Organization Demands Impromptu Meeting at Tunney’s Restaurant (PHOTOS)

About 100 residents and members of Lakeview Action Coalition marched Sunday to raise awareness for the community’s loss of single room occupancy hotels in Lake View.

The move comes after residents of Hotel Chateau reportedly received evection notices. The housing facility will be gutted and rehabbed by its new owner in the near future.

Protestors marched in favor of keeping low-income housing in Lake View, eventually marching to Ald. Tom Tunney’s (44th) restaurant Ann Sather on Belmont Avenue. That’s when members of LAC demanded an impromptu meeting with the alderman.

“Tenants and supporters testified outside the restaurant, followed by a group of 6 entering the restaurant in an attempt to speak with the alderman,” the group said in a statement. “Tunney fled to the kitchen and refused to talk to the group.  The community members pleaded with the restaurant staff for a short meeting with him, but he refused. … We think it is unacceptable that the alderman wouldn’t even give us a few minutes of his time to talk to us about this issue, which is absolutely crucial to his constituents.“

However, the alderman’s office already said there’s little they can do in the Chateau case, and many things they’ve already done to address housing issues in Lake View.

Chief of Staff Bennett Lawson says with instances like the Abbott Hotel and Hotel Chateau, the sale is a private business acquisition and the city has no control. Lawson says if the new owner doesn’t need a zoning change, they have little say in what goes on. But that doesn’t mean they’re not trying to provide affordable housing.

“There are certain spaces that I think we have more control, and there are certain spaces we don’t,” Lawson said. “For example, when it comes to preservation, we were able to work at (the apartments at) 501 W. Surf, we are working at housing at the Diplomat and at the LGBT-friendly senior housing units. It’s different in those instances when you have Chicago Housing Authority land.

“We don’t own the land,” Lawson continued. “There are certain types of transactions where the city has little or no control.”

Representatives with LAC say the fight is not over.

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