February 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 43

of Chicago's 77 community areas
with asthma rates of 17 percent. "
For decades, a coal power plant in
the area also spewed more than 3
million tons of toxic carbon dioxide emissions each year, and for
many years, low-income community members lived next door to an
extremely toxic property. Since the
late 1980s, residents living next to
the abandoned Celotex superfund
site complained that the site was
responsible for troubling health impacts on young children. Through
years of door-to-door organizing,
community meetings and protests,
neighbors learned that children
were being impacted and displaying high rates of asthma and other health concerns. In a recent oral
history, one Little Village resident,
Teresa, recalled that her daughter
gave birth to a baby boy who tested
positive for lead. The doctors speculated that Teresa's daughter had
been breathing in particles from
the contaminated site. Other neighbors worried about rashes on their
hands and bodies that wouldn't
go away. An EPA investigation
of the site and surrounding areas
confirmed the contamination, and
one of their reports mentioned that
high levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, were
observed, which could potentially
lead to negative health outcomes,
including cancer. Currently, Little
Village continues to be a frontline
community where local residents
are impacted by industrial legacies
and multiple sources of pollution
with residential areas placed immediately next to an industrial corridor and polluting factories. Each
day, heavy diesel trucks clog traffic,
nearby shipping waterways release
methane and raw sewage and hun

dreds of contaminated brownfield
sites lay abandoned.
Despite the environmental challenges in Little Village, Latino residents migrate to the community because it serves as an ethnic enclave
for Mexican residents who desire
a sense of home and community.
In addition to strong family and
community networks, the resilience of Little Village's low-income
community members and skills in
neighborhood organizing are why
community leaders and LVEJO
have scored stunning victories for
environmental justice.
The campaigns to shutter the coal
power plant and reclaim blighted
land for park space spanned more
than 15 years before Little Village
residents were successful, involving Latino high school students,
immigrants, professionals, LVEJO
staff and other community organizations. Throughout the process,
residents noticed the difference in
treatment the community received
regarding the cleanup process
in comparison to other Chicago
neighborhoods. For instance, in her
2014 piece for Midwest Energy News,
author Kari Lydersen mentioned
that in another Chicago neighborhood, a chocolate factory was
charged with violating " opacity
limits for a total of about 26 minutes over two days, " while the coal
power plant in Little Village (and
another in Pilsen) had violated the
opacity limits for approximately
" 45 and 32 hours at the [coal power plants] between 2002 and 2006. "
After a decade of neighborhood
organizing, lawsuits and asking the
EPA, local aldermen and the city of
Chicago to move forward with the
cleanup and park development process, LVEJO and community lead-

ers successfully forced the retirement of the Midwest Generation
Crawford Coal Power Plant in 2012
and opened La Villita Park in 2014.
These successes were credited to
the tireless efforts of local activists
to educate the wider community
about the harmful impact of the
coal power plant.
Expanding Access
Further, the notion of establishing
a park was driven by community
and youth leaders who understood
that the eastern part of the neighborhood had always struggled with
lack of access to parks and recreation resources. Access to this type
of public space was determined by
longstanding conflicts between two
major gangs in the community: the
Latin Kings and the Two Six. The
Latin Kings control the east side,
which is the most populated, while
the Two-Six control the west. This
presented a significant challenge
when east-side residents attempted
to use Piotrowski Park, the only
large park and field house in the
west side neighborhood, up until 2014. Many east-side residents
reported being harassed when attempting to use Piotrowski Park.
Consequently, the new La Villita
Park addressed the severe need for
open space on the east side.
In 2010, Little Village was ranked
76th out of 77 in-Chicago neighborhoods in terms of access to green
space. Although the community
still needs more open space, the
first large park built in 75 years in
Little Village doubled the amount
of open space available to local residents. As a result of creating the
new La Villita Park, Little Village
currently ranks 70th out of 77 for
green space.

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Parks & Recreation

February 2016 - Parks & Recreation

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