Newsletter: November 2023
November 21, 2023
While Urban Environmentalists has signed onto many other letters in the past, this is the first letter that we have led!
Zoning Chair Letter
Last week, Urban Environmentalists, along with ten incredible partner organizations, released a statement calling on Mayor Brandon Johnson to nominate a Zoning Chair who will prioritize abundant housing by tackling common-sense zoning reforms that will make it easier to build housing for all Chicagoans.
While Urban Environmentalists has signed onto many other letters in the past, this is the first letter that we have led! We are very proud to have assembled a superstar group of partner organizations and demonstrate that policies such as allowing ADUs citywide and ending single-family zoning have broad appeal in Chicago.
We're very excited to see who gets selected for the position, and we're hopeful that a pro-housing leader will receive the coveted, powerful job.
Read our letter to Mayor Johnson
Support 235 Homes in North Center!
You've probably noticed that we've ramped up our project-specific advocacy quite a bit in the past few months. Thanks to the dedication of our co-leads and members, we've been able to organize supporters, show up en masse to community meetings, and provide a pro-housing perspective.
On November 28th from 4:00-6:00 p.m., there will another opportunity to attend an open house and express your support for 235 new homes just steps away from the Irving Park Brown Line CTA Station. We launched a petition for this project many months ago, and it has only gotten better since then. Today, the project includes 65 affordable homes reserved for families having left situations of gender-based violence.
The full project details, including a virtual option and online feedback form, can be found here. We know there will be strong NIMBY pushback on this project, so we encourage all members to show up for the in-person meeting and provide supportive feedback.
