Shot down by the Alderman

[bigdaddyvoges]

Just got off a 30 minute conference call with the alderman and my brother-in-law. To condense this story down, what happened was, the alderman in the ward of our city where the business is located, bascially said he would not go to city council to fight for us to get rezoned. The building is zoned currently for "business" and would need to be rezoned to "commercial business." His thoughts were he was "protecting" the citizens of his ward.

I am guessing one last thing I could do wold be to construct a petition and try to walk and get signatures of homeowners within a 6-8 block radius of the business and ask them their opinions on turning this building into a car wash.

My thought is this, we would be pumping money into this building and would look a lot better to the eye than the run-down shape it looks like now. Well its either that or it gets forclosed on as my father-in-law doesn't have the $$$ for the payment anymore....... Chicago is so corrupt I tell you.....

 

[Earl Weiss]

Well, you may know that I am in Chicago. I had some people convince the Alderman that the neighborhood did not want us after being there 40 years and surviving buildings on 3 sides of us being burned. Suddenly we did not fit their vision of the area. Next thing we knew they snuck thru an eminent domain / condemnation ordinance. Took us 5 years to fight and among other things the media was behind us and we got thousands of signatures on petitions. The support of the community was heartwarming and they convinced the alderman the few belly achers did not speak for the community.
For the flip side. You are seeking to change the zoning. The burden is on you to show the benefit. Support of the voters in the ward would certainly help. You will burn a lot of time and energy tring to to this, and you may not be succesful. Try to comntact the local Chamber of commerce and find out who the local community organizations are to get their support. With a few noteable exceptions alderman are all powerful when it comes to what happens in their ward.

 

[bigdaddyvoges]

Earl,

I was hoping I would get a response from you. Thanks for describing how this process can/will go down. We are not going down without a fight. The one thing I did find is one of the "competitor" hand washes that is 3 miles away, in the same ward, isn't zoned for commercial business but rather the same zoning our father's mechanic shop is today. Is it worth calling back to the alderman and having him justify another business in his ward with the same business not being zoned properly? Just a thought. Also, we will try to find local groups that would help us along during this. Looks like we will be turning into foot soldiers to try and get backing for this.

Bob

 

[Earl Weiss]

Since you are looking to do a Hand wash, you may want to go to City Hall Zoning department to find out exactly what you need. Bring A survey. Be prepared to spend the day. NOT KIDDING. Get there when they open.

Recently had to do the simple task of driveway permit transfer since I closed on a location I had operated for 10 years and the city requires that the new owner transfer the permits. Had to transfer because new repair shop tenant went to get license and the city found permits in the old name. Long story short, process cost me $2000.00 for an architect site plan, $7000.00 for new and upgraded fencing. 3 trips to City hall for permits and approvals totaling about 6 hours of my time, five of which was waiting for my turn. On one visit they stopped taking new people at 10:30 am.

Start with ythe locl chamber of commerce. They may be able to put you in touch with local community groups.... who you may wish to help out with fundraiser

 

[bigdaddyvoges]

Earl,

Just gave my brother-in-law the contact information for the chamber of commerce. Is it bad the Alderman is on of the directors on their board? (although there are 5 people higher up the line than he is, President, VP.... etc)

Bob

 

[Earl Weiss]

Being on the board may be good and it may be bad. Atleast the lines of communication would be open. In our siuation when we faced the eminent domain action we approached the Chamner for assistance. At first they seemed reluctant to get involved. Probably because some were either close to the alderman or were afraid of opposing her. Then, we reminded them - Their job is to help businesses.

BTW we also asked the ICA to write a letter of support. The ICA refused!

 

[bigdaddyvoges]

Sorry, whats the ICA?

I agree that if we can get the chamber on our side it has to be beneficial. And as their website says, "to promote and assure economic development and growth"

 

[Earl Weiss]

ICA - International Car Wash Association.

Happens to have it's "Headquarters" office in Chicago.

 

[bigdaddyvoges]

Wow, what great backing they provide I see.

I just can't see how it helps the community to drive businesses out of the city.

Then what gets me is "if I zone you for commercial, I have to zone the whole block for commercial, then who am I to say no" Shouldn't this be evaluated on a case by case basis? There aren't any other businesses on the block that could even put in something commercial.

Oh, and then I got the DOT will take action because you MIGHT block the bus route. (I am glad to see that my business is thriving before it even opens) The bus stop is 6 store fronts down the block and cars will not be in its way.....

 

[bigdaddyvoges]

Earl,

Finally got a response/call from the Chamber of Commerce, and they understand what we want to do completely. We are going to meet at my father-in-law's shop, go over what exactly we want to do, show him its feasible, and hopefully he will come with us to the Alderman sit down October 30th so he can vouch for us.

Bob