It was a gloriously sunny afternoon as the Hideout’s annual block party kicked off late last month. Beer was flowing, hot dogs were being grilled, and bands played into the night. But there was a touch of melancholy in the air. Some attendees were quietly murmuring that such celebrations may be coming to an end. At least at this location.
I call this phenomenon Disposable Chicago. Sometimes it seems as though the Emanuel administration can’t dispose of people, places, and things fast enough. It’s an old story, one I’ve been covering in gentrifying neighborhoods for years. But it hits a little closer to home with the Hideout. The bar’s been good to me. For the last three years, the Tutens have allowed former Reader and current ProPublica Illinois reporter Mick Dumke and me to host First Tuesdays, a monthly political talk show. What else but a funky little rock ‘n’ roll bar would let a journalistic misfit like me take center stage?
While there’s no direct correlation between the out-migration of black people and the possible relocation of a north-side cultural hub, the indisputable fact is that when the city goes upscale, people get priced out.
It was at that hearing that Hopkins relayed that the city told him the issue was omitted from the housing committee agenda because of a “typo.” As a guy who’s been known to reverse his i‘s and e‘s, I know all about typos. But forgetting to include a 335-page document in the agenda—man, that looks less like a typo and more like an attempt to conceal Mount Everest. v
