Last Sunday was the second-to-last epidose of "Safe Streets: The Comedy Show. Why It Sucks to Walk or Drive in Chicago, and How We Can Fix It." It's an "edu-comedy revue" created by Streetsblog contributor Ellen Steinke that combines sketch comedy, improv, and satire that "takes on the systems behind our streets, not just the people stuck using them."
As it happened, this installment of the show featured walk/bike/transit-friendly City Council members and sustainable transportation advocates who are Latino and/or are doing projects in heavily Hispanic communities. The guests included Southwest Side Ald. Julia Ramirez (12th), North Side Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th), Southwest Collective Transit Advocacy Steward Dixon Galvez-Searle, and Rick Rosales from the mutual aid project CyclingXSolidarity.
Ramirez addressed the elephant in the room: the weekly protests in front of her office against the Archer Avenue traffic safety project, promoted for political gain by the Trumpist-led lobbying group Urban Center to help her opponent. Fortunately, Southwest Side Safe Streets boosters have been holding competing rallies at the same location every week, and last Monday the opponents didn't even show up. "I don't know if you guys have seen the story on Archer" she said before the audience at Second City theater erupted in knowing laughter.
"I was born just a block away from my office," Ramirez continued. "I was born and raised in Brighton Park, so I know what it means crossing Archer Avenue pretty much my whole life, trying to get to school when I was younger. When I think of this idea of gentrification, and [Complete Streets] is a North Side thing – to keep it real, it has been a North Side thing."
"And so, when [some 12th Ward residents] argue that's not for us, it's never been for us, but now you get to elect progressive people like me," she added to appreciative applause. "For the very first time in the 12th Ward, we have participatory budgeting. People have access to [help decide how to spend] $1.5 million dollars that they never had before."
"Segregation within the City of Chicago is real, but I think even within our communities, things like gangs have also segregated," Ramirez said. "I lost my brother to gun violence in 2014. When I think of the idea of this investment, it comes in so many different resources. What I've come to realize is that if we have the money to build on the infrastructure, ultimately we're building the community. You guys have built the North Side, and we see that it's working. It's not just for a particular side, it's for everyone. We should know that we're deserving of it."
Ramirez noted that one of the arguments against the Archer street redesign is heavy truck traffic. However, she argued that once the Chicago Department of Transportation completes the project, which includes new crosswalks and walk signals; curb extensions; and pedestrian islands, the corridor will get more foot traffic. The initiative also features bus boarding islands, and protected bike lanes.
She mentioned that when she visits the North Side, parking is not always easy. "I have to go around a few times to find a parking spot," she said. "I think that people will ultimately do that... But guess what? Through the infrastructure, you can walk, you can get on the bus, or you can even get on your bike to get to those businesses."
"Your shop owners don't know who their clients are," Ald. Vasquez added. "They don't know if a cyclist is buying something or not. They're just afraid of what the change is going to feel like. When you're looking at where your margins are in the business, you're going to be concerned about any level of loss when something changes. I've always thought that a way to proactively let folks know who the cyclists and pedestrians are that are also clients of their business helps them kind of alleviate that fear."
Galvez-Searle, who has attended some of the pro-Archer project rallies, said the idea of bike lanes "is very new for the Southwest Side." He added that the reaction from residents isn't totally negative. "There are a lot of people on the Southwest Side who are supportive. [There are] people local to the area who at least want to see how the project works before they judge it to be a success or a failure."
"I was talking with one of our neighbors and she lives in McKinley Park off of Archer," Galvez-Searle said. "She was saying that she remembers years ago, in the Nineties, when Archer was bustling with pedestrian traffic. This was before cars got super huge, this was before smartphones, this was before all these developments made driving less safe. There were many more businesses on Archer at that time because there were many more people out on foot." He explained that people who walked to the corridor back then stopped by multiple businesses on the block, rather than having to navigate parking just to go to one establishment.
Rosales lives in the central city, but his project CycleXSolidarity includes bike rides to Latino communities, where participants buy out street food vendors so that they can go home, and have less exposure to ICE immigration stings. After enjoying items like tamales, the riders offer them to food-insecure Chicagoans, so these excursions are a win-win-win scenario. When he mentioned an upcoming ride, the crowd applauded.
Rosales is also involved in bike advocacy closer to his home. "My alderman [Pat Dowell (3rd)] in the South Loop is working very hard to remove bike lanes," he said. The audience booed. "So sone neighbors are getting together and trying to organize for Safe Streets in the South Loop. That’s what we need to do across all our communities."
The final episode of Safe Streets takes place on Sunday, March 22. the full lineup is TBD soon, but Active Transportation Alliance Executive Director will and Strong Towns Chicago's Alex Montero will definitely be on the bill.
Read more about "Safe Streets: The Comedy Show" here
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