a walk around the block

Meeting with the Chief of Staff for an Uptown Alderman was not what I had anticipated. Denice is passionate about her community to say the least.

Development without Displacement was her main mantra. She means it for everyone: shop owners and residents alike. Right now, Target is moving in, along with senior housing, some family units, and mixed income housing. But with a little shifting, everyone still their shop, and now it has better advertising access to the El. CHA is not popular here. Families are being pushed out due to the gentrification, and as the face of the neighborhood changes, someone gets left out. The amount of housing that is being replaced is not comparable to what was there before. Some are fighting it, others are just leaving. For the fighters, the co-op is the new way to go. All the tenants of a building pool their money in order to purchase their building from the landlord. Denice says that this is a sustainable way to handle the issue, but I still wonder about the long-term.

Gentrification is a big deal. The people with the money continue to have more places to go. The marginalized become more so. CHA is supporting this, thinking that self-sufficiency will emerge in people as they are living around people with wealth. It is not that easy. Poverty is a cycle, and one does not simply wake up outside its' power one morning.

On the good side, crime is down. Denice says there is no crime. I tend to think that there is little crime. We're still human.

If Uptown is really the place that Denice proclaims it to be, it is a community that has hope for the future. And that is rare no matter where you are in the world.

Art Institute: love. I love admiring art for hours. I am planning on a more extensive trip to the AI later... time for a sketchbook, pencils, and inspiration.