RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, along Division Street, and between Western and California Avenues, is Chicago's "little Puerto Rico", famously known as Paseo Boricua, where visitors can experience a full immersion into Puerto Rican culture including authentic food, music, art, and the Spanish language; and
WHEREAS, Paseo Boricua has become the economic, political, and cultural Puerto Rican capital of the Midwest, and the only officially recognized Puerto Rican neighborhood in the country; and
WHEREAS, in 1995, the City installed the world's largest piece of public art depicting rippling steel Puerto Rican flags as the welcoming gateways to Paseo Boricua; and
WHEREAS, at 50 tons each the award-winning steel flags were designed to be safe, stable, and strong enough to take wind loads and stay rooted for over 500 years, standing as a true symbol of strength to the thousands of Puerto Rican evacuees who sought shelter in Chicago after Hurricane Maria; and
WHEREAS, Paseo Boricua features one of the largest collections of public art in the country including murals, the Paseo Boricua Walk of Fame, light poles depicting Puerto Rican iconic images, and the recently installed Las Puertas de Paseo Boricua, a collection of 16 unique doors painted by artists reminiscent of the vibrant doors found in Old San Juan; and
WHEREAS, Paseo Boricua represents the heart and soul of authentic Puerto Rican food, offering a multitude of restaurants with island home cooking such as mofongo, asopao, lechon asado, and Chicago's very own contribution to Puerto Rican culture -the jibarito; and
WHEREAS, the Puerto Rican community celebrates its pride in its leaders through historical markers in and around the Paseo Boricua including a tiled mosaic and high school named after the famous Puerto Rican baseball player Roberto Clemente; schools named after Jose de Diego, "The Father of the Puerto Rican Independence Movement" and another Independence leader and Harvard educated attorney, Pedro Albizu Campos...
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