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In response to some of the letters appearing recently, regarding the “displaced” Hispanic community in Wicker Park, I feel a need to respond as someone who may have unwittingly aided in the “transformation” of the area. When I moved into the neighborhood over ten years ago, it was with other classmates of mine from the School of the Art Institute, we were initially drawn there by the low-cost spaces as well as the proximity to town. Contrary to popular belief, most of us are not from the suburbs, we came from everywhere, all around the country.
It may not be a popular opinion, but frankly, if I had to choose, I would rather live next door to a yuppie who keeps his litter in a garbage can and his car stereo at a respectable volume. Just because you are poor doesn’t give you the right to live where you’ve been, just because you’ve been there. Those who own property should be able to sell it to whoever they please, this is the foundation of our country. We artists no more “took” the area from the Hispanics than they “took” it from the Polish and Ukrainian communities that were there even farther back.
