Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Hey, It's The City, Right?


We realize many of you might be squeamish when it comes to rodents so we kept this photo small. It was just sent to us by someone who is at Broadway and Wilson. We wonder how long this has been lying on the sidewalk? Eeeeek!

57 comments:

  1. or I wonder how long it will remain there...

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  2. That poor rat wonder if was being a gang that killed him.

    We better put up a huge RIP Pedro the Rat memorial!

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  3. I spay painted the garbage can and left one of those little hotel bottles of vodka next to it.

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  4. Blood on the sidewalk photos are acceptable, as are links to photos of dead kids, but a photo of a dead rat is shrunk down so as not to offend the squeamish?

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  5. 19 innocent victim minding his own business is tragic.

    19 year-old who gang-bangs and was shot in retaliation for beating the crap out of another ganbanger is par for the course when you choose to be a gang banger.

    Choices have consequences, and not all of them are good. Going into a gang is like running into a burning building -you're likely to get burned.

    I feel more sorry for the innocent people that had to witness this...

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  6. 19 is still tragic

    That young man who died would have shot you in the face for the twenty bucks in your pocket and not thought twice about it. Remember that when you mourn the tragedy. If the gangs had magic bullets that only hit each other I'd be more than happy to let them gun each other down all day long.

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  7. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-girl-killed-websep03,0,442885.story

    Now THIS -is truly tragic. And I hope to God I don't read a story like this happening in Uptown.

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  8. Did anyone call for a wellness check on the rat? Maybe he was just passed out from public drinking all day.

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  9. I thought this was about the rat your talking about somebody that was shoot in uptown. First you put up a pictures of tim when he shoot in the head and saying you should post them all over uptown, now you are comparing hem to a RAT. Your making fun of his family and friends memorial to hem.

    God don't like ugly but he's not crazy about pretty.

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  10. Update on the Rat:

    It wasn't a dead rat. It was a recreating shoot for the E True Hollywood Story on the rat Remy of Ratatouille fame. Seems he has fallen on hard times as of late. It is the same crew that was filming down by the lake last year for the THS on Nemo. Seems Nemo blew all his money and lost his gimp fin and was panhandling down by the Wilson bait shop.

    True Story.

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  11. North Magnolia,

    I don't want to go Billy Joe on you, but you are aware that there is no such word as "hem". Its "him" with an "i". You used it twice in your post, so I think it was intentional.

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  12. Ok, I take that back, there is such a word as "hem", the one on your dress, but I don't think thats what you're talking about either.

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  13. Back to the subject of the rat...as of 6pm tonight, it is still on the sidewalk on the NE corner of Broadway and Wilson. It is way bigger than it appears in the photo.

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  14. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  15. North Magnolia--I'm sorry if my comment led the discussion astray. I just thought it was sad to shrink down a picture of a rat to protect the squeamish, when people have no problem posting photos of dead neighbors. (And I don't care who he was or what affiliation he had; it's disrespectful and insensitive to his family to talk about posting the picture all over the neighborhood.)

    As to the rat, if it's so offensive to everyone walking by, get a plastic bag and gloves and pick the damn thing up. I've managed to clear my yard and alley of dead animals and human feces without waiting for the city to come around and get it done.

    But please, Uptown Update, do keep giving us up-to-the-minute reports as this rat tale unfolds.

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  16. Watchdog..

    Just to be clear, Uptown Update did not post the photos. An independent blogger posted a link to their photobucket site.

    So im sorry it hurts your feelings. But i choose not to be an ostrich and stick my head in the sand to gang violence.

    A link to the picture is your definition of "disrespectful", my definition is a thug who uses the tax payers streets to push drugs, beats another gang banger, robs citizens, and opens fire on others with no regard for safty.

    You keep crying about some photos or comments. I say post the pictures, hang them up at the schools, let the kids know how the "thug life" really turns out. Tim couldnt save himself, but maybe his photo can save another kid from that end.

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  17. chipdouglas--Uptown Updater didn't post the photos of the body, but s/he does condone them. And s/he has posted blood-on-the-sidewalk photos for the sake of prurient interest and morbid curiosity.

    Like a lot of other brand new "personalities" that have cropped up with accounts this past month, you've become one of UU's staunchest supporters and defenders. I applaud your conviction. But just like those pictures of smashed up cars in drivers ed class don't really deter anyone's behavior, I don't think posting bloody photos of gang members in the school would, either.

    This is all just my opinion.

    I know, I know, if I don't like how UU is run or agree with the majority, I can go start my own blog...

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  18. Actually on the subject of rats, I've seen many more of them recently in my alley. Just called 311. Please do the same to have your alleys baited.

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  19. "I know, I know, if I don't like how UU is run or agree with the majority, I can go start my own blog..."

    No, most of the bloggers here welcome your opinion. There is a big difference from someone like you who post an opinion vs others who blog on here just to disrupt. It's fine you didn't like the photos yet you made the choice to look. There are many countries that don't allow the freedoms to post things like that, we live in America, so when in Rome..err America.

    As far as being one of "UU's staunchest supporters and defenders." I have challenged UU many of times through email and post. In fact "Caring Neighbor" and I don't see eye to eye on much of anything. BUT we do agree on our most important issue and that is MAKING UPTOWN A SAFE PLACE TO LIVE.

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  20. This was a wonderfully gorgeous day. As much as this community has gone through the past few days, you honestly could not find anything at all more positive about Uptown to post today other than a dead rodent?

    I know you seek to keep us "up-to-date" on what happens in Uptown, but so much of what you post is ugly and negative.

    The Uptown you post about is barely recognizable to me. I'm not naive to Uptown's problems, and I'm familiar with many of the issues I've seen raised here. It just seems that there had to be something good going on today--yet you scoured the ground until you found a rat? How do such posts generate any productive conversation?

    I ask you sincerely, what is the purpose of posts like these except to feed into the hysteria that Uptown is hell on earth?

    Efforts to inject some perspective into this debate are always met with the response of, this is about Uptown, or the person is a troll. But I wonder if a dose of perspective might not at least cause some to reconsider whether or not Uptown is truly the hell it is depicted as. Uptown has a lot of issues to be worked out, and there's going a push and pull, but I have to say I do resent the way Uptown is often portrayed here and the rare effort to connect anything at all good with Uptown.

    A thought, UU, rather than scouring the streets for rats, have you ever thought of stepping foot into some of this services agencies, talking to the people--those who are open to doing so--and maybe providing those of us who read this blog with some insight into what's actually happening in these agencies?


    And just a final note about the memorial, if anyone still cares--as I have only seen people mock it and those who started the memorial on this and other blogs (such as the horrible "the bench")--it was allowed to stay out until Saturday evening. I think people were sympathetic to the desire to memorialize him (because thug or not, someone loved this person), but were uneasy about the idea of these young people hovering in the same spot, even if only quietly. The police came with plastic bags and ordered the young people to remove as much of the memorial as possible, which also consisted of many lighted candles. The young people did so peaceably and moved on as the police watched. The police extinguished and removed the remaining candles. I thought "thugs" and police alike behaved in a way that was more civil and respectful than what I have seen posted on here by some commenters in the last few days.

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  21. Neighborlady, I don't want to argue with you, because I'm a contributor to this blog that you feel portrays a skewed reality. Obviously we have very little middle ground, except that each of us loves Uptown and wants it to thrive.

    But let me answer the part of your post about the memorial. I went over there Friday night while it was being assembled. We saw the women drawing on t-shirts and the candles being lit. We saw people arriving to mourn. We tried to talk to them, to find out about the victim and discuss the memorial.

    Your "civil" and "respectful" mourners told us to "get the fuck out of here. Get off this sidewalk. GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW!" Direct quotes. It was frightening and threatening. Emotions were running high, that's understood. But that was a common experience. I spoke to several mainstream reporters who also got the same "civil" and "respectful" response.

    That's why there were no photos of the memorial on Uptown Update. That's why we didn't cover it. And you might ask yourself why, if we're so obsessed with negative and sensational news, that we didn't post what happened, in screaming headlines and italics.

    What did we post? This, in red ink, right at the beginning of the post about Timothy's death: "These photos, and some that are linked to in the comments, are of a real person. He was a neighbor to those of us who live in Uptown and a friend to some of our readers. These photos may evoke strong emotions. Please be prepared if you make the decision to click on them or on the links contained in the comments."

    To me, that shows respect and civility. The response of Timothy's friends did not.

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  22. The cached version of the post on Google, which shows 50 odd comments at the time, didn't have this red-inked caveat. It was a later addition, but I agree a necessary one.

    Despite how you were treated when you showed up, Caring Neighbor, it might have been good to take the high road and post photos/notice of the memorial anyway, to let friends and neighbors know of it and to show that you really do care about all Uptown's residents. It's the kind of informational post that can be locked, because commenting on it further wouldn't really be necessary.

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  23. Watchdog, I didn't go back to the memorial after the way I was told to leave. I haven't been there since. No one sent in photos of the memorial.

    Sorry, woulda been nice to have photos of the memorial, but ... the mourners didn't let that happen. In fact, they threatened a mainstream photographer by telling her to get away, this wasn't a movie. (Add expletives, you can probably fill them in yourself.)

    This blog is a volunteer effort by everyone involved. We don't get combat pay. Hell, we don't get ANY pay. It wasn't worth it to me to go back; frankly, I was afraid. These kids carry guns.

    Timothy Pittman died for some incredibly trivial reason. I didn't want to take the same risk so you and others could feel Uptown Update treated the gangbanging mourners fairly.

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  24. Why does caring neighbor have to care abotu all of Uptown's residents? I'm tired of the self-righteous blowhards telling UptownUpdater and Caring Neighbor how to run their blog. If you wannt to start a blog about the wonderful programs to help fight poverty in Uptown, go right ahead. No one is stopping you.

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  25. Caring neighbor, I am sorry you felt threatened that evening. I'm not trying to negate what you experienced--I'm only relaying what I observed (just like you and UU do), which was a scene that, by Saturday night lacked drama and showed civility on both sides, "thugs" and police, and in that scene I found a little bit of humanity on both sides, and that was a little something to grasp after coming home the day before to discover a corpse across the street and people in shock, and still, I think, trying to process it. Despite the picture of the hellhole painted, the reality is that I and my neighbors were actually not used to such a horrific scene. So my comment, I think, is also about seeing if there isn't anything worth posting in Uptown other than all the ugly you can find.

    My feelings about humanity come less from observing the bangers and more from standing behind the family that afternoon--who also felt invaded by the cameras as they watched their son's body get "processed," and the stepfather actually warned the photog to stop snapping pictures, and the photog backed off. I think those who knew him (and I was not one of them) felt a great deal of pain that evening, and pain does not always come out in the most genteel of manners. My lack of love for gangbangers and their life don't erase my ability to have some compassion for people who felt pain for this guy.

    The fact that some restraint was exercised concerning this event does not negate nor disprove my point that the site paints a grotesquely negative image of Uptown. I have actually grown up here "in the trenches" and yet this is the first time in my life that I have ever seen a bullet-riddled corpse laid out across the street from my home. I don't dispute that violence is an issue that Uptown and many communities are dealing with. But if i were to rely solely on UU and not have a broader experience of Uptown, I would think it was hell--and that, in my opinion, is a distortion.

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  26. Uptownr, the great thing about blogs is that they open themselves to comment and participation. Why is it when people attempt to do just what blogs purport to encourage, people like yourself say go away and start another blog?

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  27. Neighborlady, I couldn't have expressed it better myself. Thank you.

    It's sad when most threads on here these days seem to end with "start your own blog if you don't like it". Even when it's just a photo of a dead rat next to a garbage can.

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  28. But if i were to rely solely on UU and not have a broader experience of Uptown, I would think it was hell--and that, in my opinion, is a distortion.

    Well, as Helen likes to say, we all have our own realities. I'm sorry you think UU is negative. Your opinion. Not mine. And on that, we'll have to agree to disagree.

    I've said it before, this is a blog with opinions and attitude (as are all blogs). Those opinions and attitudes aren't all-encompassing, nor are they intended to be. Take it or leave it, but we're not going to morph into a bland, one-size-fits-all blog. Not our style.

    Leave the platitudes and trying-to-be-all-things-to-all-people attitudes to the politicians. you won't find them here.

    I'll leave it at that. You're not going to change my opinion, nor I yours. We're just going to have to coexist peacefully.

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  29. Still there as of 7:45 this morning

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  30. My feelings about humanity come less from observing the bangers and more from standing behind the family that afternoon--who also felt invaded by the cameras as they watched their son's body get "processed," and the stepfather actually warned the photog to stop snapping pictures, and the photog backed off.


    My feelings about humanity come from the fact that this kids being "processed" would have killed my daughter and not thought twice about it. I guess thats where you and I differ. You weep for the urban terrorists, I thank god there is one less person on the streets who would willingly cause violence to my family.

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  31. "windycityeagle"...

    did you know Tim at all, i hope you did if you are going to say he "would have shot you in the face for the twenty bucks in your pocket and not thought twice about it" and he "would have killed my daughter and not thought twice about it." those are significant things to say about someone you don't know, if in fact you didn't know him.

    i can't say that i knew him but i've talked with many people who did. sounds like he may have gotten involved in some gang activity at some point in his life but even that isn't toatlly clear and as far as i know, he never shot anyone. what info do you have to back up your claims about what he would do to people? or is this another assumption? i know it's easy for you and many others to come on this blog basically anonymously and hurl insults at people, including dead people, but i wish you would have enough gumption to say some of these things in public or under your real name so that you can be responsible for what you say.

    also, i have a question for you regarding this comment you made: "My feelings about humanity come from the fact that this kids being "processed" would have killed my daughter and not thought twice about it. I guess thats where you and I differ. You weep for the urban terrorists, I thank god there is one less person on the streets who would willingly cause violence to my family".

    i've heard people in Chicago refer to police in this manner and i've heard some people from different parts of the world refer to u.s. military personel in this way, understandably so given people's experiences with the Chicago Police and U.S. military. i have a feeling that you would absolutely attack someone saying such a thing about the CPD or u.s. military, even if they had family members who had been murdered or tortured by the CPD or u.s. military. i personally don't agree with your statement about Tim and your being happy that he is dead as i would not be happy about a police officer or soldier being killed, despite the violent acts they often commit. but i hope that you can realize that your anger toward him (and you probably didn't even know him!) and your harsh words don't help solve these problems, much like celebrating the deaths of u.s. soldiers in Iraq doesn't help end the war any quicker.

    but for you (and many of us) some people are bad and others are good, even if they are involved in similar activity. if Tim had joined the military and killed hundreds of innocent people in Iraq and then got killed himself, you'd probably call him a hero. but let him kill nobody, then get shot on Sheridan and you're happy he's dead. think about that.

    we ALL need to realize that the vengeful way we've been programmed to think doesn't help us reduce violence in our community or world. if your're willing to say something like that about someone who just died, i wonder what else you would be capable of if circumstances in your life were different, say more similar to what Tim's were. i won't say you would do this or that (as you did about Tim) but i just wonder...

    also, i was at the vigil where Tim died on Friday night and Saturday and all the of the young people who i interacted with were very polite, respectful and thanked me for my condolences. i'm sorry others had different experiences. i hope that those who did have bad experiences acted respectfully themselves and offered condolences without just asking a bunch of questions and criticizing the memorial. i'm sure you did but i can understand why his friends would be on edge. also, as far as i saw, i think the police handled the situation at the memorial site fairly well.

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  32. Ron Ron Ron...you poor misguided soul... to compare a man whose sole raison d'etre is to break the law to men and women who are sworn to uphold the law is pretty week. I'm not going to address your assertion about wrong doing by the police and armed services as that's not within the scope of this blog. (Two wrongs don't make a right.)

    And Bradley is my real name.

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  33. well said windycityeagle, my post was removed because i don't tap dance around the issue with the words i use...

    like my father always said, call a spade a spade...

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  34. Ron... I think the assumptions being made about the man that was killed on Friday are easily understood by people who daily read about people being killed by gangs.

    These gangs didn't care who they hit when they were shooting up Wilson in broad daylight. They didn't care when they were shooting up Ainslie, or when they were shooting at eachother and that woman had to cover the baby she was pushing in a stroller.

    Pick up the paper and read about the 10 year old girl who was killed leading her blind sister. Do you think those gangbangers cared they killed her? I can see the remorse because the shooter turned himself in - Not.

    Read about all the grammar school kids who have lost their lives due to gang violence -that number grows higher every year. -I haven't read about a single gang banger who has turned himself in, admitting that it was his inability to hit his target that claimed the life of one of these babies.

    If Tim was in a gang, and according to people who knew him, he was involved, its unlikely he was in a gang that has regular book club meetings, discusses fine architecture and sip Merlot. Considering the word on the street is that he was shot in retaliation for a beating he doled out, its likely this young man has some experience being less than friendly to his neighbors.

    No one should have to die before their time... but, you know what they say about those who play with fire...

    Your comparisons to the police or military are completley asinine. Mainly because both the police and the military are far better shots. They tend to hit their targets.

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  35. "i can't say that i knew him but i've talked with many people who did."

    Ron seems to me your only interest is getting to know the local thugs and victims. But I suspect that is because doing so makes your lifes cause relevant. How bad it must hurt you Ron to know that Couraj needs victims to exist. Your little garage door paining group hasn't reduced the violence in the community so what qualifys you to give advice on it?

    Also please get over yourself because you choose to post with the name Ronald Durham. You can post with whatever name you like, your thoughts will still be stale and Couraj will still be a punchline in Uptown.

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  36. "farrell,"

    for the time being, let's leave Tim out of this, out of repect for him and his friends and family and because it seems that nobody on this blog knows what his actual gang involvement was.

    i'm not saying that people in the military or police or in gangs should be considered sub-human. but many of you think people in gangs should be treated that way.

    i understand what you are saying about the violent things that many people in gangs do and how negatively that behavior affects society. what i am saying is that hold other aspects of our society and other people who commit legalized violence to that same high standard.

    you want me to read about gang violence, okay. i know it is a problem, that's why i'm working with other people in the community to address it. but maybe you should read about the violence that people in Iraq and Guatemala and a whole lot of other places have faced because of the u.s. military. yeah, the military might have better aim, but many times they don't discriminate when it comes to whom they kill, oftentimes they've targeted nonviolent people (especially in latin america) and if you're using bombs and missiles instead of handguns, you are certainly going to kill innocent people.

    furthermore, many of their actions are carried out purely for economic reasons or for reasons of intimidation, on behalf of you and me as u.s. citizens. so no, i don't think the compaison to be asinine. talk with someone whose familiy members have been killed by the u.s. military, spend some time with them and you'll realize that the same hurt and anger you feel about gangs in Chicago, they feel to a far greater degree about u.s. foreign policy and the military, yet usually without the vengeful attitude we from the u.s. have.

    the answer is not to just condemn people and give up on them or celebrate their deaths. we need to realize that we each contribute to this culture of violence, when we make comments like those "windycityeagle" made about people in gangs or when our government (with our consent or silence) prioritizes killing people in other parts of the world for economic gain over providing for the needs of the people of this country.

    if i'm so off base, someone tell me that it's not true that our economic system is not based on violence and that our military does not provide the force to back and kill any one who gets in the way of our desire for resources.

    and if you then want to say, "well ron, that's the way of the world, violence is part of human nature and capitalism is better than any other system" then suck it up when you feel a little scared when you hear gun shots and when there is a shooting, it's the way of the world. but don't condemn one aspect of that violence (an aspect you're threatened by) while condoning and praising and glorifying another aspect of it that you happen to benefit from, at least in the short term.

    some may say this is irrelevant, but i guarantee that as long as the strategy to end gang violence in chicago is primarily one of arresting more people, dehumanizing them and trying to move them out of the neighborhood, the problem will never be solved. you may succeed in moving it somewhere else where you don't have to be reminded of the violence of our world, but the problem will not be solved. i guess some of us want to deal with the actual problem of violence in our society while others just want to be able to forget about it, including the ways in which we benefit from it.

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  37. Wow...

    Just so I don't have to be subjected to any more of your completely ludicrous, tinfoil hat arguments, I'm not going to argue with you Ron.

    Your responses speak for themselves.

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  38. Dear Ron-

    "if i'm so off base, someone tell me that it's not true that our economic system is not based on violence and that our military does not provide the force to back and kill any one who gets in the way of our desire for resources."

    OK...I'll tell you.

    Our economic system is not based violence.

    It's not based on much of anything at the moment. I'm not saying I agree with the current administration's use of the military and I've never voted for it; don't plan to vote for the extension of it in November. Gangs economy on the other hand are enirelybased on violence.

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  39. Ok Ron we get it, you don't like American Military. You just like living under it's protection, and using the free speech they fight for. I would love to have seen your crying face when they locked you up for protesting at that base. I bet you cried like a girl. I love our Military they make me feel proud regardless of there mistakes.

    Once again this site is UPTOWN UPDATE not RON's world views and how to make more lollipops.

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  40. Regardless of wether or not he was involved in a gang it is never acceptable to compare a human being to a rat. Tim was practically still a child. No man is beyond hope and it is impossible to end up as something when you are only 19. This blog is supposed to be committed to finding solutions to problems in the community such as violence; looking for things that the community of Uptown needs. And it does not need policemen armed with submachine guns any more than it needs all the gang members to shoot each other. It needs these things least of all.

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  41. Why is it that every gang hugging public housing advocate blogging on here works for "non-for profit?" See Rons and Nathans profile.

    I feel it is a conflict of interest for you to post due to the fact that you need the violence, you need the homeless, and you need Helen Shiller to keep not only your jobs but you whole way of life. You folks have been living off the misery of others in this ward for years. Now you feel threatened, and your grasping at straws to hold your lot in life.

    Now before you go thinking I just hate all Non-for Profit companies, I will have you know that my sister works for one. In a city that really needs them due to huge auto companies leaving and all the jobs going with it. Chicago's thugs do not stem from lack of jobs but from lack of will.

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  42. chip,
    i don't work for a non-profit, and my profile does not say that i do. the catholic worker is not a non-profit, we don't get any tax breaks, nor do we get paid for the work we do. many of us do jobs outside of the house to make money.

    so if you wanna ban people from non-profits, go for it, i'll still be posting! but fix wilson yard is attempting to become a non-profit organization...

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  43. "but fix wilson yard is attempting to become a non-profit organization..."

    Your right Ron, and wouldn't you know it they need Helen to exist as well. The difference is that Fix Wilson Yard would gladly disband if Helen left office.

    You can argue symantics all you want Ronny boy, but the point is you need violence and you need victims to exist. How sad.

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  44. haha, okay "chipdouglas,"

    i was just correcting you on the non-profit thing, you're the one who brought up it up.

    one love

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  45. chipdouglas

    A man is poor for one reason and one reason only: because he does not have money. Don't try to sell me that worn out line about poor people being lazy and that you can't pay people for not working cause if that were the case Daley, Shiller, Bush, Obama, MCcain, and Jody P. Weis would all be in some serious trouble. Poverty however extends further than who is and is not poor. Poverty has to do with the ability of a person to make his or her acts legitimate. The point was already made by Ron that there are some people living in this community who do not have the power to make their acts legitimate even though they employ some of the same tactics as organizations which have that power (e.g. violent force). None of this changes the fact that that boy deserves more respect than to be compared to a rat.

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  46. "The point was already made by Ron that there are some people living in this community who do not have the power to make their acts legitimate even though they employ some of the same tactics as organizations which have that power"

    Ok, so by the wonder twins (Ron & Nathan) logic people should be able to go out and rape and molest because after all they are just doing (sex) what others are doing only their form has yet to be "legitimate."

    After all this banter Im starting to feel bad for the rat.

    Im Done.

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  47. Gangbangers are RATS. They rat on each other as soon as they need to cut a deal. They multiply and spread social disease. They harm and poison the community. They eat their own.

    I personally feel ZERO sympathy or empathy or remorse for a dead gangbanger. How many people did he play a role in killing, directly or indirectly? How many families did he ruin? As soon as the police arrest the scumbag shooter, hopefully he will end up in a filthy cage for the rest of his life like the RAT he is. Too bad we we cannot systematically exterminate these gangbangers like you would any kind of termite or roach.

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  48. Chicagocitizen, you must be a big Tool fan. That's twice you've used their lyrics as your own.

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  49. Confused, good job noticing the Tool line! I used to be - and I guess still am - a big fan of the band. I had not thought of that for a long time, but the idea of methodically ridding society of these scumbags like an army of roaches is a soothing notion for me. Point in case, the four idiots who were involved in shooting the innocent 10-year-old girl on the south side. Prison is too kind of a fate for those monsters.

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  50. I once used a Metallica line in a poem I had to write in a high school class. Now that I'm an admitted plagiarist, guess I can't run for office...

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  51. Reading the news on CNN.com this afternoon, I was struck by the word that average Texas citizens were putting on their work gloves, dragging out their chainsaws, and clearing roadways of trees and other debris themselves so vehicles could get through.

    And in Uptown, a rat sends people into a dither, and no one wants to pick it up. Them Texans are far tougher than we are.

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