COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...

their lives, get educated, and get a job. They, therefore, held the poor accountable for
their situation and asked, Why is that person poor? and Why can’t that person read?
This group held favorable views of revitalization projects aimed at “beautifying” the
neighborhood and ridding the area of blight.
While many middle-class residents enjoy the availability of affordable homes and
the quaint multi-cultural atmosphere of their community, they increasingly want to rid
their community of crime. Many middle-class residents who live in the neighborhood do
not want to live near petty criminals who sell drugs and engage in prostitution. Thus,
they support and become involved in revitalization projects to beautify the neighborhood,
rid the area of blight, and promote police patrol of the neighborhood. The Neighborhood
Association has helped gain support of a number of revitalization projects consisting of
urban development projects, the closure of liquor stores through eminent domain, and
increased police patrol.
Such activities are presumed to equal progress for the neighborhood, while
“blight” equals regression of the neighborhood. They support landlords who raise rents
in the neighborhood because they want to attract “nice” people to the neighborhood and
believe the quality of life for all community residents will occur through revitalization
projects. What these activists are interested in is to sanitize the landscape of its “bad”
qualities, which include the poor and the homeless. From their perspective, the removal
of groups, such as men who roam the streets at night and juvenile delinquents, is the
equivalent of removal of dilapidated housing and other “blight,” because they are an
expression of an unproductive environment that must be cleared away.
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