Bronzeville, Ravenswood Neighborhoods, Several Others, Missing From New Chicago Map
(CBS) -- More than a dozen Chicago neighborhoods are gone, literally wiped off the map.
They include well-known places such as Pilsen, Ravenswood and Bronzeville. Poof – they no longer exist.
That is, according to a new Chicago map posted on the city's government's website.
When CBS 2 started asking questions, city officials admitted it was a mistake. CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine sorts it all out.
Bronzeville is the proud and historic gateway to the South Side, rich with African-American heritage. It's just south of McCormick Place on recent city maps.
But on the latest map the area has become "Douglas."
"There goes the neighborhood," one man tells Levine.
How about Ravenswoood on the city's North Side? It's home to a mayor, a former governor and a state senate president. Now it's known as Lincoln Square (a smaller, gentrified neighborhood previously in the center of Ravenswood).
Another example: Pilsen, center of Latino pride and great Mexican restaurants. The name on the light posts is still there, but Pilsen has been transformed into "Lower West Side" on the new city map.
Among other changes:
--The Gap is absorbed by Douglas.
--River West is rolled into West Town.
--Marquette Park is absorbed by Chicago Lawn.
--Canaryville becomes part of Fuller Park.
-- Buena Park is lost to Uptown.
-- Back Of The Yards becomes New City.
-- Jeffery Manor is called East Side.
-- South Loop becomes Near South Side.
Part of Bronzeville gets shuffled into Grand Boulevard.
Meanwhile, some new neighborhoods emerge on the latest map. Up on the North Side, for example, "Boystown" emerges within the continuing Lakeview neighborhood.
And then there's the new "United Center" neighborhood – yes, presumably named for that United Center. Apparently, the naming rights included more than just a building.
The city's first response this week to questions from CBS 2 about the missing neighborhoods was that they were now "within the city's 77 formal community areas."
When the questions continued coming, a mayoral spokesman offered a different explanation: The map had been "put online improperly" by the Department of Innovation Technology.
"Nobody changed the map. Nobody changed the neighborhoods," the spokesman insisted.
He conceded that putting the map on the city's website gave the appearance it had been sanctioned by city government.
He said the map would be replaced with the more traditional version that includes the missing neighborhoods.
Contributing: CBS 2 Political Editor Ed Marshall
