By Ben Joravsky and Melody Rodgers
In some ways it’s amazing the project got as far as it did. For one thing, the county, facing a budget crisis brought on by too many public-works projects, can’t afford it. For another, it didn’t really need it. True, the county’s domestic-violence court, now in dilapidated and cramped quarters at 13th and Michigan, was supposed to move to the new building, but there are other solutions to its problems.
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The county’s judges had also made it clear that they didn’t want to have to schlepp to the out-of-the-way site, at Van Buren and Spaulding. Cook County Board commissioner Mike Quigley had also pointed out that courthouse costs could probably be cut by encouraging people to pay their tickets by mail. Most important, the mayor had no local support. Ed Smith, alderman of the 28th Ward, was against it, as were most of his constituents who were about to be forced out–the project would have required about eight acres of land, which would have meant destroying 67 homes and displacing 200 residents.
Late last fall the county sent out bids to property owners that many found insultingly low. The owner of one eight-bedroom house, for instance, was offered $150,000.
“There will be new facilities for domestic-violence court, but the project will be scaled back, and a new look will be taken at where it will go,” says Jack Beary, Stroger’s spokesman. “Traffic court will stay at the Daley Center. The judges said that the temporary facilities prepared for traffic court in the Daley Center were working out better than expected.”
At the moment the biggest victim of the change in plans is Bobbie Steele, who managed to alienate her community without having anything to show for it. Jackson and other residents predict she’ll receive strong opposition if she runs for reelection next year. “I don’t feel sorry for Steele,” says Denise Dean, a member of the Concerned Citizens for East Garfield Park. “She made a decision to stay with Daley rather than her constituents. She said the train was leaving the station and we had to get aboard. Well, Daley’s jumped off the train–and she’s stuck on the platform.”
