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Harold, Florence, Nate, and Hilda
Dragon Slayers at Halsted and Roosevelt
"You could be St. George and you
couldn't slay that dragon," said Florence Scala. She
was referring to her epic fight to preserve the Italian Taylor
Street community from Mayor Richard J. Daley's plan to redevelop
it for the University of Illinois. Yet, Scala and other ordinary
citizens in Chicago's port-of-entry Near West Side neighborhood
persisted in their extraordinary battles against some of
the biggest power players in a city of clout.
Near West Side Stories: Struggles
For Community in Chicago's Maxwell Street Neighborhood is an ongoing story of unequal
power in Chicago. Four representatives of immigrant and migrant
groups that have had a distinct territorial presence in the
area—one Jewish, one Italian, one African-American,
and one Mexican—reminisce fondly on life in the old
neighborhood and tell of their struggles to save it and the
120-year-old Maxwell Street Market that was at its core.
Near West Side Stories brings this saga of community strife
up to date, while giving a voice to the everyday people who
were routinely discounted or ignored in the big decisions
that affected their world. Though "slaying that dragon"—fending
off the encroachments of those wielding great power—was
nearly impossible, we see in the details of their lives the
love for a place that compelled Harold, Florence, Nate, and
Hilda to make the quest.
Carolyn Eastwood received her Ph.D. in
Public Policy Analysis from the University of Illinois at
Chicago with the dissertation, "A Study of the Regulation
of Chicago's Street Vendors." Her extensive travels
have concentrated on markets, vendors, and ethnic occupations
in low-income communities. She teaches Anthropology at Roosevelt
University in Chicago and at the College of DuPage in Glen
Ellyn, Illinois.
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