Months after two Pilsen restaurants were tagged with anti-gentrification graffiti — a flashpoint in a long-simmering problem — community organizers, activists and business owners are having tough conversations about how to move forward, but tension remains high.

“What happened (to S.K.Y.), I never want that to happen again,” said Stephen Gillanders, executive chef and co-owner of the contemporary American restaurant, one of the two businesses hit, “but all the good that came from it, frankly, made it worth it.”

Late last October in Pilsen, anti-gentrification sentiments boiled over with racially charged slang graffiti spray-painted on S.K.Y. and high-end pub Dusek’s, both at 18th and Allport streets. In big black letters, both restaurants were tagged, with "YT PPL OUTTA PILSEN" on S.K.Y.’s brick wall, and "Get Out" on Dusek's window. No one has claimed responsibility for the graffiti.

That night, community group ChiResists posted two meme-style photos on Facebook, one of the graffiti on Dusek’s and another of a family being evicted in Logan Square. The captions read, “When ppl care more about graffiti, Than they care about the economic instability and displacement created by gentrification.”

The graffiti renewed conversations about Pilsen, its communities and increased development in recent years. Those discussions may ultimately provide a guide for other communities experiencing change in the midst of political, immigration and housing insecurities. Since the incident, activists have voiced concerns and fears about rising rents and taxes, displacement of long-term residents and more, while business owners — particularly restaurateurs — have grappled with how to gain acceptance within the existing community.

“We do have real challenges: The displacement, the evictions, they are real. The frustrations are real,” said Byron Sigcho, director of Pilsen Alliance, a social justice and anti-gentrification organization founded in 1998.

Anti-gentrification graffiti renewed conversations about Pilsen, its communities and increased development in the neighborhood in recent years. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune) (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

According to an oft-cited 2016 analysis of U.S. Census Bureau statistics since 2000, by University of Illinois at Chicago Urban Planning and Policy professor John J. Betancur and doctoral candidate Youngjun Kim, about 10,000 Latino residents have left Pilsen since 2000. In their stead, single, wealthier (often white) people have moved in — a point expressed by local community groups, such as ChiResists, in the wake of recent events.

In his accompanying analysis, Betancur stated that “retail establishments are replacing Mexican-owned mom-and-pop stores with upscale restaurants, bars, and cafes owned by White individuals or chains. They have been joined most recently by brew pubs and bars selling craft beers, specialty coffee shops, and expensive restaurants catering to younger and wealthier populations.”

Further, the report cited new large-scale developments and smaller infill projects or rehabs as deserving part of the blame for “waves of property price increases, “studentification,” and speculation, with major displacing effects reflected in the decline of the population and an apparent weeding out of the most vulnerable households.”

The community is searching for answers.

“How do we get that pain and frustration into something like policy in a community benefits agreement (CBA)?” said Sigcho. Pilsen Alliance has defined a CBA as an enforceable contract between developers and the community, usually without government involvement; the group is now also negotiating agreements with independent restaurant owners. “We have people on both ends who are willing to do that, so what we need is leadership that glues things together.”

Though gentrification reaches far beyond food and beverages, restaurants seem to be a primary target for anti-gentrification activists. Pilsen is home to chains like McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts and Giordano’s. Yet some businesses that have been targeted by anti-gentrification sentiments in recent years — Canton Regio, Dia de Los Tamales, S.K.Y — are not owned by white people or corporations, but ethnically diverse proprietors.

Unlike real estate developer offices or art galleries, coffee shops, cafes, restaurants and bars are publicly accessible and visible — they’re literally open-door businesses and, moreover, attract a clientele from outside the community. Anti-gentrification activists, in turn, blame these businesses for rent and property tax increases, home displacement and eviction. New restaurants have been targeted before last fall.

La Catrina Cafe, owned by wife-husband team Diana Galicia and Salvador Corona, was regularly hit with gang graffiti when it first opened in 2013; that is until 2014 when respected local artist Salvador Vega painted a mural on the cafe. In 2015, Bow Truss Coffee Roasters in Pilsen was papered with protest signs.

Jeni Wahl, co-owner of Dia de los Tamales, which opened in 2013, faced similar problems. “When we first opened we got a lot of that same flak that the new businesses are receiving now. That was really difficult for me, especially being Latina myself but not from Pilsen.”

In late October, a week before the graffiti incident, several Chicago community groups, including ChiResists, organized a free event, Boyle Heights to Pilsen: A Teach In on Resisting Gentrification, at the National Museum of Mexican Art. Event organizers invited Defend Boyle Heights, a Los Angeles-based anti-gentrification coalition, to share its strategies. “Let's build a national front against displacement across the country!” wrote the Boyle Heights coalition in a video of the event posted to its Facebook page.

The visiting and local group members also walked through Pilsen to see the neighborhood’s gentrification and connect what was occurring with other global movements. Defend Boyle Heights captured the tour in a Facebook live video, captioned with the hashtags “#GentrificaionIsViolence” and “#gentrificationiswhitesupremacy.” Two blocks in, they approached the brightly lit, whitewashed brick walls of S.K.Y. restaurant. Some group members gestured obscenely through windows at workers preparing for a pre-opening test dinner; one wrote “FU” on breath-steamed glass. Restaurant general manager Charles Ford walked outside, then asked, “Is there anything we can do to help?” The person recording the video repeatedly replied, “Get the f*** out!” After three minutes, Ford reached for his phone. The group believed he was calling the police, derided him, then left. They walked across the street toward Thalia Hall, where Dusek’s is located; the video shows that one of the group members slapped the building’s stone and said, “The No. 1 gentrifying f****** place in Pilsen right now!”