Thoughtful, Thoughtless Actions

To end this term in my Humanities class "A Nations Argument" we leapt into studying the Constitution and Bill of Rights. This began with how the first settlements decided to create a union and branch away from Europe. That was made clear with the righting of the Constitution which being one, kept us looking at how syllogisms work. Next we looked at the amendments made in the Bill of Rights and people who have had their rights violated. In this action project we were instructed to find a part of the municipal code in our own city that we believe should be changed or "amended."   In my case I chose to pursue a topic that is quite hard to narrow down to one ordinance. In stead I am using an article as the inspiration and a related ordinance as an example.  

City of Chicago Flier, 2020

The related ordinance is the "Woodlawn Housing Preservation Ordinance." This is an ordinance that wants to make sure housing prices, rent prices and relocation of residence will not be results of the building of the Obama presidential library. They want to do this with five main goals in mind: 

1. Help protect existing residents from displacement
2. Create new rental and for-sale housing opportunities that are affordable to households at a range of incomes
3. Ensure that existing housing stock offers good quality housing for residents
4. Promote housing options to support equitable and inclusive income diversity in Woodlawn
5. Support economic development opportunities

The syllogism for this ordinance spans thirty pages so ill need to give an abridged version but:

P1. Under the seventh amendment of the constitution the city of Chicago has power in its personal affairs. 

P2. The city has recognized that a shortage of affordable housing is harmful to the city. 

P3. The low income area of Woodlawn, has had home values on the rise in recent years. 

P4. As new businesses are attracted to the Obama Presidential Center home values will spike. 

P5. To reduce displacement and promote development, action is needed. 

P6. Gentrification and displacement cause great economic and racial segregation. 

P7. Several programs meant to develop the Woodlawn area will have new projects and goals. 

P8. Woodlawn is being targeted for the CCLT-AHHP program.

C: Implement thirteen sections describing how developers will now need to operate.  

I want to emphasize that the idea of affordable housing in neighborhoods is in no way bad. There are people fighting all the time for housing for those who are in low income neighborhoods. The only problem is that developers are choosing specific areas to build. It is a pretext for segregation as affordable housing is set in the same few areas in primarily black and brown neighborhoods.  Making sure not to bring these families to close to more upper-class white neighborhoods. 

If we don't create an ordinance or amend a number of them our city will only be promoting an "autopilot" the keeps everyone segregated. Chicago is hailed as a pretty progressive city right? So why is there still this unseen type of segregation that could lead to xenophobia. This only makes our city into a clown or charlatan.

As for my own syllogism for making/ updating current ordinances:

P1. The invisible segregation created by an economic barrier has become apparent.

P2. The segregation of not only a city but anywhere will only lead to xenophobia.

P3. The creation of assumptions based on location are only harmful.

P4. The acts of charlatans should not be the same as ours. (reference from the above paragraph)

P5. Having a penalty in the buying and owning of land for obfuscation of city ordinances should be impactful enough to not be ignored. 

P6. The need for an ordinance to be taken as a directive that should be easily implemented. 

P7. Property value is one of the largest reasons for this economic barrier. 

P8. For the need of this change to in immediate effect in terms of adoption. 

C: Implement a new directive on how developers need to operate across the city with a penalty that will be the same cost of the property x2. 

When thinking of my class and how much we talked about the Constitution and the constant reminders from my teacher to have our pocket constitution, it is only fit to reference. In the case of this ordinance type, we look to the ninth amendment. "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." This means that there are rights that must be delegated to the people outside of the amendments and they should not be stolen. I believe that in our modern society our basic needs should be seen as rights: food, water, and shelter. Therefore, we need to make this human need a right and make it as easy to get such things as possible.                                                                                                                                                                                                  Quote from cosigner MM: 

"I agree that affordable housing is good but I think as you've stated it continues the segregation that remains to be a problem in Chicago." 

MM Signature, 2021

With that, I am done with my second unit of my Argument class. It is the end of the term but we will resume and end the class in the final term of the year right before the final class Policy. It was a bit difficult because it got a bit hectic looking for information and having another action project at the same time and thinking about the future. I don't regret the time I spent this term in class and hope for the best in the next. To you reading this I hope you have a good day, night, or whenever you are reading this. 

-CDH                                                                                        

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