Serving UIC's Great Cities Commitment: Solutions for Today's Urban Challenges

As we come to the end of Hispanic Heritage Month, we want to highlight two recent studies on Latinos in Chicago along with a relevant video. One study is an overview of where Latinos are in the city and the second is analysis of Latinos’ role in the Chicago economy. Both studies remind us of the important role that Latinos play in the Chicago landscape. The video reminds us how important it is to respect immigrants in our city.

In October 2017, the Chicago City Council Latino Caucus, headed by Alderman Gilbert Villegas, released a report by the Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy and the Great Cities Institute.  The report was produced for the Metropolitan Family Services.  The Latino Neighborhoods Report: Issues and Prospects for Chicago, authored by José Miguel Acosta-Córdova, provided city wide data on Latinos and more detailed information on the variation among 12 neighborhoods with at least 25,000 Latinos and where they were the largest single group. In addition to the detailed information that is useful to policy makers, researchers and social service delivery agencies, the report highlights ways to respond to educational and employment needs of a group that is 30 percent of Chicago’s population.

Difference between Latino and non-Hispanic White Median Household Income by Community Area, 2011-2015

In recognition of Latinos in Chicago, we are also making available Acosta-Córdova’s Spring 2019 thesis entitled, Lower Wages and Continued Occupational and Industrial Segmentation of Latinos in the Chicago Economy in which he updates a 1993 study by John Betancur, Teresa Córdova and Maria de los Angeles titled “Economic Restructuring and the Process of Incorporation of Latinos into the Chicago Economy.” In the original study, the authors argued that understanding how Latinos were incorporated into the Chicago economy since the early 1900s provides understanding of the Latino experience in the region.  Simultaneously, their experience also reveals dynamics of economic restructuring that began hitting the region in the mid 1970s.

Given changes since 1980, Acosta-Córdova returns to the study to pick up where the previous authors left off and asks whether occupational and industrial segmentation and lower wages continue to characterize the experience of Latinos in the Chicago economy.  Indeed, despite some progress, Latinos in Chicago continue to serve as a source of low-wage labor and “were it not for the influx of Latino immigrants, many industries that have grown or remained in the area since would not have found the labor to do it.”  Acosta-Córdova concludes, “Latino labor has helped transform Chicago from an industrial metropolis into a modern day, service-based metropolis. One could argue, Latinos saved Chicago’s economy” (p. 88).

Beyond the boundaries of Chicago, we know that Latinos are interwoven into U.S. society and economy. It is therefore both ironic and inaccurate, that Latino immigrants, especially Mexicans and Central Americans, are scapegoated for the woes of the economy. This misplaced blame is especially evident in current U.S. policies at the border. We thought that this would also be a good time to repost the video from September 28, 2018 forum co-sponsored with the Center for Global Health and the Global Migration Working Group of UIC’s Institute for Humanities on Deportation and Detention: Addressing the Psychosocial Impacts of Migrant Youth and Families. The sixteen immigration experts who spoke at the forum provided deep insights on the inhumane practices against immigrants that continue to have reverberating impacts. Each of the speakers reminds us of the fundamental importance of human rights and dignity.

Through our work at the Great Cities Institute, we often partner with others to seek solutions to pressing urban issues. Please join us here at GCI on Wednesday morning, October 16^th to hear from our friends from the Basque country who will talk about their effective and holistic approach to manufacturing and building a cooperative economy.

In August, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Teresa Córdova, Director of Great Cities Institute and Professor of Urban Planning and Policy, as her choice for Chair of the Chicago Plan Commission.  The appointment required City Council approval, so on September 10, Teresa appeared before the City Council Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards.  In her opening statement to the committee she said,   “For my entire career, I have been interested in equitable and sustainable community development,” adding that she is “interested in a holistic approach to development of all parts of the city, including neighborhoods.” She went on to say,

What I hope to bring to the table is a transparency in development decisions by bringing to bear on our decisions, the voices of multiple stakeholders whose lives are affected by those decisions.

The Committee unanimously approved her appointment, as did the full city council a week later.

The Chicago Plan Commission reviews applications for Planned Development (PD), projects that fall under Lake Michigan and Chicago Lakefront Protection, proposed zoning map amendments within industrial corridors, and interagency referrals. A Development Manual, which guides the review process and Plan Commission decisions can be found on the city website. The Development Manual was last updated in 2012.

On the September 18th Chicago Plan Commission meeting, Teresa began her term and in the spirit of her commitment before the City Council Committee for transparency in decisions and increased consideration of stakeholder voices, she made, made the following statement:

I’m going to use this opportunity as part of my chairman’s update to direct Plan Commission staff to:

• Review existing Plan Commission rules and procedures in order to strengthen our guidelines for new, large development projects across the city
• Provide recommendations this fall for the Plan Commission to consider for large, transformational projects that seek our approval.

This effort will:

• Support Mayor Lightfoot’s goals involving enhanced community engagement, transparency, and opportunities for substantive public input.
• Enhance the commission’s role as part of the development process.

The recommendations should include specific thresholds that will trigger the enhanced standards – including project size and scope – as well as other recommendations that are relevant to their potential impact on local neighborhoods.

I expect this process will include opportunities for public feedback, and I look forward to any questions my fellow commissioners may have as these policies are developed, refined and implemented in coming months.

We look forward to what promises to be an interesting reexamination of the review process for development in Chicago.

We would also like to congratulate Teresa for her recognition by the State Comptroller, Susana Mendoza, as an Honoree of Hispanic Heritage Month.