On September 17, 2025, over 250 Edgewater residents gathered for the ERRD Community Forum to discuss the City of Chicago’s proposed blanket upzoning of Broadway and to review ERRD’s alternative “Win-Win Roadmap.” The forum featured presentations from community leaders and experts in affordable housing, economic development, historic preservation, taxation, small business, and transportation. Collectively, the speakers highlighted the significant risks of the City’s plan: increased housing costs, displacement of small businesses and residents, loss of historic buildings, parking shortages, and threats to neighborhood character. In contrast, ERRD’s roadmap demonstrates how to achieve approximately 75% of the City’s housing goals while preserving affordability, heritage, and quality of life.

Key overarching themes:

The City’s Broadway Upzoning Proposal is overly broad, one-size-fits-all, and threatens to remake Edgewater’s character without community input.
Housing Affordability Risks include the loss of naturally occurring affordable units and increased property taxes and rents.
Historic Preservation is essential to maintain Edgewater’s identity and affordability, with 45 heritage buildings at risk under the City’s plan.
Parking and Traffic Concerns are already significant east of Broadway and would be exacerbated by mass upzoning.
Economic Displacement will disproportionately affect small businesses and residents due to higher land values and property taxes.
ERRD’s Win-Win Roadmap provides a more balanced alternative, incorporating master planning, targeted upzoning, preservation, and community involvement.

👉 Bob Zuley’s News-Star Article (24 September 2025)

Presentations

ERRD’s Win-Win Roadmap – Patricia F. Sharkey
Broadway Rezoning Analysis – John G. Markowski
Small Business and Displacement Concerns – Patricia Staszak
Housing Affordability Realities – Mindy Turbov
Preservation of Heritage Buildings – John Holden
Taxation and Displacement Dynamics – Andrea A. Raila
Parking Challenges for Residents East of Broadway – Steve Weinshel

1. ERRD’s Win-Win Roadmap

Presenter: Patricia F. Sharkey

Bio: Patricia Sharkey is an environmental lawyer with 40 years of experience and founder of Environmental Law Counsel, P.C. Locally, she helped lead the Edgewater Community Council’s liquor referendum to close problem liquor stores, successfully defending it in court for four years. She is a long-time block club leader and currently serves as President of Edgewater Residents for Responsible Development. She has lived and raised her family in Edgewater for over 40 years.

Summary:

The City views Broadway as “underutilized” and a “development opportunity” and plans to rezone over 80% of the corridor to entice large-scale, high-density development without detailed study or planning.
ERRD counters that Broadway is already a vibrant shopping district and that indiscriminate upzoning risks heritage loss, canyonization, traffic congestion, parking shortages, small business displacement, alley overloads, and a loss of neighborhood character.
ERRD’s Win-Win Roadmap achieves about 75% of the City’s density goal through a balanced, community-driven approach:
- Launch a Central Broadway Master Plan for the Hollywood–Bryn Mawr section to guide new mixed-use development and add hundreds of housing units.
- Upzone only east-side deep lots abutting the Red Line, accompanied by comprehensive corridor planning for traffic, parking, and business impacts.
- Do not upzone west-side shallow lots abutting low-density residential, leaving development to case-by-case review.
- Retain existing business uses but streamline approvals for exceptions.
- Case-by-case review of heritage buildings before upzoning.
Called for residents and businesses to unite behind this roadmap and set next steps for responsible development.

👉 View slides (pdf)

2. Broadway Rezoning Analysis

Presenter: John G. Markowski

Bio: John Markowski is a nationally recognized leader in affordable housing and community development with a 40-year career. He led the Edgewater Community Council’s efforts in the 1980s to bring over $50 million in investment to rehab 5,000 affordable rental units. He later directed all financial assistance at the Chicago Department of Housing, served as Commissioner, and then led the Community Investment Corporation, Chicago’s top affordable housing lender. He has been an Edgewater homeowner for 40 years.

Summary:

Outlined the Department of Planning and Development’s (DPD) proposal to upzone the entire Broadway corridor from Foster to Devon to B3-5, permitting 7–8 story buildings with no differentiation or contextual planning.
Estimated the plan could add 10,000 new residential units, a transformation on the scale of Sheridan Road or Winthrop/Kenmore, fundamentally altering Broadway’s character.
Highlighted the success of the 2006 community-led rezoning, which set B1-2 limits on the west side (4 stories) and B1-3 on the east side (7 stories). This framework produced 1,300 new units and vibrant business development while preserving context and community input.
Warned that the new proposal dismisses lot size, context, and adjacent uses, raising risks of canyonization, demolition of heritage buildings, and displacement of small businesses.
Noted that rezoning to B3 introduces expanded uses, including taverns, liquor stores, gas stations, hotels/motels, payday loan stores, pawn shops, and large entertainment venues.
Criticized the elimination of community input, contrasting it with the inclusive 2006 process.

👉 View slides (pdf)

3. Small Business and Displacement Concerns

Presenter: Patricia Staszak

Bio: Patricia Staszak is a physical therapist and founder of Andersonville Physical Therapy, where she has owned and operated a community-based practice for over 20 years. She served on the Andersonville Chamber of Commerce board for nearly a decade and returned again recently. In 2010, she purchased her building and provides two affordable apartments above her business. She has been deeply involved in strengthening the neighborhood’s business and housing community.

Summary:

Provided the perspective of small businesses facing displacement under the City’s upzoning plan.
Her building, located on the west side of Broadway, has been labeled “under-utilized” despite housing her long-standing business and affordable apartments.
Stressed the disconnect between the City’s designation and the lived reality of thriving small businesses that anchor the community.
Expressed fear that property tax increases and speculative development could push long-time business owners out.
Called for recognition of the contributions small businesses make to Broadway’s vibrancy and the need to protect them in any development plan.

👉 no slides

4. Housing Affordability Realities

Presenter: Mindy Turbov

Bio: Mindy Turbov has devoted her 45-year career to affordable housing and neighborhood revitalization. She has held leadership roles at McCormack Baron, the Chicago Department of Housing, and as Director of HUD’s Choice Neighborhoods, overseeing more than $1 billion in affordable housing investment nationwide. She also chaired the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago. She has been a homeowner in Edgewater for 37 years.

Summary:

Compared Edgewater’s current affordability to the City’s proposal: existing housing is less expensive than Chicago averages, while new construction triggered by blanket upzoning will be unaffordable due to high building costs, rising land values, and higher taxes.
Explained that genuine affordability typically comes from older “naturally occurring” housing stock or from deeply subsidized projects, not from market-rate new construction.
Cited projects like Bickerdike to show that new affordable housing requires substantial subsidies and below-market financing, limiting scalability.
The City’s requirement that only 20% of units be affordable means 80% of units will be high-priced, driving up neighborhood rents as seen in Uptown.
Warned that upzoning will inflate land and tax costs, encourage demolitions of smaller affordable buildings, and displace both tenants and small businesses.
Predicted the result would be more expensive studios and one-bedrooms, reduced naturally affordable housing options, and diminished community character.

👉 View slides (pdf)

5. Preservation of Heritage Buildings

Presenter: John Holden

Bio: John Holden worked in public affairs for the City of Chicago for 25 years before founding Holden Consulting, a communications firm. He is President of the Edgewater Historical Society & Museum and Vice-President of the EPIC Block Club. He is also an affordable housing provider in Edgewater, where he has lived for 40 years.

Summary:

Reported that the Edgewater Historical Society has identified 45 heritage buildings along Broadway between Foster and Devon.
These buildings are directly threatened by the City’s plan, which designates them as “under-utilized” and earmarked as “development opportunities.”
These heritage structures collectively provide nearly 400 affordable residential units and affordable commercial spaces, while contributing most of Broadway’s architectural and aesthetic character.
Warned that the blanket upzoning could encourage land banking, speculative purchases, and demolitions, wiping out small businesses and livability without ensuring replacement construction.
Advocated for a development model inspired by successful Chicago districts like Fulton Market, where growth has been combined with deliberate historic preservation.

👉 View slides (pdf)

6. Taxation and Displacement Dynamics

Presenter: Andrea A. Raila

Bio: Andrea Raila is the founder of Raila & Associates and TRAEN, Inc., producing property tax studies and advocating for affordable housing policies. She represents housing providers seeking tax relief programs to preserve affordable housing. She also serves as a Cook County Commissioner on Women’s Issues, addressing housing and economic challenges for women and girls. A 50-year Edgewater resident, she manages three affordable apartments in the city.

Summary:

Explained how zoning changes directly influence property assessments: the County Assessor factors zoning into land valuations.
Demonstrated that upzoning drives sharp increases in assessed land values, which in turn generate steep property tax increases.
Showed how owners under tax pressure often sell, while tenants face rent hikes, leading to displacement of residents and small businesses.
Documented the trend that sold properties are frequently demolished, eliminating existing affordable housing and sometimes sitting as vacant land.
Case studies presented:
- On the 5400 block of N Broadway, land value per square foot rose by 107% since 2020.
- At the Affordable Organic Apartments, values rose by 145% in the same period.
Noted how luxury developments nearby distort valuations of older buildings, inflating taxes and destabilizing affordability further.

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7. Parking Challenges for Residents East of Broadway

Presenter: Steve Weinshel

Bio: Steve Weinshel is an experienced film and media executive who has built award-winning creative teams internationally. While his career is in commercial film and content production, he has been a long-time Edgewater resident for over 30 years. He brings deep neighborhood ties and commitment to community development.

Summary:

Spoke to the daily parking difficulties faced by residents east of Broadway, where residential streets are already oversaturated.
Noted that existing demand often exceeds supply, with residents circling blocks for extended periods and competing with visitors to Broadway businesses.
Highlighted how the City’s upzoning plan, which could add thousands of new units, would dramatically worsen the parking shortage unless properly planned.
Pointed out that small residential alleys east of Broadway cannot handle the additional load from dense development.
Warned that the City recently approved an ordinance that allows new developments along Broadway near the Red Line to be built with zero parking requirements, intensifying concerns.
Emphasized the need for any rezoning to include serious study of traffic flow, parking capacity, and mitigations to avoid gridlock and quality-of-life decline for long-term residents.

👉 View slides (pdf)

Contact Us: Edgewater Residents for Responsible Development