THE
ARCH IS FALLING APART: Last week Baltazar Enriquez, Vice-President of
the Little Village Community Council, informed me that the Little
Village iconic arch at 26th St. & Albany Ave. is falling apart.
I went to the arch to see and what I saw I couldn’t believe. The arch is in bad
shape. Bricks are missing; a slab of concrete has fallen, there is graffiti,
broken lights, and holes in the walls. A plaque that lists the names of the
businesses that donated to the arch is dark and unreadable. It is unacceptable
that the arch has been neglected, vandalized and in desperate need of repair.
THE ARCH was built in 1990 by dr/Balti Contracting Co. at a cost of
$225,000 for
labor and material with an
additional $50,000 donated by the Little Village Chamber of Commerce for
material. The dr/Balti
Contracting Co. was owned as a partnership between Ronald J. Balterria
and David Ramirez, both Vietnam veterans, and the builders of the Arch.
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| Ron Balterria, August Sallas, David Ramirez |
ON WEDNESDAY, August 1, 2018, I invited
Ron Balterria and David Ramirez to come to Little Village and visit the arch. I
wanted them, the original builders, to tell me what they thought of the damage.
Ramirez said: “A public structure like the arch should be looked at once a year
and maintained every two years.
“TO
SET UP and take
down the scaffolding cost $15,000-$20,000 with Union labor. Plus, we did not
stop traffic. It took us 5 to 6 months to build the Arch,” said Ramirez.
BALTERRIA
NOTICE someone removed the polished granite that was on the bottom of the
Arch. “Taking the granite off was a bad move because granite last forever as
opposed to concrete slabs. And the polished granite cost a lot of money.” said
Balterria.
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| August Sallas and David Ramirez pointing to missing piece of the Arch. |
RAMIREZ added: “When we completed the job
and submitted our last pay request of $22,000, we never received the payment
from the city.” Adrian Lozano,
the Mexican architect, and Designer of the arch, had given us his final approval, upon completion of the project,
for payment; the city also owes Lozano $6,000 for his work. “Both the City
inspector and the Little Village Chamber of Commerce gave their approval of
final completion,” said Ramirez. Lozano is now deceased.
BALTERRIA SAID, at that
time we were dealing with the President of the 26th
Street Chamber of Commerce, President Anita Villarreal. “We had many
meetings with Villarreal and Lozano and gave Anita our final invoice for the
city to pay us,” said Balterria. Anita Villarreal passed away in 2001.
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| Carlos Salinas de Gortari |
IT IS THE responsibility of
the Mexican community of Little Village to support the restoration of the Arch.
We must take pride in the Arch because it’s a culturally beautiful landmark in
Chicago for the Mexican people. And it’s
the entrance into the Little Village neighborhood.
THE LITTLE VILLAGE Community
Council plans to ask Ald. George Cardenas [12th Ward] for his
support in asking the Mayor for financial help to restore the Arch to its
original form. The Arch is in the 12th Ward.
CALENDAR
OF EVENTS
SATURDAY, AUGUST 11, 2018—FREE Haircuts, Cannella School of Hair
Design at Little Village Community
Council, 3610 W. 26th St. starting 9 a.m. unti