A DIVERSE COMMUNITY

May 17, 2004

Chicago Tribune

THE UPTOWN MELTING POT?

Many see income, not race, as social dividing line

Maegan Carberry, RedEye.

In Chicago, neighborhood lines still divide the city into enclaves of mostly white or mostly minority populations.

But 50 years after the Supreme Court ended legal segregation in U.S. schools, many Chicagoans now believe that money has replaced race as the primary force behind tensions over equal access to schools, housing and other public services.

In other words, it's not necessarily white vs. black vs. Hispanic vs. Asian; it's the Haves vs. the Have-nots.

Orrin Watson, a 30-year-old technology consultant, lives in Uptown, one of Chicago's most racially diverse neighborhoods, according to the 2000 U.S. Census.

Watson said that although people of different races share the neighborhood, residents remain divided--usually more by income than by skin color.

"At the Uptown Lounge, if a young urban professional comes in, they are comfortable with that," Watson said. "If a local guy wants a beer, they're not so comfortable."

For Uptown, racial diversity is a selling point that attracts some people to the neighborhood.

Theodora Nsiah, a 23-year-old hairstylist, says one of the reasons she moved to Uptown when she came to the U.S. from Ghana was because she likes the diversity.

"It's nice that there's a mix because you can relate to people more than you can in a place that is mostly black or mostly white," she said.

But while residents say they embrace the area's racial diversity, they acknowledge that the battle between the groups vying to shape the neighborhood's future is essentially defined by race.

Like other North Side areas, the racial mix in Uptown is changing as development attracts wealthier, typically white residents.

"The lower-income people here are usually younger people with kids who didn't get an education," said Anthony Valle, owner of Uptown's Conexio Cafe. "The majority of them are American-Indians, African-Americans and Hispanic people."

The intersection of Sheridan Road and Leland Avenue helps illustrate the conflict.

On Sheridan, sandwiched between Mi Rancho Supermarcado and The Best Sub Shop, sits Siam Noodle & Rice. Looming across Leland is the Parvenu, a new condominium project. In a neighborhood where about 25 percent of the people are living in poverty and the median household income is around $32,000, the starting price for a two-bedroom condo at the Parvenu is $249,000.

"It's a gentrification process, and it doesn't fit the M.O. of the town--which is walking around, asking for money," Watson said. "It's a culture shock. There's probably some embittered animosity because the dynamic in this area is that poorer people are being pushed out."

Valle said the tension is evident at the neighborhood's annual Unity Festival, a cultural celebration that includes dancers and foods from the African-American, Latin-American and Asian-American communities.

"The lower-income people come out of their developments and try to socialize with the yuppies," Valle said. "You can see the yuppies are not trying to socialize. They think everybody is a bad person, and they judge a book by its cover."

But you can't please everyone, said Denice Davis, chief of staff for Ald. Helen Shiller, whose 46th Ward includes Uptown. "We have to get viewpoints on all sides and try to create a win-win for everyone," Davis said, citing the new Borders bookstore on Clark Street that recently attracted debate about the neighborhood's future.

The building complex includes the store and mixed-income housing.

"It reflects what everybody wanted to see," Davis said, "someone who makes $300,000 a year and wanted that Borders, or it could be someone who wanted affordable housing."

Katharine Boyda of the Uptown Neighborhood Council rejects the idea that Uptown is becoming the next Lincoln Park or Lakeview (where white residents make up more than

75 percent of the community) and said the changes will be better for all residents.

"People like to focus on the things that don't work, but there are things here that do work," Boyda said. "I don't think race is an issue in this neighborhood. There's a richness here in the sense of the cultures and the stories and the way people connect. And they do connect."

If anything, Davis said, the neighborhood's racial and socioeconomic diversity is a model for other Chicago neighborhoods dealing with similar issues.

"We all want to live here, and it forces us to look at each other and be sensitive to each other," Davis said. "We have to work collectively for the better of all."

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