As fall settles into Chicago, a ghostly chill raises the hackles of those attuned to a different kind of presence in the city’s streets. We live in a city of disappearances: from the original loss of home of Chicago’s many Native tribes, to the thousands of people disappeared by the Chicago Police Department into the […]
Tag: gentrification
Posted inThe Sale of Douglass Park
A performance for the people
On a cloudy afternoon a couple of Saturdays ago, faint lyrics could be heard echoing down Marshall Boulevard, which exits Douglass Park on the park’s south side. The sound was not coming from any of the bands performing at Riot Fest inside the park, but a small crowd had gathered under the shade of nearby […]
Posted inMusic
Wiki and Navy Blue conjure their hometown New York through hypnotic hip-hop
New York is an ever-present character on Wiki’s latest full-length, Half God. The rapper’s third studio album offers rich vignettes from his life set against the backdrop of his hometown and its narrative: snapshots of the nascent stages of a new romance, scenes from his Lower East Side neighborhood, observations of the gentrifiers who threaten […]
Posted inMusic
DIY versus development, international edition
Chicago cultural space La Casa del Inmigrante and Mexico City anarchist library Biblioteca Social Reconstruir bond against a common enemy.
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Preserving the status quo
A modest proposal to turn Chicago into more of a boss-o-cracy than it already is
Posted inNews & Politics
A case of disappearing hoops in gentrifying neighborhoods
In the last decade the Chicago Park District has removed 12 of 16 basketball courts from neighborhoods that have doubled and tripled in value, further marginalizing communities facing displacement.
Posted inNews & Politics
State rep. Delia Ramirez discusses the uphill battle to bring housing justice to Illinois
“There is a system in place that keeps people homeless and poor and it’s so much bigger than any particular organization.”
Posted inMusic
Sor Juana gets the banda back together on the gig poster of the week
This week’s featured gig poster was created by artist Eric J. García of the Instituto Gráfico de Chicago printmaking collective.
Posted inColumns & Opinion
How to avoid being a livable streets jerk
Thoughtful transportation advocacy requires intersectionality and a willingness to listen.
Posted inNews & Politics
Fear and loathing at a South Shore co-op
Oglesby Manor survived the Great Depression and the Great Recession. Will gentrification and neighborly discord spell the death of this housing co-operative?
Posted inArts & Culture
Power, violence, and the Chicago Architecture Biennial
This year may end the unstoppable homage to dead white men and narratives that neglect how architecture has victimized communities of color.
Posted inArts & Culture
Residents reflect on rehabbed Lathrop Homes
“I suffered too much to live here.”
Posted inMusic
Riot Fest’s elephant in the room
Does Riot Fest have any business taking over a public park in a largely Black and Brown neighborhood?
Posted inNews & Politics
‘This is my home’
Woodlawn residents share their vision for a neighborhood in transition
Posted inArts & Culture
Started from the Bottomyards, now we’re gentrified
A hyper-colored, Afrofuturistic graphic novel captures how white privilege feeds on Black neighborhoods.