COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...
COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...
COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
ents to increase and attracts more affluent residents into the neighborhood. When more<br />
affluent residents move into the neighborhood, they usually create neighborhood<br />
association groups and neighborhood “watch” groups. These many groups hold meetings<br />
where community issues are discussed and initiatives to help decrease crime and increase<br />
development are debated. In this way, middle-class residents express their power and<br />
rights to the city.<br />
Further, when middle-class residents demand that more surveillance of the<br />
neighborhood in the form of police patrol occur, the poor become further oppressed under<br />
this surveillance. And when affluent residents create neighborhood association groups,<br />
they become “spokespersons” for the community and are persuasive in gaining support<br />
for their own initiatives to revitalize their neighborhood. Hanson (1986:110) confirms<br />
the political power of community-based organizations and states,<br />
An increasing catalyst for urban change is the locally based<br />
philanthropy or community foundation. And in all community<br />
based-organizations there is an inherent tension between<br />
developing staying power and accommodating change. Such<br />
organizations—unions, business associations, churches,<br />
community organizations, political caucuses—must<br />
simultaneously operate as agents of stability and agents of change.<br />
While the middle-class implements revitalization projects, the poor become<br />
further marginalized in their community and objectified under the scrutiny of middle-<br />
class residents and the increased surveillance of police patrol. The poor, as targets of<br />
these community groups, do not always benefit from such reforms and they have at times<br />
resisted projects for community improvement. In some instances, the poor feel as if they<br />
must commit crimes that showcase their animosity about revitalization projects. There<br />
110