Friday, August 5, 2011

Beware the Maroon Candyman! RedEye's Take on HP Media

posted by chicago pop



HPP comentator and neighborhood blogger for the Tribune's RedEye website Melissa Conway gives her humorous take on the Hyde Park media situation - such as it is - in this little piece. (Not that we're a news organization or anything, or even track anything very regularly; we just have something to say once in a while):


First, there’s the local neighborhood paper, the Hyde Park Herald. It’s been around forever – no for real, since 1882 they say – and occasionally, their viewpoint seems stuck there. While it’s relatively informative about what’s going on in the neighborhood, I also sense a decidedly doomsday undercurrent whenever it comes to any new development or redevelopment in the neighborhood. This is reflective of a fear shared by many long-time Hyde Parkers – this sense of not wanting the neighborhood to evolve past anything they’ve already known it to be.

When I’m looking for an alternative perspective on the development going on in the neighborhood, I turn to a blog called Hyde Park Progress... The recent purchase of Borders by U of C is a current topic on the site It seems that whenever the University purchases property in Hyde Park, there is a fear in the air that warns, “Beward the Maroon candyman! He is only here to steal your property, and turn it into office buildings that will only benefit them, and not the community!” 

Check out RedEye's dedicated Hyde Park blog for snippets of lifestyle and current events. Another source on the hood.

[Image source: http://neighborhoods.redeyechicago.com/hyde-park/2011/07/29/news-to-me/ ]

4 comments:

Lilithcat said...

Fabulous dress!

Richard Gill said...

"This is reflective of a fear shared by many long-time Hyde Parkers – this sense of not wanting the neighborhood to evolve past anything they’ve already known it to be."

Here's what they have known it to be (and liked it to be) for the past 40 years: a dull bedroom neighborhood with nothing much to do and nothing much to buy and full of empty spaces that don't bring in cars that might get parked anywhere near their homes.

Yet many of these same people claim to want to bring back 1950, when Hyde Park was cheek-to-jowl with stores, restaurants, bars, clubs and theaters. This gives them self-permission to demonize the University of Chicago for bringing about the urban renewal which largely resulted in the quiet cocoon that they now crave.

Anonymous said...

I found it most interesting whilst looking through the Herald's archives that Mr. Sagan was one of the most prominent and vociferous supporters of urban renewal.

Chason said...

Richard, that is absolutely perfect.