COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...

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a distancing from the qualities of working-class neighborhoods.” During gentrification, homes are renovated, vacant lots are cleaned up, trendy businesses and restaurants open up, and the cost of neighborhood homes increase, low-income residents struggle to afford higher rents, and newly formed Neighborhood Watch Associations encourage more surveillance of public spaces. Residents are discouraged from playing loud music, having late parties, and fixing cars on the sidewalk. Lower-income residents eventually become “priced out” of their neighborhoods and are forced to decide upon options of moving to more inexpensive neighborhoods or becoming more dependent on services provided by community organizations, non-profit organizations, and government sponsored programs. In communities that are in the process of being gentrified, social scientists have documented the ways and reasons residents come together to address problems of crime and disorder in their neighborhoods. Donnelly and Majka (1998:189) state, “since the early 1970s, there has been an increased interest in the role that local communities can play in addressing the problems of crime and disorder and many communities have anticrime programs that are initiated either by the local city or police officials or by residents themselves.” While the middle-class perceives the neighborhood poor as problematic to their community, they organize with other residents to rid the neighborhood of crime and disorder. “The adoption of a community policing model by many police departments further emphasizes the role of community organizations in crime prevention and control efforts” (Bennett 1995:76). Community residents will organize themselves and take matters “into their own hands” to address problems in the 20
neighborhood. The neighborhood thus becomes an area characterized by social conflict and contestation over public space. Research Method This study is focused on community groups in the gentrifying neighborhood of Oak Park, Sacramento. Oak Park is a working-class neighborhood and has about 21,125 inhabitants. It is known for its culturally diverse population and abundance of non-profit and faith-based organizations. In addition, the neighborhood is characterized by socioeconomic disparities, a history of neighborhood activism, a high crime rate, and a documented history of middle-class residents moving into the community. For nine months, from December 2005 to September 2006, my residency in Oak Park allowed me to observe the activities of community groups and learn something about their agendas for social change in the neighborhood. 10 I became a regular participant in Neighborhood Association 11 meetings, grass-roots projects, and volunteer organizations, thus gaining access that allowed me to acquire an emic perspective on various residents’ perceptions of how to facilitate change for the poor. I analyze the observations and conversations collected during this fieldwork to provide an ethnographic perspective on how different groups attempt to facilitate social change in a gentrifying neighborhood. In becoming a participant and befriending residents in the neighborhood, I became engaged with people who had different perceptions of poverty and opposing views of how to facilitate change in Oak Park. For instance, during my first Neighborhood Association meeting, I introduced myself as a new resident and a graduate 12 student at California State University, Sacramento. My “newcomer status” and 21
Page 1 and 2: COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COM
Page 3 and 4: COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COM
Page 5 and 6: Abstract of COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN O
Page 7 and 8: DEDICATION For my parents Joe and I
Page 9 and 10: I would also like to thank Joyce Bi
Page 11 and 12: Neighborhood Association ..........
Page 13 and 14: Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION: STUDYING TH
Page 15 and 16: different from themselves, they dis
Page 17 and 18: known about the residents who are l
Page 19 and 20: contested racialized images of thei
Page 21 and 22: Although the anthropological litera
Page 23 and 24: Research Focus The research site of
Page 25 and 26: Association was also gaining attent
Page 27 and 28: in city environments is exposed in
Page 29 and 30: Moffat (1992:217) states, “if man
Page 31: Choldin and Hanson (1981:562) defin
Page 35 and 36: the various definitions of “commu
Page 37 and 38: The City Chapter 3 SETTING The city
Page 39 and 40: stratified, selective, and distance
Page 41 and 42: people living outside the neighborh
Page 43 and 44: studies have demonstrated that reli
Page 45 and 46: In 1889, the Oak Park Association s
Page 47 and 48: edevelopment projects elsewhere in
Page 49 and 50: een lured to Arts and Crafts style
Page 51 and 52: ig black sunglasses, khakis, and a
Page 53 and 54: poverty. They and their comrades wo
Page 55 and 56: undesirable consequences; it can pr
Page 57 and 58: aiding in the dilapidation of the c
Page 59 and 60: Different types of social change in
Page 61 and 62: groups that are political and produ
Page 63 and 64: problems, events, and initiatives.
Page 65 and 66: 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 and 118:
you sure you want to live here? Jus
Page 119 and 120:
the community but are able to view
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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