Danny Villalobos wants to be clear about one thing: his comprehensive neighborhood plan is not a bike lane proposal.
“I really want that to be clear,” Villalobos said. “I want people to know that this is a quality of life plan for general neighborhood conversations about how we can improve this community. That’s it.”
The professional urban planner and lifelong Garfield Ridge resident spent six months creating the Garfield Ridge 2050 Plan—a 107-page comprehensive design document that emerged from a survey, community meetings and conversations with residents, local organizations, aldermen, and city officials.
Villalobos hopes the plan will shift focus away from the contentious Archer Avenue bike lanes that have drawn neighborhood opposition and toward the broader vision residents shared with him; one that preserves its character while creating opportunities for growth, investment, and connection.
“The message I was trying to bring forward was that this plan was trying to protect the neighborhood’s character while creating opportunities for the future,” Villalobos said. “It wasn’t to make Garfield Ridge a totally different neighborhood. It was to help it remain a great neighborhood for the next generation.”
Why Plan at All?
Villalobos, a recent University of Illinois Chicago master’s graduate in urban and policy planning, said he felt compelled to create the plan after hearing residents describe the Southwest Side as overlooked by the city.
“People were always quick to say that the Southwest Side is so forgotten and overlooked in the city,” he said. “And I really felt that. That’s really another reason why I wanted to create the plan, was to prove to the rest of the city of Chicago that we were capable of planning for ourselves, and of visioning and daring to actually dream up solutions for how to improve our community.”
Villalobos said he received early skepticism from community organizations that gave way to open-mindedness once he explained the planning process.
“It took a lot of convincing at first and a lot of explanation around what is planning, what is a comprehensive plan, and why we should be thinking about these big questions,” he said. “And so, it was really less about, ‘Oh, this needs to make its way in the plan,’ and more about, ‘Okay, what are you trying to do for the community and how can we help?'”
What Residents Said
On a 1-to-5 satisfaction scale, the median score for Garfield Ridge was 3.86—suggesting residents like their neighborhood but see room for improvement.
When asked to describe Garfield Ridge in one word, responses ranged from “community,” “friendly,” “safe,” and “home” to “arrogant,” “divisive,” “declining,” and “racist.” The diversity of answers reflects a neighborhood with both strong pride and internal tensions, Villalobos said.
On housing, 58% of residents said Garfield Ridge needs more diverse housing options, while 40% wanted more single-family homes. When asked about most important development priorities, residents ranked preserving neighborhood character and scale first (21%), followed by green spaces and parks (18%), walkability and transit access (15%), and affordability (14%).
Alderman Silvana Tabares (23rd) said the survey results aligned with what she hears daily in her ward office.
“It’s important that we know what the community wants to see in their neighborhood because it gives us direction in the City Council as an alderman,” Tabares said.
She noted that Garfield Ridge residents take pride in their homes and neighborhood.
“When I met with Danny, I was encouraged to see young people take interest in the direction of their neighborhood,” Tabares said.
Garfield Ridge’s Character
Residents describe their neighborhood as feeling like a suburb within the city—a quality Villalobos sees as a strength worth protecting.
“The best part of Garfield Ridge is that it does feel like a Chicago burb,” he said. “Our history and our culture reflects that. I think that’s worth protecting; t’s that small town in the big-city-feel that people really love about this area.”
Still, its tight-knit quality has a downside. “It’s hard to break in sometimes,” Villalobos acknowledged, saying the insularity also creates strong neighborhood organizations and engaged aldermen who listen to constituents.
Housing and Growth
The plan proposes thoughtful growth along commercial corridors while preserving single-family neighborhoods. Villalobos said Chicago needs more housing noting that doesn’t mean every block should change the same way.
“Garfield Ridge, in our own way, we can accommodate thoughtful growth along our commercial corridors while preserving the single-family neighborhoods that I saw that residents really valued and I tried to carry that forward,” he said.
Villalobos emphasized that commercial corridors need density to support retail and foot traffic; and that housing affordability depends on supply.
“There’s a lot of houses selling for around half a million dollars. People are being priced out of this neighborhood. I think that’s a real problem,” Villalobos said. “A big part of the solution is supply. You need to have more housing, and it has to be at a scale to support affordability. That requires mixed-use developments like apartment buildings and mixed-use buildings along Archer.”
Villalobos strongly supports both protecting Garfield Ridge Chicago-style bungalow housing stock and accessory dwelling units, calling them a single-family solution to the housing crisis.
“I’m 100% pro ADU because it is a single-family home solution to the housing crisis, especially for an area like Garfield Ridge, where a lot of our houses already have built-in ADUs in our properties,” Villalobos said.
The bungalow is perfect because an ADU can be built as an addition to the top or in the basement, he said, noting many residents informally already rent these spaces.
“Let’s not kid ourselves. People are already renting out those spaces. Let’s just formalize that process,” he said.
While a September 2025 City Council vote (46-0) allowed for “granny flats” city-wide, concessions to the ordinance gained by Alderman Marty Quinn (13th) gives aldermen the chance to disallow accessory dwelling units in their wards including the choice to opt into the program for R1 to R3 single-family zoning classifications.
The ordinance also states that for new ADU construction, an applicant/sub-contractor must be associated with an apprentice program that will provide apprentice opportunities in the trades.
Outside investors from New York using property management from Texas have also become an issue for Quinn who said in a July 2025 Southwest News Herald story that he was concerned about a lack of concern for neighbors, property maintenance and a property manager tracked to Texas “is very difficult to work with.”
Public Safety and Infrastructure
The plan comes as Garfield Ridge faces public safety challenges. State Senator Porfirio Muñoz and state Rep. Angie Guerrero-Cuellar secured $3 million in state funding for a new 8th District police station, partly because freight trains crossing the ward cause hour-long backups that prevent emergency responders from reaching calls.
The 8th District has 259 officers serving approximately 250,000 residents; a ratio Villalobos said reflects a wider need for investment in public safety.
“I think it speaks to the wider problem where we need more investment in public safety and our police resources, too, because you need to have both,” Villalobos said. “You need to have both density to support housing affordability and business vitality, then you also need to have both a strong police department that is fully staffed and fully resourced to support that infrastructure as well.”
Archer Avenue and Mobility
The plan envisions Archer Avenue as a vibrant destination, not just a thoroughfare. Villalobos said the street should encourage people to slow down, shop, and spend time in the neighborhood without increasing congestion.
“Let’s give an actual reason for people to slow down and come into our neighborhood without increasing congestion,” he said. “I think that’s the problem that people are having with moving Archer forward and the Brighton Park bike lane fiasco further north Archer, is the congestion problem.”
The city recently adjusted the Move Archer Forward project to address the congestion concerns by reconfiguring bike and parking lanes. Recent adjustments also included adding back 17 parking spaces in three sections of Archer Avenue. A small section of concrete bike lane barriers was removed near 38th Street, but protected bike lanes will remain throughout, transportation officials said.
Villalobos said other Chicago streets have successfully balanced pedestrian safety, traffic flow, and economic vitality.
“We can have a good-functioning street that works against congestion, moves people around freely, and is safe for pedestrians as well to encourage them to support the local economy by walking the street,” he said. “Other streets in Chicago have done that as well, without sacrificing traffic flow.”
He called for coordination between city and state departments to create sustained solutions over the next decade.
“Because people want to enjoy this street,” Villalobos said. “And one thing that they mentioned is that you always are afraid of crossing Archer, and it doesn’t have to be that way.”
Green Spaces and Destinations
The plan identifies vacant lots where new parks, corner stores, and gathering spaces could anchor neighborhoods. Villalobos said these spaces would serve residents and create a sense of place.
“They’re like nodes for the community that you could depend on,” he said. “Like late one night you need something, a gallon of milk or half a gallon of milk, you could easily go and pick it up.”
The plan also prioritizes trees and green infrastructure. More trees improve property values, he said, reduce air conditioning costs, and create the kind of desirable, tree-lined neighborhoods found in affluent suburbs.
“Some of the most desirable neighborhoods and suburbs in Illinois are arborous communities, so we definitely should strive to increase our tree canopy in the city and in Garfield Ridge specifically,” Villalobos said.
Green spaces could double as small plazas with fountains and benches—what he called “third places” where residents gather outside their homes.
“I really wanted to pull that through so that we could create a very desirable location to live so that people don’t just have to be in their houses all the time, and feel like they’re actually paying for something when they live here, and when they pay their taxes to live here, that they’re getting something in return.”
What Comes Next
Villalobos emphasized that the plan is a starting point, not a finished product. The real work, implementation, lies ahead.
“This was about starting the conversation and then working with our electeds and with developers and with architects and future residents to get the implementation side down,'” he said.
Villalobos hopes the plan will eventually be formalized into a city document, giving Garfield Ridge official standing as a planned community rather than one that develops ad hoc.
“Let’s say 25 years from now, we would say Danny created that framework for us and now we could start from there,” Villalobos said. “What were we thinking about then? And now let’s reach out to even more people. I wanted to kickstart the process of planning in our neighborhood because we deserve to be a planned community, not an ad hoc community.”
The full Garfield Ridge 2050 Plan is available here.