I've always wondered why so many employees of O'Hare airport live in my neighborhood. Sure, we're on the Blue Line to the airport, but that can't be all of it. I see them every day, with their teeny little rolling suitcases, going to and from various apartment buildings that cater to flight attendants and pilots. I found out why they're there.

My neighborhood, Logan Square, is in the midst of a fiery political battle. The neighborhood has seen others wiped out and the residents are very active in preserving what each of them considers to be the essence of the area, be it the ethnic flavor or the 1890's architecture or the family-owned businesses. But this realtor, Larry Ligas, wants to tear down the Fireside Bowl (the only place in Chicago that will let you enter if you're underage AND one of the punk-rock meccas in town) and build an 80-condo midrise.

Now, I'm not idealist enough to think that a neighborhood can avoid gentrification, or that the safety of a neighborhood is related to its property values, or even that I myself, living in a refurbished but relatively expensive apartment, am part of the problem in some people's eyes. But I love this neighborhood, and I love where the victorian homes have been restored to their former glory, and I don't want to see this neighborhood become another Bucktown- and adjacent area filled with those gargantuan shitcitecture monstrosities of cement block and brick and vinyl siding. I believe that a neighborhood can pull itself out of ghetto status without complete displacement of the residents and/or razing everything and replacing buildings built with hand-carved stone in favor of the cheapest materials that "luxury" condos can be built out of.

His plan is against the local zoning, of course, and any change to that ordinance would require the approval of the community. But Larry got a zoning variance, and the residents were not consulted. The Alderwoman, Vilma Colom, just did it herself. The city acquired the property via eminent domain, somehow passed it to Larry, and bent the zoning so he could build this thing. Vilma Colom's campaign manager? Larry Legas. How did she become Alderwoman, when she's so unpopular? Well, the ward has 8000 registered voters. Sixteen hundred of those voters voted Vilma in via absentee ballot. Does your town elect its leaders with 20% of the vote coming from absentee ballots? Mine does- flight attendants and pilots who "live" here a few days a month. Ah, Crook County...

The Chicago Reader recently ran a cover story on the many murals in my neighborhood, with a cover picture of a particularly poignant one. It depicts a multi-ethnic band of neighborhood residents, embracing their homes, and fending off gangs and developers. It was painted in the 70's to celebrate the neighborhood's unity. The mural's on the side of a muffler shop, facing a park, and will be torn down to make room for this new development.