A man delivering food was pistol whipped and robbed early Tuesday in the Uptown neighborhood on the North Side.
At 12:30 a.m. the man was delivering food in the 4500 block of North Magnolia Avenue when two men dressed all in black approached him on the street, according to Town Hall District police.
Looks like this occurred right by the Sunnyside Mall, where everyone knows the thugs hang out.
ReplyDeleteUghhh. Why aren't there cameras up along the Sunnyside Mall? I'm at Sunnyside and Malden, was outside walking my dog the other night when I had to scramble back to my apartment because of the gunfire. Now we have this. Everyone in the neighborhood knows that this is ground zero for these idiots and yet nothing is done about it.
ReplyDeleteCAPS meets tonight at Truman College at 7pm.
ReplyDeleteKeep ignoring this Helen. You don't possess the motivation, power, or skills to address these problems.
ReplyDeleteAND THERE IT IS! The daily bad news from my home neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteDoes any "old timer" know the history of why Sunnyside Mall was built in the first place? Such neighborhood parks are supposed to be "safe havens" for the residents, that keep the bad guys away - somehow this seems to have had the opposite effect.
ReplyDeleteThings are getting sketchy on Sunnyside east of Broadway too.
ReplyDeleteI've made two shooting related 911 calls in the last week.
Last Thursday I was walking home (admittedly later than was safe) and ending up 10 steps behind the target of a drive by! Three shots on Hazel and Agitate about midnight. No listing of it anywhere.
Thankfully it's not as easy to use a gun as it is to get one. They all l missed.
911 yelled at me for waiting until I got into my building to call. I wasn't gonna have anyone see me call.
I used to love this place. Now I'm afraid to even open this blog.
The police do not put cameras on side-streets, only main streets
ReplyDeleteI hope the victim is okay. Soon, we won't even be able to get food delivered up here.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Truman's website the CAPS meeting is at 6.
http://www.trumancollege.edu/calendar/
Look...he knew where he was going. If he didn't want to be robbed/pistol whipped he should have refused to deliver in the area. Jeesh..."it's not your college campus sweetie."
ReplyDeletegayle - I think Sunnyside Mall was put in place back in the 70's to slow drug traffic and cars from having an easy "in and out" if they were dealing. It could have also been done to provide a more "walkable/suburban" feel to the neighborhood. I could be wrong, but that's my guess.
ReplyDeleteHistory shows that most pedestrain malls have failed over time. Our most famous example is State Street in the late 70's. There are quite a few studies out there that show these malls have more cons than pros.
You can search the archives on UU and see people complaining about the loitering/crime/gang activity on the mall all the time. And, its true, the neighbors need to take it back if they want to keep it safe and beautiful. This has been mentioned time and again. An ice cream social or a meet and greet here or there is a great start, but what's best for the neighborhood? Leave it as is or open it back up as the street it used to be?
Do the positives from the mall outweigh the negatives?
Living near the Sunnyside Mall, I have to say for the most part, its a nice, and nicely planted respite.
ReplyDeleteDog walking neighbors.....kids....people with strollers...and neighbors just having conversations with other neighbors. I think it is a great little oasis.
I see more people keeping it clean and watering the plants than anywhere else. In the best sense, it's a
true old fashioned 'town square'.
Usually the only problem area is where it runs into Magnolia. THAT is where a camera could help.
Beyond that, I love the little Mall.
The lion's share of the problems occur at the intersection of Sunnyside and Magnolia, which is basically not on the mall. There are drunks and some dealers who frequent the actual mall between Beacon and Malden, but residents are usually quick to call police so the bad guys usually do not stay long (at least when many people get home from work). We have several people who work from home and there are also police officers who live among us, so the gangbangers may be in for an unwelcome surprise if they continually ply their "trade" and lurk in areas away from the Magnolia area. The biggest deterrent to the crime is vigilance by the law-abiding citizens.
ReplyDeleteIs there a noticeable increase in drug-trade activity/arrests in this pocket of Uptown when there are shows at the Riviera and/or Aragon and concertgoers may be scouting the neighborhood for some chemical enhancement for their music-appreciation experience?
ReplyDeletegayle, that's an interesting question and I'm sure in terms of pot and casual stuff, sure. But I would seriously doubt it would have any significant impact.
ReplyDeleteThe problems I see at least, are habitual hard core drug users.
Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if on days of concerts and what not the incidents dropped due to "positive loitering" and generally more eyes on the street.
Pot sales generally occur among folks who already know each other. It's generally not done on the street.
ReplyDeleteI suspect most of the folks attending concerts BYOP(bring your own pot) if they are so inclined.
Which is unfortunate. Given the plethora of empty storefronts around here we could fill some up with high end pot stores to complement the future fish farm.
Actually a pot store next to the fish farm would make sense:"Dude, look at those fishies, I'm so hunnnnnnnnngry".
IP. Dude. Are you losing your touch, mi ambre?
ReplyDeleteThere's already a store front filled for the shopping needs of the cannabisly inclined on Broadway with a brilliant view of the proposed agroponics site.
Sans cannabis, though.
I'm starting to wonder if that neutical isn't messing with your sensibilities.
IP,
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree with you pot is still sold on the street. The building on the south west corner of Leland and Sheridan had a lot of pot sold by the Hispanics around 10 years ago. Now the is still a great amount of hand to hand pot trade around Truman.
Nadmenny,
ReplyDeleteI said "generally". I know there is still a great deal of street dealing in the wacky weed. I've even been approached on the street by good hardworking Americans offering to sell me some.
Not surprisingly, that happens most often when the Cubs are playing and I'm walking by an EL station.
Here's a blog I follow by a former Baltimore cop turned Harvard PHD who deals with many issues revolving policing.
http://www.copinthehood.com/2009/11/dorm-room-dealers.html
Peter Moskos is the PHD and his dad,Charles Moskos, was the foremost military sociologist till he died a few years back.
Like other such liberals such as the late William F Buckley and former Secretary of State George Schultz Moskos is a proponent of drug legalization. There is a tad bit of sarcasm in that statement.
Anyway around 6 PM I saw a CPD SWAT team curb a car and take the occupant out to frisk and question.
I'd never seen that before. So the police are out and about in the hood folks.
Yo,
ReplyDeleteI know full well that Smoke Dreams graces Broadway.
The amusing thing is that it is the best looking storefront on that stretch of Broadway.
At heart regarding social issues I'm a libertarian so as long as it doesn't directly effect others people can smoke away to their hearts content.
My drugs of choice are caffeine and alcohol.
gayle said...
ReplyDeleteIs there a noticeable increase in drug-trade activity/arrests in this pocket of Uptown when there are shows at the Riviera and/or Aragon and concert goers may be scouting the neighborhood for some chemical enhancement for their music-appreciation experience?
So let's shut down The Riv & Aragon 'cause rock shows increase drug buying. Seriously - do you think concert goers don't have pot connections of their own? Most of the people who go to shows do not want to roll up and ask random urban gang members for drugs unless they like being pistol whipped and robbed.