B/V-anishing us from the core of Little Village
07/28/20
Adrian Villanueva
At the entrance to Little Village, on 26th Street, stands the Little Village Arch, which was built in 1990. My mother was only 10 years old when the construction of the structure began. She would observe the process as she walked on 26th to get tacos from El Milagro with my aunt and my grandma, something that I do on certain occasions as well. The emblematic arch is meant to represent the entrance to the pueblos of México and also serves to represent the large Mexican population living in the neighborhood.
Beside this landmark of Little Village sits the Little Village Plaza, a business center where more than a hundred vendors sell goods and services to the residents of the neighborhood and visitors. Many people cherish good memories from the plaza; including me: my first birthday cake came from the LaBaguette Bakery, which is located in the plaza to this day.
A birthday party cake made by LaBaguette Bakery. Photo courtesy of author.
Since Little Village is the second biggest source of revenue for the city, the pandemic hit the community especially hard due to the closing of various businesses. Along with the pandemic, the detonation of the Crawford Coal factory by Hilco was also unexpected and affected the air quality of the entire neighborhood. With all of these things happening during this time doesn't it seem like an attack on La Villita?
Earlier this year, Little Village Plaza was bought by Novak Construction, who intends to build new development on the lot. All this happened without any warning to the community members or any input from the vendors, a majority of whom work at the Discount Mall on the lot and rely on the income from working there to support their families. When Novak Construction was asked about what would come to the space, it was said that many of the businesses would have to go and would instead be replaced with “national brands.” This included the Discount Mall which was said to not be “the best use of the property.”
Novak Construction’s model for Little Village Plaza. Image listed on Mid-America Group.
Do we really need a Starbucks to replace LaBaguette? Or a Target to replace the small traditional businesses of Discount Mall? Why not just help the community improve the businesses that were already there?
With the “development” of Little Village Plaza, the livelihoods and memories of many residents will be wiped away by a systematic progress that was neither truly needed nor wanted by La Villita.
Many residents of the community fear that this could begin the gentrification process in this predominantly Hispanic neighborhood. Gentrification will bring a lot of new development in the neighborhood, with this would come higher property taxes, property values, rent values, and living costs. In places where such changes have happened, like Pilsen, many people were forced to move out because they were no longer able to pay for the houses where many families had lived for generations. Like those former Pilsen residents, my grandparents have lived in this house for 25 years, along with my mom, and now my me and my brothers.
The author’s childhood home in Little Village. Photo courtesy of the author.
My family owns our property, but we fear that if taxes increase, we might have to move out of our home. Both my dad and my grandfather work in factories, and at home, we need to split our budgets for all the utilities; water, gas, light, groceries, and anything else that's necessary. Who knows if we would be able to maintain ourselves in a changed, gentrified Little Village.
The neighborhood's average salary is about $33,000 a year. Compare that to gentrified Pilsen, where the average salary is $62,000 (almost double). Little Village residents, at their current level of income, would struggle to afford to live in the neighborhood if it does go through a gentrification process.
I don’t want my neighborhood to change from what it is right now. I don’t want the people to be gone, my favorite restaurants, taquerías, panaderías, tortillerías, and most importantly my culture and history held within its borders. Rather than [spend resources/ money] changing the neighborhood and its demographics, it would be better to invest in the people who are already here. Give everyone the resources and the education that they need. Make sure that everyone in the community can breathe and has enough space to play, that they have more parks and natural areas. We need to say “NO!” to the displacement of the neighborhood's people.
From my first years of life up to now, a lot of my memories have been formed within the walls of my house together with my parents and my siblings, but now there’s a chance that we, along with many other residents of Little Village, won’t be able to make the same memories. I can’t imagine no longer being able to run through the park with my friends, not having a care in the world. In a transformed La Villita, rather than the local stores with owners who know many of the local residents, many nationally known retailers with no relationship to the neighborhood would come to replace them. The stories, the memories, the sights, and the culture of the neighborhood, changed, in order to make everything “better.”
Community meeting flyer dropped off at every house in Little Village. Photo courtesy of the author.
To stop their displacement from Little Village Plaza, vendors will hold a meeting on August 5th, 2020 with Mayor Lightfoot, Alderman Cardenas, and Novak Construction. The community meeting will happen at the parking lot of the Discount Mall. Neighbors and the public are encouraged to attend.
Adrian Villanueva is a young writer, audio-radio producer from Little Village. He has participated in Yollocalli’s radio-journalism program, Your Story, Your Way! since summer 2018. He will be attending the University of Saint Francis this upcoming Fall 2020 to pursue a Criminal Justice major with a minor in Spanish.
Adrian Villanueva worked on this piece as part of Yollocalli Arts Reach Journalism, Storytelling and Radio Internship Program.