It's tax time in Uptown. You know it's that time when you see this colorful balloon atop the world famous Broadway-Wilson Currency Exchange and folks dressed up as the "Statue of Liberty" stand in front of "Popeyes" passing out tax service flyers. What's the charge to get a check cashed there anyway? Seeing this beautiful balloon made us think of this song, courtesy of "The Fifth Dimension."
There are tons of businesses throughout the ward and particularly along Broadway whose bread and butter is taking advantage of the poor.
ReplyDeleteThe Shilleristas claim that they provide services to those who normally would not have access to such services, and that many people in the ward don't have bank accounts to manage their finances, thus they fill a need in the community.
Of course, the real long term answer is to provide an investment friendly neighborhood where people can provide decent jobs and wages, thereby eliminating the market for ripping off the poor.
A better education system that gives kids marketable skills in the workplace might help to that end also.
When most Uptowners choose a accountant, the first thing they look for is who has the best mascot passing out flyers in the neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if that Statute of Liberty tax preparation firm mascot could hand out a few Bush refund checks. We could use some immediate economic stimulus on Broadway.
ReplyDeleteI think that's Frida Lay on leave from Halsted street.
ReplyDeleteI want to see the Statute of Liberty lady and the Teddy Bear Man street vendor duke it out for control of the corner.
ReplyDeleteWho owns this strip mall anyway? He or she seems not to care about what happenes on and around the property. Or course the police don't seem to care either. But, there are all sorts of blatantly visible violations - dumpsters, panhandling, fencing (both kinds), drug sales, a history of roberries and car jackings, etc. and yet the owner remains unscathed by it all.
ReplyDeleteThe city's nuisance abatement program should have caught up with this owner long ago. Why hasn't it? Who is this owner?
If you look at the census tract of this area (031600) and track "Simple Assaults", then stats show that these types of crime are in the highest quarter. Where the average number of Simple Assaults per census tract is 3, the number in 031600 is 12; four times higher.
ReplyDeleteWith simple battery, it's over twice as high; with drug arrests, it's 4 times higher than the mean average and 8 times higher than the median average.
I would say there's some problems in that area. There's a real reason why many people feel like it's unsafe to shop in that area.
I mentioned the extraordinarily high street robbery rate (5th worst out of 277,000 census tracts) to a police superintendant recently and he responded that it was just because of McDonalds.
ReplyDeleteYeah, right.
Mark Brown of the Sun-Times did a nice article about these two "quick refund services" at Wilson and Broadway and compared them to a tax preparation program at Truman College. Good stuff.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.suntimes.com/news/brown/773789,CST-NWS-brown03.article