September 27, 2007

Out of the Closet!




One of Norwood's Park Ridge 2004 LLC principal investors has finally come out of the closet! John Chipman, former resident and Park Ridge alderman, is finally Living Out Loud! Mr. Chipman has proudly declared to the world his orientation as an investor in a Letter to the editor :: Park Ridge Herald-Advocate.


After three years of being a closeted investor, Mr. Chipman was outted by the city's disclosure of onwership.pdf requirement. We wonder why it took so long! We're sure Mr. Chipman feels relieved to be able to finally speak openly about who and what he is.


Mr. John Chipman is now a man on a mission! Not only is he telling everyone who will listen about his pride in being an openly invested principal in Norwood's EOP project, he is also encouraging the community to embrace what he and his fellow investors are offering - a condominium project that exceeds the zoning code for density and height, and offers almost nothing in the way of real amenities to the rest of the community.


Of course, we all understand that while the community is being asked to embrace this project, Mr. Chipman and his fellow similarily oriented investors will be hoping to embrace bigger profits.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

And which alderman has chipman donated to? This seems to be a game of greasing each others hand, NOT SERVING THE COMMUNITY!! Alderman, get your priorities right.

ParkRidgeUnderground said...

We are unaware of any donations to any aldermen by Mr. Chipman. The mayor's "slate" of candidates: Ryan, Carey, Allegretti and Kristie, all chose not to file their required campaign disclosures electronically. They only filed on paper - that's what politicians do when they want to make it difficult to obtain their donor information.

The remaining aldermen, DiPietro, Schmidt, Bach and Wsol did not file any campaign disclosure statements; meaning each of them did not raise or spend $3,000.00 or more for their campaigns.

Anonymous said...

Who at the City was asleep at the switch and not enforcing the City's disclosure ordinance until the last couple of weeks? I am glad to know, however, that Mr. Chipman believes that "we all have similar goals with this project." Does that mean he and his fellow investors - including Mayor Frimark buddy Bruce Adreani - are willing to share their profits with us?

Anonymous said...

I am very mad about this whole condo project. Very many people from the neighborhood have been begging our Mayor and Alderman to keep it reasonable, and they are ignoring us!

Anonymous said...

And Mr. Chipman lives where? And Mr. Adreani lives where? And all the other owners of Park Ridge 2004 LLC live where? NOT PARK RIDGE. They who stand to gain the most don't live here, and us poor slobs who do live here are being IGNORED, and will have a super-dense project in our front yard that is really a lot denser than it reads on paper. Why? Because the part of this development that is not senior housing is really about 35 units per acre. Shame on those aldermen who vote to approve this thing. Come to the city council meeting Monday night. Let the mayor and council know how you feel.

Anonymous said...

Don't all you people get tired from being so angry and worked up all the time? Lighten up. I am sure all the critics of this plan who bemoan the evil, profit seeking developers work for benevolent organizations that exist merely to help mankind while giving every penny of profit over to the poor, hungry and homeless. Of course the developer is trying to earn a profit... just like every other developer who has put a shovel in the ground to build a strip mall, a McMansion, a behemoth condo complex (just look at the corner of Touhy and NW Hwy) in Park Ridge or any other community. I guess we should wait for Little Sisters of the Poor to come in and build on Executive Plaza. In the meantime, we can just sit and watch those old buildings decay and become a blight on the area, driving away all the other not for profit organizations seeking to open restaurants, shops and other break even establishments so they can serve all the opponents of "development" who are all tithing and volunteering every waking hour to clothe the poor and welcoming the needy in to our community. The high horse you folks are riding is also wearing on stilts. Give it a rest.

Anonymous said...

BWWAAAAAAAAAAHHHAAAAAAAAAAAA...

Yeah right...this redevelopment is really just a "charitable endeavor" on the part of Norwood/Park Ridge LLC 2004...for the P.R. community! Next you'll be pulling out the real zinger! It's for the chiiiiiiildren!

Puleeze! Who's riding the high horse?!?!

I believe it's disingenuous bullshit artists who should "give it a rest".

Anonymous said...

I am tired of politicians making special deals for their friends and forgetting about the people who elected them. I am angry about it too. Don't tell me to not get worked up about when there is back scratching going on and our Mayor and the Aldermen aren't paying attention to what the people who elected them are saying to them.

Alderman Ryan should be working for the people of the 5th Ward, not working to make deals for Norwood.

Jean Dietsch said...

There are plenty of people in the fifth ward that are upset. Over 400 signatures on a petition is significant. I suggested to others that we contact Robert Ryan for a meeting. I was informed by others that people have already gone to him asking for a meeing and he is ignoring his constituents. This is a call to all the residents whether you voted for him or not to stand up and hold him accountable.

We need you come to the meeting on Monday and let them see our faces and know that we do care about what they are doing to our town!

Anonymous said...

That is true, look at the corner of Touhy and Northwest Hwy. I don't want a behemoth condo development like that one is in my front yard!

I don't have a problem with anybody who is in business and is making profits. My problem is that Norwood Builders wants to go beyond our laws to make more profits. The City council should make them obey the zoning laws of our town.

Anonymous said...

A Park Ridge developer, Guido Neri, complied with the zoning code, and he must be making a satisfactory profit. Why can't carpetbaggers like Adreani and Chipman do the same? Too greedy? Or just too "connected" with Mayor Howard and his cronies?

Anonymous said...

Jean D. is right-- you need to come to the council meeting on Monday and make a show because the aldermen who are voting for this development don't really get that people from all over the city are angry about this. I submitted the petition to the city council, and those 400 signatures are from residents from all over the city. And we gathered them over one long weekend-- we could have had at least 1,000 if we had the energy to go out and get them. Mr. Ryan came to the Berry Parkway block party yesterday afternoon at our invitation, and was asked some hard questions which he really didn't answer to our satisfaction. We don't feel he is representing us at all on this matter. Go to the meeting, win or lose it is important to be there when they vote. As one of our residents said to Mr. Ryan yesterday, "you have your vote on Monday, but we have a vote, too."

Anonymous said...

It is no wonder that Mr. Ryan would not listen to his fifth ward neighbors. It is well known that Mr. Ryan's political campaign was championed by the Citizens for Strong Schools Committee. Norwood Builders contributed 1500.00 to that fund...... So even though it was not directly contributed to Ryan's campaign fund he did benefit by it.

Anonymous said...

If there have been any laws broken here involving the land deals..then
lets get it on the table first - then if it all needs the attention of the ILL Atty General's office - then so be it.