Reclaiming Green Space
The La Villita Park is the culmination of a 15 year fight to obtain open, green space in Little Village, and decade long struggle to clean up the former Celotex Superfund site and the surrounding homes.
Neighbors of the Celotex site brought to LVEJO’s attention that they were suffering from skin rashes. It was then discovered that rain run off from the Celotex site was floating into neighbor’s basements. LVEJO organized with Celotex street neighbors to demand
1) the homes around Celotex to be tested and cleaned up;
2) Celotex site to be remediated; and
3) for a park to be built on the Celotex site.
The Celotex site was remediated and transformed into a groundbreaking park. As a result of this struggle, a 22-acre park was built with unique amenities such as the largest skate park and largest playground in the city.
LVEJO would like to thank community residents and Celotex neighbors for opening up their homes, and demonstrate their resilience to continue the struggle for open space. La Villita Park stands as a great example of community organizing to redevelop brownfields, and create green open spaces in Little Village.