Public Disapproval of Lincoln Yards Grows

Chicago, Illinois September 29, 2018— Newly released survey results on Sterling Bay’s Lincoln Yards planned development proposal made public at a community meeting hosted by the Sheffield Neighborhood Association (SNA) on Wednesday, September 26 at DePaul University indicate that community support for is down significantly compared to an earlier survey of 443 respondents completed by Alderman Brian Hopkins, in whose ward the development is being proposed. In addition to 2nd Ward Alderman Brian Hopkins was in attendance along with neighboring Aldermen Michele Smith (43rd Ward) and Scott Waguespack (32nd Ward). SNA president Jim Gramata presented their survey to a packed house of 200 community members, including a “top 10” list of the most important community concerns about the proposal. The full list of 30 ranked questions has been posted on their website.

Regarding the current Lincoln Yards proposal, Gramata highlighted that 91.5% of the respondents stated they were within walking distance of the development site but only 25% of their respondents ‘love’ the Lincoln Yards proposal or ‘feel it is good’ compared to an earlier survey taken by Alderman Hopkins office last month asking that exact same question where only 40% of those survey respondents ‘love it or feel it is good’. While some of the shift of community opinion in the SNA survey moved to the ‘neutral’ category, almost half (46.7%) or 412 of the 883 respondents either 'did not care for or hated’ the current Lincoln Yards proposal. 883 community residents responded to the SNA survey which is almost double of the survey taken last month which had 443 responses. Question topics in the survey were taken from online community posts and conversations, communications within the community and media coverage and articles, Gramata said.

A full summary of the entire survey and a initial summary of the data collected has been made public on the SNA website and social media pages.