ABSTRACT
Driving south of Chicago along the historic Lincoln Highway, one drives through the strangest juxtaposition of rich and poor places. Along one stretch of the highway is Ford Heights, considered to be the poorest suburb in Chicago, if not the nation. Residents there had a median household income of $17,500 in 2000. A short drive down the road you come to Park Forest, a middle-class planned community with a median household income that is three times as much. There is no disguising the inequality: at one moment you are passing boarded up buildings and liquor stores; ten minutes later, you are whizzing by Starbucks, Home Depot and packed parking lots in front of strip malls.
