Innovation sells on the campaign trail. Tout a new way to attack a long-standing problem, and a candidate is likely to snag the attention of would-be voters.
Sometimes, however, an existing policy or program can be part of the solution. It may be someone else’s idea, but if it has promise, hubris shouldn’t get in the way of good governance.
This is the case with outgoing Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Invest South/West initiative.
Lightfoot’s stewardship of the sweeping, ambitious attempt to reverse disinvestment on the South and West sides was far from perfect. But the program’s fulcrum — combining public and private sector money and resources to stoke investment and job growth in neglected South and West side communities — represents smart policymaking that should not die a slow, quiet death simply because Lightfoot will be a one-term mayor.
The victor in the April 4 mayoral runoff election, either former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas or Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, won’t be under any obligation to keep alive Invest South/West. That winner, however, will be on the clock when it comes to attacking the neglect that has burdened South and West side communities for decades.
And for that reason, Lightfoot’s successor should keep Invest South/West humming.
When Lightfoot took office in 2019, she undergirded her pledge to narrow the economic gap between downtownand North Side communities and neglected South and West side neighborhoods with the unveiling of Invest South/West, a commitment of $750 million in public funds to revitalization of predominantly Black and brown communities — with a sizable buy-in from Chicago’s private sector.
But the rollout was slow, and Lightfoot was correctly criticized for that sluggish pace, as well as for slapping the Invest South/West brand onto projects that were already brewing under her predecessor, Rahm Emanuel.
Nevertheless, the concept itself was sound. It wasn’t just about throwing more taxpayer money at a problem. Enlisting the private sector to play a prominent role gave corporate Chicago an incentive to look beyond traditional markets downtown and on the North Side, and get involved in parts of the city it had ignored for so long.
We lauded early efforts that broke ground, including Englewood Connect, which will transform the old Green Street firehouse into a multimillion dollar “eco-food hub” with a commercial kitchen, business incubator and public plaza; and a project in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood to turn 23,000 square feet of vacant land at Halsted and 79th streets into affordable housing, retail space, private garden lots and a playground.
This spring, construction is slated to begin on a mixed-use project spanning more than three blocks in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, an effort buoyed by $35.5 million in private sector dollars and $21 million in city funds. The project will include more than 80 units of affordable housing, retail space and an “Opportunity Hub” to create entrepreneurship support for the community.
Vallas has his own ideas about revitalizing the South and West sides. They include setting up an independent “Chicago Development Authority” that would “renovate homes, finance small businesses, provide microfinance loans, develop industrial parks, (and) finance locally owned and operated social services,” he told us. .
He also would establish a Community Investment Fund that would “serve as a sort of Municipal Bank” to finance the authority. We have our doubts about creating yet another layer of bureaucracy, and we’ve never been fans of the “public bank” idea that tasks City Hall with doling out loans. Johnson has talked of “government’s role to step in where the private sector has failed our communities,” without providing any specificity.
While both candidates disappoint when it comes to a road map for dealing with disinvestment on the South and West sides, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. The way forward should be simple for whoever becomes Chicago’s next mayor — keep Invest South/West, and find ways to fine-tune it.
First, the pace of the program needs to be stepped up. Red tape that bogs down should always be streamlined for any enterprise bringing jobs and commerce to a neighborhood, and that becomes even more important when those neighborhoods comprise long-disinvested communities.
Second, City Hall should take greater care in defining what is and isn’t an Invest South/West project. The Tribune reported earlier this year that routine maintenance projects were often lumped into the Invest South/West basket, such as heating and air conditioning replacement and exterior repairs at the Chicago Center for Green Technology in Humboldt Park on the West Side, or the renovation of stables for Chicago Police Department horses in the South Shore neighborhood on the South Side.
Invest South/West has had a bumpy ride so far, but that’s no reason to jettison the project outright. The core mission is worthwhile — catalyze investment in South and West side neighborhoods that have been forgotten for far too long by previous administrations, and rely heavily on the private sector so that taxpayers don’t shoulder the entire burden. Regardless of who wins April 4, that’s a mission Chicago cannot afford to cast aside.
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