Lacking Foresight on Evergreen Terrace
By Tim Placher, Herald News, July 2005
Imminent.
The Herald News recently used the word to describe the federal government’s proposed
approval of a 30-year refinancing package for the Evergreen Terrace housing complex.
Imminent events don’t just sneak up on you. If Evergreen Terrace’s refinancing is, in
fact, “imminent,” it is only because the long history of inaction by local officials in
addressing the issue has led to this moment of inevitability.
Don’t misunderstand me. I sincerely hope the 11th-hour involvement of Congressman
Jerry Weller and Senators Richard Durbin and Barack Obama can somehow rid Joliet of
Evergreen in its current configuration. But how did we ever get ourselves in a position
where our city is practically begging outsiders to fix the problem for us?
For too long, local officials have behaved like ostriches with heads buried in the sand
when it comes to Evergreen Terrace. The problems at the complex have been years in the
making. And the bulk of our city council members have been holding office for many of
those same years.
Yet for the last decade, our councilmen and city administrators have made priorities of
westward expansion, street reconstruction and the shiny toys of racetracks, ballparks,
waterparks, and museums. But all the while, they postponed dealing with the cancer
growing at the city’s very heart.
That cancer is nothing new. For nearly 20 years, Evergreen Terrace’s effect on Joliet has
been readily apparent to the non-ostriches among us. The complex’s reputation as a
crime-ridden, drug-plagued ghetto has sullied the perception of Joliet among both local
residents and people living beyond our borders.
Is it any coincidence that two decades of downtown redevelopment efforts still struggle
to make headway when Evergreen continues to cast its shadow from across the Des
Plaines River? How healthy are the nearby St. John’s and Cathedral Area neighborhoods
as rental units grow in number and residents fear vandalism, drug-dealing and more
serious crime? And how will the University of St. Francis’ expansion plans fare with a
blighted housing project as the school’s neighbor for an additional 30 years?
For the last decade, the windfall of riverboat gaming money has brought many positive
changes to Joliet. Our local officials are seldom shy about telling us how great things are
going in our city. Sometimes, in fact, Joliet residents have to be careful not to get hit
upside the head by the flailing elbows of councilmen reaching to pat themselves on the
back for their accomplishments.
But let’s remember those same councilmen chose to invest nearly $40 million of our
money on a downtown ballpark and historical museum while the Evergreen Terrace
problem festered only a few blocks away. Would any of us invest in a fresh coat of paint,
new roof and major room addition to our house if our next-door neighbor was a notorious
criminal and drug dealer? But that’s exactly what our city council did in downtown Joliet.
Two years ago, local officials finally decided they had to act when they learned
Evergreen’s owners were arranging a new, 30-year financing package for the property.
But their attempts at halting the deal are seemingly a day late and several million dollars
short.
Now, our city is reduced to begging outside legislators and federal government officials
to come to its aid. And Joliet’s reported $5 million last-ditch offer to buy the property
looks laughable when compared to what the city has recently spent on waterslides and a
baseball diamond.
A decade or more ago, we needed our local government officials to have the foresight to
figure out a way to get rid of Evergreen Terrace. Instead, they waited until the federal
government had practically signed, sealed and delivered an agreement with Evergreen’s
owners that would keep its cancer growing in our city for another 30 years.
If that happens, we can thank Joliet officials for saddling our community with a problem
our kids will have to clean up for us. That is, of course, if there are any kids left who
haven’t moved to Minooka, Channahon, or other promised lands west of Raynor Avenue
by then.
For now, we can continue to hope the refinancing of Evergreen Terrace can be stopped.
But if Evergreen’s new lease goes from “imminent” to “approved,” let’s hope the election
of some council members with better foresight is imminent as well.
Tim Placher can be reached at timplacher@yahoo.com
Copyright 2005 Tim Placher