COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...

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ightly painted bungalow in Oak Park, I asked Maria if she visited the 40 Acres Art Gallery often. I also asked her if many people in the neighborhood attended art events at the gallery. Maria laughed and said, I sometimes go to the art gallery if I’m looking for something to do. But there aren’t a lot of people from the neighborhood that go to the art gallery. Most of the people that go to the art gallery are middle-class Caucasian people who live outside of the neighborhood. Most people from the neighborhood also don’t go Starbuck’s to get coffee. Law students from the nearby surrounding area are the ones that mostly buy coffee there or people who are driving on their way to work. The poor people in this neighborhood don’t visit the bookstore, art gallery, or coffee shop. The business that they get comes from middle-class people who live outside the neighborhood. I asked Maria if she thought the efforts to revitalize the neighborhood were improving the community and she replied, I think the neighborhood is looking better and more attractive with the new businesses coming in, but I really don’t think the neighborhood’s drug problems are getting any better. After arrests are made the drug dealers and users just come back out on the street. People think that the poor in this neighborhood are the only drug users here. But I’ve seen a lot of rich Caucasian people drive into this neighborhood in fancy cars and convertibles to buy drugs. They have money to buy drugs and the cops aren’t going to bust them because they don’t fit the stereotype of a typical drug user. In sum, there are many middle-class residents who live in Oak Park who do not choose to participate in community politics. But although they choose not to participate in revitalization projects, they are aware of the issues that plague their community. They enjoy the community for its quaint and unpredictable appeal and choose to reside in the community because of its affordability and proximity to the freeway and Downtown. Further, these middle-class residents acknowledge the problems that are taking place in 106
the community but are able to view them in a different light, from the point of view that “things are what they are and that’s why I’m here.” This perspective gives them the ability to live in the neighborhood while not being compelled to participate in community activism. 107
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COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COM
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COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COM
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Abstract of COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN O
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DEDICATION For my parents Joe and I
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I would also like to thank Joyce Bi
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Neighborhood Association ..........
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Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION: STUDYING TH
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different from themselves, they dis
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known about the residents who are l
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contested racialized images of thei
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Although the anthropological litera
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Research Focus The research site of
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Association was also gaining attent
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in city environments is exposed in
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Moffat (1992:217) states, “if man
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Choldin and Hanson (1981:562) defin
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neighborhood. The neighborhood thus
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the various definitions of “commu
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The City Chapter 3 SETTING The city
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stratified, selective, and distance
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people living outside the neighborh
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studies have demonstrated that reli
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In 1889, the Oak Park Association s
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edevelopment projects elsewhere in
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een lured to Arts and Crafts style
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ig black sunglasses, khakis, and a
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poverty. They and their comrades wo
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undesirable consequences; it can pr
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aiding in the dilapidation of the c
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Different types of social change in
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groups that are political and produ
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problems, events, and initiatives.
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Pertinent to the Neighborhood Assoc
Page 67 and 68: were to be the main participants in
Page 69 and 70: members, students, and sympathetic
Page 71 and 72: evitalization projects in the commu
Page 73 and 74: 1990:138). Likewise, “The mission
Page 75 and 76: eports of residents marching down t
Page 77 and 78: Altheide and Michalowski (1999:476)
Page 79 and 80: organizations is part of a broader
Page 81 and 82: hours of the day and night and resi
Page 83 and 84: At a particular Neighborhood Associ
Page 85 and 86: I think the city is trying to make
Page 87 and 88: community they began an onslaught o
Page 89 and 90: Rehabilitation programs would do a
Page 91 and 92: “neighborhood” as one where the
Page 93 and 94: were being made by middle-class res
Page 95 and 96: efreshments and appetizers and maki
Page 97 and 98: For three months I performed a vari
Page 99 and 100: and spent their time trying to recr
Page 101 and 102: Convention Center in downtown Sacra
Page 103 and 104: more than two decades we have oppos
Page 105 and 106: The surveys for the Women’s Needs
Page 107 and 108: these residents were also affected
Page 109 and 110: professor, who was also a Neighborh
Page 111 and 112: twenty other residents in May to ma
Page 113 and 114: Most community members felt the sch
Page 115 and 116: coordinated with community revitali
Page 117: you sure you want to live here? Jus
Page 121 and 122: esidents have “rights to the city
Page 123 and 124: are activists and non-activists in
Page 125 and 126: Ethnic entrepreneurs in American so
Page 127 and 128: such as milk, eggs, and toiletries,
Page 129 and 130: presence that would produce long-te
Page 131 and 132: eneficial to one group may not be b
Page 133 and 134: organizations conflict and tried to
Page 135 and 136: social stratification in the commun
Page 137 and 138: class does not view the lifeways of
Page 139 and 140: them. And the middle-class don’t
Page 141 and 142: in low-income neighborhoods. Among
Page 143 and 144: improve the quality of life for res
Page 145 and 146: NOTES 1 Neighborhood “revitalizat
Page 147 and 148: 20 The National Labor Federation (1
Page 149 and 150: Altheide, L. David and Michalowski,
Page 151 and 152: Boyd, Michelle Bridge, Gary 2005.
Page 153 and 154: Ertll, J. Randy 2008. “Celebratin
Page 155 and 156: Gupta, Akhil and Ferguson, James 19
Page 157 and 158: Jenkins, Timothy 1994. “Fieldwork
Page 159 and 160: Lee, A. Barrett, Spain, Daphne, and
Page 161 and 162: Marwell, P. Nicole 2004. “Privati
Page 163 and 164: Nylund, Katarina Oropesa, S. R 2001
Page 165 and 166: Rosenhall, Laurel 2005. “Charter
Page 167 and 168: Simpson, M.A. Lee 2004. Images of A
Page 169 and 170:
Thacher, David 2001. “Conflicting
Page 171:
Wolch, R. Jennifer 1980. “Residen
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COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...

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