All 13 Ickes Buildings to be Demolished?

The Chi Town Daily News has more info on the proposed demolition of the Harold Ickes buildings that we mentioned a couple of days ago. The most surprising part of the article is the end:

"It's unfortunate that there's not a lot of tenants organizing in the area, but there's just so few people left," says Villinski (a lawyer for the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago).

Villinski says she and many others were surprised by the move to demolish, but doesn't know what, if anything, residents can do to halt demolition or get answers.

"It's like a train that can't be stopped now that it's gotten going," says Villinski.

And that train may be moving faster than CHA is telling anyone just yet. Although the agency recently submitted an application to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to raze just six buildings, the application contains a letter, dated Dec. 12, 2008, from Mayor Daley to CHA CEO Lewis Jordan, expressing his approval for demolishing all 13 buildings on Ickes' property.

Previous reports said that 6 of the 13 buildings would be demolished, but it sounds like the conductor of the train, Mayor Daley, approved all 13.