On the 500 block of North Humphrey Avenue, the “missing middle” is not missing, nor is diversity lacking. We have single-family homes, small to large in size. We have several two-flats and one entrance to a large apartment building. If you count the housing on the south side of the cul-de-sac, which, oddly, the Shape Oak Park rezoning plan does not, the 500 N. Humphrey block also includes two multi-unit buildings. According to Realtor.com the prices of properties that sold on this block in 2025 range from $385,000 to $810,000.
There is also an ADU behind one single-family homes. Years back it was a “workers cottage.” After the property was gut rehabbed, this ADU became an artist’s studio. This is one example that adding ADUs does not guarantee the addition of middle-income housing.
The residents of this block are Black, white, and Asian. Ages range from infants to near 80. There are gay and straight, wealthy and struggling, professionals and those with less formal education. Many of us know each other. We alert each other when crimes or emergencies occur. We watch out for each other, know each other’s children and socialize with one another. The cul-de-sac and bricked street results in less street traffic. We are a mini-community in one small block.
Why would anyone want to change this? Remember the adage “if it’s not broken don’t fix it?” That bit of wisdom certainly applies here. Yet Shape Oak Park proposes measures that could only result in increased density, reduced driving, cycling, and pedestrian safety, reduced green space, less sunlight, reduced property value, creating conditions that could lead to an increase in crime and weakening the connection between neighbors. Surely, 500 N. Humphrey is not the only block in Oak Park with similar demographics.
The goals of increasing diversity and middle-income housing may be laudable. But the process that most trustees seem to be unyieldingly sold on will destroy much that is good on 500 N. Humphrey and Oak Park.
Rhoda Bernstein
Oak Park