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Mo Green, senior director of civic and community engagement for the Chicago 2024 Host Committee, said that community members can look to the West Loop as an example of the long-term boosts for the city.
“These are folks that saw how the West Loop completely changed and the Near West Side completely changed from the convention in the 90s in Chicago. They’re excited to get a piece of that pie of the convention that’s coming here,” Green said.
Thomas pushed back on the notion that the 1996 DNC spurred development for the West Loop, instead crediting Oprah’s Harpo Studios and the Chicago Bulls consistent championship wins during its Michael Jordan era in the ‘90s.
The West Loop area was once the site of a myriad of meatpacking warehouses where houseless people were able to find work. Development favoring higher-end restaurants and establishments and tech companies has since pushed out the population, and gentrification is still a concern.
As of July 2022, the median household income for the area was $93,202, and according to the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University, as of last year, 43.4% of the area’s population was white while 24.3% were Black.
The expected price tag for the DNC is expected to be between $80 million-$100 million through fundraising efforts by the Chicago Host Committee. The funds go towards “every single aspect of the convention from payroll, to production, to events, to everything in between,” according to Natalie Edelstein Jarvis, communications director for the Chicago 2024 Host Committee.
In a statement to The TRiiBE, Jarvis said that beautification projects ahead of the DNC include “patriotic displays at both airports, art along the green line through GERTIE’s Next Stop: Chicago project, and are working closely with streets and sans and CDOT to clean up streets, plant flowers, complete litter and graffiti removal, and do river and park cleanups.”
Jarvis also added there would be public art projects which will be “unveiled closer to the convention, including murals and train wraps.” She added that they are “working directly with neighborhood chambers of commerce and groups like the Mag Mile Association to encourage businesses and organizations to beautify their storefronts and do things like plant flowers or hang welcoming messaging. “
The Host Committee is focused on beautification efforts being distributed evenly among Chicago’s 77 community areas, including “sidewalk repairs, painting light poles,” Roberson said. He said the city has no financial goal in mind as the updates are made on a needed basis and could not say how much has been spent on the beautification efforts so far.
According to the Mayor’s Office, the city does not have a budget line for DNC specific projects and that any infrastructure projects that will be done before or during the convention are continuous projects that have been in the works for years.
Roberson touted the long-awaited Damen Green Line station as a long-term investment the everyday Chicagoan will see after the DNC. Roberson said the stop is expected to start operating in mid-August just in time for the DNC.
According to Roberson, the $80 million project, first proposed in 2017, was “accelerated” to be done in time for the DNC and has allowed the city “to have a laser focus on identifying opportunities for the type of transit-oriented development in and around that station that is focused on affordable housing.” The project is funded by the Kinzie Industrial Corridor Tax Increment Financing District (TIF) and state funds.
“[It’s] really important because it is going to provide increased accessibility for people who live on the West Side, to the ecosystem of our economy. It’s going to provide greater access for people to get jobs. It’s going to provide greater access for students who live on the West Side,” Roberson said.
In addition to the new Green Line stop, Roberson said beautification efforts that Chicagaons will continue to see include the Ogden Avenue resurfacing project that prioritizes safety. The Ogden project was awarded $20 million federal funding back in December and is currently going through development concepts with a projected construction start of 2026, according to the project website. The project is a result of a 2018 Quality of Life plan by the North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council.
Barrett said the Host Committee plans to publish a “comprehensive report that will highlight the various community areas where individuals hail from,” measuring the economic impact of the convention and where a concentration of money was spent. She said she expects the report to be published as “momentum is still high” after the event, with a focus on areas around the United Center and McCormick Place “because they are immediately adjacent to it.”
As the lasting impacts of such beautification efforts and the dollars from DNC tourism remains to be seen for majority-Black communities, Brown Sugar Bakery owner Stephanie Hart said she sees the event coming to Chicago as a way to change the narrative and increase visitation to the South and West sides.
“This is an opportunity for us to showcase our neighborhoods, our diversity and the fact that we’re a pretty cool, darn city,” she said.