To the editors:
In regard to Maura Troester’s article on Free Street’s teen company, TeenStreet, I must say that the picture Ms. Troester painted of the conflict between African Americans and Latino teens at Pulaski Park was sensationalistic and inaccurate [May 14]. The very teens she quotes saying they can’t use the park, Momo Owens and Joshua Medley, use it all the time, for sports as well as for rehearsals. Perhaps Maura was taken in by Momo and Joshua’s dramatic portrayal of life in Big Bad West Town. It’s actually a whole lot safer and more integrated than many Chicago neighborhoods. Check out the park any day and you see African Americans, Latinos, and Whites using the park together. Pulaski Park is where the different races of the West Town neighborhood, young and old, mix. It is a true community center in that sense and all too rare in Chicago. Yes, there are sometimes problems, yes, there are gangs in the West Town neighborhood that put pressure on some of our kids, but no incidents have occurred in the park since we moved here in February. To inflate the one negative aspect of running a teen program in West Town does Pulaski Park and TeenStreet a huge disservice.
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Maura Troester replies:
It is indeed $25 per performance, not $125 per week. Sorry for the error.
