Overhaul would bring Maxwell Street Market back to glory

Shoved aside in 1994 to make way for an expanded University of Illinois at Chicago, the legendary Maxwell Street Market is in for yet another overhaul — this time to bring it back to its former glory.

“Maxwell Street Market used to be about more than just selling things. It used to be food and music. There was this great energy there. ... It hasn’t been that way for the last couple of years,” Special Events Director Megan McDonald said Thursday.

“Our idea is to bring it back to that rich history. These changes are gonna be all encompassing and will likely include how the entire market is managed, the way the footprint is laid out, the way we’re gonna move people through the market, the way vendors are treated, the rules and regulations that exist.”

After testifying at a City Council budget hearing, McDonald said the makeover — with two alternative lay-outs — would be rolled out at a town hall meeting later this month and include larger parking spaces for and more leniency with merchants. About the only thing that will not change is the location.

The legendary market where so many immigrant merchants got their start was pushed aside in 1994 to make way for UIC expansion. In 2005, it was moved again — from Canal Street between Taylor and 15th Place to Desplaines from Roosevelt to nearly Harrison.

“We have to be a little more flexible with these folks. For many of these guys, this is their way of life. If a vendor has got his table over the line — instead of writing him a ticket, let’s say, ‘Here’s your warning,’” McDonald said.

Last year, Maxwell Street merchants alleged during a town hall meeting that they were being racially harassed and threatened with eviction and even deportation.

During Thursday’s budget hearing, Ald. Manny Flores (1st) demanded to know why the inspector general’s office had not investigated the complaints and why the city’s contract with JAM Productions to manage the market had not been terminated.

McDonald said JAM took the complaints “as seriously as we did,” but she would not reveal whether the company would be part of the makeover.

She would only say, “I’m not focussed on all the negative things that have happened the last five or ten or fifteen years at Maxwell Street. I’m focussed on what the Maxwell Street Market is gonna be going forward. That’s our mission.”