On September 21, 2008 La Raza published an article (in Spanish) about the effect that gentrification has been having on the long time residents of the Pilsen neighborhood, on the near south side. Many residents are distressed by the changes in their neighborhood because they fear being displaced by more affluent people. With higher property taxes that come with new real estate developments, and an influx of young, upwardly mobile professionals who move into the area, the area of Pilsen finds itself in the midst of a transformation which concerns many.
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Rodrigo Paredes, is an organizer of the group Pilsen Alliance, which since the 90′s has tried to slow down and forstall what seems to be the inevitable change. He attributes this problem to real estate speculators, who have targeted Pilsen as an area that they want to develop in. Pilsen’s attractiveness to real estate speculators is related to its close proximity to Chicago’s downtown business district. Paredes points to the fact that there are many empty storefronts on 18th Street, which is the heart of Pilsen’s commercial district.
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Construction of new condominiums have the effect of raising property taxes for the people who live in the neighborhood. This is because, in theory, when there is new construction, it makes an area more desirable and more attractive to live or shop in, and as a result the entire area is improved. The problem with this concept is that real estate taxes go up, generally as a result of building permits that signify the beginning of this type of construction or large scale improvement on real property, and the assessed valuation impacts not just the new construction but the buildings and homes of people who kept an area stable and who continue to live in the area. Unless a person is planning to sell their property in the near future, the increase in real estate taxes serves as a financial burden, and where families are barely making it financially, it forces them out of their homes.
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This is what is happening to many Latino families in Pilsen. Many have been forced to sell their homes. In 1970, when Pilsen was considered a port of entry for new immigrants from Mexico, homes cost around $28,000. Real estate tax increases also impact businesses, as the landlords are forced to increase rents and often the small business owners cannot afford to absorb the costs or are unable to increase the cost of their merchandise or service without losing so much business that they are forced to close. Prior to this time, Pilsen was largely a port of entry for Eastern Europeans. I have a friend who grew up there and because of the demographics at the time, took two years of Polish in his Catholic grade school which was largely Mexican American.
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According to the La Raza article, Alderman Danny Solis stated that, “for each condominium built in Pilsen that is over four apartment levels high, by law 21 percent of this space must be allocated to low and medium income people.” The article also mentions that Solis, who is credited for the U.S. Park Service declaring Pilsen a historic district in 2006, provides opportunities for homeowners to have a moratorium on their taxes for 12 years. The homeowner must make improvements to their properties. This is fine and useful if the homeowner has the financial means to do so, but if they do not, they too will be forced to leave their neighborhood.
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Also according to the article, Rigoberto Gonzales, who is president of the Chamber of Commerce Merchants United Pilsen, said that in recent months some 70 Latino businesses have abandoned Pilsen. Socorro Sanchez, who arrived in Pilsen from Mexico in 1978 and owns a beauty center, was concerned about the loss of cultural identity of this neighborhood that the 90s, which is largely Mexican. It was also noted that most of these changes have occurred in the last four years, and that the new, mostly single residents, do not integrate into the community and support the local businesses.
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Gentrification and loss of cultural identity in neighborhoods is not a new urban issue. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, realtor Arthur Rubloff, in deals made with Mayor Richard Daley Senior, was a major mover and shaker in what was then called, “Urban Renewal.” The plan was to create a barrier from the encroaching “urban blight.” Apparently the blight they were talking about were Asian Americans and Latinos. This “urban renewal” destroyed what was at one time a Japanese American neighborhood, which was largely centered on Divison near Clark and near the what is now known as Old Town and Sandburg Village.
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In the late 1950’s the city “condemned” properties that mostly Japanese American families lived in, claiming they were unsafe for habitation. These properties were torn down and replaced with upscale housing. There were few Japanese Americans who could even afford to live in the new “urban renewal” developments, as most were refugees from having had lost their homes and property as a result of Executive Order 9066. The alleged intent of the development was to buffer the encroaching blight from the north and west to the Gold Coast neighborhood in Chicago. Anyone who knows this area also knows that it is not a neighborhood for the struggling families it displaced, and it never has been. Developer Arthur Rubloff became extraordinarily wealthy due to his real estate deals with the City.
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The other so called “blight” that developers and the city (which financed these actions) identified were largely Puerto Rican residents. During the same period, many Puerto Ricans lived in the Old Town area, particularly just west of the heart of that neighborhood, Wells Street. Tired of being pushed around, in 1966 Puerto Ricans began to organize as a result of the Division Street Riots. Another riot occurred in 1969 there were several solidarity marches demanding social services, an end to police brutality and an end to neighborhood displacement.
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(One should note that it wasn’t until 1975 that the Chicago Police Department began to hire more Asian American and Latino police officers. The height requirement was lowered at that time from 5’9” to 5’7”, which helped many Asian Americans and Latinos, who ethnically are normally not very tall, to qualify. Having more police officers who understood cultural nuances of minority communities is an important bridge that helps both law enforcement and ethnic communities. The demographics of the Chicago Police Department and the culture, to a large degree, has seen extraordinary changes. One now retired Asian American detective told me that when he joined the Police Department in 1975, there were 5 only Asian American Officers out of a 13,000 officers.)
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At one time, the neighborhood of Lake View west of Broadway was predominantly Latino, mostly of Mexican American and Puerto Rican families and many Japanese American families. The census indicated that Lake View saw a demographic change of about 80% of their Latino population leave this area when one compares the 1990 to the 2000 Census. This in large part was due to gentrification, as families who were too poor to buy property were forced out due to high real estate taxes. Most of the Japanese families also moved, as increased property taxes made it increasingly difficult to stay. The irony is that these families, who provided stability, survived living in an area that, before becoming gentrified, was wrought with drug dealing and gangs. They survived that but not high property taxes. Eventually the City enacted changes to help older, long time residents after many were pushed out of over gentrified neighborhoods.
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In Pilsen I saw this mural. The words on this mural say, “Aqui estamos y aqui nos quedamos” (Here we are and here we stay).”
