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Andersonville isn’t a neighborhood that Mark or I visit with any regularity, but I know we have some readers from the area. We even heard from a tipster who asked us to shoot a Joewalking or driving video around the neighborhood following our visit to Lakeview East, so we did just that during our time on the Far North Side last week. Here’s a little bit of the footage we shot from the Yo-mobile that day.
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Andersonville is a great neighborhood. Fine old architecture. Lotsa greenery. Great small and large retail. Many drinking and dining establishments. Good public transportation access. Tremendous walkability. Perfection doesn’t exist in this life, but any reasonable person would have to admit Andersonville rates highly.
One thing that would improve it is if I moved there. However, I don’t want to compete with the relatively numerous lesbian population for dates or landscaping gigs.(stereotype alert)
Lincoln Square/Ravenswood and nearby Andersonville share many characteristics(see above) that make them great places to live. Two of my favorite neighborhoods. Pick Andersonville up and move it east closer to H2O and it would be difficult for me to picture a better hood. Of course the rest of Edgewater nearer the lake is improving and has some of the better characteristics of its Swedish named neighbor.
As for your reference to the 2005 mid decade census data I suggest reading that with a big clog full of salt. The track record for mid decade census data is only slightly better than George W. Bush’s track record as a peacemaker or my record as a husband. Two wars and counting for both of us now that I think about it.
In 1995, and up until the 2000 census data actually came out, those who relied on it predicted a significant population loss for Chicago as a whole and also largely missed some significant other changes citywide.
From my BOG perspective, boots on the ground, Andersonville is NOT becoming more hispanic. Actually the exact opposite is happening. From my meager study of the overall data the authors seem to predict rising hispanic population in most city neighborhoods to include the neighborhoods north of downtown and near or just west of the lake. It seems to me they appear to be using some city wide number/factor to predict rising hispanic population in most hoods.
It’s almost as if they say “let’s add x percent” everywhere plus or minus. While it would not surprise me if the overall city hispanic population continues to grow., likely at a much slower pace than in the recent past, the growth will come in areas on the NW and SW sides. Like other groups that came before hispanics are now making their way to the burbs or never living in the city in the first place.
The north lakefront and north side gentrifying neighborhoods are seeing a decreasing hispanic population. Those folks are largely either moving west or leaving the city entirely and not being replaced by others of a similar background.
I could go on an on and on, but unlike Pierre DeVise I don’t want to be attacked by all factions for talking about demographic trends. I read his work avidly for decades. I had to admire someone who could tick off Richard J Daley, Jane Byrne, and Harold Washington. It was a rare gift.
Demographics pisses people off.
IrishPirate,
Perhaps, as the media would have it of late, the Latinos are “hiding in the shadows.”
Pierre is sorely missed, not just for the demographics, but for his obstinate willingness to talk openly about the connections between demographics and Chicago politics.
His book on Cabrini-Green is out of print now, but in it he contended that Cabrini was kept open as a death-trap for children solely to keep the 42nd Ward and all its spoils from falling under Republican control. Redistricting made its demise politically feasible, according to DeVise.
Joe,
if the hispanics are hiding in the shadows in some gentrifying hoods they are doing an excellent job of it. The disappearing retail that catered to their needs is an excellent trick. Make everyone think they are no longer there by not shopping and spending cash. Sneaky.
I miss DeVise because he was just about the only writer out there who would talk about the true intersection between race(ethnicity and demographics) and politics in this city. Others are either too scared or too stupid to coherently write about it.
Take a look at the Chicago Ward Map and the ridiculous shapes and meandering lines of many of the wards and it is clear that ethnicity or race plays a huge roll in local politics.
My informed speculation is that after the 2010 census you will see the council lose 2-4 black alderman and one hell of a series of fights amoung various aldermen to maintain power. With the exception of Bronzeville, Kenwood and Woodlawn the black areas of the west and south sides are losing population to the suburbs or out of state at a tremendous rate. That coupled with a small but increasing black presence in some other wards is going to make it difficult to draw wards to maintain the 18 black alderman we currently have. For example Walter Burnett’s ward is likely majority white now, but he is mainstream enough that he likely could be reelected from such a ward. Aldernimby Fioretti is merely the first example of a ward that changed political hands from black to white or hispanic.
It ain’t gonna be pretty, but it will be fun to watch. Like their white and Hispanic colleagues most of the black aldermen are hacks and I’m going to sit back and enjoy the internecine bloodbath.
IrishPirate,
Double-check me on this, but the 2010 Census data won’t be available in time to affect the 2011 Aldermanic races. We’re looking at 2015 before a redistricting has any impact.
What a great city we could have if someone orgaized a movement to throw out all of the aldermen and start with a totally clean (double-entendre intended) slate.
You’re right on the redistricting not having an impact until 2015. The new ward map probably won’t be decided on until 2013 or so. With likely court battles and political fights it will be both expensive and amusing. They do have plenty of time to draw the new map though. The 1990 map cost the city something like 30 million dollars in court costs. In 2000 Daley mostly avoided that by drawing the current ridiculous map I linked to.
One impact though is that areas that are moved from one ward to another are likely to get ignored by the current aldercreature and possibly the future alderbeast. That happens after every redistricting.
As for throwing them all out I have no problem with that. I suspect in 2011 an above average number of alderbeings may be looking for new employment. People are not happy with the various tax hikes that many of them have voted on recently and more local issues.
My take on it is that the fish rots from the head and the “head” in this case is a verbally challenged guy from Bridgeport.
IrishPirate,
This is off-topic, but I’ve always wondered whether the “verbally challenged” part of our Mayor is just a shtick he assumes on occasion.
I’ve seen him speak before small groups of local publishers where he was very well-spoken and articulate. And, he was charming to my kids, so that’s in his plus column.
As a numbers geek, I am eagerly awaiting the 2010 Census. The 2000 numbers are almost completely worthless at this time, and the mid-decade estimates are a joke. I think the changes the city has seen in the last ten years have been quite staggering, and it will be great to get some better data on this.
I agree with the IrishPirate’s assessment of the so-called rising Hispanic population in Andersonville. It ain’t happening. The same can be said for Ravenswood.
Joe,
I don’t think the Mayor’s verbal gaffes are necessarily a “schtick”. He seems to do better in less formal settings and with issues he deeply cares about. One on one he is quite funny and personable particularly if he is talking about the White Sox.
Lack of verbal ability doesn’t necessarily imply stupidity. In his own way he is a shrewd character. What combination of that is innate or by experience I can’t say.
As for Uptown Rising’s comments about Hispanic population in Andersonville and Ravenswood he is spot on. The mid decade census also predicted rising hispanic populations in Lincoln Park,Lakeview, Uptown, Edgewater, and Rogers Park.
It just ain’t happening. Like I said I really think the “predictors” take some overall city “factor” and use it in most hoods throughout the city. It just doesn’t work that way.
In 1995 they predicted rising black and hispanic population in Uptown and I remember thinking that they were KWAZY.
Encyclopedia of Chicago entry on Uptown. Check out the bottom of the page and look at the numbers. The Uptown hispanic population dropped by half during the 90’s, while the mid decade census folks predicted a big increase.
I’ll wait to 2010 and see the actual numbers. I have zero faith in mid census predictions.
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