Arrivals...There Goes The Neighborhood

      I have always lived on the South side. More specifically, Little Village. Little Village is a predominantly Mexican community on the city's southwest side. It's a very vibrant place. It is often labeled as the Mexico of the Midwest and the Second Magnificent Mile (because of the long strips of commercial businesses). Now, you might be thinking "what a great community!", but in reality, it hasn't always been so great.
   
     Little Village has always had a gang problem. According to my father, it dates back to the 1970's. Violence plagued the neighborhoods during those times, but the amount of violence started to decrease slowly, until now. As of 2012, I have been noticing the arrival of more gang members in the neighborhood. A few years back, you were able to see a few gang members roam through the streets, but not many. Nowadays, I see groups of up to 8 gang members.  I`m not the only person who has noticed. A lot of my neighbors and people in the community have noticed too. They are not very happy about this.

    A lot of my neighbors are trying to do something about the gangs that are moving in. They are speaking to the alderman, the police ,etc. I think that their work is paying off because 2 gang members were driven off my block. There is still a long way to go. I still see graffiti on the walls on my way to school and I still see a lot of gang members . Little boys used to ride their bikes through the neighborhood, little girls used to jump rope outside of their house, a lot of people used to roam the streets . These things are not seen as much anymore.Who are the culprits? Gang members. Who is affected? The community.