by Janice Christensen It took years of hard work to make the neighborhood a safe, inviting place. Naturally, now more people want to live in it. Property values skyrocket, and the very people who did the work can’t afford to stay. It just doesn’t seem fair. But the people who live and work in these […]
Commentary & Opinion
Opinion essays and letters from our readers.
Posted inCommentary & Opinion
School Choice: Uniting — and Dividing — a Nation and a Neighborhood
by Peter Reese
Should parents be able to choose where their children go to school? Should taxpayer money fund religious education? These are just two of many sometimes misleading questions used to sway voters’ hearts and minds in the battle over school choice.
Posted inCommentary & Opinion
Gentrification: Artists and Yuppies Working Together
Artists who just want a space of their own may have difficulty with the idea that their own way of life might drive them and other people out of the neighborhood. This special feature includes links to many readings on the web, excerpts from Milwaukee’s Housing Strategy, a poem about Chicago’s Wicker Park Yuppification, and Gentrification Resistance Tools for Freak Bohemians.
Posted inEditorials
22 Years of Service from Penny Podell
Sometimes I would get a call well past 10 in the evening on an issue that I was working on that was county business. I was ready for bed, and Penny was ready to tackle the issue. . . . thank you, Penny, for all your hard work.
Posted inCommentary & Opinion
The Burning and the Trembling: Reflections on a House Fire and the Nature of Community
by Jeff Johnson Kneeling before the baseboard of my eighty-year-old house, removing its darkened varnish to expose the richly grained red oak, I saw the droplet of Bix stripper drip into the outlet and explode. The flame shot across the floor and burst up the molding around the door, following the path I had laid […]
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