By Ben Joravsky
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But race plays no part in the Villa debate. Indeed, the Villa seems remarkably devoid of great urban conflicts. Conceived years ago as a village within the city, it’s a peaceful triangular refuge of 126 single-family homes wedged between Addison and Pulaski west of the Kennedy expressway. Some of the north-south streets have grassy medians on which children and dogs frequently frolic. The local community group, the Villa Improvement League, keeps careful watch on everything from real estate prices to crime, while organizing summer block parties and get-togethers. “When I drove through the Villa for the first time, I said to myself, ‘This is where I want to live,’” says Jerry Harlan Jr., who moved there almost two years ago. “I thought this is a perfect little place, a haven within the city.”
It seemed there were no problems for cul-de-sacs to cure–until a meeting last spring with Alderman Mike Wojcik. As Wojcik tells the story, he asked Villa residents if they wanted a piece of the money the city had earmarked for traffic-safety projects in their ward. “I said, ‘Look, guys, tell me what you want,’ says Wojcik, who happens to live in the Villa. “It doesn’t have to be cul-de-sacs. It could be a smaller traffic-calming device, like a big planter in the middle of the road. It doesn’t even have to be anything; we can just keep things the way they are.”
“We thought the plan would make the streets safer and keep would-be criminals out,” says Harlan. “It would increase property values. You’d think everyone would want it.”
Harlan and his allies have gone on the attack, dismissing their opposition as a band of hysterical naysayers. “They say people will think we’re snobs. But I don’t think putting in a couple of cul-de-sacs will make the Villa inaccessible,” says Harlan. “I can give anyone who wants to get in here directions how to get here. We’re not trying to create a gated community. We’re trying to say if you come here, it’s because you want to come here, not because you want to go through here to get somewhere else.”
