Suburban communities outside of Chicago are turning to a housing ordinance that aims to reduce crime. But it may also be indicative of a resistance to minorities moving into primarily white areas.

1. chasing
the wrong
shadow
Gabrielle Levy for Advanced Public Affairs Reporting
March 9, 2011

3. “we tend to be really good at covering
what happened yesterday;
we tend to be really bad at covering
what happens everyday
and there also is a tendency to tune out ...”
- Nicholas Kristof
March 8, 2011

5. “This doesn’t have anything to do with rentals...
... has not been
a particularly
welcoming
community.
They’re probably
trying to hold onto
the past, in a way.”
--Rob Breymaier

6. = approx. 100 people
Source: 2000 U.S. Census,
2009 American Community Survey

7. = approx. 100 people
Source: 2000 U.S. Census,
2009 American Community Survey

9. Crime Free Multi-Rental Housing Program

10. Crime Free Multi-Rental Housing Program
- 875 registered rental buildings in Elmwood Park
- 125 buildings with six or more units (14 percent)
- 25 percent of total housing in Elmwood Park

11. Crime Free Multi-Rental Housing Program
- 875 registered rental buildings in Elmwood Park
- 125 buildings with six or more units (14 percent)
- 25 percent of total housing in Elmwood Park
“The [passed] ordinance is great for getting criminals out after
they cause a problem. By exempting all rentals under 6 units,
we lose this ability.”
“Crime Free Housing Proposal Update”,
myEPNCO.com, Jan. 11, 2011

12. Elmwood Park
Rental Properties
Source: Prudential American Heritage Real Estate
Gang-related
graffiti, 2010
Source: Elmwood Park Police Department

13. Elmwood Park
Rental Properties
Source: Prudential American Heritage Real Estate
Gang-related
graffiti, 2010
Source: Elmwood Park Police Department
“We had the police
department track
through the village... [we
found] no correlation
between apartments
and single-family homes
in terms of crime rate.”
--Jay Dalicandro,
Village Manager, Elmwood Park

14. Village Leadership

15. Village Leadership
Peter Silvestri Elsie Sutter
Mayor since1989 Clerk since1993
Alan Bennett Jeff Sargent, Sam LaBarbara Carmen Forte
Trustee since 1975 Police Trustee since 1989 Trustee since 1991
Alan Kaminski Angela Stranges
Trustee since 1991 Trustee since 2011

17. Participation & Empowerment
"Relatively weaker political resources in some areas suggest
that Latino empowerment will not be a function of population
and political resources alone. .
"While Latinos are better off in absolute terms in some suburbs, this
is not true in less affluent inner-ring suburbs. The more relevant
consequence of Latino suburbanization is that these suburbs have
at-large election structures and Latino residents have little recourse
to change these structures in the the current political and legal
climate."
Thomas Longoria, Jr., "Latino Descriptive Policy Representation in the Midwest: Do 'Traditional' Models Apply?"

18. chasing
the wrong
shadow
Gabrielle Levy for Advanced Public Affairs Reporting
March 9, 2011