois at Chicago main campus and you'll see the antithesis of great city planning - a penal colony of harried youth sequestered within, doing time for a degree.

Seize the moment, UIC and City of Chicago. Great cities are steeped in their history, and there is great opportunity in preserving and renewing Maxwell Street as living treasure.

Seize the moment, Jews and gentiles, blacks and whites, rich and poor, and all people of good will. Renew the gaiety of city street life at Maxwell and Halsted with new curbs, sidewalks, restored buildings and facades, banners, street vendors and stands to welcome anew wide-eyed city lovers. Plan the university around Maxwell Street and offer Maxwell the cherished respect of a grandfather of Chicago.

William L. Lavicka

Chicago


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