Split by Housing Rule, 16 Reunite in Matrimony

Police sirens gave way to wedding bells Sunday as eight men tied the knot with their girlfriends rather than be evicted from the apartments the couples once shared.

Overnight guests were banned from the Rockwell Gardens housing project after a Sept. 20 police raid to combat gang violence.

So on Sunday, eight brides, dressed in pink gowns donated by a local dressmaker, and eight bridegrooms, wearing black tuxedos provided by a formal-wear store, beamed as the Rev. Louise Reed pronounced them husbands and wives.

‘Best Day of My Life’

“When they raided my house, that was wrong,” said Robert Johnson, who married Linda Hardy. “But today is the best day of my life . . . . “

“I just love it,” said the former Tammy Grigsby, now Mrs. Eugene Young. “We had been planning to get married, but since they went on and pressed the issue, we was all for it.”

The group wedding, arranged by Chicago Housing Authority officials after the couples decided to get married rather than live apart, represents a big step for public housing in Chicago, said Vince Lane, Housing Authority chairman.

“These people are models and I have high hope for them,” said Lane, who attended the brief ceremony. “I think a great deal of what happens in public housing in Chicago is riding on their shoulders.”

“People will say the only reason they’re getting married is because of (the raids),” he said. “I don’t think that’s true.”

He said the agency would work with the men, all unemployed, to help them find jobs.

When overnight guests were banned, the couples were angry that the men could not see their children. However, they supported the Housing Authority’s effort to rid the project of gang violence.

“I was really upset because (Cedric Smith) couldn’t come see the kids and I couldn’t see him for a couple weeks,” said Marie Smith, formerly Marie Woods.

But she and her husband both said the gang situation had improved since the raids.

“I was glad they did it,” he said. “The situation that was over there with the gangs--you was running for your life.”

And if the newlyweds were pleased, their parents were ecstatic.

“I think it’s great,” said Jesse Hardy, father of the new Mrs. Johnson. “I tried to get her to marry a long time ago.”