Isn't there a shelter just feet from where this many lay? Are there not 197 social service agencies and shelters in Uptown to help this man? There is no excuse for it.
I call 911 when I see this. I would say I've accounted for about 6 people being removed from the sidewalks around our place at various times of the day.
Not so sound like a total snob, but I'm sorry I've worked too damn hard for too many years to afford to live in a nice place to come home to after a hellish day at work, but I have made a grave mistake to live in a neighborhood where far too many people live that do not have ANY respect their their neighbors or neighborhood.
The day the real estate market starts to come around again hopefully within 2-3 years I'm getting out of Uptown. Can't wait. I've been mugged 2 times, have had my car vandalized and had to deal with drunks trespassing into my property more than once. Schiller is a nutcase and she is useless in actually dealing with crime or public nuisances such as people using our sidewalks as dormitories. I was sick that she got reelected. I was certain she would loose due to the influx of new condo residents, but I guess it was not quite enough yet. Hopefully she will get unseated at the next election. Only then will Uptown stop being the only Northside neighborhood that allows more SRO's, shelters, social agencies in even though it by far already has the highest concentration of them in the city.
I could not agree with you more and I don't think you are a snob. It sucks to pay so much and work so hard only to have deal with this element and yes it is because of Shiller.
I have to agree with you as well. I am counting down the days until we are out of Uptown. I had such high hopes for area when we first moved in but I am feeling more and more unsafe on our streets.
Out of curiosity, exactly how long have those of you itching to get out of the neighborhood lived in it?
I'm not trying to pick a fight, but I've got all the same concerns and desires for this neighborhood, but I have lived here long enough to recognize just how much it has improved and changed. It's happening, just slowly.
I understand and share the frustration, as I too am a fairly new resident in Uptown who has been surprised and shocked by the "visual element" of Uptown's homeless -- it certainly creates for different city views than many other Chicago neighborhoods (even those other than Lincoln Park).
I think that we need to take a deep breath here and show a little patience. From people I've talked to and things I've read, Uptown has developed over the years, despite Shiller's seeming efforts to thwart progress. "Problem" buildings have gone condo, more money has moved in, and expecatations have risen. I know it's hard to get past the impact of a picture such as the one in this post, but the neighborhood is still clearly on the rise, albeit slowly. We're sandwiched in between great neighborhoods on all sides - it's inevitable that we'll benefit from that sooner or later.
* every night the LSD underpasses at Wilson and Lawrence were packed with homeless sleepers, usually the ones too crazy, drunk or violent for shelters to accept
* when I asked the police to do a well-being check of a person lying under the "L" tracks, the desk sergeant laughed and said "you haven't lived here long, have you?"
* the Wooden Nickle dive bar on Wilson just West of B'way was in full operation, so you couldn't pass it without being verbally harassed or stepping over puke
* gangs were using CHA housing to run drugs, and escaped the cops using the back gates to the alleys. The alderman's office said the gates couldn't be locked "because someone lost the key." Community pressure forced the buildings to have locked back gates
* the building at Lawrence and Winthrop that now has the BofA, Kinetic Playground and condos housed the "School of the Last Resort" Prologue school (whose kids stood in front of the Lawrence "L" stop smoking dope) and a liquor store that opened at 7 a.m. and sold single cigarettes and 50-cent bottles of booze
* the gorgeous Borders building was a rusting abandoned mess
* the Uptown Lounge was the scary and filthy Saxony Lounge
* drug dealers set up chairs outside of CHA housing and stayed there all summer long
* one summer there were gunshots nearly every night (my kid and I actually huddled in the bathtub one night because they were so close). It never made any of the papers, unlike the past month's events
* Magic Johnson financed the Starbucks on Wilson as part of his program to help bring retail to ghetto neighborhoods. Helpful neighbors vandalized it every night for a month
* JPUSA had a men's shelter that housed sex offenders next to a daycare center. Down the block they had an overnight shelter with tons of building violations, including water dripping on a live fuse box, and they locked the homeless in at night. I'm still amazed there wasn't an inferno that killed hundreds of trapped people
and so on and so on.
Uptown may not seem like it's changing very fast, but it's definitily improving.
Getting a new alderman would be the easiest way to exacerbate the process.
All I was saying is that we need a responsive alderman. I'm sorry, but I find it unacceptable that all of us are funding Wilson Yards in the form of massive tax subsidies, but now we have no control or say how things have evolved. I've called Schiller's office, wrote emails asking for answers and I get the run around. I'm at the point I'm sick and tired of hearing and thinking about Wilson Yard, let alone having to look at it every single day. Its a bigger eyesore on the area now than ever before, just added a very bland brick wall to Broadway with that new Aldi and added another vacant decaying building that will remain standing for who knows how long, along with a plowed up asphalt parking lot that has sat like that for MONTHS now.
I believe that adding ANY more subsidized housing to Uptown is not what the area needs. It is wrong to make one neighborhood's socioeconomic demographics very lopsided due to poor policy and playing politics. Didn't Chicago learn its lesson with all the failed housing projects? I shudder as the thought of Wilson Yard being only a series of subsidized highrises. All I'm saying is that I'm going to get out of here before taking any chances on that. I lived in Ravenswood back when it was NOT the nice family-friendly area it is now. However, I didn't feel like at any time living over there when I reported things that should be dealt with by the city I got such a response like Schiller basically saying to me "oh, yea, well welcome to Uptown."
Anonymous said... Ya'all all sound like a bunch of racists to me. Throw out the blacks, that's what you want?
September 24, 2007 12:57 PM
I think the above it so funny if you want a nice neighborhood you are racist. Not the case at all but what I don't want is homeless people harassing people, drug dealing, public drinking and gang violence.
I go to work everyday to afford the condo I own so I should be held hostage by the those that don't contribute anything to society and make other people miserable.
Trash is trash no matter what color it is or what background it is.
I have to agree with r. If asking for a SAFE and clean neighborhood means that I am a racist... than so be it. I am tired of walking my daughter to the playground and stepping over bums. Enough is enough. I wish we could impeach Shiller.
Just to put things in perspective (but not to excuse the miserable state of affairs - there's definitely a lot that needs to be fixed in Uptown), take a look at this blog called "the broken heart of rogers park". Dare say it makes Uptown look like Lincoln Park (or maybe like Uptown did ten years ago?)
No, Uptown is not the most dangerous or problematic neighborhood in the city. But, again its the unresponsive alderman that never has real answers to questions. I was doubled over in laughter when she was pressed for numbers of SRO's in Uptown with the sale of the building near Andersonville to Heartland to put in an SRO. I think she damn well knows that the numbers of SRO units in Uptown are in the thousands. It was also a farce to tell us that there were very few retail vacancies in Uptown or along Broadway when she darn well knows there are scores of them. I realize there are clinics, public housing and shelters in Uptown and I did buy here knowing about it. My problem is that when there are issues and problems and that these management companies or shelters are not doing their part to be good neighbors and take some responsibility over securing their properties, then the city should get involved to fix the problems. For example, I was mugged on Beacon near Montrose a few years back in the early evening walking home from the Wilson Red line. I felt this MIGHT have been prevented if the trees were trimmed back and/or the broken street lights that I had complained about had been fixed.
Also, I made me very, very angry when Schiller was quick to post about violent crime in the Lakeview section of her ward south of Irving. However, there is NOTHING AT ALL about the shootings and homicides that have happened in the last few weeks on her website. She lives in a dreamworld and pretends Uptown is some fantasyland that is a picnic in the park. I am outraged that there are shooting going on again and I expect my elected alderman to publicly recognize there is a problem and let us know what she is doing about it. Its up to the alderman's office to work with residents and the police to make our streets safe. Chicago is a city of 50 mayors, going through city hall goes nowhere, they refer you back to your alderman. I have friends that live in Edgewater and although Mary Ann Smith is not perfect, at least she recognized that a homocide and problem building on Winthrop was not going to be tolerated and outlined steps being taken. Since then the building was vacated and now they have a stop work order on illegal condo conversion. Had this been in Uptown, it would have been swept under the carpet and residents would have been kept in the dark in order to avoid possible tarnishing of the area's image. Truly sickening.
Lawrence and Broadway might as well be part of Edgewater now. Its going to be a great area within 3-5 years, maybe even less with how quickly things are going lately. The dividing line between the Wards is becoming alamingly noticeable now, with development rapidly happening in the 48th. Wilson and Broadway and Broadway and Montrose areas are looking quite grim now and major development/investment is not continuing at a good pace. The main culprit, yup I hate to say these two dreaded words....Wilson Yards.
So, let me get an understanding of the problem. Most of you bought condos in Uptown for amazingly low prices and bought Alderwoman Shiller's lies about how she was going to "change Uptown". Most of you walked by people sleeping in the streets, begging for money, talking to themselves, etc when you went to view the places you live, but believed Shiller and bought anyway thinking of the great return you would have after she fullfilled her promise. Now that you are mad at her for not turning down social service agencies you want to get rid of the people receiving services from these organizations because it is easier to get rid of them than Schiller. Well, let me tell you. If the people that constantly complain about ALderwoman Shiller went out and voted in the last election maybe we would ahve a better Uptown. As it stands, Schiller made sure that everyone from the nursing homes, shelters, social service agencies, and homeless went to the Polling place. These "forgotten" people of uptown could have helped put Cappleman in office but instead of embracing them, everyone shunned them.
I hate to admit it, but the posting last night at 7:16PM is right... I'm fortunate(?) enough to live on the boundary, but technically in the 47th ward... that being said, everyone in Uptown had a chance to vote Helen out in 2006, and I was AMAZED when I saw the numbers that voted for Cappleman vs. Shiller. I've lived in the 47th ward (after living in Lakeview and Lincoln Park) for a little over a year and I'm thrilled with the amount of development, both private and city-sponsored that is happening in my area (on the sound end of Andersonville at Clark & Lawrence). A good portion of this successful development has to do with Alderpersons Schulter, Smith and O'Connor (47, 48 & 40) strong relationships with the neighborhood and community action. I guess in some ways, it also has to do with Schiller; developers that have been pushed out of the 46th ward by her are now building in 47, 48 and 40.
That being said, I would like to know how many people who are complaining about Helen Schiller actually got out and voted last November for James Cappleman (since I believe he was the only alternative)? The only way things are going to change in the 46th is to get out and vote in 2010.
I would be willing to bet that most of us posting on this message board voted in the last election.
Those of us who are so outraged by the lack of leadership, that we actually take time to post on a message board, actually vote.
What might amaze you is so many people have no clue at all what is going on. I've spoken with so many condo owners in my years here that have no idea about Chicago politics it is shocking, they truly have no clue the power an alderman holds and in turn don't vote.
Sorry, Property Owner, I wasn't clear. Obviously the folks here know what's going on and were hopefully out there in the voting booths last November. I'm talking about the people that complain constantly yet do nothing about it. Preaching to the choir, I know, but that's what blogs are all about... if the people who did nothing actually got on websites like this one and read about current events, they might realize that it's time to do something, instead of just sitting around and complaining...
The shelter won't take in anyone who is so wasted that they wouldn't mind laying where people have urinated and who knows what else. I've been working in Uptown for the nearly 6 years, and while it's had it's ups, it def has it's downs. It's a shame to see things like this, but it's a reality of the area it seems. I'm considering moving here so I can be closer to work, though I am concerned with my resale value in this neighborhood when developments go undone, and no one gives an honest answer from the alderbeast's office.
Take that building right by that man. It's the old Uptown Snack Shop building. I know I could have enjoyed a few more years of meals with those folks. However they were outed over a year ago, and the building lies in ruins. The former wilson donut shop is now aptly changed it's name to the wilson nut shop. This of course from the lack of development, and care to anything around that area. Broadway was once a grand street. I hope to see it once again that way.
I am sure that most of the people that comment on the blogs here did get out and vote. But my question is, did anyone concider getting the homeless, metally ill, etc out to vote? I did a little research on some of the shelters, social service agencies and nursing homes in the 46th Ward. One drop in shelter at 4750 N Sheridan has 58 registered voters there receiving mail. One of the nursing homes has a capacity of 150 people and 124 of them registered to vote. Another nursing home has a capacity of over 400 and more than half of them are registered to vote. Did anyone consider trying to get there vote? Make sure they knew where to vote? One agency I contacted stated that one person did---Helen. She sent volunteers to bring these people to vote. That is how she won. So, don't get mad at the homeless, mentally ill, etc. Get mad at the people who did not think to "be a good neighbor" and get to know the peole living in Uptown (homeless or not).
I have been reading this blog for several months. I love to learn what is going on in the community. I love the fact that more people are posting comments (mostly anonymous). I am becoming alarmed at the amount of name calling going on in the responses to others comments (idiot, racist, snob,etc). I have seen several responses to other stories feature the same words or worse. How about when people voice their opinion (agree with it or not), instead of name calling we encourage the person to become more educated on the topic at hand? Just a thought!
Seen at Broadway and Clifton (across from Ace-Hardware).
dude i think i JUST saw this guy laying on the ground passed out for an entire day at the Wilson El.
ReplyDeleteThe firemen at Wilson warned me to watch for this guy. He's a mean drunk.
ReplyDeleteIsn't there a shelter just feet from where this many lay? Are there not 197 social service agencies and shelters in Uptown to help this man? There is no excuse for it.
ReplyDeletelock them up
ReplyDeleteif i did this i would be in jail in 20 minutes or a paddy wagon
I call 911 when I see this. I would say I've accounted for about 6 people being removed from the sidewalks around our place at various times of the day.
ReplyDeleteNot so sound like a total snob, but I'm sorry I've worked too damn hard for too many years to afford to live in a nice place to come home to after a hellish day at work, but I have made a grave mistake to live in a neighborhood where far too many people live that do not have ANY respect their their neighbors or neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteThe day the real estate market starts to come around again hopefully within 2-3 years I'm getting out of Uptown. Can't wait. I've been mugged 2 times, have had my car vandalized and had to deal with drunks trespassing into my property more than once. Schiller is a nutcase and she is useless in actually dealing with crime or public nuisances such as people using our sidewalks as dormitories. I was sick that she got reelected. I was certain she would loose due to the influx of new condo residents, but I guess it was not quite enough yet. Hopefully she will get unseated at the next election. Only then will Uptown stop being the only Northside neighborhood that allows more SRO's, shelters, social agencies in even though it by far already has the highest concentration of them in the city.
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteNot so sound like a total snob
I could not agree with you more and I don't think you are a snob. It sucks to pay so much and work so hard only to have deal with this element and yes it is because of Shiller.
I have to agree with you as well. I am counting down the days until we are out of Uptown. I had such high hopes for area when we first moved in but I am feeling more and more unsafe on our streets.
ReplyDeleteWanting to be safe does not make you a snob.
ReplyDeleteOut of curiosity, exactly how long have those of you itching to get out of the neighborhood lived in it?
ReplyDeleteI'm not trying to pick a fight, but I've got all the same concerns and desires for this neighborhood, but I have lived here long enough to recognize just how much it has improved and changed. It's happening, just slowly.
Oh, give the man a break. He's just down on his luck.
ReplyDeleteLiterally.
I understand and share the frustration, as I too am a fairly new resident in Uptown who has been surprised and shocked by the "visual element" of Uptown's homeless -- it certainly creates for different city views than many other Chicago neighborhoods (even those other than Lincoln Park).
ReplyDeleteI think that we need to take a deep breath here and show a little patience. From people I've talked to and things I've read, Uptown has developed over the years, despite Shiller's seeming efforts to thwart progress. "Problem" buildings have gone condo, more money has moved in, and expecatations have risen. I know it's hard to get past the impact of a picture such as the one in this post, but the neighborhood is still clearly on the rise, albeit slowly. We're sandwiched in between great neighborhoods on all sides - it's inevitable that we'll benefit from that sooner or later.
When I moved here 10 years ago:
ReplyDelete* every night the LSD underpasses at Wilson and Lawrence were packed with homeless sleepers, usually the ones too crazy, drunk or violent for shelters to accept
* when I asked the police to do a well-being check of a person lying under the "L" tracks, the desk sergeant laughed and said "you haven't lived here long, have you?"
* the Wooden Nickle dive bar on Wilson just West of B'way was in full operation, so you couldn't pass it without being verbally harassed or stepping over puke
* gangs were using CHA housing to run drugs, and escaped the cops using the back gates to the alleys. The alderman's office said the gates couldn't be locked "because someone lost the key." Community pressure forced the buildings to have locked back gates
* the building at Lawrence and Winthrop that now has the BofA, Kinetic Playground and condos housed the "School of the Last Resort" Prologue school (whose kids stood in front of the Lawrence "L" stop smoking dope) and a liquor store that opened at 7 a.m. and sold single cigarettes and 50-cent bottles of booze
* the gorgeous Borders building was a rusting abandoned mess
* the Uptown Lounge was the scary and filthy Saxony Lounge
* drug dealers set up chairs outside of CHA housing and stayed there all summer long
* one summer there were gunshots nearly every night (my kid and I actually huddled in the bathtub one night because they were so close). It never made any of the papers, unlike the past month's events
* Magic Johnson financed the Starbucks on Wilson as part of his program to help bring retail to ghetto neighborhoods. Helpful neighbors vandalized it every night for a month
* JPUSA had a men's shelter that housed sex offenders next to a daycare center. Down the block they had an overnight shelter with tons of building violations, including water dripping on a live fuse box, and they locked the homeless in at night. I'm still amazed there wasn't an inferno that killed hundreds of trapped people
and so on and so on.
Uptown may not seem like it's changing very fast, but it's definitily improving.
Getting a new alderman would be the easiest way to exacerbate the process.
Ya'all all sound like a bunch of racists to me. Throw out the blacks, that's what you want?
ReplyDeleteNah. Throwing out the alderman is more to the point.
ReplyDeleteAll I was saying is that we need a responsive alderman. I'm sorry, but I find it unacceptable that all of us are funding Wilson Yards in the form of massive tax subsidies, but now we have no control or say how things have evolved. I've called Schiller's office, wrote emails asking for answers and I get the run around. I'm at the point I'm sick and tired of hearing and thinking about Wilson Yard, let alone having to look at it every single day. Its a bigger eyesore on the area now than ever before, just added a very bland brick wall to Broadway with that new Aldi and added another vacant decaying building that will remain standing for who knows how long, along with a plowed up asphalt parking lot that has sat like that for MONTHS now.
ReplyDeleteI believe that adding ANY more subsidized housing to Uptown is not what the area needs. It is wrong to make one neighborhood's socioeconomic demographics very lopsided due to poor policy and playing politics. Didn't Chicago learn its lesson with all the failed housing projects? I shudder as the thought of Wilson Yard being only a series of subsidized highrises. All I'm saying is that I'm going to get out of here before taking any chances on that. I lived in Ravenswood back when it was NOT the nice family-friendly area it is now. However, I didn't feel like at any time living over there when I reported things that should be dealt with by the city I got such a response like Schiller basically saying to me "oh, yea, well welcome to Uptown."
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteYa'all all sound like a bunch of racists to me. Throw out the blacks, that's what you want?
September 24, 2007 12:57 PM
I think the above it so funny if you want a nice neighborhood you are racist. Not the case at all but what I don't want is homeless people harassing people, drug dealing, public drinking and gang violence.
I go to work everyday to afford the condo I own so I should be held hostage by the those that don't contribute anything to society and make other people miserable.
Trash is trash no matter what color it is or what background it is.
I have to agree with r.
ReplyDeleteIf asking for a SAFE and clean neighborhood means that I am a racist... than so be it. I am tired of walking my daughter to the playground and stepping over bums. Enough is enough. I wish we could impeach Shiller.
Just to put things in perspective (but not to excuse the miserable state of affairs - there's definitely a lot that needs to be fixed in Uptown), take a look at this blog called "the broken heart of rogers park". Dare say it makes Uptown look like Lincoln Park (or maybe like Uptown did ten years ago?)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.morsehellhole.blogspot.com/
We have parts of Uptown just like the Morse Hell Hole.
ReplyDeleteNo, Uptown is not the most dangerous or problematic neighborhood in the city. But, again its the unresponsive alderman that never has real answers to questions. I was doubled over in laughter when she was pressed for numbers of SRO's in Uptown with the sale of the building near Andersonville to Heartland to put in an SRO. I think she damn well knows that the numbers of SRO units in Uptown are in the thousands. It was also a farce to tell us that there were very few retail vacancies in Uptown or along Broadway when she darn well knows there are scores of them. I realize there are clinics, public housing and shelters in Uptown and I did buy here knowing about it. My problem is that when there are issues and problems and that these management companies or shelters are not doing their part to be good neighbors and take some responsibility over securing their properties, then the city should get involved to fix the problems. For example, I was mugged on Beacon near Montrose a few years back in the early evening walking home from the Wilson Red line. I felt this MIGHT have been prevented if the trees were trimmed back and/or the broken street lights that I had complained about had been fixed.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I made me very, very angry when Schiller was quick to post about violent crime in the Lakeview section of her ward south of Irving. However, there is NOTHING AT ALL about the shootings and homicides that have happened in the last few weeks on her website. She lives in a dreamworld and pretends Uptown is some fantasyland that is a picnic in the park. I am outraged that there are shooting going on again and I expect my elected alderman to publicly recognize there is a problem and let us know what she is doing about it. Its up to the alderman's office to work with residents and the police to make our streets safe. Chicago is a city of 50 mayors, going through city hall goes nowhere, they refer you back to your alderman. I have friends that live in Edgewater and although Mary Ann Smith is not perfect, at least she recognized that a homocide and problem building on Winthrop was not going to be tolerated and outlined steps being taken. Since then the building was vacated and now they have a stop work order on illegal condo conversion. Had this been in Uptown, it would have been swept under the carpet and residents would have been kept in the dark in order to avoid possible tarnishing of the area's image. Truly sickening.
Lawrence and Broadway might as well be part of Edgewater now. Its going to be a great area within 3-5 years, maybe even less with how quickly things are going lately. The dividing line between the Wards is becoming alamingly noticeable now, with development rapidly happening in the 48th. Wilson and Broadway and Broadway and Montrose areas are looking quite grim now and major development/investment is not continuing at a good pace. The main culprit, yup I hate to say these two dreaded words....Wilson Yards.
ReplyDeleteI'll raise you two more words: Alderman Shiller.
ReplyDeleteSo, let me get an understanding of the problem. Most of you bought condos in Uptown for amazingly low prices and bought Alderwoman Shiller's lies about how she was going to "change Uptown". Most of you walked by people sleeping in the streets, begging for money, talking to themselves, etc when you went to view the places you live, but believed Shiller and bought anyway thinking of the great return you would have after she fullfilled her promise. Now that you are mad at her for not turning down social service agencies you want to get rid of the people receiving services from these organizations because it is easier to get rid of them than Schiller. Well, let me tell you. If the people that constantly complain about ALderwoman Shiller went out and voted in the last election maybe we would ahve a better Uptown. As it stands, Schiller made sure that everyone from the nursing homes, shelters, social service agencies, and homeless went to the Polling place. These "forgotten" people of uptown could have helped put Cappleman in office but instead of embracing them, everyone shunned them.
ReplyDeleteI hate to admit it, but the posting last night at 7:16PM is right... I'm fortunate(?) enough to live on the boundary, but technically in the 47th ward... that being said, everyone in Uptown had a chance to vote Helen out in 2006, and I was AMAZED when I saw the numbers that voted for Cappleman vs. Shiller. I've lived in the 47th ward (after living in Lakeview and Lincoln Park) for a little over a year and I'm thrilled with the amount of development, both private and city-sponsored that is happening in my area (on the sound end of Andersonville at Clark & Lawrence). A good portion of this successful development has to do with Alderpersons Schulter, Smith and O'Connor (47, 48 & 40) strong relationships with the neighborhood and community action. I guess in some ways, it also has to do with Schiller; developers that have been pushed out of the 46th ward by her are now building in 47, 48 and 40.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I would like to know how many people who are complaining about Helen Schiller actually got out and voted last November for James Cappleman (since I believe he was the only alternative)? The only way things are going to change in the 46th is to get out and vote in 2010.
Bret,
ReplyDeleteI would be willing to bet that most of us posting on this message board voted in the last election.
Those of us who are so outraged by the lack of leadership, that we actually take time to post on a message board, actually vote.
What might amaze you is so many people have no clue at all what is going on. I've spoken with so many condo owners in my years here that have no idea about Chicago politics it is shocking, they truly have no clue the power an alderman holds and in turn don't vote.
Sorry, Property Owner, I wasn't clear. Obviously the folks here know what's going on and were hopefully out there in the voting booths last November. I'm talking about the people that complain constantly yet do nothing about it. Preaching to the choir, I know, but that's what blogs are all about... if the people who did nothing actually got on websites like this one and read about current events, they might realize that it's time to do something, instead of just sitting around and complaining...
ReplyDeleteThe shelter won't take in anyone who is so wasted that they wouldn't mind laying where people have urinated and who knows what else. I've been working in Uptown for the nearly 6 years, and while it's had it's ups, it def has it's downs. It's a shame to see things like this, but it's a reality of the area it seems. I'm considering moving here so I can be closer to work, though I am concerned with my resale value in this neighborhood when developments go undone, and no one gives an honest answer from the alderbeast's office.
ReplyDeleteTake that building right by that man. It's the old Uptown Snack Shop building. I know I could have enjoyed a few more years of meals with those folks. However they were outed over a year ago, and the building lies in ruins. The former wilson donut shop is now aptly changed it's name to the wilson nut shop. This of course from the lack of development, and care to anything around that area. Broadway was once a grand street. I hope to see it once again that way.
I am sure that most of the people that comment on the blogs here did get out and vote. But my question is, did anyone concider getting the homeless, metally ill, etc out to vote? I did a little research on some of the shelters, social service agencies and nursing homes in the 46th Ward. One drop in shelter at 4750 N Sheridan has 58 registered voters there receiving mail. One of the nursing homes has a capacity of 150 people and 124 of them registered to vote. Another nursing home has a capacity of over 400 and more than half of them are registered to vote. Did anyone consider trying to get there vote? Make sure they knew where to vote? One agency I contacted stated that one person did---Helen. She sent volunteers to bring these people to vote. That is how she won. So, don't get mad at the homeless, mentally ill, etc. Get mad at the people who did not think to "be a good neighbor" and get to know the peole living in Uptown (homeless or not).
ReplyDeleteI have been reading this blog for several months. I love to learn what is going on in the community. I love the fact that more people are posting comments (mostly anonymous). I am becoming alarmed at the amount of name calling going on in the responses to others comments (idiot, racist, snob,etc). I have seen several responses to other stories feature the same words or worse. How about when people voice their opinion (agree with it or not), instead of name calling we encourage the person to become more educated on the topic at hand? Just a thought!
ReplyDelete