Healthy Living in South Chicago

For the winter elective term, I was in a class called “Thin Red Lines”. I expected to learn about history , which I have a lot of trouble with. I was excited to find out that we were going to delve more into community issues and how the public reacts to it. I am a proud South Chicago teen, and I notice problems that arouse in the neighborhood. It’s interesting to hear my classmates perspectives on what they see in Chicago. We learned about Tax Increment Financing (TIF) and how many people have sided opinions about them. We even had to create our own TIF and explain why it would be helpful to the land we chose.

I’m grateful for my teacher being able to get our class to go on many Field Experiences. We had a personal talk with Tom Tressor, a community activist and is very much against TIFs. We gained a close connection with the Chicago Metropolitan Planning Council and talked about their plans and regulations for growing a healthy community. For our last FE, we visited Google and talked about their app “Waze”and how it helps transform traffic in a new way and how that affects maps.
For this AP, we had to identify a problem in a community we were drawn to and make a plan about how to fix it. This project was very frustrating to me because I couldn’t find good research on my topic, but I managed to pull through it.

South Chicago is a neighborhood in the city’s far south side. It is known for being unsafe, but it’s the only place I am happy to call home. It has high poverty and unhealthy strikes among its people.

I am looking at health rates in South Chicago because there is not a lot of access to healthy food down there. There are many small family owned corner stores, but there apisnt a main grocery store that everyone goes to. I’m going to show you existing food stores and where there should be more to have healthier, cheap, and accessible grocery stores for the residents of a South Chicago.

Demographics and Housing
South Chicago is a small neighborhood in the city’s far South Side. I couldn’t find recent data of its demographics, but I found older data from 2015. The population is 28,095 residents. The largest demographic is African American, which is 74.10% people. The second largest is Latinx, having 21.65% people. The third largest is White, with 2.78% people. The median household income is $28,504.  Its largest age group is 21. Most homes here have single parent families, and have many falling out of marriages.

Mobility
People in South Chicago rely on the public bus and train to get around. The Metra Electric starts on 93rd and Baltimore and takes you north to Millennium Station in downtown. Most people take this train to higher paying jobs up north. The closest colored train line is the Red Line, which can be accessed if you take the #30 South Chicago or the #95 95th bus. The bus and train price rose by 25 cents recently, which may seem like a little bit, but commuters have been accustomed to paying the same price everyday for years. This will change their budget and possible the way they get around the city and to work.

Land Use and Development
Common income for people living in South Chicago is $16,579. That is barely enough to make a living when you have to pay for rent, food, water, gas, heat, and children. There aren’t many public places for teens and kids to go to for free. The YMCA is closing down after it has been open for 90 years. That will make senior citizens lose homes, toddlers lose a daycare, and take away a gym that kept residents in shape and active.

Issue Discovered
Many people in South Chicago earn low pay in their jobs. There aren’t high paying jobs in the
neighborhood, so many have to travel to downtown to work, which costs even more money. It’s also hard for teens to find intern opportunities in the neighborhood because mostly everything that pays there are fast food restaurants. Low pay doesn’t allow for families to be able to afford healthy food. Affordable food is usually unhealthy and greasy. Junk food is sold at corner stores because that is what the lower class can afford. Vegetables and fruits are pricey. There isn’t a main affordable grocery store that everyone can go to. They either have to travel to Indiana where there is a cheap Walmart, or go to a family owned store. There are no name brand grocery stores in the area. I wanted to find out how many stores are considered a grocery store, and where there can be more healthy and accessible places to shop.

Map #1 : Existing Grocery Stores

JMP, "Map #1", (2018)

There are only 5 “main” grocery stores in South Chicago, as of now. Most of them run along Commercial Avenue, South Chicago’s main busy street that has shops up and down it’s street. Four out of five of these stories have bilingual workers, so they can talk to residents that speak English or Spanish. These four stores are family owned and are trusted by the community that they sell good food. There are a few scattered stores that sell food, but they are mostly for quick trips for grub. I drew the line along 79th, down South Chicago Avenue, and up and around Harbor Avenue to down Interstate 41. I included “Bush” a small unrecognized neighborhood that I consider part of South Chicago since it’s a few blocks. I noticed that there are many corner stores across the border of 79th, but I didn’t consider it part of South Chicago, as it’s technically in the South Shore neighborhood. There is only one name branded grocery store, which is “ Save-a-Lot.” I have visited this store about three times in my life, and it is always bustling with shoppers. The lines are always long, but I think people think it’s better to have a trusted brand more than family owned. The family owned shops get less Spanish speaking customers, but they have good business from the Latinx community.  A lot of these stores are along the east side of the neighborhood, which isn’t good for the West Side residents. They have to travel on bus in order to get to a big grocery store. If they don’t have money to travel, they spend their money on junk, non filling unhealthy food. These stores are not accessible to all South Chicago residents. This isn’t fair to those who want a healthy life style, but have to go through more sacrifices than those living in a busy area.

Map #2: A Plan for Good Change

JMP, "Map #2", (2018)

As I said before, the east side of South Chicago has all of the grocery stores. This may be hard for people living more West, so I consider the West Side a “blight” area. They are in need of a big grocery store that is accessible to them. I know that some people can easily drive to the nearest grocery store, but I wanted to make this convenient for their lives. A lot of families don’t have time to go grocery shopping with thought of what they actually want to eat for the week. Many just buy
fast or junk food that is cheap, but doesn’t necessarily fill them up in the healthiest way. I took a copy of my old map and added some grocery stores , some family owned, and some name branded ones. I think family owned grocery stores are trusted in some means, because they hire local people that are in need of a job. Also, since South Chicago has a lot of Mexican people, most family owned grocery stores are bilingual and can help out the two biggest demographics in the area with Spanish and English speaking workers. Spreading out this great skill can help more residents so they are more comfortable buying food. Name brand grocery stores such as Costco can sell more of an abundance of food, so families don’t always have to be on the run for new food for the week. A Costco would help save time, money, and bring more health to the area. Costco is a large store that sells appliance items, household items, food, and even had a small restaurant inside. Many people in South Chicago resorted to driving all the way to Indiana to go to the biggest home store for cheap items, which is Walmart. That wastes a lot of gas and makes people go out of their way just to get the things that they need. Not only that people can get healthy abundances of food, but they can easily walk over to the new Costco and get non food items. The Costco would have to be in the West Side of the neighborhood so it can equal out to the now smaller grocery stores in the East side of town. There is a vacant lot for sale in the top right corner of the neighborhood’s boundaries, so it would be perfect for a new Costco.

Map #3 Consolidation

JMP, "Map #3", (2018)

I think that making one Costco in the Northwest side of South Chicago is best. I thought over putting more family owned groceries instead, but I realize that would spend more money and resources. I couldn’t find small vacant land that is in the area I wanted them to be. Many houses are in the way. I don’t think that destroying houses in a poor neighborhood is the way to go. It’s better to have one large healthy grocery store more than multiple small variating ones. People trust a Costco to have cheap food too. This will certainly bring a big change to South Chicago, since Costco’s are usually placed in busy and over populated areas. This Costco will also be available for neighboring areas, such as South Shore and Calumet Heights. They can travel here because by West/East busses. There is a membership fee to be able to shop at Costco, but I think it will be worth it in the long run. Shoppers get discounted healthy food that doesn’t run out fast. The membership will put South Chicago residents on arguing sides, but I’m sure they can be persuaded to be in this new trend.