Local Millionaire Fears Threat to Tasteful Excess
Will trust fund tantrums save a gentrified neighborhood from itself?
Highland Park is home to Ravinia and often dubbed the "Broadway Under the Stars." It boasts transcendent Mahler evenings, prodigies like cellist Ifetayo Ali-Landing, and Michael Jordan. But soon, it may be known for something a local millionaire claims will upend their quiet evenings of developing nations water tastings, competitive philanthropy bingo, and sovereign scarcity salon excursions.
Gentrification.
After learning that a neighborhood mansion previously owned by Michael Jordan had been purchased as an investment property and likely driving up property values, the trust fund tantrums began. Rachel, a millionaire and owner of a modest 7,000 sqft starter mansion has been leading the charge against it.
"The home is now one of those 'Experience Quaint Neighborhood Living' and 'Empathy Tour' destinations for billionaires" she emphasized in air quotes. "I was ok with it when it was only in the favelas, but this is too far. When one of their helicopters hovered over my pool, one of them actually said, ‘Do they really live like this?’ As if I couldn’t hear them over the rotors!”
After elevating the neighborhood to MVP-status, Michael Jordan sells his mansion.