And now a news report (courtesy of WEEK-TV) that will send shivers up the spine of every remaining homeowner in the Arbor District, and other surrounding neighborhoods:

Bradley University’s president [Joanne Glasser] has a vision that she believes will be a renaissance for the school. In addition to new facilities to replace Haussler Hall and Robertson Memorial Field House, new projects will be announced this spring as part of the university’s Renaissance Project. … Glasser says Bradley will unveil more details about the Renaissance project April 24.

Oh, great. The last time a Bradley president had a vision, a whole street full of beautiful, 100-year-old single-family homes were torn down so they could put up a five-story parking deck. The whole neighborhood was destabilized as owner-occupied homes started falling to rental property like dominoes.

I and my neighbors will be holding our collective breath until April 24, hoping that these “new projects” won’t “improve” Bradley at the expense of our home values again.

UPDATE: Shelley Epstein called me today (he works for Bradley now; he’s no longer with Ameren), and wanted to assure me and my readers that the university has no plans to expand its footprint. They are committed to their 15-year plan that was approved by the city, and are on record as saying so.

I appreciate the assurance, but he’ll have to forgive me and my neighbors if we’re a bit less than trusting, considering it was only a few months ago that they broke their last 15-year plan to which they were ostensibly committed. There are encouraging signs, such as the fact that there’s a new president now and the administration at Bradley has been having regular meetings with neighbors. Nevertheless, I just can’t shake my suspicious feelings. How does that old saying go? “Fool me once, shame on you…”