Why not West Roscoe Village?

Most Chicagoans would agree that it’s faintly ridiculous to call the area west of the river to the Kennedy, from Diversey to Addison, “West Roscoe Village.”

The objectors to the name fall into two main camps — the “nothing wrong with calling it Avondale” crowd, and the group that feels that calling this part of Avondale West Roscoe Village is like slapping a Target sign on a Family Dollar store.

I think the area in question merits its own neighborhood name — the expressway is a strong natural boundary that sets it apart from the rest of Avondale, and it’s begun to develop along a different trajectory than the rest of Avondale.

Roscoe Village, however, strikes me as too weak a brand for a brand extension to be much help to another area. Traverse the whole of Roscoe Village, as I do fairly often, and fairly answer this question: what’s special about Roscoe Village? Not enough, is my answer.

So, I’m inviting one and all to suggest a better name for the area from the river west to the Kennedy, from Diversey north to Addison.

I’ll toss out Riverview just to start the discussion.

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