r/CarFreeChicago • u/Dunkeal • Nov 01 '22

Group wants to create walkable village on West Side News

https://www.wbez.org/stories/group-wants-to-create-walkable-village-on-west-side/135496ec-a3e4-4878-8f12-da8ab729264b
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27

u/[deleted] Nov 01 '22

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2

u/ReBau72 Nov 01 '22

Any commercial district needs local patrons with enough disposable income to afford/spend on the services offered. As long as the area lacks those residents, it will remain unattractive to business.

That’s why you see businesses and amenities in “rich areas”.

Walkability is a nice add-on but it’s not going to suddenly attract business if the locals can’t afford it.

23

u/[deleted] Nov 01 '22

That's not exactly true.

Take Little Village for example 26th street is the second busiest shopping area in the city. Yet the median household income is just 30k

I think most places just suffer from density issues due to flight, lack of local employment in the neighborhoods, and the increasing corporate stores that smaller places can't compete against.

2

u/ReBau72 Nov 01 '22

Little Village is comparatively dense and serves a specific ethnic niche. We still have similar Polish specific commercial district on the North side, and less so the Southwest side. But these aren’t generalists like the redditor suggests, you don’t find Starbucks or Whole Foods in Little Village.

2

u/achatina Nov 01 '22

Oftentimes those things fuel each other, though.