Community Corner

Tempers Fly at Meeting on Broadway Youth Center

Over a hundred attended Monday night's SELVN meeting on the Broadway Youth Center.

There was a standing room only crowd anxious to get answers and share opinions on the Broadway Youth Center at Monday night's South East Lake View Neighbors (SELVN) meeting. 

Over a hundred people — from former homeless LGBTQ youth to home owners in the neighborhood — came to the meeting to share their thoughts on the Broadway Youth Center, which has been operating inside the Wellington Avenue United Church of Christ since June, but recently learned that they'll need a special-use permit to stay open. Some residents around the Church are against the Center remaining in its current location, as they say its brought a wave of crime and violence into the otherwise quiet residential street. 

There was no vote at Monday's meaning, but it served as an opportunity for members of the SELVN board, as well as Alderman Tom Tunney, to learn more about residents’ opinions on the issue. 

"We know that LGBTQ youth come to Lake View because they know that it’s a tolerant and safe community," said Maura McCauley, Director of Homelessness Prevention, Policy and Planning for the Chicago Department of Family and Support Services. "Many are fleeing violent and intolerant families and communities." 

McCauley emphasized that there’s a Good Neighbor Agreement currently written up, which will soon be voted on by SELVN. The Good Neighbor Agreement will write up guidelines for the Center and the neighborhood to follow. 

McCauley was among three presenters at the meeting. Michelle Wetzle, General Counsel for the Howard Brown Health Center, and Alderman Tom Tunney. Attendees were also given the opportunity to share their thoughts and ask questions.  

“I’m curious why the proliferation into a quiet neighborhood such as ours,” said Charlie Nelson, a resident in the neighborhood. “The Youth Center is wonderful. It’s a great concept. But there’s a place and a time for this. The neighborhood is not equipped for the type of youth that are coming into this neighborhood.”

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The crowd at the meeting was passionate and, at times, unruly, with some loudly showing their support or their disagreement with the speaker. Jan Sumrall, the president of SELVN, had to repeatedly tell the crowd to calm down and, at one point, had to threaten to end the meeting early.

Karen Ford, who has lived in the neighborhood since 1981, gave her strong support to the Broadway Youth Center. 

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“I actually appreciate living in a neighborhood where not everyone is rich,” Ford said. “I know it can be a struggle…I know it can be inconvenient. Sometimes its scary, sometimes its exhausting, but the homeless are on the streets, so its really easy to pick on them. … I have two questions. If they can’t come to our neighborhood for help, where can they come? And how can I help?”

Many supporters of the center also carried signs, saying "LGBT Youth of Color Belong in Boystown" and "We Love LGBT Young People." Some residents, however, were upset at the neighborhood being perceived as homophobic because of the safety concerns brought up. 

“When the homeowners, tax payers and residents in this neighborhood who, no matter how contentious this issue is, have serious, well-founded, legitimate concerns of safety in this neighborhood were referred to as hateful, hostile, homophobic, transphobic, racist, classist, ageist, ableist and frequently violent…they were not simply comments left on blogs, they were comments made by Lara Brooks, the Director of the Broadway Youth Center, in a letter she sent out to supporters late last week to encourage them to come to this meeting,” said one resident during the open comment portion. (The resident did not give his name.)

Wetzle, who spoke on behalf of the Center, said that the newsletter wasn’t calling residents those names but rather was stating how some employees of the BYC felt in the last meeting.

Annie Driscoll was also upset at some of the language being used at Monday’s meeting.

“Two months ago, I was kicked out of my parents’ house. I’m in Lake View because that’s where my friends [who Driscoll is staying with] are. … These people we’re talking about are human beings. They’re not people who need to be fixed. They’re people just like us who are surviving in any way that they can.”

A vote will be held at the next SELVN meeting to decide if the group will support the Center's pursuit of the permit. The permit is expected to be voted upon at the Dec. 20 Chicago Zoning Board of Appeals meeting.


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