The Committee for a United Polish Community is a group comprised of Polish residents, businesses, fraternal organizations, religious institutions, and social service agencies. The mission of our group is to advocate for an intact and unified Polish Ward that will unite the two most prominent North Side “Polish Patches” centered along Belmont Avenue: Avondale’s Polish Village, and Belmont/ Central.
The geographic dispersal of Chicago’s Polish Community has been cited in the past as a challenge in gathering together Poles to assure them a strong position within any of the city’s 50 wards. This argument however does not withstand scrutiny with regards to the Polish neighborhoods centered along Belmont Avenue where a chain of contiguous settlements links these neighborhoods. These “Polish Patches” have played a prominent role within Chicago’s Polish Community since their beginnings in the 1880’s and continue to do so through the present day.
Currently this area is served by five different Alderman; Ariel Reboyras in the 30th, Ray Suarez in the 31st, Rey Colon in the 35th, Nicholas Sposato in the 36th, and Tim Cullerton in the 38th.
The division of the Polish populations who make their home along the Belmont Avenue corridor has created a barrier when addressing the various challenges that face our neighborhoods. Currently we have to convene 10% of City Council to discuss the issues that affect our community. Some might argue that having five Alderman ought to serve us well as it should increase the number of advocates in City Council. Unfortunately, this has not been our experience. The division of our community has hindered our progress as well as our access to resources.
The reality of our neighborhood is the following: A community resident visits his neighbor across the street, then goes to the neighborhood school, park, then to the grocery store, and on to the library, church, or local social agency. In that short walk, he has crossed the lines separating five different wards. As you can imagine, numerous problems arise when the community looks to make its voice heard so that we can work with our elected officials without the certainty of knowing who to turn to.
We come to you today and ask you to protect the legal rights of the residents of our neighborhood.
Our community is connected by a shared commitment to create peace, advance immigrant rights, accompany our youth, promote economic development, work with our local schools and parks, and to improve our quality-of-life.
We believe that our proposed ward addresses these issues. By bringing together the core of Avondale’s Polish Village with the area of Belmont / Central and other adjacent historically Polish neighborhoods, Poles are assured a prominent seat at the table in determining their community affairs. This ward would concentrate many of the most important community institutions, including five of Chicago’s most significant Polish Roman Catholic parishes, public parks named for Polish heroes such as Chopin and Kosciuszko that double as cultural centers, the sites where we care for our elderly at St. Joseph Home for the Aged and the Copernicus Senior Center, as well as the headquarters for fraternal organizations such as the Alliance of Polish Clubs.
We are not the first group to propose combining these areas together, or the first to note their visibly Polish character. ORK Posters, a private firm, has been issuing its own Chicago Neighborhood Map (right) since 2007. Their interpretation of Chicago’s “Polish Village” involves bringing together the same areas we have in our proposed ward. The one key difference is that without the constraint of the politics at hand, they have been able to bring in the entire area in question whereas our map, in the spirit of compromise, incorporates only their core.
We also respectfully request that you please support the following principles:
Keep our community united so that our voice is not diluted, fractured, nor silenced. In essence, we are asking you to allow us to be one strong and loud voice, to ensure that our concerns are heard and needs are addressed.
Make the boundaries dividing these wards simple, delineated along main streets to make it easy for residents to be able to answer that most necessary of all questions in Chicago: Who is your Alderman?
Advocate for a meaningfully open and transparent redistricting process, in which the public is invited to participate at every step.
Thank you.
For a United Polish Community
Daniel Pogorzelski
[email protected]