The $9.7 million Oakley Avenue reconstruction, championed by Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th), will begin rebuilding the street from Garfield Boulevard to West 57th Street, and from 58th to 59th streets.
Generations of residents have dealt with flood damage, sunken sewers and infrastructure that was never completed under President Franklin Roosevelt’s WPA.
“I am very excited to see this long-overdue investment in the community,” Lopez said in a press release issued on April 1. “Having grown up on a WPA street, I completely understand how difficult it can be living on a street without curbs, let alone an actual street.”
Oakley Avenue was among the many public works projects launched under the WPA, which operated from 1935 to 1943, but remained unfinished. Decades later, federal funding for urban renewal was cut in 1974 under President Nixon and replaced with Community Development Block Grants that dried up in the 1990s.
In 1992, Chicago merged its Department of Urban Renewal and the Commercial District Development Commission into the Community Development Commission, according to Chicago Public Library records.
Lopez began working with Oakley residents shortly after taking office in 2015. After failed efforts to secure federal funding, he tapped into the city’s infrastructure bond ordinance, introduced under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, to push the project forward.
Neighbors’ persistence pays off
“We’re super excited,” said Four Corner Block Club captain, semi-retiree and resident, Renee Elms. “It’s been a wonderful thing; 46 years in the making! All the meetings with aldermen, city departments, writing letters and getting signatures and it’s finally happening.”
Initial funding was first provided during President Roosevelt’s time in 1943, subsequent funding has come and gone over the last couple of decades with each new administration’s approval changing from yes to no and vice versa with each election.
Elms traced the project’s timeline back to 2006, when planning first began. By 2008, a $1 million plan was ready, but it stalled when a previous alderman declined to approve construction.
“Everything came to a screeching halt,” she said, despite multiple sewer collapses so bad, basements filled with sewage that also came out of toilets on first floors.
During a sewer cleaning last year, a city supervisor told Elms the line in front of her neighbor’s home had completely collapsed and escalated the news to higher ups.
“He said, ‘Ma’am, you don’t have a sewer,’” she recalled. “It had caved in and they were pulling up bricks.”
When Lopez was elected he brought repair plans to the council floor for a vote and residents attended City Council meetings at his invitation, Elms said, though an alderman pushed back on the cost.
“One even said, ‘The taxpayers should pay half,’” she said. “I told him, ‘We did. It’s called taxes. People have lived here over 100 years and paid into this.’”
Continued delays and increasing inflation pushed costs higher. The original $1 million estimate ballooned to $9.7 million with updated planning and permits requested from each new incoming administration.
“If you’re on a WPA street, fight for it,” Elms said. “ Everyone on these blocks deserve credit. A lot of people gave up on this area but it is a beautiful community. I think people should be more involved in their communities, know their neighbors and come together with situations like we just had, even if people are not getting along. We still need to be a community. I love my city. I love my neighborhood.”
Giderof and the city get involved
The reconstruction involves the Chicago Department of Transportation, the Department of Water, and the Public Building Commission. Ray Giderof, executive director of the commission, said the community’s persistence helped push the project to the finish line.
“Beyond the infrastructure, this is an investment in the community,” Giderof said. “Through 2024 with our partners at CDOT, we delivered millions of dollars worth of WPA funding. Beyond the infrastructure work it’s the positive impact on the community because it is an investment, right? It’s an investment for now and for the future as well.”
He praised local turnout at recent community meetings with a local church packed by residents who asked tough questions about parking, noise and timelines.
“The more engaged with the community and others, the better the work that we’re going to be doing here,” said Giderof. “We will be removing and replacing the blocks the alderman mentioned. Beneath that there’s multiple layers of infrastructure, whether that’s fill or asphalt. There is no curb and gutter, no parkways, the sewer and water mains will be replaced and working with the Department of Water, lead line replacement will be done as well.”
Work will include new landscaping, curbs and gutters and new sidewalks making the street brand new above and below the surface; the goal is to finish construction by October, he said.
“We’re removing and rebuilding everything from underground infrastructure to surface features,” he said. “Mayor Johnson’s directive is clear: communicate with residents and do the work right.”
