When a thriving working-class community gets pushed out by the juggernaut of gentrification, it’s an urban tragedy. But when a largely deserted, burned-out and crime-infested place like East Garfield Park shows signs of life, it’s worth rejoicing. A straight shot west of the Loop, with good public-transit access and a magnificent urban park centered around the “rediscovered” jewel that is the Garfield Park Conservatory, East Garfield Park is a natural. And with the front lines of gentrification already closing in from both the north (Humboldt Park) and the east (Near West Side), the odds are even better. So good, in fact, that Business Week earlier this year singled it out as one of “America’s Next Hot Neighborhoods.” And since the neighborhood lost two-thirds of its population between 1960 and 2000, there’s plenty of room for everyone.
Audience Choice Uptown Best audience comment: “I’d like to see some degentrification happen, somewhere along the lake. I’m a poor artist, part of the problem.”
Hoosier Savior?: A Pilgrimage to a Sort-of Christian Theme Park in Indiana The Shrine of Christ’s Passion is a multimedia, interactive, half-mile-long prayer trail and sculpture garden. It depicts the route Jesus Christ took to Mount Calvary, just outside the walls of Jerusalem, before He was crucified. The attraction is located in St. John, Indiana.
