The Challenge and the Response

Located in the northeast corner of Illinois, Waukegan is a city of more than 80,000 people with a wide ethnic and economic diversity. Waukegan is one of many older, industrialized cities in the Midwest that has been beset by urban decay and blight. In the early 1970s through the 1980s, Waukegan's industrial base was eroded by the closing of several large manufacturing plants and the loss of thousands of well-paying jobs. The depressed economy and displacement of workers led to a surplus of once beautiful and well-tended homes flooding the market. In many cases, these single family homes were bought by speculators who carved them up into several apartments or turned them into rooming houses. Shoddy maintenance, if any, was all that these properties received. Once the residential neighborhoods began to deteriorate, nearby commercial areas suffered, and boarded-up businesses became a common sight throughout the city. Recently, Waukegan's ratio of owner occupied realty to rental property slipped to 60/40, a sure sign of fragility given the typical 80/20 ratio of healthy communities.

In their oft-quoted article on the association of blight and crime, criminologists James Wilson and George Kelling describe how one broken window left unrepaired leads to an ever increasing number of broken windows ("The Police and Neighborhood Safety." The Atlantic: March 1982, 29–38). Decay of one building spreads quickly to others nearby, creating the impression that no one cares about the area, and that there are no community standards or expectations. Normal patterns of socialization are fractured; criminal activity grows freely, and fearful citizens abandon their neighborhoods.

TOWN's goals are to cause:

TOWN monitors the actions of city government and works to enhance the quality of local media. To achieve its goals, TOWN educates the citizens of Waukegan about their rights and responsibilities to protect and improve their neighborhoods and to hold the city government and their local media accountable. TOWN inspires both public and private action to stop the spread of urban decay, to restore healthy community standards, and to ensure that city government and local media act in the interests of the citizens.

TOWN has developed working relationships with Waukegan's code enforcement and community policing departments, and TOWN has begun to serve as an umbrella for Neighborhood Watches and other smaller groups. TOWN members have formed watchdog committees to monitor governmental meetings and to provide citizen input to bodies such as the Waukegan City Council, Unit School District and Park District. TOWN publishes and distributes a newsletter, sponsors candidates' forums and other public events, and has established an office and hotline for the sharing of community information and concerns.