"If you just said, 'People left their country for economic opportunities, religious freedom and political security,' Ireland might not be the first place that comes to mind," Gainer said. "But if you back up 100 years, that's exactly why people left. They were starving to death."
It's worth remembering, Gainer said, amid the holiday revelry.
"You don't get to celebrate ancestors who came over during a famine and then ignore immigrants coming over for the same reasons," she said.
The land bank, which owns the properties' tax certificates, has removed the red tape for potential buyers by extinguishing back taxes, liens, unpaid city fines or utility bills.
"We're trying to give an adrenaline boost to development in these communities by eliminating barriers to getting access to the property," said Cook County Commissioner Bridget Gainer, chairman of the 3-year-old land bank.
"The thing we wanted to address ... is to say, 'Look, I can't make someone develop the property, but I can remove the barriers to that decision,'" Gainer said.
Cook County Commissioner Bridget Gainer, a Democrat who lives in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood, marched in a noisy, boisterous sea of humanity in the nation’s capital.
Gainer said she and her relatives decided once the D.C. march was being organized that they had to be here.
“As mothers, we need to teach our children you need to stand up for your rights,” Gainer said. “It’s not enough to just talk about it. You need to show up for people.”
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
