Park Matters-How Poor Park

Management Hurts Chicago’s

Deprived Areas
By Elizabeth Rivera
An Introduction to Chicago
(“Chicago, Illinois
Population”, n.d)
Located in Illinois near Lake Michigan
Population: almost 3 million people
45% White (31.7% non-Hispanic White)
32.9% Black
 5.5% Asian
2.7% from two or more races
0.5% American Indian.
13.4% are from another race.
White population mostly lives in Northside and black
and Latino population mostly lives in Southside.
20.64% of Chicagoans under poverty line.
9.7% of whites in poverty
18.96% of Asians in poverty
19.32% from two or more races in poverty
20.92% of native in poverty
21.28% of Islanders in poverty
21.54% of Hispanics in poverty
22.20% of other races in poverty
31.99% of blacks in poverty
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
 White Class Composition Photo(“Chicago, IL”, n.d.)
Most white in upper classes and living in northside

Less rich whites living in southside and west-side.

 Black Class Composition Photo (“Chicago, IL”, n.d.)
Most blacks poor and living in southside

Middle class/richer blacks living in northside and west

Latino Class Composition Photo (“Chicago, IL”, n.d.)
Higher concentration of richer Latinos living northside

Higher concentration of poorer Latinos living in southside

How did Chicago
become so
segregated?
 The Great Migration= scores of(mostly )
African American families move to
Northern cities-including Chicago-to
escape discriminatory South
 White residents responded negatively, not
wanting them to live in their
neighborhood
 This caused redlining, housing and
job discrimination, more businesses
in Northside, white flight, etc.
 Result: Chicago’s Northside(where mostly
wealthier whites live) and
Southside(where mostly poorer blacks and
other minorities live) has been racially
and socioeconomically segregated.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC

A Timeline of the
Parks Issue
 The local government has historically given more
financial, political, and legal power to Northside to
better itself than Southside- and this applies to parks.

 In Chicago Tribune Article Chicago Park District calls

Friends of the Parks report on inequality 'inaccurate,'
'incendiary,' 'divisive’:

 1982- Lawsuit against park district that “alleged

that black and Latino neighborhoods received
fewer resources than white communities”(Greene,
2019)

 1983- Park District begins following federal

consent decree that forced them to increase
spending on disadvantaged areas’ parks while “not
admitting to discrimination.”(Greene, 2019)

 1989- Decree was “dismissed”(Greene, 2019),

making hidden discrimination prevail in this issue
till today

 December 2018- Friends of the Parks comments on

the significant financial and political
disinvestment in park maintaining and programing
running for poor Latino and black Southside
communities.(Greene, 2019)

 January 2019- The city’s Chief Diversity Officer

Jessica Maxey-Faulkner dismissed these claims,
replying that FOTP was wrong (Greene,2019) and
had fallible claims.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

How does this issue relate
to neighborhood
inequality?
 Well-maintained and frequented parks:

 Decreases crime rates:

 “we detected a positive influence of The 606(Chicago
urban greenspace) on all types of crime (violent,
property, and disorderly) when examined at a coarse
scale, particularly in low SES neighborhoods (Study 1)”
(Harris, Larson, & Ogletree 2017, p.1)

 Chicago Tree Canopy study- “According to the spatial

model, similar to assaults, every 10% increase in tree
canopy percentage is associated with decreases of
10.3%, 11.3% and 11.3%, respectively, in estimated
battery, narcotics and robbery rates. . .”(Schusler,
Weiss, Treering, & Balderama 2018, p.309)

 Increases area’s socioeconomic conditions:

 Munich study- Low neighborhood SEP was associated
with decreasing neighborhood green space availability
including 200 m up to 1000 m buffers around the
neighbourhood boundaries”(Schüle, Gabriel, & Bolte,
2017, p.711) and “catchment areas measured from
neighbourhood centroids with different radii (1000 m
up to 3000 m). ”(Schüle et al., 2017, p.711)

 Helps neighborhood’s mental health:

 Philly study-“Intention-to-treat analysis of the
greening intervention compared with no intervention
demonstrated a significant decrease in participants
who were feeling depressed . . .worthless. .
.reduction in overall self-reported poor mental
health”(South, Hohl, Kondo, Macdonald, 2018, p.2)

 The opposite is true for disadvantaged neighborhoods

with less maintained parks and less parks in general
Who are the groups involved?
Friends of the Parks
 Friends of the Parks- Founded in 1975- Try to
protect and improve the conditions of Chicago’s
green spaces, especially in disadvantaged
communities
 Chicago tribune article- “city’s largest park
advocacy and preservation group,”(Greene, 2019)
Chicago’s Park District
 Founded in 1934 under Illinois’s Park
Consolidation Act, their official website says that
they manage “more than 8,800 acres of green
space, making it the largest municipal park
manager in the nation.”(“About Us”, p.1)
 District’s mission according to their official
website:
 “Enhance the quality of life in Chicago by
becoming the leading provider of recreation and
leisure opportunities”(“About Us: Mission and Core
Values”, p.1)
 “Provide safe, inviting and beautifully maintained
parks and facilities”(“About Us: Mission and Core
Values”, p.1)
 “Create a customer-focused and responsive park
system that prioritizes the needs of children and
families”(“About Us: Mission and Core Values”, p.1)
How do these groups see the park issue?
Friends of the Parks(Friend Chicago Park District(Chief
of the Park’s leader Juanita Diversity Officer Jessica
Irizarry) Maxey-Faulkner)
 District ignores poor Southside Latino and  FOTP is wrong, she claims
Black community parks in terms of
maintaining and installing them.  Mentioned latest Southside park
projects and overall park plans
 They cited data which said a Northside beneficial for Southside (Greene, 2019)
park had “. . . four times as many to prove point
programs. . .” (Greene, 2019) as a
 Said their report used defective data to
similar Southside park (Greene, 2019).
stress their views (Greene, 2019)
 Says District they mistook equity as
dividing funds equally instead of aiding
the Southside areas based on their  Called claims 'inaccurate,' 'incendiary,'
unique needs. 'divisive’(Greene, 2019)
 Her needs approach would address the
money and quality gap phased by the
Southside communities (Greene, 2019).
Possible Solutions for
the Parks Problem

 Make it a priority for the district to spend more

money on Southside than Northside parks to close
the management and park gap that’s hurting the
former’s communities.
 Also make it a priority to add as many programs as
possible for Southside parks each year to help the
program gap between the two areas.
 Work with Southside residents and advocacy groups
like Friends of the Parks to figure out what the best
programs to bring to Southside parks
 Use Southside residents and park advocacy groups to
be judges on park funding and maintaining plans
along with Northside to balance political power
more.
 Do joint Southside and northside park events(like
several parks participate in single festival) to
increase programs for and attention on Southside
parks
Sources:
 Chicago Tribune Article: Greene, M. (2019, February 14).
Chicago Park District calls Friends of the Parks report on
inequality 'inaccurate,' 'incendiary,' 'divisive'. Chicago Tribune.
Retrieved March 1, 2019, from
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-
park-district-program-inequality-react-20190214-story.html

 Chicago Population Stats: Chicago, Illinois Population 2019.

(n.d.). Retrieved April 11, 2019, from
http://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/chicago-
population/

 Class Composition Stats: Hidalgo, Cesar. “Chicago, IL.” Data

USA, Deloitte, datausa.io/profile/geo/chicago-il/.

 Chicago 606 Quote: Harris, B., Larson, L., & Ogletree, S. (2017).
Different Views From The 606: Examining the Impacts of an
Urban Greenway on Crime in Chicago [Abstract]. Environment
and Behavior, 50(1), 56-85. doi:10.1177/0013916517690197

 Chicago Tree Canopy Quote: Schusler, T., Weiss, L., Treering,

D., & Balderama, E. (2018). Landscape and Urban Planning, 170,
309-313.
doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2017.07.012

 Munich Study Quote: Schüle, S. A., Gabriel, K. M., & Bolte, G.

(2017). [Abstract]. International Journal of Hygiene and
Environmental Health, 220(4), 711-718.
doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheh.2017.02.006

 Philly Study Quote: South, E. C., Hohl, B. C., Kondo, M. C.,

Macdonald, M. J. (2018). Effect of Greening Vacant Land on
Mental Health of Community-Dwelling Adults: A Cluster
Randomized Trial [Abstract]. JAMA Network Open, 1.
doi:doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.0298

 Park District Mission Statement: District, C. P. (n.d.). Mission &

Core Values. Retrieved April 11, 2019, from
https://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/about-us/mission-core-
values

 Park District quote: District, C. P. (n.d.). About Us. Retrieved

April 11, 2019, from
https://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/about-us
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
 Any
Questions?
Anybody have any questions they want
answered?