Mr. Messina responded to Dan Lauber's rebuttal and decried being referred to with a number of less-than-flattering terms, including naïve, and then proceeds to prove that that term fits pretty well. [Galewood integrated without engineering, Viewpoints, April 2]

Mr. Messina's implication that Galewood has been integrating without the pro-active efforts that Oak Park has used, such as the limitations on real estate For Sale signs, that Galewood accomplished this in a vacuum working in the free market without any "Social Engineering," is certainly naïve, or at least uninformed.

A large part of Galewood's integration successes are primarily due to its proximity to Oak Park and its success. In addition, community organizations in Galewood and areas north and east of Galewood for years worked to stabilize the neighborhoods that allowed integration to work using many of the same strategies as Oak Park's, including minimizing For Sale sign use.

Mr. Messina's own alderman, living only a couple blocks away from him, was instrumental in those efforts as well. Through my involvement in Chicago community organizations, I recall attempts at panic-peddling, which Mr. Messina believes is done, only four or five blocks north of him in the 1990s.

He's not fully understanding what's gone on around him. He lists other communities that he states enjoyed comfortable integration without some intervention, totally missing the influences and roles of anchor institutions like universities (Hyde Park, Kenwood, Tri-Taylor) or strong community organizations (the Beverly Planning Association or Northwest Neighborhood Federation in Beverly and Belmont Cragin, respectively) played, again often using similar strategies pioneered by Oak Park-far from the hands-off approach Mr. Messina thinks allowed integration to start.   

The most amusing but troubling naivety probably comes from his concerns for property depreciation from the current economic climate and nationwide crisis in foreclosures and his belief that preserving property values, his and mine, are in some way connected to his ability to advertise with real estate signs.  

Kurt Hedlund

Oak Park