Wednesday, June 11, 2008

News-Star: "Uptown Residents Stage Anti-Crime Rally"

Shiller’s office says ‘No comment’

By LORRAINE SWANSON, Editor

Chanting "Hey, hey, ho, ho, the crime has got to go," Uptown residents staged an anti-crime rally in front of Ald. Helen Shiller's 46th Ward service office at 4544 N. Broadway last Saturday morning in response to the shooting death of a Truman College student on May 21.

Residents have complained that since Chicago's bloody weekend of April 18-19, during which six people were fatally shot and another 36 wounded citywide, there has been a noticeable uptick of crime in certain neighborhood hot spots, including the 1100 block of Wilson Avenue, and the intersections of Wilson and Sheridan and Lawrence and Sheridan.

"(Street crime) is not really different from any other summer," said Gina Camiola, who's lived in Uptown for two years. "What concerns us is that an apparently innocent man was shot."

Read the rest of the story here.

6 comments:

  1. Astounding that there was no comment from Shiller's office yet again. To all the Shillerista's out there, do you not think she has a 'moral obligation' to speak about both the crimes and the fact she has a significant number of constituents that were having a peaceful rally about the crime? I am personally starting to log all 'no comments' from her office and will make sure, during the next election..and in every language..that these are repeated and shared with all concerned voters. How truly sad....

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  2. Uptown Yin:

    The most common complaint heard on Saturday morning was the number of drug sales and violations witnessed by residents at the neighborhood hotspots. According to Chicago Police Department CLEARMap crime statistics available for the 23rd Police District, Beat 2311, including the 4400 and 4500 blocks of North Magnolia, and the 1100 block of West Wilson Avenue, 18 drug arrests were made during the month of May. In Beat 2312, including the intersections of Lawrence and Sheridan and Wilson and Sheridan, 12 drug arrests were made last month. Other serious crime incidents reported by crime victims in Beat 2311 last month included four aggravated assaults; four aggravated batteries; and two criminal sexual assaults. Two arrests for prostitution were also made. In Beat 2312 during the same period, two strong-arm robberies and four aggravated batteries were reported.

    Uptown Yang:

    Earlier last week, COURAJ announced that is introducing a new program in July called "COPWATCH" that will monitor 20th and 23rd District police officers' interactions with the neighborhood's minority residents. Williams said that COPWATCH volunteers will be touring the streets and documenting police interactions with their cameras. "[Police] will stop any person of color or any person who looks low income and search that person, talk negative to that person, and threaten to take them to jail," Williams said. "We aim to slow it down as much as we can."

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  3. Couraj is a bunch of losers on Shillers payroll.. EVERYONE knows this..

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  4. "The most common complaint heard on Saturday morning was ..."

    ... that Shlller hasn't responded to the recent violence.

    Were you at the rally BJ, or are you just following orders to muddy the waters?


    Additionally, it's not the number of arrests that's important.

    What's important is that making arrests isn't preventing crime.

    We want to know what Helen has in mind to PREVENT crime - specifically VIOLENT crime.

    Considering that she won't listen to, or speak with her constituents, I can only assume that she has some super secret master plan that will spread peace, love and happiness across the ward.

    Heh.

    Ignoring your constituents, handcuffing the police and adding more low-income housing into an already saturated area are not steps to be taken if PREVENTION is your goal.

    As for COURAJ - who cares?

    Hate groups should be ignored.

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  5. Not sure where to post this, but did anyone attend the CAPS meeting last night at Clarendon Field House? If so, how did it go, anything interesting? Thanks for the info.

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  6. Helen:

    "It has always been my philosophy that the best way to resolve conflicts and to find solutions to problems is to bring together all people affected, to listen to all voices, and then to create a vision that encompasses all perspectives—starting from the perspective of those most affected by the issue at hand."

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