A Logan Square condo building was scrawled with anti-gentrification graffiti, adding more heat to the debate over changes in one of the city’s hottest neighborhoods.
The building in the 1900 block of North Albany Avenue was tagged with the words “gentrification,” “you don’t belong here” and “fuck you” on Wednesday, according to Block Club Chicago.
The graffiti was removed the next day from the building, a three-unit complex that was built recently and is still unoccupied. The condos are listed between $500,000 and $600,000.
The incident is the latest salvo in an ongoing debate over gentrification in Logan Square, which has one of the hottest housing markets in the city.
Rents have been on the rise, which has prompted pushback from some community groups. One landlord in particular, M. Fishman & Co., has become a target of the anti-gentrification movement, though other landlords say Fishman’s rents are in line with what other property owners are charging.
The rising prices in the neighborhood were one of the main factors behind a growing effort to push for statewide rent control, though so far there’s been little movement on it in Springfield.
WBEZ radio found that Logan Square’s Latino population fell by more than 20,000 from 2012 to 2017, while the white population surged by 12,000. [Block Club] — John O’Brien