Question:

Is this what we have to look forward to if Obama wins the Presidency?

by  |  earlier

0 LIKES UnLike

CHICAGO - The squat brick buildings of Grove Parc Plaza, in a dense neighborhood that Barack Obama represented for eight years as a state senator, hold 504 apartments subsidized by the federal government for people who can’t afford to live anywhere else.

But it’s not safe to live here.

About 99 of the units are vacant, many rendered uninhabitable by unfixed problems, such as collapsed roofs and fire damage. Mice scamper through the halls. Battered mailboxes hang open. Sewage backs up into kitchen sinks. In 2006, federal inspectors graded the condition of the complex an 11 on a 100-point scale - a score so bad the buildings now face demolition.

Grove Parc has become a symbol for some in Chicago of the broader failures of giving public subsidies to private companies to build and manage affordable housing - an approach strongly backed by Obama as the best replacement for public housing.

As a state senator, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee coauthored an Illinois law creating a new pool of tax credits for developers. As a US senator, he pressed for increased federal subsidies. And as a presidential candidate, he has campaigned on a promise to create an Affordable Housing Trust Fund that could give developers an estimated $500 million a year.

But a Globe review found that thousands of apartments across Chicago that had been built with local, state, and federal subsidies - including several hundred in Obama’s former district - deteriorated so completely that they were no longer habitable.

Grove Parc and several other prominent failures were developed and managed by Obama’s close friends and political supporters. Those people profited from the subsidies even as many of Obama’s constituents suffered. Tenants lost their homes; surrounding neighborhoods were blighted.

Some of the residents of Grove Parc say they are angry that Obama did not notice their plight.

 Tags:

   Report

8 ANSWERS


  1. We wont be able to tell until he's Elected


  2. No.

    I'm quite sure that when Obama gets to the Oval Office we will start to enjoy all the benefits that soviet Russia enjoyed when the communists took over the USSR.

  3. It is nice that someone is showing the "true Obama-orama.

  4. Don't sweat it, it ain't happening.

  5. He did not notice their plight because he was just too busy running for  president.. that's the only thing that he has ever had on his mind.

    I hope the people of those districts send him a message about that... I am about sick of hearing how wonderful he is, how many proposals he has come up with  etc.  etc.  This guy is way too good to be true.  The lies are starting to show thro'

  6. There are a lot of WILD people living in those housing projects.  They are given a break and tear up the place.  At least they tried, and I guess they'll try again, if for the sake of the children caught in the middle of all these dysfunctional families in the USA ghettos these days.

  7. What about what's happening now?!!! Do you really think that anyone can be as bad or worse than ole GWB has been in the last 7+ years.......

  8. It's the status quo, and it's what we have to look forward to so long as American citizens continue to accept candidates that have been pre-approved for us by corporate interests.

Question Stats

Latest activity: earlier.
This question has 8 answers.

BECOME A GUIDE

Share your knowledge and help people by answering questions.