Thursday, April 30, 2009
Free Shit / Swag 5/1 -- Ciclo Urbano grand opening
Posted by Julia Thiel on 04.30.09 at 01:31 PM
The community bike workshop West Town Bikes is moving to a new location and opening a retail store in partnership with the Puerto Rican Cultural Center. They're celebrating Friday from 5 to 10 PM with a parade, led by Mucca Pazza, from the old location (2418 W. North) to the new store (2459 W. Division), live music from Afri Caribe and Nuestro Tambo, beer donated by New Belgium brewery, and free Puerto Rican food.
Comments (17)
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I have nothing against this new bike shop, but when a restaurant moves in to a neighborhood, they never change their name to try to 'blend in". so why did west town bikes change to "ciclo urbano"? if they are for the entire community, why is there a puerto rican flag in their new logo and not a mexican/african/ukranian flag? why do the rules of common sense and the freedoms of america tend to disappear in Humboldt Park? the reason that there is plenty of vacancy on division street "between the flags" is that the backwords way of doing things and the reverse racism that exists in the 26th ward prevents good, decent, needed businesses from existing there(unless they change their identity to keep up the appearance of status quo).
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As long as I am alderman, I promise to keep the area as Puerto Rican and as economically depressed as possible! No Yuppies, and no jobs! White people keep out, and gangbangers please stay (don't forget your guns)! Borinquen forever, and poor too!
The problem isn't white people, it's white privilege. The problem isn't the Puerto Ricans, but the systemic racism that exists in this society. Ciclo Urbano is inviting everyone, whether white or Puerto Rican, to their bike shop. The community is a Puerto Rican one, so why not show solidarity with the community and have a spanish name. It seems to me that the racist ones are the ones opposed to Puerto Rican affirmation which is not against the law. It is not anti-white. It is not exclusionary. All of you privileged people need respect the fact that a community has built itself from nothing. Puerto Ricans have made the community better, not the new comers.
The real problem Boricua is not Puerto Rican affirmation, it's local elected officials, such as, Billy Ocasio using government power to create exclusionary policies based on a Puerto Rican Nationalist Socialist agenda. The "No Se Vende" campaign is a racist campaign that violates the civil rights of all Humboldt Park citizens.
White skin privilege (regardless of class standing) and racism rear its ugly head against a community that dares affirm its cultural identity. I wonder if the comments above would also be raised against the Irish, the Polish, the Italians or any other group who do the same. The colonizer accuses the colonized of racism - how precious.
can we just assume, for 20 seconds, that gentrification is actually something cooked up by immoral real estate companies and foul agents who do their bidding? I don't see why a community, rooted in puerto rican culture, can't share that with others who want to live in the same space. I don't think these "whites" move into this neighborhood looking to rape, pillage and make a huge profit any more. And if they do they are in the wrong place and time will tell. There's great culture here, but fueling it's preservation with anger and exclusion carried on the violent back of anti-gentrification quietly being barked from the 26th ward alderman is no way to deal with this. it's not the people, who respect the neightborhood, the space and the culture, who are screwing things up with this idea of gentrifying everything. on one end it's real estate agencies and on the other it's the ward, alderman and politicians. We need to see past their hidden motives of personal gain and look to our common betterment of humboldt park. who cares what they want. how about the people? Let's make this better and open a few eyes along the way.
IMMORAL REAL ESTATE COMPANIES AND FOUL AGENTS ARE THE ONES WHO HAVE FUELED GENTRIFICATION IN THE NAME OF URBAN RENEWAL. SINCE HUMBOLDT PARK STARTED GETTING GENTRIFIED, I HAVE HAD WHITE NEIGHBORS. NEIGHBORS THAT HAVE NEVER GREETED ME OR EVEN TAKEN THE TIME TO KNOW MY NAME. I'VE ATTEMPTED TO DO SO, TO ABSOLUTELY NO RESPONSE. IS THAT NOT RACISM? IS THAT NOT EXCLUSIONARY? THESE NEIGHBORS KNOW NOTHING ABOUT ME! WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO TELL MY CHILDREN? HOW DO I EXPLAIN RACISM AND WHITE SKIN PRIVILEGE TO MY 6 YEAR OLD? A SIX YEAR OLD WHO INNOCENTLY WAVES AT A WHITE NEIGHBOR AND THEY DON'T WAVE BACK. AND ONE IS TO BE ACCEPTING OF GENTRIFICATION, OF THE BETTERMENT OF THE COMMUNITY? THAT'S ALL BS. I REFUSE TO MOVE! I HAVE LIVED IN HUMBOLDT PARK ALL OF MY LIFE! WHY SHOULD I ESCAPE FROM THE NEGATIVITY AND DOG SHIT THAT COMES WITH GENTRIFICATION? I'M GOING TO STAY HERE BECAUSE THERE IS LIGHT AT THE END OF THIS TUNNEL. IF CICLO URBANO IS TRYING TO WORK WITH THE COMMUNITY, THEY WILL HAVE MY SUPPORT! IT'S AMAZING THAT A NEW BUSINESS ON PASEO BORICUA AND THE LOGO THEY CHOSE COULD STIR UP SO MUCH CONTROVERSY. RACIST, IGNORANT PEOPLE FEEL REAL COMFORTABLE BEHIND THEIR COMPUTERS SPEWING SUCH HATRED. I DON'T FEEL THAT THE HUMBOLDT PARK NO SE VENDE CAMPAIGN IS VIOLATING MY CIVIL RIGHTS. ON THE FLIP SIDE, THEY ARE ADVOCATING ON BEHALF OF MY CIVIL RIGHTS, AND I APPRECIATE THIS. AT LEAST SOME PEOPLE CARE ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THIS COMMUNITY, A FUTURE THAT DOESN'T PUT PROFIT OVER PEOPLE.
HP Resident, you somewhat echoed my point. You can't call a few snotty and stuck up neighbors flaming racists that are indicative of that entire segment of the population. That's not fair either. I also think this issue of gentrification has taken everyone's eyes off what's important. it's not about you versus me versus him. if it's about community than we should ALL be fight gentrification because it's flat-out stupid. THOSE are the people who don't get it, not the people posting here wanting us all to be on the same side. We want community not commercial strips. We already have a wicker park. And the logo doesn't bother me. It's the flags and it indicates where the shop is. The name can change too. if it's in humboldt park why would it be called west town bikes? we just need to really look at who the bad guy is. it really feels like that "bad guy" is more an idea and not individuals who really do care. if we don't look hard to differentiate the two it's easy to group everyone into one pool. we can be mad about gentrification and those who cause it (yeah, foul real estate agencies) but let's not hate people. let's educate them to know the difference. that's community. we all have much to learn from people who already live here and hating everyone around you on both sides isn't making ANYTHING better.
Have you ever noticed that places like Barrington, Schaumburg, Tinley park don"t get "gentrified"? Why? Because in order to "gentrify" a neighborhhod, that neighborghood must let itself become so economically depressed that the property values are cheap enough for investors to make a profit. So instead of whining about gentrifiers, look at who let Humboldt Park become such a mess.If becoming "gentrified" means fewer drug sales on my corner and fewer shootings, I'm all for it.
If a Puerto Rican wants to spend his/her money at a Puerto Rican owned establishment, that is their right as a free citizen. When a government entity prevents a business from opening based on the ethnicty of the owner, that is illegal, immoral, and racism.
People, we need to stop thinking about racism as merely being comprised of face-to-face experiences where someone is disciminated against on the basis of race/ethnicity. That's bigotry. Racism is a SYSTEM that denies peoples of color access to social resources. If we think about racism as a system of privilege, there CAN'T BE SUCH THING AS REVERSE RACISM, as people of color are not the bearers of privilege in our society. Understanding this is the prerequisite for us people of color to begin to change society and for white folks to understand how they can be allies in that process. Ciclo Urbano has a Spanish name and the PR flag on it as a sign of solidarity and collaboration with the Puerto Rican community. We have the right to claim our space and ethnicity and to create solutions to social problems in our own terms and not have "white saviors" trying to impose their solutions and ideals. You can have the best intentions and still end up imposing your values on others and reinforcing and perpetuating inequality. I don't see anyone here protesting about Irish bars excluding non-Irish, or people complaining about chinatown being too Chinese, etc. Understand that if you move to a community that identifies as Puerto Rican, that was your choice and your responsibility is to rmain in solidarity and collaboration to the people from the community.
Jose Lopez really does have his people indoctrinated and well trained in the art of nationalist socialist mumbo jumbo. No Se Vende is government sponsored racism coming out of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center. How is it that Bickerdike received TIF tax payer funding and they are allowed to post No Se Vende posters on their store front windows at Division and California. How is it that Jose Lopez and his Puerto Rican Cultural Center is about to receive over $800,000 in Obama stimulus funds, with the help of Congressman Gutierrez, to promote class and racial warfare in our Humboldt Park community. This is a national disgrace that need to be exposed!
First, in response to what Humboldt Park Resident says above, i can completely relate to how difficult it is when another adult will not acknowledge your child. I myself have a child about the age of your own, and i also have a neighbor who does the same thing yours does. And yes, our neighbor is white. But guess what? We are also white. This has nothing to do with skin color, this is just about dealing with people who have bad manners. No one should be judging an entire group of people based on limited experience. And to what someone else said about how the Puerto Ricans have improved the neighborhood, not the "newcomers," this isn't always the case. Not all Puerto Ricans here care about improving the neighborhood. We have some in our own neighborhood who are extremely loud and do not parent their numerous children at all, who are extremely disrespectful to others and their property. But right next door is another Puerto Rican who has lived here forever and cannot stand these people because he takes care of his own property and he can't stand how they act. Again, this is not about an entire race or culture being "bad,'" this is about people growing up with manners and respect for other people and the earth, and teaching their children to do the same. We are "newcomers," but we talk to our neighbors, regardless of their nationality. And we clean up the street; we pick up garbage that many other people carelessly toss on the sidewalk because they don't give a damn and figure someone else will do it. And one thing I don't understand every time i end up on one of these blogs on the issue of gentrification: Why is it that so many Humboldt Park Puerto Ricans put up their virtual fists as if ready to fight when no one really wants to fight with them? And why bring up "colonization?" Your neighbors here have not colonized you, we all just want to live our lives and be happy just like you! We personally had nothing to do with the Spanish-American War and any consequences of it. This is just like some African-Americans who want to blame all white people for their ancestors' slavery, as if we are personally responsible for any hardship they have endured in their lives. Don't blame your past when you should be focusing on the future, people! Don't antagonize people who would otherwise want to be your friend! We don't want to take your culture away, but many of us DO want to see Humboldt Park become less economically depressed, and certainly, more safe. The person you should be directing your anger towards is the 26th Ward Alderman. If you are loving him just because he's Puerto Rican, you have tunnel vision. There have been four gang-related shootings right in the area of his own office in a very short period of time, and yet he says not one word about it. Merely adding more police cameras is not enough. If you want to be safe, if you have children, i don't care where you are from, you should be directing your vote elsewhere for the next election because this man isn't doing a damned thing for our community in terms of improved economics and safety.
Yes, I do have my own agenda. I will be running for alderwoman. I hope I could count on all your support. i want to see true change. I want to empower white people. I love jesus. I love myself. I love people (well, some people). OHHH, I love dogs.....
and this, right here, as in this blog and all these posts, is why humboldt park is getting screwed. no one can agree to agree that HP is fucked up. but we all know it we just have different ways to get it back on track. let's at least start by saying we all see the need for something better to start happening around here for EVERYONE's sake. Maybe with the exception of gangs though... i think we could all do without those and a little more genuine community interest
Just to clarify this, West Town Bikes did not change their name..West Town Bikes is the non for profit learning workshop that operates in the back of Ciclo Urbano, which is in the front of the store. Two different things, one building, entirely new name. Not exactly a name change. That should be pointed out although the argument has grown past that. In response to the other comments: Corporation moving into and changing a community into essentially a mini mall is an issue that goes beyond race. This happens to 'white' neighborhoods too and they fight the same fight. No community wants their mom and pop stores to be demolished so to make room for a Super-Walmart. The issue at hand is rich vs poor. Corporate vs Community. People only associate race with those things.
