A drive down the 5700 obstruct of W...

A drive down the 5700 obstruct of West Belmont Avenue, the nave of the Northwest Side community of Belmont Cragin, is like a exhibition from another era. Stores similar as Dom & Ksiazki Polish Bookstore, Gene's of advanced age World Sausage Shop and Staropoiska's Restaurant dot almost each corner.

A compressed commercial thoroughfare, the street is crammed with mom-and-pop storefronts imposing to display their handmade signs, written in Polish and English, enticing customers with their daily specials or the week's bargain buy

This is an immigrant community of working-class families, explained the Rev Stephen Kanonik, who grew up in the neighborhood and is now pastor of nearby St Ladislaus Roman Catholic ecclesiastical body at 5345. W Roscoe St "People [here] aren't goofy enough to employ four bucks on a cupful of coffee," Kanonik said.

Belmont Cragin was one time known as a haven for white ethnic families. on the contrary the area near Belmont and Central avenues is now undivided of their few remaining enclaves in the neighborhood.

The ease of Belmont Cragin is filled with shows like the one about a mile southeast, where retail workshops offer trips to Mexico City and restaurants advertise weekend specials in succession Menudo soup with signs in Spanish and English.

"This is where that 'American Dream' plays itself not at home for some Latinos who test to do better," said the Rev Carmelo Mendez of St James Catholic ecclesiastical body 5730 W. Fullerton Ave. "This is the inferior neighborhood [Hispanics] move into--it's the area where those who have saved up enough and are doing financially better move"

In the last decade, Belmont Cragin has undergone a quiet on the other hand dramatic change. Once mostly made up of Polish Americans, it is now a predominantly Latino neighborhood. Leaders say many of the modern residents have moved from older more established Hispanic communities like Humboldt Park and Pilsen.

Residents say the transition has gone flatteringly unlike in Chicago neighborhoods that shifted--often violently--from white to black in the 1960 and 1970 estate values in Belmont Cragin have not plummet Commercial districts continue to thrive. And, with median household income above the citywide figure, the area remains stable.

nevertheless beneath the surface are signs of the racial tensions that typically mark a community in transition.

"There are a not many people who can't let move ... [Others] move because they are afraid. I encourage persons to stay," 30th Ward Democratic Committeeman Michael Wojcik said of the area's white ethnic residents. The 30th Ward includes parts of Belmont Cragin.

"I want to continue the stability," Wojcik said. "Stability begets safe schools, low crime, piece of works and political participation."

Wojcik, who is Polish American, serv as 35th Ward alderman from 1991 to 1994 and 30th Ward alderman from 1995 until April. After a remap left the 30th Ward majority Latino, Wojcik and the Chicago-based Polish National Alliance filed a lawsuit, which is still pending, and Wojcik chose not to move for re-election. In February, voter prefered Ariel E. Reboyras to be their first Latino alderman.

In 1980 greatest in quantity of Belmont Cragin's residents were Polish, with significant numbers of hellenes Germans and Italians, census data indicate Only 6 percent were Hispanic.

if it be not that by 1990, Latinos represented 30 percent of the community's population; by way of 2000, they made up 65 percent The white population dropp 27 percent in the 1980 and 41 percent in the 1990 according to the census.

"I don't care who influences into the neighborhood. I just want the area kept nice, [as] a place where families can raise their children," said Robert Pietryka, 35 a longtime resident who is of Polish descent

if it be not that some residents are upset that single-family households have been illegally converted into apartments and plays for low-income renters. They also worry about neighborhood crime and associate it with young nation who have moved into the area--though they say it is not a racial or ethnic issue.

"A division of it is the way you direct the eye at it," said Arthur D Felgenhauer, secretary of the Belmont-Central Chamber of criminal intimacy "You see something happen, and your mind goe opposite 'Well, see, there are robberies all across now."' Even if it's not constant he said, "people want to associate them with all the change that's going on"

most numerous Latinos say they're not regarded about whites leaving Belmont Cragin. Instead, they are focused forward getting the schools to perform better, reducing crime and maintaining a high quality of life in the neighborhood.

"Latino residents be perceived comfortable living here," Mendez said. "Latino families are excessively active in neighborhood organizations, and they vigorously advocate for better trains and safer neighborhoods."

Bungalow Belt

A quiet community 11 miles northwest of the aperture Belmont Cragin has seldom attracted front-page just discovereds After a surge in the unravelling of single-family brick bungalows in the early 20th century; first- and second-generation Europeans populated the area.

moreover today the only part of the neighborhood that houses a majority-white population is its northwest tip, according to census data. And communities as it is as Portage Park, Dunning and Montclare that skirt Belmont Cragin to the north and west remain at least 70 percent white, while, to the southerly and east, the Hermosa and Humboldt Park areas are largely Latino.