Progression of Gentrification

Is gentrification a positive or a negative process? I believe this question has been the controversy among plenty of communities who have either been affected by it, or who have considered it helpful to their communities. Now that we have been moving from the south side and how African Americans have been affected by public housing and affordable housing, we see how gentrification is affecting the Latino communities. As we traveled around, we stopped at Logan Square where the beginning stages of gentirfication are taking place.



When I looked around the area, it definitely looked like a white neighborhood. The houses, how clean the area is, the plenty of cars you see parked on the streets are just some reasons why it just looks like it has already become a gentrified area. To my surprise, Logan Square is a Latino community that has been up rooted by gentrification. I think that gentrification mostly affects middle and low- class people who have settled in an area, but who are not able to accommodate to any change when it comes to seeing middle- class whites taking over their homes, I mean who would be able to accommodate to this?
In a way, this issue of gentrification bothers me because it is quite unfair how the government has been the reason why now minorities are being treated as whites please. If we go back to the past, we can see how the government used immigrants to their disposition, and how immigrants permitted this to happen. In the 1920's during WWI, we see how the USA recruited Mexicans in order to keep the economy going since Americans were at war. 20 thousand Mexicans were recruited and after the war, they were loaded on buses and were sent back to Mexico.

Of course, once the war was over, Americans wanted their jobs back and by 1929 only 14 thousand Mexicans were sent back.

In 1942 Mexicans had to come back as WWII started, and the treatment was the same. I do not think this was fair at all. I believe events like this started immigration. Mexicans knew there were plenty of jobs in the United States and they would not miss the chance.

What caught my attention was that in 1950, 25 thousand Mexicans and Puerto Ricans came back as immigrants into the United States. Maybe back then, migration was not a big issue as it is now, but in the end it seems like it was all a build up to the problem we are facing now.

What I found to be very interesting is that in 1965 Major Daley established UIC in a Mexican neighborhood. This was such an awful experience to the Mexican community as it destroyed their homes and were forced to move out to different parts of the city, some ended up in Pilsen, Wicker Park and Logan square.

What I found fascinating was the fact that many new business are being built in order to help the gentrified areas, while these businesses are affecting the minority. A brand new Target has been opened in Wilson Yard in order to attract people into this area that honestly, looks a mess. Most of the buildings look abandoned. But what I thought was the worst part, were the condominiums being built for the elderly, which have been a total controversy in the area as they feel it is a waste of space for the elderly. If we think about the elderly, we will probably find out that most of them are immigrants who first settled in areas that are now being gentrified, and now they are being treated harshly by the people who are not content with their settlement in these building built for them.






In the end, history shows how gentrification started before many people could understand it. Gentrification started once the first immigrants’ settled in all of our current communities. As we know, Logan Square used to be Norwegian while Wicker Park was Scandinavian, but nowadays we see these communities full of Latinos. Gentrification has affected the Latino community by moving them from place to place as the middle - class whites please. I feel that gentrification will always take place, whether it’s in areas around the city or far from the city.

In a way, this makes me think that soon; minorities will raise their voice and fight for their communities in order to keep them away from gentrification. Even though many communities have churches, community leader and organizations, it does not seem to be enough when it comes to protecting their homes. Gentrification will always affect a community no matter how much people fight to avoid middle-class whites from invading their homes.

Chicago Public Housing Trip

Public Housing became a method used to make decisions for the poor, but not just any kind of poor, it was mostly African Americans. When affordable housing began I was surprised to learn it had all started because of the Great Migration. When I heard this, I began to think about this period in time when African Americans did not have much. Many, if not all would come north but because of racism, discrimination and segregation, they all had to remain in the south.

African Americans have suffered all along. Even though they wanted to better their future and the future of their families, they were not allowed to. Because of the GI Bill, they were not able to attend college; they were not allowed to move north were all the job opportunities existed the most. I thought this was the saddest fact about the whole issue.

As affordable homes start to become the most needed things in the south because of the high population of African Americans, we find architects using the urban theory which was simply to build big structures and putting people in them. Of course, this was no much help for the African American community. I found this to be so unbelievable. You have people seeking for a place to live, and no one is there to help. In the end, Italians, Irish and all Europeans were able to move on with their lives but sadly enough blacks couldn't.

Later on structures were being built in order to keep African Americans isolated from the city, this was just getting worse and worse as time went by. What I found interesting was the way the isolation process, if we can call it that began. The new plan was called "superblock", as seen in the


picture below. This U-shape structure made of three building was surrounded by the same type of building structures. In order to keep the people from thinking of moving to the city, they were given water, electricity and all other facilities needed. The CHA became the provider, which going back to last night's reading, there seems to be a contradiction. First, the CHA wanted to help the African Americans but now, they are isolating the people from everything and everyone, and that is supposed to help better the lives of the African American families, to the point of building the Dan Ryan expressway on purpose to keep the people living on the south from coming to the north. This was just so incredible, building an 8 lane expressway in order to separate neighborhoods and to bring military tanks, if necessary. Quite interesting how this ideology was manifested by the CHA.





Nowadays, after the Robert Taylor Homes turned into a complete failure, we see public housing and affordable housing still playing a big role in the development of the south side. As we visited the south side today, we were able to witness the good and the bad. We saw how the Plan for Transformation is being taken care of, and even though it has its controversy, it really makes Chicago look better. Now we have townhouses which are smaller with different value. I noticed that as the years go by, things have been changing, not only the structures of the building but the way African American people are being treated.
Now, the houses are being divided into three sections; 1/3 CHA , 1/3 affordable housing, 1/3 market rate. With this division we see that only the CHA will give African Americans the homes they have been waiting for. The sad part is that now, it’s not only about the African Americans; this includes white people who can afford the houses at the market rate and the affordable housing. Now, these homes are opened to anyone who can qualify, and only 1/3 of the African Americans will get the homes. Imagining this makes me angry because this plan was supposed to only help the poor black people who were not, in the first place, allowed to move north, and now white people can invade what was supposed to be their homes.

In the end, I hope everything works for the better, even though there are plenty of African Americans in the waiting list for these homes, always keeping in mind that only 1/3 will receive them. I honestly feel very intrigued by how these projects; these homes have been taken care of.

In the end, it will always benefit the middle - class people who can afford this. There still remains inequality; there still remain cultural differences and all the problems that existed when public housing began, and honestly, I see no change coming any time soon.

Trip to Pilsen

Visiting Pilsen has been a great experience. It was very easy to distinguish Chicago once you hit the South Side. When you are downtown, Chicago leaves you speechless because of its immense buildings, beautiful parks and watching people keeping the streets busy. As soon as you travel away from downtown you start to see a dramatic change. The buildings become smaller and smaller and in a matter of minutes, all you see are houses.
What I found interesting was the fact that building the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) brought change to Chicago. I believe that even though many people were affected by this change, UIC created a more secure atmosphere to the area. Now we see students living around and keeping the area alive. I believe that if you create a place in order to better the lives of others, the change, as difficult as it might be, is worth it. Chicago has been changing since it was first discovered.
Going back to the Pilsen area, we also see change in its diversity and in its history. Before it became a Mexican neighborhood, Pilsen was Czech then Italian. Now we see plenty of beautiful murals representing the Mexican community that has overtaken its streets. The one difference I noticed immediately was the lack of people in the street. Comparing it to Chicago's busy streets, we see few people walking and little to no children in the parks, which reminds me of the Robert Taylor Homes.
When reading about the Robert Taylor Homes you see the development of Chicago. When you enter "downtown" you distinguish the luxury from the slums and from all the areas surrounding Chicago. From today’s trip to Pilsen, we can easily differentiate how Chicago was primarily built for economic reasons. In the end, the Robert Taylor Homes were built, left alone and now transformed, but what happened to the African Americans who these homes were built for? In the end, discrimination against and racism surpassed the expectations of the Robert Taylor Homes and those of Mayor Daley's. As of now, we still see how the majority of African Americans still remain in the South side.

Down town Chicago has an amazing view of tall building and popular skiscrapers that are famous around the world. Once you move out of Chicago, in this case to the south, you see Pilsen. Pilsen has very unique characteristics that make it be so different from Chicago and one big difference is its view. Pilsen has small building, spacious parts used for transporting materials, and plenty of houses as you can see in the pictures.

- A view of Pilsen's homes.

Tour of Michigan Avenue.

Outstanding it is to discover Chicago. Living in Chicago for the past 12 years of my life has definitely played a very important role in my life. To my surprise, in just one day of touring around the downtown area, I became aware of things I had no clue existed. Before today, I was in love with the city of Chicago, and now, I am blown away by its beauty. I am very proud of how Chicago has developed from nothing but a river and a lake, to skyscrapers, tourism and the most magnificent view ever; Lake Michigan.

Today has been a surprise to me. The tour changed the way I look at Chicago in many ways. First of all, I see Chicago with pride and excitement. Even though I am familiar with the city, I was unware of the truth behind it. Second of all, what caught my attention the most was the actual structure of Chicago. Having the "dead zones" by all building in order to keep the people moving was surprising to me. Knowing that architects commit mistakes after finishing up their buildings and the genius way of reparing their mistakes, as they did to the building next to Loyola's campus and adding a pendulum makes me want to learn even more.

Understanding how many buildings have been built in order to have a better economy in Chicago, knowing how important the Drake hotel was in time of Queen Elizabeth's visit to Chicago, learning the structure behind the Hancok building and experiencing an evening walking by top designer boutiques has changed my thoughts on Chicago. Even though there is crime and "bad" things may occur, Chicago, specially down town, has a magnificent view, plenty of busy streets and a welcoming atmosphere, but there is never a present, without the past.

As I was reading the article, Black, White and Shades of Brown: Fair Housing and Economic Opportunity in the Chicago Region, I rememebered of a picture I took today, which is on the upper right hand corner. The purple part in the picture represents the middle- class white people shopping and/or hanging out downtown, while the light blue represents the middle- class African Americans. As you can see it shows how they are the minority, how after so long, African Americans remain as minority. It is just one African American family, while there are plenty of middle- class whites. From the reading, this proves how dominant the white people are, how they have a higher income than the African American people.

In addition to the picture I also witnessed the way the African American people are still different than the white people. As the tour was going on, we entered the Drake hotel. I saw how a white family was standing outside the hotel waiting for a car. As soon as the car arrived, a black man got down from the car handing the white man his car keys. The white still remain at a higher position than the African American people.

Overall, I feel that I can now notice things I would not have noticed before today's tour as well as the reading. At first it was just a picture I took on the spot, and now, with knowledge of how discrimintation, income, and the dominance of the white people affect the city, I can understand Chicago in a very different perspective.