OLD TOWN — Ian Tobin feels that in some ways he's landed a dream job as the new executive director of the Old Town Merchants and Residents Association.
"Old Town is a close-knit community that has an ideal mix of businesses and residents," Tobin said.
It's a great location, he added, close to Downtown, with interesting economic dynamics. The area has an established character mixing new business with distinctive architecture. It has an "extremely engaged" group of residents and business owners.
"They're very energized," Tobin said this week, shortly after taking the reins at the association. "For me, that checks off a lot of boxes in the Ian Tobin criteria."
Of course, with everyone so engaged and energized, it can sometimes be a challenge to reconcile competing interests. A group of Burton Place residents recently complained at a City Hall zoning hearing that the association places merchants above residents, labeling it "the Old Town Chamber of Commerce" instead. On the other hand, Ald. Walter Burnett Jr. (27th) not so long ago pooh-poohed opposition to a new boutique hotel on the site of O'Brien's Restaurant & Bar, saying, "This neighborhood has been evolving. We call it Old Town, but there's nothing really old that much."
"I've seen this in other communities where there's a perceived divide between businesses and residents, but there's a way to move forward when both sides can be represented and be complementary to each other, and I think that is extremely achievable in Old Town," Tobin said. "It's a common theme I've seen in other communities I've worked in — old guard and the newer, younger residents."
The key, he said, was respecting Old Town's traditional bohemian charm, while recognizing the economic forces increasingly encroaching on it. "You're just outside of Downtown. You're getting a lot of pressure pushing up this way," Tobin said. "It really has to be done in a way that we can make sure future developments are incorporated into the fabric with the community."
Tobin pointed to the entrenched merchants and their vintage buildings on Wells Street. "It is certainly an appeal of the community," he said. "The architecture has such cache.
"There is a way to move forward being able to preserve that, but still enhance at the same time," Tobin added.
Although he's young — in his early 30s and only four years removed from graduating from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a master's degree in urban planning and policy — Tobin was selected for the post precisely because he has experience mixing those sorts of competing interests. He worked in both the private and public sectors, as a consultant the last two years and as a former City of Chicago Mayoral Fellow, and he's worked with major players like DePaul University's Institute for Housing Studies, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning and the Illinois Housing Development Authority, while just completing a term as president of his own local Ravenswood Neighbors Association.
"We couldn't be happier with the choice of Ian to be the next executive director of the association," said Giulia Sindler, association president. "He has the right combination of skills in planning, nonprofit management and community relations, and we are looking forward to working with him to continue to make OTMRA the most valuable merchants and residents association it can be."
Tobin said he believes he earned the post based on his "toolbox of skills that will help guide some of the vision of where this community will be going in the future."
He expected to begin with more listening than guiding, however, starting with a members' reception set for Thursday. "Right now, I'm focused on getting up to speed on the day-to-day operations," Tobin said, immediately followed by jumping "deep into the Wells Street Art Fair" set for June.
Tobin called it "the best of both worlds" to be living in Ravenswood and working in Old Town, saying in some ways it's fulfilling a childhood dream.
"I was like this nerdy urban-geography kid back in high school," he said, out in the western suburbs. But on trips to the city, he added, "there was something about the Brown Line. All the neighborhoods along it were so interesting to me. It was like, 'One day I'm going to live off the Brown Line and work off the Brown Line.'"
That childhood dream attained, now all he has to do is help keep Old Town's charm intact while embracing the new and reconciling the interests of merchants and residents, which Tobin said simply means maintaining the neighborhood as "a diverse, dynamic corridor."
