Kemp Project Rubs Elbows With Democrats In Chicago

From Correspondent Jeff Flock

CHICAGO (CNN) -- Jack Kemp is unwittingly crashing the party at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Public housing in the poverty-stricken neighborhood around the site of the Democrats' 1996 convention is in the process of redefining itself, thanks in part to the efforts of the Republican vice presidential nominee.

Seven years ago, Kemp, then secretary of housing and urban development, appeared in Chicago to announce a plan to privatize public housing in the Windy City.

Now, as the Democrats are coming to town to try to extend their stay in the White House, Kemp's initiative is coming to fruition.

Last year, the wrecking ball started swinging on crime-ridden high-rise projects near westside Chicago, a sight that drew skepticism from long-time residents.

One of them, Mamie Bone, even asked the housing secretary for a personal commitment that one day new housing would replace the squalid building she called home.

"Today I can look up to the heavens and say, 'Thank you, God, for the new buildings our people will have to occupy,'" said Bone.

Replacing the concrete towers of the past will be privately developed and managed low-rise homes. The new design was recently unveiled with great fanfare and great numbers of politicians in attendance.

Many public housing residents are buying into the new vision; prospective tenants are lining up. The key to the new plan is that the units are for sale; residents have a stake in their homes.

But current HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros is determined to take some the wind out of Kemp's sails and ideas. He contends that Kemp's plan to privatize public housing went too far.

"If he delivered as many units as speeches that he made on the subject, we'd have some actually sold. But they sold one," charges Cisneros.

Regardless of the political posturing, there is still much to be done to revitalize the neighborhood that will be home to the Democratic Convention. Architects' renderings must still become real life with real people living in them.

Indeed, reality was the order of the day at a recent ceremony to unveil the new private housing project. As soon as the politicians left, fences immediately went back up to protect the development from the community around it.

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