Whites struggle to adjust in newly latino neighborhood

Chicago Reporter, The, May, 2003 by Stephanie Williams

A drive down the 5700 block of West Belmont Avenue, the hub of the Northwest Side community of Belmont Cragin, is like a scene from another era. Stores such as Dom & Ksiazki Polish Bookstore, Gene's Old World Sausage Shop and Staropoiska's Restaurant dot almost every corner.

A dense commercial thoroughfare, the street is crammed with mom-and-pop storefronts proud to display their handmade signs, written in Polish and English, enticing customers with their daily specials or the week's bargain buy.

This is an immigrant community of working-class families, explained the Rev. Stephen Kanonik, who grew up in the neighborhood and is now pastor of nearby St. Ladislaus Roman Catholic Church, at 5345. W Roscoe St. "People [here] aren't goofy enough to spend four bucks on a cup of coffee," Kanonik said.

Belmont Cragin was once known as a haven for white ethnic families. But the area near Belmont and Central avenues is now one of their few remaining enclaves in the neighborhood.

The rest of Belmont Cragin is filled with scenes like the one about a mile southeast, where retail shops offer trips to Mexico City and restaurants advertise weekend specials on Menudo soup with signs in Spanish and English.

"This is where that 'American Dream' plays itself out for some Latinos who try to do better," said the Rev. Carmelo Mendez of St. James Catholic Church, 5730 W. Fullerton Ave. "This is the second neighborhood [Hispanics] move into--it's the area where those who have saved up enough and are doing financially better move."

In the last decade, Belmont Cragin has undergone a quiet but dramatic change. Once mostly made up of Polish Americans, it is now a predominantly Latino neighborhood. Leaders say many of the new residents have moved from older, more established Hispanic communities like Humboldt Park and Pilsen.

Residents say the transition has gone smoothly, unlike in Chicago neighborhoods that shifted--often violently--from white to black in the 1960s and 1970s. Property values in Belmont Cragin have not plummeted. Commercial districts continue to thrive. And, with median household income above the citywide figure, the area remains stable.

But beneath the surface are signs of the racial tensions that typically mark a community in transition.

"There are a few people who can't let go. ... [Others] move because they are afraid. I encourage people to stay," 30th Ward Democratic Committeeman Michael Wojcik said of the area's white ethnic residents. The 30th Ward includes parts of Belmont Cragin.

"I want to keep the stability," Wojcik said. "Stability engenders safe schools, low crime, jobs and political participation."

Wojcik, who is Polish American, served as 35th Ward alderman from 1991 to 1994 and 30th Ward alderman from 1995 until April. After a remap left the 30th Ward majority Latino, Wojcik and the Chicago-based Polish National Alliance filed a lawsuit, which is still pending, and Wojcik chose not to run for re-election. In February, voters elected Ariel E. Reboyras to be their first Latino alderman.

In 1980, most of Belmont Cragin's residents were Polish, with significant numbers of Greeks, Germans and Italians, census data show. Only 6 percent were Hispanic.

But by 1990, Latinos represented 30 percent of the community's population; by 2000, they made up 65 percent. The white population dropped 27 percent in the 1980s and 41 percent in the 1990s, according to the census.

"I don't care who moves into the neighborhood. I just want the area kept nice, ... [as] a place where families can raise their children," said Robert Pietryka, 35, a longtime resident who is of Polish descent.

But some residents are upset that single-family homes have been illegally converted into apartments and rooms for low-income renters. They also worry about neighborhood crime and associate it with young people who have moved into the area--though they say it is not a racial or ethnic issue.

"A lot of it is the way you look at it," said Arthur D. Felgenhauer, secretary of the Belmont-Central Chamber of Commerce. "You see something happen, and your mind goes off, 'Well, see, there are robberies all over now."' Even if it's not true, he said, "people want to associate them with all the change that's going on."

Most Latinos say they're not concerned about whites leaving Belmont Cragin. Instead, they are focused on getting the schools to perform better, reducing crime and maintaining a high quality of life in the neighborhood.

"Latino residents feel comfortable living here," Mendez said. "Latino families are very active in neighborhood organizations, and they vigorously advocate for better schools and safer neighborhoods."

Bungalow Belt

A quiet community 11 miles northwest of the Loop, Belmont Cragin has seldom attracted front-page news. After a surge in the development of single-family brick bungalows in the early 20th century; first- and second-generation Europeans populated the area.

But today the only part of the neighborhood that houses a majority-white population is its northwest tip, according to census data. And communities such as Portage Park, Dunning and Montclare that skirt Belmont Cragin to the north and west remain at least 70 percent white, while, to the south and east, the Hermosa and Humboldt Park areas are largely Latino.