The dividing concrete island in the middle of the street serves as an unofficial southern border for the Old Town area. The Cabrini Green housing projects and rapidly gentrifying North Town area lie just south of North Avenue.
| As the 21st century begins, Old Town exists as a gentrified neighborhood fortifying itself against the surrounding city. Its proximity to the Cabrini Green housing projects poses the challenge of maintaining the safe character of the area. Developers are looking south toward the Cabrini Green and North Town areas as sites for future development. Meanwhile, offensive maneuvers by the city, neighborhood associations, and real estate developers ensure that the results of urban renewal in Old Town will be seen for years to come. |
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The dividing concrete island in the middle of the street serves as an unofficial southern border for the Old Town area. The Cabrini Green housing projects and rapidly gentrifying North Town area lie just south of North Avenue. |
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July 30, 1999 "The problem with being a pioneer is that sometimes the Indians don't want to go away. Worse than that, sometimes they wait for the bus right in front of your expensive new home. This seems to be what has happened down in Old Town across the street from the spot where the Old Town School [of Folk Music] was founded in 1957.
The CTA [Chicago Transit Authority] recently moved one of the bus stops at North and Sedgwick a quarter block east to the other side of the alley that runs behind the new houses. It's a busy bus stop, and when I'm in the neighborhood I like to stop on my way by and ask the people waiting for the bus, 'Why'd they move the stop?' 'Rich white people,' is the standard reply. Oftentimes I'll spot someone standing at the old bus stop waiting. This is not surprising. Old habits are hard to break, and the North Avenue bus has been stopping at the corner since it replaced the streetcars that had stopped at the same corner for a million years before. This is the first alley bus stop that I'm aware of, and I don't really think it's asking too much for the CTA to put up a sign directing people from the old bus stop to the new one. If trends continue, they'll probably need quite a few such signs. I doubt if this will be the last alley stop." |
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This trend in housing assures inhabitants protection from undesired contact with other people in the neighborhood. Real estate developers are promoting these fortified communities as solutions to home buyers's safety concerns in gentrified urban neighborhoods like Old Town. |
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