By the way, there’s a CAPS meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 2, at Truman College. Last week’s shooting will undoubtedly come up. You might want to send somebody. Better yet, you might want to attend it yourself. The next aldermanic election is less than a year away, and the people are paying very close attention.
LEN was there when Ald. Shiller spoke to Uptown Business Partners last week and reports on the "rosy" picture of Uptown that the alderman painted in "Lunching With Helen."
If nothing else, it's a rare occasion to see Helen use one of her favorite buzz phrases twice in the same sentence. “To me, the Target represents an opportunity for us to create a critical mass of people coming into the community to be joined with the critical mass we already have from Truman College and the people who live here,” Shiller said. For those keeping score, we see that "lazy lanes" (another popular buzz phrase of late) isn't used at all, and the up-and-coming "magic bullet" hasn't made an appearance since Ald. Shiller's statement calling everyone who objects to neighborhood violence a "political enemy."
I can confirm that SEVERAL of my neighbors were woken up by several gunshots after 3 AM last night near the same area as the recent "bike-by" shooting at Lawrence and Magnolia. Did anyone else hear them or have more information?
ReplyDeletei heard this last night too! i thought it was too many 'pops' to be guns. i swore it was just fireworks or something, but it definitely made my heart skip a beat.
ReplyDeletei live at leland/magnolia.
I doubt it's related to the shooting, but yesterday afternoon at around 3pm, a black man in his late 30s-40s urinated all over the windows of Popeye's, daring the manager to call the cops. A group of spectators watched and laughed from the Wilson Mens Hotel. After he finished, he hung around in front of the building, not bothering to run away.
ReplyDeleteAnyone know if the cops ever showed up?
Yes everything is rosey in Ald. Shiller's world. She is obviously wearing her rose colored glasses as she looks at our community.
ReplyDeleteShe does not see anything wrong with the crime, violence, gangs, etc. afterall, it's all just innocent "fisticuffs". Unfortunetly she will not see the crime and violence in our community until, God forbid, she or someone close to her becomes a victim of the violence. It is then, and only then, that she will wake up and smell the roses.
Her world is so distorted that she still believes that Wilson Yard is still true mixed income. Here is what she said about WY:
“I have to challenge you, this is not a Section 8 building,” Shiller said. “Such as any rental building in the City of Chicago there may be people who have vouchers to live there. It does not have Section 8 attached to it. “
“The housing that is there, in my view, is mixed income,” she continued. “In this community alone there are people who work in hospitals, city colleges, Streets and Sanitation, and most of the social service agencies in this room within the income limit can live in Wilson Yard. There’s nowhere near enough housing there to house them all so I don’t think we’ll have an issue or problem.” (taken from LEN article that was linked to this posting)
I am a teacher for CPS and considered a city employee, but yet I don't quilify for a "voucher". If this was true mixed income, as was first presented to the public, then anyone of any income could rent there (or buy there as originally proposed to the community).
Alderman Shiller is definitely a word-smith and tries to manipulate her words and legal language. But luckily most Uptown citizens are not falling for her line of complete and utter Bullsh*t.
There is so much more to say about the things she said at the luncheon and her lack of response to escalating violence (just wait until warm weather hits) but I will reserve my further comments for the voting booth!
Hey, she makes a 100k plus a year and is accountable to no one plus will have a great pension so yes things are very good for Shiller.
ReplyDeleteExcellent editorial. We should also demand action from Greg Harris and Heather Steans. They are more responsive than the Alderwoman.
ReplyDeleteAt this point in the game why should she bother? She can act like she really cares, but everyone will see right through it, much like what Daley is doing right now.
ReplyDeleteBy not showing up, and not addressing the violence, she continues to alienate those that may be on the fence about her.
I would rather see her dig her hole deeper to make sure that she is a gonner next year.
I was on the computer last night around 3:30am when there were four VERY LOUD bangs. It sounded like they were literally on the other side of my window. I've heard a lot of sounds in the last few years that might or might not be gunshots but the noise I heard last night instantly without question sounded like gunfire.
ReplyDeleteI'm no gun expert but it sounded like a very large caliber handgun, something with lots of kick, like a .44 magnum revolver. The rhythm and echo of the pops didn't mimic any type of fireworks I've ever played with. I would be really interested to know what they hell that really was.
"If a gun goes off in Uptown and no alderman is around to hear it- does it make a sound?"
I do remember our Alderman literally 'running' from Wilson College, when confronted with valid questions....last summer. If I lived several blocks north of this madness (Andersonville) I would head north too.
ReplyDelete"The housing there, in my view, is mixed income"...Shiller quote.
ReplyDeleteSo now we know Shiller's definition of mixed-income housing--low-income, very low income, and no income housing. All of it spelled out in Holsten's application Low Income Housing Tax Credits.
WHY IS SHILLER COLLECTING THE TENANT APPLICATIONS FOR THE
WILSON YARD HOUSING??????
Let's not forget what Shiller was heard saying at last summer's community meeting: "Crime is not my issue"
ReplyDeleteThose words are going to come back to haunt her come election time.
To whomever runs against her: crime in this neighborhood IS AN ISSUE! It should be up front and center!! We should be shouting from the treetops that we are concerned and we just won't take it anymore.
I'm fed up with Shiller.
HopelessInUptown: Suppose you did qualify for the housing voucher. For what properties could you use that housing voucher?
ReplyDeleteFor what its worth, this is just the secondary market for your tax dollars. The primary market has already redistributed your tax dollars to the suburbs for architectural glass and construction assets in addition to developer fees.
The city still has a budget shortfall. It is expecting Springfield to act, but Springfield is in even worse shape. And as for the Feds, well Shiller thinks their funds have been...
"In some areas it has helped us better spend the grant dollars that we get,especially with the federal stimulus, but dollars from the state aren’t coming so quickly."
Lets review how the stimulus funds were spent in Uptown.
Recovery Dollars In Uptown
I ride past there every day, hoping not to get off my bike.
ReplyDeleteButternut Said: I'm no gun expert but it sounded like a very large caliber handgun, something with lots of kick, like a .44 magnum revolver. The rhythm and echo of the pops didn't mimic any type of fireworks I've ever played with. I would be really interested to know what they hell that really was.
ReplyDelete------------------------------------Likely what you heard was a .40 Cal. Pistol. The caliber was introduced as .40 S&W, since Snith&Wesson was the first to market them. They are very popular
as a Police service weapon. They do fall into the hands of criminals and bangers, as we are well aware of. The .40 is louder and recoils more than the 9mm, which is similar to a .38 special sized bullet. Police transitioned to .40 and .45 pistols, when it was found that stopping power was lacking in the smaller caliber rounds.
I was on my way to the Aragon in late October to see if I could work on Dylan's show the day shots were fired across from Helen's office. I'd like to believe with increased foot traffic Helen would be advocating a stronger police presence in the ward.
ReplyDeleteI heard some gunshots around 12:30 AM last night as I was brushing my teeth and called 911. I wasn't sure where exactly they were coming from. I like you Philip have to keep telling myself it's not fireworks... I mean it's March and we do live in an area of rival gang "families."
ReplyDeleteVIsabel - where did you hear the gunshots?
ReplyDelete"WHY IS SHILLER COLLECTING THE TENANT APPLICATIONS FOR THE
ReplyDeleteWILSON YARD HOUSING??????"
This is a very good question. Wouldn't the developer, or the developer and CHA, be doing that? Why would that be the job of the alderman? That seems awfully windy...
It makes perfect sense to me why Helen Shiller is in charge of taking the applications. The new tenants will know that she is to be rewarded when they're chosen to live there. Sure, it's highly unethical but there's nothing to stop her from doing it because there are no checks & balances with City Council.
ReplyDelete