How is Jefferson Park?: Analyzing My Neighborhood

Known as the “city of neighborhoods,” Chicago is comprised of many communities that are diverse and distinct. Each of these neighborhoods allows Chicago to be the unique metropolis that it is. The neighborhood I live in is Jefferson Park.

            Nicknamed the “Gateway to Chicago,” Jefferson Park is one of the major transportation hubs in the city of the Chicago. The Chicago El rapid transit system, the Metra commuter line, and CTA buses can all be found at the main terminal in the area. All of these modes of transportation can be used to get to the Loop. Most of the residents work either within the Loop or on the outskirts of the Loop. Being an important transportation hub, a majority of the residents commute to work via public transportation. 
           It isn’t a problem to walk around the neighborhood. Although the neighborhood is walkable, Jefferson Park is quite large, so it may take one a while to walk anywhere. Despite this being case, the bus system is quite interconnected, so if the walk to the neighborhood’s stores and shops is too far, one can get there by using public transportation (CTA bus). Most of the main streets in the area are pretty “complete.” These streets have center-turn lanes and bike lanes. Most of these streets are “complete,” but not all of them. I think it would be a great improvement to my neighborhood if more streets in Jefferson Park were “complete.” In my opinion, “complete” streets would benefit all of the parties that use them (pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers). Although Jefferson Park has a lot of great modes of transit, it does not have a lot of green infrastructure within its boundaries. There is a forest preserve, but it is found on the edge of the neighborhood. Personally, I wish there were a lot more forest preserves like this one and other components of green infrastructure within my neighborhood.

            In my opinion, Jefferson Park has an identifiable center. I think the center of the neighborhood is the area surrounding the transit center (near the intersection of Milwaukee and Lawrence). All of the different modes of transportation converge at this transit center. A lot of restaurants, businesses, and a park (Jefferson Park) surround the transit center, thus people are drawn to go there. Even though, the neighborhood has an identifiable center, I don’t think it has edges that are noticeable. It can be a blur where Jefferson Park begins and ends. As I stated earlier, most of the neighborhood is walkable. For example, I go on strolls all the time in my neighborhood. I enjoy walking around my neighborhood and seeing everything that it has to offer. I usually walk to the main park, Jefferson Park, but there are a lot of smaller parks where people can walk to and just relax (like Dunham Park and Austin-Foster Park). These parks are a few of the spaces in my neighborhood that I consider third places. 

            I would hope that in 50 years my neighborhood of Jefferson Park would be a community that relies less on automobiles. Even though Jefferson Park is a transportation hub, a lot of people still use automobiles to get around. I would hope to see in the future that residents will only use cars for immediate emergencies or extremely long journeys. I would hope this would be the case, but sadly I don’t think it will happen. Most Americans have a strong connection with automotive transit. Due to this fact, it seems to me that it will be a difficult task for Jefferson Park residents to transform the neighborhood to an almost “car-less community.” I think the same would be said of green infrastructure. I would hope more green infrastructure would be developed in the neighborhood, but it seems to me that people don’t have very strong feelings about nature. Hopefully if more people learned about the importance of the foundations of sustainability and how it can benefit us all, then such neighborhoods like mine could become places that compliment urban sustainability.