<i> Paseo Boricua</i>. Identity, symbols and ownership
10.13125/américacrítica/3014
Este artículo es sobre Paseo Boricua, un área comercial demarcada por dos banderas de acero que representan la identidad puertorriqueña en Humboldt Park, Chicago. Las banderas y los establecimientos tienen la función de reclamar este espacio como puertorriqueño. El propósito de este artículo es analizar la relación entre los sistemas de propiedad legalmente reconocidos y los métodos simbólicos para reclamar la propiedad empleados por aquellos que se identifican en el área con la cultura puertorriqueña. El artículo se basa en entrevistas personales, observaciones y clips de periódicos, entre otros documentos, para abordar la siguiente pregunta: ¿Cómo se pueden usar la identidad y los símbolos para hacer reclamos colectivos de propiedad?
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América Crítica
<i> Paseo Boricua</i>. Identity, symbols and ownership
Text.Serial.Journal
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Sezione tematica: Linguaggi dell’urbanizzazione e visioni della città
2018-01-27
2017-08-26
2018-01-27
2018-01-27
117-138
1
Ivis García
2017
10.13125/américacrítica/3014
117
University of Utah, United States
2532-6724
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en
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urn:nbn:it:unica-22242
<i> Paseo Boricua</i>. Identity, symbols and ownership
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                                          2017 América Crítica. Vol. 1, n° 2, dicembre 2017




               PASEO BORICUA: IDENTITY, SYMBOLS AND OWNERSHIP
                                                                                     IVIS GARCÍA
                                                                             University of Utah




PASEO BORICUA: IDENTIDAD, SÍMBOLOS Y PROPIEDAD
RESUMEN:
Este artículo es sobre Paseo Boricua, un área co-    piedad empleados por aquellos que se identifi-
mercial demarcada por dos banderas de acero          can en el área con la cultura puertorriqueña. El
que representan la identidad puertorriqueña en       artículo se basa en entrevistas personales, ob-
Humboldt Park, Chicago. Las banderas y los es-       servaciones y clips de periódicos, entre otros
tablecimientos tienen la función de reclamar         documentos, para abordar la siguiente pregun-
este espacio como puertorriqueño. El propósito       ta: ¿Cómo se pueden usar la identidad y los
de este artículo es analizar la relación entre los   símbolos para hacer reclamos colectivos de pro-
sistemas de propiedad legalmente reconocidos         piedad?
y los métodos simbólicos para reclamar la pro-

KEYWORDS: PASEO BORICUA, PUERTORRIQUEÑOS, GENTRIFICACIÓN, DESARROLLO COMUNITARIO,
PROPIEDAD.




This work is licensed under the Creative Commons © Ivis García
Paseo Boricua: Identity, Symbols and Ownership.
2017 ⎸América Crítica. Vol. 1, n° 2, dicembre 2017: 117-138.
DOI: 10.13125/américacrítica/3014
118                                                                           IVIS GARCÍA




Introduction                                 laws of market economies should, there-
                                             fore, be seen as misinterpretations or fix-
   In this work, I argue that Puerto Ri-
                                             es of the temporary and instable process-
cans in Humboldt Park Chicago have at-
                                             es of structuration that are largely based
tempted to construct symbolic forms of
                                             on the decisions of the nation-state and
ownership instead of individualized
                                             are contestable—and therefore malleable
ideals that are common sense in capital-
                                             and re-definable—at the ground-level
ist society. As will be demonstrated
                                             (Giddens 1986).
throughout this paper, the so-called free-
                                                In this paper, I argue that declaring
market, far from constituting a natural
                                             space through symbology is a form of
force in human interaction, is thrust onto
                                             not only declaring ownership, but it is ef-
communities through the invention and
                                             fectively a form of property—communal
enforcement of private property rights
                                             property. Conceptions of property rights
by nation-states. Put simply, where or-
                                             and ownership are offered here as a com-
thodoxy depicts market exchange as nat-
                                             plementary framework to expand the
ural and inevitable, this analysis main-
                                             work of other scholars who have exten-
tains that market economics relies on
                                             sively studied and written about Paseo
systems of private property legitimated
                                             Boricua, a commercial and cultural corri-
by broader social systems (especially dis-
                                             dor in Humboldt Park marked by two
courses surrounding conceptions of
                                             gateways in the shape of Puerto Rican
“rights” of ownership) and the various
                                             flags. About 23 percent of Puerto Ricans
enforcement arms of the national state.
                                             in the city of Chicago lived in the Hum-
These systems, furthermore, are far from
                                             boldt Park neighborhood in 2010 (Cin-
being in the assumed state of resolution
                                             trón et al. 2012).
from which positive economists con-
                                                The function of Paseo Boricua has been
struct their developmental theories. On
                                             described in length as a form of declar-
the contrary, economic systems should
                                             ing a Puerto Rican space (Alicea 2001,
be seen as vague and ambiguous com-
                                             Cruz 2007, Flores-Gonzalez 2001, Pérez,
plexes, ever to remain in a constant state
                                             2004, Ramos-Zayas, 2003, Rúa 2012).
of flux and contestation. The supposedly
                                             Gina Pérez (2004) argues that Paseo
natural and all-encompassing internal
                                             Boricua and the flags are one of the many


                    2017 América Crítica. Vol. 1, n° 2, dicembre 2017
PASEO BORICUA: IDENTITY, SYMBOLS AND OWNERSHIP                                             119


strategies that the Puerto Rican people          Ana Ramos-Zayas’ book (2003) presents
use to resist the negative consequences of       “national performances” as a form of
the kind of economic development that            “survival” for Puerto Ricans. Beyond
results in displacement. Based on this           narrow understandings of nationalism
analysis, we might argue that Paseo              (e.g. flag waving), Ramos-Zayas concep-
Boricua and the flags are a tool to express      tualizes national performances as prac-
Puerto Rican belonging to an urban (and          tices. Every day, Puerto Ricans express
thus rapidly changing) place, maintain           resistance to issues of class, race, and
cultural identity, and exert agency in the       space (specifically, they react against the
context of a racially and ethnically segre-      process of gentrification). It is in this con-
gated city. Chicago is highly segregated         text that Ramos-Zayas aptly observes,
by race—blacks, Latinos, and whites              “Puerto Ricans shared an intimate un-
largely live in different neighborhoods.         derstanding of the conflictual meaning of
This segregation by race and ethnicity           the flags” (209) (And, I will add, Paseo
has profound implications for unequal            Boricua, as a whole).
access to quality healthcare, education,            Professors Pérez, Rúa, and Ramos Za-
employment, and housing. When condi-             yas, among a number of other Puerto Ri-
tions improve in a neighborhood, gentri-         can scholars, have discussed how this
fication might serve as a tool of (re)segre-     claim is reinforced by the flags of steel
gation.                                          that act as gateways to Paseo Boricua—
   The basis for declaring space, accord-        along with the businesses, nonprofits,
ing to Rúa, is the development of a              and a variety of cultural symbols on the
“grounded identidad” (identity) defined          street—that evoke this feeling and mate-
as “demands and struggles over place             riality of a Puerto Rican space. The mate-
and memory” (162). In her book, Rúa ex-          riality of the flags is not only due to the
plains how the Puerto Rican identity in          representation of Puerto Rican laborers
Chicago has emerged from the struggles           (many of whom worked in the steel mills
of the Puerto Rican people and continu-          when they first came) but piping and
ous displacement from urban renewal              welding used in the flags themselves.
projects and gentrification. As a result,        Through the use of symbols, the physical
Puerto Ricans have framed their identity         space becomes claimed. This declaration
through resistance and Paseo Boricua and         over space, in turn, reinforces Puerto Ri-
its flags are a material representation of       can national performances, grounded in
the nexus between identity formation             space, of those who live there. It sends a
and placemaking. Instead of identity,            clear signal that the Puerto Rican com-


                       2017 América Crítica. Vol. 1, n° 2, dicembre 2017
120                                                                           IVIS GARCÍA


munity is distinct and unique, but also        Part II investigates the creation of
that it is part of the city of Chicago and     Paseo Boricua and its role in directly
that it intends to remain so even in the       creating a community identity and
face of gentrification.                        claims to ownership through sym-
   Besides claiming a physical space in
                                               bols. This section uses newspaper
Chicago, Puerto Ricans are actively try-
                                               clips and conversations with residents
ing to reclaim their voices and take up a
                                               and community leaders to investigate
“metaphorical space” as a group of peo-
ple who deserve to be heard and recog-         how people feel and talk about the in-
nized. Struggles are easier to endure, and     stallation of the monumental flags in
victories can be enjoyed together as a         Paseo Boricua. In addition, this section
group. The only way Puerto Ricans can          discusses how the flags are symboli-
remain in the face of gentrification is if     cally used to claim ownership over
they declare “ownership” over space.           space. Finally, in Part III, lessons will
This research seeks to construct a frame-      be drawn about the importance of
work to interpret Puerto Rican narratives      Paseo Boricua as a tool for creating a
surrounding ownership in Humboldt              Puerto Rican “rootedness” to place in
Park, Chicago. In this article, I argue that
                                               order to stem the process of gentrifi-
Puerto Ricans in the Humboldt Park
                                               cation. I will discuss the importance
neighborhood have employed the Puerto
                                               of acknowledging cultural and histor-
Rican identity as a form of constructing
symbolic ownership over space. This            ical ideals and how these claims move
ownership is not individualized; it is         us away from the dominant ideology
communal. This kind of ownership               of the value of a thing or a place by
stands in opposition to the commodified        only acknowledging exchange-values
ideals held as common sense within the         (Harvey 1983).
broader nation-state. In that light, this
paper asks: How can identity and sym-
bols be used to make collective claims of      1. Theoretical background
ownership?                                        This section will discuss how the un-
   To answer this question, in Part I,         even development of capitalist society
conceptualization of gentrification,           might cause gaps in rent value and po-
rent gap theory, placemaking, and the          tential value of an exchangeable com-
right to the city will be discussed as         modity—land, housing, or commercial
part of the theoretical background.            property—and, thus, result in gentrifica-


                     2017 América Crítica. Vol. 1, n° 2, dicembre 2017
PASEO BORICUA: IDENTITY, SYMBOLS AND OWNERSHIP                                          121


tion. This section will also discuss how,        tuted by “the disparity between the po-
through placemaking, everyday people             tential ground rent level and the actual
challenge the dominant and longstand-            ground rent capitalized under the
ing traditions of individual property            present land use” (22). Thus, there is the
rights. Urban development tends to               actual rent—based on its present use—
frame market economics as being under-           and a potential rent based on a potential
girded by natural systems of private             “highest and best” use. The disparity be-
property rights, the ubiquity of market          tween the two is the rent gap. Many ur-
exchange, and the invisible balancing act        ban theorists, including neoclassical
of individualized competitive motiva-            economists as well as Marxists, have not-
tions. This article seeks instead to under-      ed that when rents that could have been
stand cultural groups’ diverse perspec-          extracted from a given location become
tives surrounding conceptions of owner-          lower, property owners do not have any
ship while simultaneously interrogating          interest in repairing and maintaining the
the means by which these groups come             buildings (Bourassa 1993, Smith 1979).
to terms with and contest the imposi-            Therefore, the area starts experiencing
tions of dominant social groups on their         further and further disinvestment. When
communities through placemaking prac-            the rents are sufficiently low, speculators
tices—including gentrification.                  start holding properties for future rede-
   Ruth Glass coined the term “gentrifi-         velopment.
cation” in 1964 in her book London: As-             As soon as the future land rent sets in,
pects of Change. She defined the process         capital might start flowing into the area,
as when the middle class, block by block,        properties in mild disrepair might be re-
transforms the homes of the working              developed, and those which fell into
class to the point that the character of en-     complete disrepair might be torn down
tire neighborhoods has been changed. In          and new buildings take their place. The
this process, working class people are           end result of this process might be the
displaced because they are no longer             same regardless if redevelopment or new
able to afford the upgraded residences.          development takes place—the people
   Neil Smith’s (1979) rent gap theory of        who used to inhabit the area are less like-
gentrification explains why some areas           ly to be able to pay the new rents and
gentrify. If a gap exists between the cur-       therefore may be displaced. This theory
rent and potential ground rents (on the          shows how investment in capitalist cities
piece of land only), then the area might         could be in many cases cyclical. An in-
gentrify. For Smith, a rent gap is consti-       ner-city neighborhood could experience


                       2017 América Crítica. Vol. 1, n° 2, dicembre 2017
122                                                                               IVIS GARCÍA


investment, disinvestment, and reinvest-        man creation of social meaning shapes
ment in a matter of decades. Smith’s the-       the physical landscape (Lefebvre 1992).
ory should not be taken in a determinis-        Lefebvre believed that people could tran-
tic way—the existence of a rent gap does        scend capitalism by claiming their “right
not guarantee gentrification, and socioe-       to the city.” The practice of placemaking
conomic and cultural conditions might           can become a way of challenging the
interfere with the process. In the case of      view that space is not only physical, but
Puerto Rican Chicago, we will see how           it is also abstract, being mental and so-
Puerto Ricans have tried to halt gentrifi-      cial.
cation through the making of a Puerto              Despite economists’ concerns of the
Rican space.                                    potential for homogenous development,
   In this article, I will show that the role   this paper argues that it is critical that we
of placemaking in the creation of a Puer-       come to terms with the empirical fact
to Rican enclave has been key to both the       that communities’ economies are built
development and survival of the Puerto          around historically contingent and path-
Rican community. The Puerto Rican               dependent traditions and evolving cul-
identity is both a tool to develop and a        tures (Hodgson and Knudsen 2013).
tool to avoid displacement. Placemaking         Claims to place vary from the
in Humboldt Park accentuates the Puerto         economistic depictions of sameness to
Rican identity through the use of flags,        the rich array of shared traditions, histo-
vibrant colors, murals, Spanish words           ries, and modes of expression in general,
and names, and a vast array of symbols          including the imagined homogeneity im-
(e.g., the coquí, a local frog celebrated on    posed by popular forms of media like
the island of Puerto Rico). The culture         television programming and news re-
and identity of people, when manifested         ports or by social classifications (Bour-
in the urban built environment by resi-         dieu 1984). Wryly speaking, we might
dents, business owners, non-profits, and        say that this paper seeks to problematize
others, especially when coming from the         the imposed narratives of sameness by
grassroots, is known as placemaking             positivist commentators vis-à-vis the em-
(Thomas 2016, Walljasper 2007). In this         pirical truth of difference between com-
particular case, placemaking becomes a          munities,     cultures,     and,      indeed,
way of claiming ownership over space.           economies, and how these are manifest-
Henri Lefebvre explained how city               ed in space. One clear example of place-
dwellers produce and reproduce space            making through the accentuation of cul-
through their everyday practices. Hu-           tural difference is the gateway flags of


                      2017 América Crítica. Vol. 1, n° 2, dicembre 2017
PASEO BORICUA: IDENTITY, SYMBOLS AND OWNERSHIP                                           123


Paseo Boricua. The next section discusses        can rights, citizenship, and communal
their history and meaning.                       ownership. The existence of an expansive
                                                 Puerto Rican symbology as a form of so-
                                                 cial and political power makes this a
2. Paseo Boricua                                 compelling case for studying how the
                                                 production of symbols affects the ab-
Monumental flags                                 stract forces of market accumulation and
    The Puerto Ricans’ status as a diaspo-       vice versa.
ra and group of colonial subjects who               The two giant metal Puerto Rican
have been constructing a community in            flags function as a gateway for a sev-
exile, in constant change and mobility,          en-block corridor of Puerto Rican busi-
has been discussed by a number of Puer-          nesses, restaurants, and non-profit orga-
to Rican scholars (Duany 2002, Flores-           nizations—this strip is considered by
Gonzalez 2001). Diaspora refers to those         those living inside and outside of the
Puerto Ricans who live in the United             area to be the heart of Chicago’s Puerto
States (Whalen and Vazquez-Hernandez             Rican community (Flores-Gonzalez 2001,
2005). Puerto Rican migration accelerat-         Rúa 2012, Pérez, 2004, Ramos-Zayas,
ed after World War II when commercial            2003). These wavy flags, whose steel was
planes started to fly from San Juan, Puer-       fabricated by Chicago Ornamental Iron
to Rico to New York City and later on to         Co., each weigh about 45 tons, rise to 56
Chicago. Hundreds of thousands of                feet in the air, and extend 59 feet across
working-class men and women migrated             the street (Flores-Gonzalez 2001). They
in search of employment and a better             stretch for a whole mile on Division
life. These diasporic forces have specific       Street, between Western and California
social and spatial manifestations in             Avenues (Guerrero 2003). According to
Chicago tied to gentrification and the           activists, they are the largest flags in the
need to create a pedacito de patria (a piece     world that are not made of cloth. These
of motherland) (Flores-Gonzalez 2001,            flags were made of physically powerful
Pérez, 2004, Ramos-Zayas, 2003). Specifi-        steel to commemorate Puerto Rican in-
cally, Paseo Boricua (with its flags of steel)   dustrial workers who first arrived to
and Humboldt Park have become a kind             Chicago and worked long hours in the
of national territory and politically sover-     hot steel mills (Cruz 2007).
eign state that, in the face of neighbor-           Paseo Boricua includes a Puerto Rican
hood change, according to activists, must        Walk of Fame resembling the Hollywood
be protected so as to protect Puerto Ri-         Walk of Fame and features the names of


                       2017 América Crítica. Vol. 1, n° 2, dicembre 2017
124                                                                             IVIS GARCÍA


distinguished Puerto Ricans like Lucecita     2003).
Benitez, Tito Puente, El Gran Combo,             (see Figure 1 – p. 133)
Andy Montañez, Chucho Valdés, Calle              Construction of the monumental flags
13, and many others. The area has many        was completed in 1995, and dedication
street murals that date back to the 1980s,    occurred on January 6th (Three Kings
painted by Puerto Rican and non-Puerto        Day) of that year. They were created un-
Rican artists. Street banners showcase        der the leadership of Billy Ocasio, Alder-
the three heritage pillars of Puerto Ri-      man of the 26th Ward at the time. The
cans: the sun (indigenous), el vegigante or   cost of the flags is estimated to be about
carnival mask (African), and la garita or     $450,000 and an additional $750,000 was
watch tower (Spanish).                        spent on street enhancement projects
   As part of a sidewalk beautification       (Newman 1995). It was determined that
project, 78 large pots were placed, each      the project would generate between
decorated with paintings of one of the 78     $70,000 and $80,000 per year, which
town flags of the Puerto Rican island.        means that the total investment of $1.2
The strip has about 16 small plazas with      million would be recovered in about 16
stone tables and benches for public use.      years (it has been more than 23 years al-
At the tables, visitors can wait for the      ready). According to DeStefano and Part-
bus, play dominoes, or simply chat with       ners, the architecture company that de-
a neighbor. In addition, some of the          signed the monument, the flags were cre-
building façades of affordable housing        ated to last more than 500 years. Their
projects like La Estancia Apartments and      fantastic ingenuity won an award from
Teresa Roldán Senior Apartments have          the American Institute of Architects as
been built to look like the architecture of   well as six other prestigious awards.
Old San Juan—with pastel colors,
wrought-iron balconies, and tile-roofed       Flags bringing hope to a marginalized
buildings. Supermercado La Municipal (Su-     community
permarket “The Township”) is made to
resemble a Spanish fortress in San Juan.         Even before the monumental flags
Many businesses are named after rural         were installed there were a number of
towns in Puerto Rico such as Yauco,           Puerto Rican restaurants and shops on
Rincón, Jayuya, and others. The flags of      Division Street. Thus, there were already
Paseo Boricua make the area the “only of-     notions that Division Street was a “Puer-
ficially recognized Puerto Rican commu-       to Rican space,” according to politicians
nity area” in the United States (Guerrero     and activists who were involved in its


                     2017 América Crítica. Vol. 1, n° 2, dicembre 2017
PASEO BORICUA: IDENTITY, SYMBOLS AND OWNERSHIP                                          125


creation. But the socioeconomic and              in the neighborhood started before the
physical appearance of Division Street           1960s, with the oldest Puerto Rican
propagated the notions of an undesirable         restaurant in Paseo Boricua being the
space, not only among the mainstream             Latin American Restaurant and Lounge,
but also among the Puerto Rican com-             which opened for business in 1958. With
munity.                                          the demographic and socioeconomic
   Urban scholars have long discussed            change, the commercial district also
the relationship between suburbaniza-            started to experience decline (Betancur
tion, white flight, and exclusion, process-      2002).
es that have contributed to poverty con-            Thus, before the city investment in the
centration, hyper-segregation and, in            1990s, the inner-city blocks where Paseo
many cases, downward socioeconomic               is located were considered a sign of fail-
mobility since the 1960s and 1970s (De           ure. Arson was a familiar experience for
Souza Briggs and Wilson 2005, Downs              Puerto Ricans, and it carried a sense of
1973, Smith 1979). Division Street has ex-       normalcy (Alicea 2001; Pérez 2004; Rúa
perienced several economic shifts in sta-        2012). Figure 2 shows how six census
bility and decline. Many Ukrainian and           tracts around Paseo in 1990 experienced a
Polish immigrants settled in the area be-        population decline of about 6 percent
tween Western and California Avenues—            from the previous decade, high vacancy
thus Division Street had many business-          rates (14 percent), high poverty levels (44
es ethnically targeting the residents of         percent), and high unemployment (17
the area (Padilla 1987). But as white            percent) (U.S. Census Bureau). Eduardo
flight occurred during the following             Arocho, executive director of the Divi-
decades, Polish, Czech, Ukrainian, and           sion Street Development Association, ex-
other Eastern European bakeries and              plains in a personal conversation that
grocery stores started to close. These           many of the businesses in Paseo at the
were later transformed into Puerto Rican         time were just “surviving.” All these
bakeries and bodegas, and the same was           things were reflected in what is the pre-
experienced by hardware and retail               dominant image of the disinvested inner-
shops, restaurants, and so forth. While          city: the abandoned, filthy, and crime-
the original features remained in the            ridden city block.
buildings (say, ovens, like in the case of          Gangs such as the Latin Kings, Maniac
Café Colao), the identity of the business,       Latin Disciples, Insane Spanish Cobras,
as well as the clientele, completely             and Imperial Gangsters, among others,
turned around in a few decades. Change           dominated this inner-city territory. Occa-


                       2017 América Crítica. Vol. 1, n° 2, dicembre 2017
126                                                                                   IVIS GARCÍA


sionally tensions between gangs and          leaders themselves as “fragmented.”
community members emerged. In March             All these conditions constituted forms
1996, for example, about 75 residents        of “divisions” according to key infor-
who were critical of the gang violence       mants. Even though Studs Terkel stated
and their ways of taking over the streets,   at the beginning of his 1967 book, Divi-
held signs that read: “Hey, Hey, Go          sion Street: America, that, “although there
Away, Gangs and Drugs, No Way”               is a Division Street in Chicago, the title of
(Chicago Tribune 1996). The rally was or-    this book is metaphorical” (xxv)—he
ganized after the police arrested 44 sus-    probably would have enjoyed learning
pected gang members in mid-March of          that, for the Puerto Rican community, La
that year. “We own these streets. We pay     Division (the Division) was more than a
the house notes (sic) and the property       metaphor. Eduardo Arocho, Executive
taxes,” a 20-year resident commented to      Director of the Division Street Business
the Chicago Tribune on how the commu-        Development Association, spoke in a
nity needed to take the streets back         personal conversation about what the
(Chicago Tribune 1996).                      metaphor means, as well as the transfor-
   The proliferation of organized crime,     mation of La Division to Paseo Boricua,
along with the 1966 and the 1977 riots
                                                We also have the challenge of the history of
(which both erupted as protests against         Division Street, La Division because I see
police brutality), further compounded           them as two separate places. La Division
families’ fear about living in the area         and Paseo Boricua are two different places,
(Pérez 2004). This fear of crime, for a         but they occupy the same space…The his-
                                                tory of “La Division” is gang, violence,
very long time, was reinforced by real es-
                                                drugs and all of the bad cositas que la gente
tate developers who avoided the neigh-          le gusta hablar (little things that people like
borhood       and     categorized    it as      to say). Paseo Boricua is this new place that
“blighted.” The banking industry,               we are trying to create out of that history.
through redlining, discouraged buyers
                                               Flores (2001) explains how La Division
from moving to the area, depressing
                                             changed its identity to become Paseo
housing prices even further (Betancur et
                                             Boricua:
al. 2001). And as more white families,
and later on middle class Puerto Ricans,        While “La Division” has been the location
                                                of Puerto Rican economic, political and
left el barrio (the hood) for safer commu-
                                                cultural expression for the past thirty
nities and better schools, these problems       years, it has been an unorganized space
were exacerbated. The Puerto Rican com-         with unmarked and ambiguous bound-
munity was described by community               aries that made it difficult for outsiders



                    2017 América Crítica. Vol. 1, n° 2, dicembre 2017
PASEO BORICUA: IDENTITY, SYMBOLS AND OWNERSHIP                                                127

   to distinguish it as a Puerto Rican com-      the Puerto Rican population went from
   munity. This left the neighborhood prey       9,771 to 6,228, which represents a drop of
   to urban development and gentrifica-
                                                 32 percent.
   tion. By contrast, Paseo Boricua is a
   planned and conscientious effort that
   transforms “La Division” into a recogniz-     Halt gentrification
   able economic, political and cultural
   space for Puerto Ricans and clearly de-          Paseo Boricua has many characteristics
   marcates the boundaries of the commu-         that made it susceptible to gentrification:
   nity. “La Division” contains the spirit of
                                                 its proximity to downtown, highway ac-
   the Puerto Rican community, but Paseo
   Boricua is the concrete reaffirmation of
                                                 cess, buildings of good quality, and, most
   Puerto Rican collective identity in Chica-    importantly, blocks zoned for commer-
   go and their will to stay put (9).            cial use. Additionally, east of Western
                                                 there are highly successful businesses
   As Flores explains, prior to Paseo
                                                 that mostly belong to gentrifiers, LLCs
Boricua, La Division was a non-organized
                                                 and other types of corporations. This
and unmarked area. Paseo Boricua be-
                                                 area in the 1990s was predominantly
came the central space through which
                                                 Puerto Rican prior to gentrification. As
community leaders began to realize the
                                                 Hipolito Roldán, Chief Executive Officer
goal of advocating hope and self-deter-
                                                 and President of Hispanic Housing De-
mination. Even further, I argue, planning
                                                 velopment Corporation put it:
the space in a deliberate manner had the
effect of claiming ownership, and there-           The city is growing to become a Greater
by fighting gentrification. Today, 2010            Loop, and while many poor neighbo-
                                                   rhoods have been losing population, there
statistics (see Figure 2 – p. 133) reveal
                                                   is a concentration of capital and land spil-
that the area, in some respects, has im-           ling out to our neighborhoods. There has
proved; for example, poverty levels have           been a great competition from yuppies.
gone down 31 percent, and unemploy-
                                                    At the Puerto Rican Agenda retreat
ment is down 9 percent (U.S. Census Bu-
                                                 that Billy Ocasio convened in 1993, Puer-
reau). On the other hand, vacancy rates
                                                 to Rican leaders came to the realization
of 17 percent speak to how the 2008 fore-
                                                 that Puerto Ricans needed to establish a
closure crisis affected the area. Popula-
                                                 place once and for all, after being dis-
tion decline is still a challenge in post-in-
                                                 placed by urban renewal projects from
dustrial cities like Chicago: from 2000 to
                                                 Lincoln Park and the Near North Side
2010 the six census blocks around Paseo
                                                 during the 1960s and 1970s (Padilla 1993;
showed a population decline of 18 per-
                                                 Fernandez 2012; Alicea 2001) and, more
cent. Specifically, within the last decade,


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128                                                                                       IVIS GARCÍA


recently, the West Town community area              leader and visionary added to Medina’s
during the 1990s (Betancur 2002). But               point,
more than Lincoln Park, Old Town, and
                                                      How do we actually lay claim to that area?
Near North Side, historically, West Town              —this was the discussion at Roberto
(where officially Paseo Boricua is located            Clemente High School in 1993. The flags,
as per the 77 Chicago community areas)                the Institute for Puerto Ricans Arts and
has been the community area with the                  Culture…all came out of that. By 2003 Di-
                                                      vision Street had the most Puerto Rican
most Puerto Ricans (see Figure 3 – p.
                                                      owned buildings, at that time there were
134).                                                 120 establishments, 10 of them Puerto Ri-
   Puerto Rican leaders and politicians               can restaurants. We have more Puerto Ri-
wanted to create a permanent symbol for               can restaurants than anywhere in the U.S. I
Puerto Rican culture in the community,                think we ought to talk about critical space.
                                                      Others may talk about social justice. This is
capable of sending a strong signal of
                                                      the last area that has a Puerto Rican space.
“who owned the area,” as described by a               For me critical space and place are impor-
member of the Puerto Rican Agenda, a                  tant.
collective of Puerto Rican leaders in the
                                                       Puerto Rican leaders seem to be in
Humboldt Park area. The chair of the
                                                    agreement that the official creation of
Puerto Rican Agenda at the time, Pablo
                                                    Paseo Boricua, with the city of Chicago’s
Medina, at a retreat held on May 2014 re-
                                                    installment of two steel Puerto Rican
minded everyone about the purpose of
                                                    flags acting as gateways, acts as a physi-
that first retreat in 1993:
                                                    cal and mental barrier against gentrifiers.
  Puerto Ricans have been nomads in the             These gateways inadvertently serve to
  city. The idea would be that we would be
                                                    defend the space and claim ownership. A
  following the Poles and the other groups
  that moved in and moved out. We all
                                                    community leader further explained, “
  know that if you do not control the land,            My view is that you need the mecha-
  you will be displaced. Some thought that          nism to go out there and to tell them and
  we would end up in Wisconsin! We started          say, “We have a map, we are here,” and
  thinking about coordinating our strategies.
                                                    then another mechanism is of just keep-
  We wanted to coordinate our capacities.
  We have been meeting the first Saturday of
                                                    ing people (the gentrifiers) out.”
  every month. I have not seen a group more            Paseo Boricua, then, became a strategic
  faithful to this vision. We are still here, but   focus for the strengthening of the Puerto
  now the forces are reappearing that want          Rican community, the anchoring of space
  to move us.
                                                    that gave it recognition and thus a place
  José López, a long-term community                 to marshal the forces against gentrifica-



                         2017 América Crítica. Vol. 1, n° 2, dicembre 2017
PASEO BORICUA: IDENTITY, SYMBOLS AND OWNERSHIP                                          129


tion. Although the blocks around Paseo           could consume (e.g. food) but also the
Boricua have been losing Puerto Rican            people (familiar faces, language, and
population, a concentration of Puerto Ri-        way of interacting). A piece of Puerto
cans in Chicago still remains and form a         Rico was produced and reproduced not
“critical space,” as José López puts it.         only by the physical space but also the
The six census tracts around Paseo expe-         mental and social space.
rienced a peak on their Puerto Rican                Many Puerto Rican ethnic enclaves in
population in 1980 (47 percent), and then        the United States from El Barrio (NYC)
a steady decline—in 2010, 26 percent of          to Williamsburg (Brooklyn) to Wynwood
the population was Puerto Rican. The             (Miami) have been historically formed as
gentrified area had a total Puerto Rican         a socio-spatial unit dedicated to produce
population of 25 percent in 1970 and to-         and maintain Puerto Ricanness in the
day is about 5 percent (see Figure 4 – p.        face of displacement, whether from the
135).                                            island of Puerto Rico or from the gentri-
                                                 fying communities of the mainland U.S.
                                                 But while U.S. and mainstream ideolo-
   3. Discussion                                 gies of individual property and mar-
                                                 ket-oriented urban redevelopment have
   Paseo Boricua is considered “a city
                                                 pushed to facilitate the accumulation of
within a city” by activists like Enrique
                                                 capital, community leaders in Humboldt
Salgado because it serves multiple roles
                                                 Park have decided to come to the defense
as a residential neighborhood, a business
                                                 of el barrio. Paseo Boricua and the con-
district, and a space “owned’ by the
                                                 struction of the flags could be seen as a
Puerto Rican community. The creation of
                                                 form of “Latino Urbanism”—a contribu-
Paseo Boricua has been ambitious from
                                                 tion to the everyday landscape and cul-
the beginning—the goal, as stated by
                                                 tural imagery of the city from and for
community leader José López, to “make
                                                 Latinos with the purpose of resisting a
our community the heartbeat of the
                                                 long history of racialization, marginaliza-
Puerto Rican diaspora.” Personally, as a
                                                 tion, and inequality in the United States
Puerto Rican of the diaspora myself,
                                                 (Diaz and Torres 2012). And, I further ar-
Paseo was the only place in the city
                                                 gue, it constitutes the very essence of
where I could experience my own cul-
                                                 property through the mixing of labor, a
ture. Paseo gave me a deep sense of be-
                                                 conception that has not been acknowl-
longing, not only in terms of the aesthet-
                                                 edged by gentrifiers (who, in the case of
ics (colors, murals, etc.) and the things I
                                                 Humboldt Park, are mostly white) and


                       2017 América Crítica. Vol. 1, n° 2, dicembre 2017
130                                                                              IVIS GARCÍA


others who have more purchasing capac-         (exchange values)—and the views of the
ity than those of the working-class (most-     community, more generally, who would
ly Puerto Ricans). It is not recognized        like to have a place for community facili-
that puertorriqueñidad (Puerto Ricanness),     ties like schools, health services, and
this shared sense of territoriality, made      nonprofit organizations (use values). An
devalued land valued again. With the           important fact to note here is that about
flags of Paseo Boricua activists and other     one-third of the commercial space on
puertorriqueños (Puerto Ricans) have cre-      Paseo is occupied by non-profit organiza-
ated value without creating a surplus          tions (non-commodified space).
that deprives others of social and eco-           The rich history of Paseo Boricua makes
nomic benefits.                                it a useful case study that provides in-
   In this essay, I have proposed that         sights for understanding the complex
Paseo is the historical product of a num-      politics around identity within a gentri-
ber of intersecting factors, and arguably      fying space and how people claim own-
it was created as a symbol of ownership        ership. The flags of steel were conceived
over space. As Billy Ocasio points out,        as a mechanism of ethnic empowerment,
“The flags, we needed them.” The instal-       ownership, and identity formation for
lation of the Puerto Rican flags in 1995       the community at large. Counter-dis-
represented a new chapter for the com-         courses that contest displacement and
munity—a Puerto Rican marker that              embrace claims of equality, social justice,
slowed down gentrification and brought         and fairness for the Puerto Rican people,
hope and much needed economic devel-           are created and re-created through what
opment into these inner-city blocks. The       Paseo Boricua means symbolically.
construction of the flags created an ideal-       As discussed, Paseo Boricua represents
ized version of Puerto Ricans in the city      many things to Puerto Ricans living in
of Chicago and beyond—unified, hope-           Chicago, but especially for those who
ful, proud, and capable of self-empower-       have fought for its establishment and for
ment and ownership.                            those to whom the monument is part of
   Twenty years later, Paseo is a true mix     their everyday lives. This is why, more
of Puerto Rican businesses, community          than ever, Puerto Rican leaders along
services, and affordable housing projects.     Paseo feel that it is their responsibility to
There seems to be, to the naked eye, a         ensure a favorable outcome for the com-
disparity between the discourses of busi-      munity at large: development without
ness owners of what Paseo should be—a          displacement. Along these lines, they
place that is capable of attracting tourists   have promoted various affordable hous-


                     2017 América Crítica. Vol. 1, n° 2, dicembre 2017
PASEO BORICUA: IDENTITY, SYMBOLS AND OWNERSHIP                                           131


ing projects in Paseo. As Pablo Medina,           ing ownership over space.
former chair of the Puerto Rican Agenda              From the sections above, we can see
reflected about the potential loss of Puer-       the tensions that exist between claims to
to Rican control over the space:                  legitimacy and claims to property. On the
                                                  one hand you have newcomers trying to
   We are almost 20 years later, still here,
   alive and kicking. We want to bring devel-     buy private and individual property
   opment without displacement. But who           with the capital they have at their dispos-
   has done that? We have done that! We are       al, raising property values for everyone.
   the developers, without displacing people.     On the other hand, you have old-timers
   The Puerto Rican Agenda is an example
                                                  trying to claim social ownership, mostly
   that, “que si se puede!” (yes, we can!). And
   as long as we are part of the have-nots we     through the installation of public gate-
   will be having the same issues. La lucha       ways, displaying flags, and painting mu-
   continua! (the struggle continues). Having     rals. The case of Paseo Boricua guided my
   the same issues doesn’t mean that we have      analysis because it questions the legiti-
   not done anything. We have created af-
                                                  macy of private property for exchange-
   fordable housing, businesses…we have
   grown! We have done all that without any       values by claiming a Puerto Rican space
   money. So, if you want to preserve a com-      for use-values. Paseo has been used by
   munity: do not stay home! The best thing       community leaders to communicate that
   that we have done is moving the resources      “Paseo belongs to us.” In other words,
   of our community. We are communi-
                                                  Puerto Ricans are claiming their legiti-
   ty-based.
                                                  macy in that space. They are saying,
   Today, more than 20 years after the in-        “this is our property,” even though legal-
stallment of the flags of steel, members          ly it might belong to the public (this is a
of the Puerto Rican Agenda keep orga-             monument paid for with public dollars)
nizing against gentrification. A number           or to private investors (as in the case
of them have recently bought properties           with the residences in the area). Activists
along the commercial corridor and are             have been involved in projects of identity
planning to transform them into spaces            politics as a way of resisting gentrifica-
for community—new businesses, art cen-            tion pressures. We see how, throughout
ters, and housing projects will thrive on         the public discourse presented above,
the remaining vacant and foreclosed               symbols are used to communicate to oth-
properties. The case of Paseo Boricua             ers a single concept—that of legitimate
shows that displacement is not a given            ownership.
and that gentrification is not natural—              Puerto Rican leaders from the Agenda,
people can organize against it by claim-          including myself, and elsewhere feel that


                        2017 América Crítica. Vol. 1, n° 2, dicembre 2017
132                                                                             IVIS GARCÍA


it is their responsibility to ensure a favor-   nancialization, appropriation through
able outcome for the community at large         dispossession, and so on— but these ac-
(development without displacement or            tions are just a first step that should be
use values over exchange values). But           accompanied by larger claims (such as
their thinking is quite opposite to the         getting more units of affordable housing,
logic of individual property rights as          the establishment of community land
proposed by Locke (Locke, 2003). They           trust and co-ops, etc.). Although this
are really thinking collectively. The case      might be just a piece of the puzzle,
of Paseo Boricua shows an activist move-        through the creation of Paseo and its
ment that uses urban space (the flags, the      symbols, Puerto Ricans imagine this cul-
buildings that display Puerto Ricanness,        tural heritage to be preserved for the
the public sidewalks that surround the          benefit of future generations. As Eduar-
private businesses, and so on) as a tool to     do Arocho, the Executive Director of the
not only make their voices being heard,         Division Street Development Association
but claiming what they wanted right             proclaimed, “Those flags are permanent
away with the creation of symbols. In           monuments that belong to the City of
this sense, the idea of Paseo as an instru-     Chicago. The unique history is specific to
mental right of resistance to gentrifica-       Puerto Ricans in Chicago area, not New
tion has played a key role in the con-          York. The flags are made to last 500
struction of a new sense of legitimacy in       years, perhaps longer than Chicago itself,
the recent housing struggles against            and most definitely longer than any of us
poverty and unemployment that could             will be around”.
be traced back to neoliberalization and fi-




                      2017 América Crítica. Vol. 1, n° 2, dicembre 2017
PASEO BORICUA: IDENTITY, SYMBOLS AND OWNERSHIP                                                133




                                                 Figure 1




              Figure 2 - Title: Puerto Rican population from 1970-2010 by community area.
             Source: U.S. Census, 1970-2010 Long Form data and the 2010 Summary File 1.
    Note: This table includes only community areas which at some point had more than 5,000 Puerto
                                                Ricans.




                       2017 América Crítica. Vol. 1, n° 2, dicembre 2017
134                                                       IVIS GARCÍA




                            Figure 3




      2017 América Crítica. Vol. 1, n° 2, dicembre 2017
PASEO BORICUA: IDENTITY, SYMBOLS AND OWNERSHIP                                               135




                                                 Figure 4




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                       2017 América Crítica. Vol. 1, n° 2, dicembre 2017
                                   2017 América Crítica. Vol. 1, n° 2, dicembre 2017




IVIS GARCÍA
Originally from Puerto Rico, Dr. Garcia is an urban planner with a long history of
working with and for low-income communities throughout the nation including
Albuquerque, New Mexico, the San Francisco Bay Area, Washington, D.C. and
Chicago. Ivis is currently a professor at the University of Utah in City and Metro-
politan Planning as well as a planning commissioner in Salt Lake City. Her work
addresses the problems of uneven development, as well as grassroots organizing
and community development. She is especially interested in facilitating the inte-
gration of racialized and ethnic groups into democratic planning processes.


                                                                           Ivis García


                                                                    University of Utah


                                                                 ivis.garcia@gmail.com




                                                                   Received: 31/08/2017
                                                                   Accepted: 29/11/2017




This work is licensed under the Creative Commons © Ivis García
Paseo Boricua: Identity, Symbols and Ownership.
2017 ⎸América Crítica. Vol. 1, n° 2, dicembre 2017: 117-138.
DOI: 10.13125/américacrítica/3014
