Fifty clergy, representing several prophetic traditions and dozens of churches, mosques, temples and synagogues throughout Chicago, converged on Mayor Daley’s office March 2 to urge him to expand the amount of affordable housing in Chicago. Their mission was "to remind the Mayor, through readings of passages of scripture, of his moral obligation to hear the voice of his people about this pressing need" that is affecting their congregations.
The Coalition’s key demand is passage of the Balanced Development Policy, which would require 25 percent set-asides on all new construction of 10 or more units.
Speaking at the City Hall event were Father Michael Herman, pastor of St. Sylvester Catholic Church in Logan Square; Rabbi Asher Lopatin from Anshe Sholom Bnai Israel Congregation in Lake View; Father Marco Mercado from Good Shepard Church in Little Village; Reverend Edie Lenz (pictured) of Church of the Good News in Lake View; Dr. Elkheir Elkheir, Imam from the Muslim Community Center in Albany Park; and Reverend Sharod Gordon, a minister with Ambassadors for Christ Church in the Auburn Gresham community. Letters written on scrolls by members of the congregations requested the Mayor’s support of an affordable housing set-aside policy. Balanced Development Coalition members include Lakeview Action Coalition, Metro Seniors in Action and Organization of the NorthEast (ONE). |
