[We Are Many, We Are O.N.E. 2]

A meeting of residents and tenants rights organization in Uptown and surrounding neighborhoods with representatives of the Chicago Housing Authority that erupts into chaos.

00:15Copy video clip URL Chicago Housing Authority officer Zirl Smith addresses the audience, speaking about the fairness of CHA applications. “I’m surprised you would even ask that question. We’re very fair people.”

04:30Copy video clip URL An audience member asks about the amount of subsidized housing that will be made available. Smith says that he cannot answer. But he offers to send a letter following up on the confirmed units. 

06:25Copy video clip URL A woman stands up and yells, disrupting the meeting, asserting that O.N.E. does not represent her and that they are “Johnny-Come-Latelies.” The meeting gets increasingly chaotic as yelling continues. The moderators and speakers attempt to calm the audience. Someone appears to be injured.

10:30Copy video clip URL A man addresses the audience and discusses the over-representation of the Uptown community at the meeting. 

12:30Copy video clip URL A woman talks about the people who have been on CHA waiting lists for years already.

13:30Copy video clip URL A woman disputes O.N.E.’s authority to represent the residents of Edgewater and Uptown. A woman for another organization explains the ways in which O.N.E. has helped her tenant council. An O.N.E. representative explains their election process. 

15:26Copy video clip URL A woman from the East Andersonville Residency Council asserts that O.N.E. has not worked with them. She is against the CHA’s housing efforts because a CHA building in her neighborhood has a lot of gang graffiti. She expresses the need for the CHA to be better about maintenance. 

16:50Copy video clip URL A woman addresses the arguments of the evening and notes that the CHA officials have all left. The conflict is between people who don’t want any more affordable housing built in their neighborhood and those who need places to live. 

19:35Copy video clip URL Another woman reiterates the housing coalition’s mandates, decided at a previous public event. Audience members have some feedback.  

23:09Copy video clip URL The middle of  small meeting in which a largely African American group sits in a circle. Things are contentious to start but quickly become a productive conversation about issues within their community.