In some respects, Bruce Tizes’s argument with his neighbors is a typical over-the-fence spat, the kind that goes on all the time in this city. Tizes and his family want to build a three-story addition and a two-story garage behind their property at the corner of Astor and Schiller, and his neighbors don’t want them to.
In 1990 he started house hunting, knowing little about Chicago or its neighborhoods. He turned to the Gold Coast at the suggestion of a real estate agent who told him that it was “the one area likely not to decline in value,” says Tizes. “It reminded me of the Upper East Side of Manhattan. I thought this would be a nice place for my family.”
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
He says he told his real estate agent and his lawyer that he would buy the property only on the condition that he could add onto it. “They assured me that I could build out,” he says. “They showed me similar building plans that the [Schiller Street] owner had. They said those plans had been approved. They said the reason the owner was leaving was because he had kids and he needed a bigger place.”
“I’m Jewish and I have a lot of black friends, and some neighbors began making bigoted and hateful remarks,” he says. “One neighbor said to Leslee, ‘Why don’t you build this in Skokie?’ I went up to him and said, ‘Let’s work things out.’ He said, ‘We have irreconcilable genetic differences, sir.’”
Curcio says he opposes Tizes’s building plans because they represent “a destruction of architectural integrity. It is interference with our right to light, air, and sunshine. It is a hazard to our families by increasing traffic.” (Curcio believes that Tizes’s building such a large garage would mean more cars coming up and down the alley.)
Several residents appealed that ruling to the Zoning Board of Appeals, which also sided with Tizes. In March Curcio, Maher, Stephen Alport, Catherine Alport, Curtiss Cohen, Susan Cohen, Thomas Radtke, and Bonnie Herman-Radtke took the case to court, suing, among others, the city, the ZBA, Bernardini, Tizes, his parents, his architects, Soroka, and two of his friends. “The [ZBA’s] decision adversely affects the plaintiffs by depreciating the value of their residence and denying them the full use and enjoyment of their property,” alleges the suit, which seeks to set aside Tizes’s building permit and asks for “punitive damages in the sum of $1 million.” Tizes has been enjoined from making any changes to his property while the case is being heard.
