A reader sends in the following pic and info from Broadway and Montrose, just across from Wilson Yard:"Just noticed this happen (usually happens every single day in some form or another).
The man in the leather jacket pulled several beers out of his coat (we don't know if he paid for them or stole them from AZUSA (Liqours) where he walked out of), and in broad daylight all 4 decided to just start drinking. I have called 911 a ton of times like people on the UU have instructed, but 9 times out of 10 the cops don't come anymore. If they do finally come around, they just hide the beer in their coat until the cops leave and then resume drinking. Its a very discouraging situation. In a couple of hours I will most likely see Cheryl (pictured in the brown coat) passed out at the bus stop and someone will probably call the paramedics. So again our tax dollars are being wasted both in terms of Police resources and Paramedics.
When this happens in Tom Tunney's ward (Wrigleyville) the person gets arrested or issued a citation. Not in the 46th ward. I wonder why that is....is there a double standard?
Can we put pressure on the places of business who are selling to these people to stop? I see the same cast of characters EVERY SINGLE MORNING during the week heading to Jewel at 8 am to buy booze. The pressure of boycotting a store that is knowingly selling booze to local drunks at 8 am may force them to reconsider their actions (remember that a new Target is coming to take their business away). If enough people see that they are contributing to the blight of the neighborhood, maybe they will reserve the right to stop serving them booze.
If anyone has any other solutions besides calling 911 (which doesn't work), I am all ears."
Illegal drinking is rapant.
ReplyDeleteThe major variable is the alderman in power. I wonder what the answer might be?
ReplyDeleteBut what I really wonder about is the plan that each of the candidates have to address this.
At the last CAPS meeting I attended, the question of public drinking came into question.
ReplyDeleteI seem to remember that the main issue is that our precinct doesn't have a lockup, so they have to spend a ton of time taking the offender to another precinct for lockup, paperwork, etc. This takes hours and, obviously, cops off the beat. Since there are far more problematic issues (e.g., shootings, gang loitering, stabbings, drug dealing, etc.) it just isn't the highest priority.
That said, they do tend to patrol areas where people tend to congregate and drink (e.g., outside of Wilson Men's Hotel). However, folks just wait until the cops are gone and start up again. As Buenapk said, drinking is rampant.
One of the attendees at CAPS strongly urged the cops to at least force people to pour their drinks out, which would presumably cause them more immediate pain than a lockup/arrest would. I'm not sure they provided an affirmative answer to that.
I'd encourage you to go to your next CAPS meeting and bring it up with the officers directly. Anyone interested in public safety should be attending these meetings.
I was at the CAPS meeting and can confirm what has been said.
ReplyDeleteI say KEEP CALLING 911 so there is (at the very least) a strong record of people with care and have expressed requests for Police service in Uptown.
Regarding a boycott - I mean I suppose it could work but the last thing I want to do hurt businesses in our community. It's sort of complicated.
Until it is "NOT OKAY" to drink on the streets at 8AM in Uptown, it will continue unabated.
Just wait until one of these drunks walks into the street and causes an accident. I have seen them in the street a lot by me.
ReplyDeleteThe outcry will happen then. "Where were the cops"..."Where was the Alderman"... "Why wasn't something done"....
I can hear it now.
As the reader who sent this in stated, this would not be accepted in Tunney's ward - and most others for that matter.
ReplyDeleteI've been in Lakeview and seen the cops literally break their necks to detain and arrest someone for public drinking. In Uptown, I guess there are bigger "fish" to fry, but this shouldn't be accepted at all. It's behavior like this that leads to the bigger issues at hand in the ward. Of course Shiller would say the cops are racist for arresting anyone in this photo for public drinking because she loves class warfare, but frankly, I don't give a damn what color you are - if you're boozing on the streets, you get a ticket or arrested.
I went on the CAPS walk two weeks ago and walked down Clifton, and Broadway, with the group. A couple of people were drinking and when the cops came they just hid it underneath their shirts. It was obvious. The cops saw it but just kept walking. Sad.
It IS a double standard in this ward.
The worst punishment for the boozers is make them dump the booze. Tell the police that you understand that arresting them is usless and time consuming, make them dump it!!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the gaggle of people in this photo are urinating on the sidewalks at 4600 N. Clifton??
ReplyDeleteIf you are standing outside of your apartment on Addison/Clifton during a Cubs day game, playing beanbags on the sidewalk with your friends while enjoying a can of Old Style, the police will crack down so hard and issue you a ticket on the spot. Don't believe me? Go ahead and try it!
ReplyDeleteThere is ZERO reason for this to be tolerated 1 mile north.
Miss Kitty----I was also on the walk. The drinkers all tossed their "beverages" as soon as they realized they had some visitors. It was obvious they had been drinking but they didn't have any thing in their hands.
ReplyDeleteBelieve me, I call every time I see it in their hands.
That being said, thanks for coming out for the walk. The more the merrier!
Maybe we were at different vantage points Mr. Witty. I know I saw a man conceal his beverage right there on Broadway in front of Ace as we walked around to Clifton - and there was an officer there right by me - who looked at them and kept walking. Oh well...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, hope to see you on the next walk!
I unfortunatly have given up on this issue. I live across the street from the Jewel. Last week a women was walking next to me drinking a 12oz Miller Lite. I was walking right behind her as a cop looked right at her. I use to call three/four times a week for the drinking at the bus stops, as the Elderly had to stand. I was doing this for several years and nothing has changed. The cops have every right to search them if they have witnessed public drinking, but they do want to even get out of the car. I support the Cops, as I have many relitives who are, but this is just pure laziness. Welcome to the GETTO TARGET location at Montrose and Broadway. More people are now going to see what a crap hole Uptown really is vs just hearing about it. HELLO TARgET wake up!!!!! People do not want to shop around people drinking, peeing and hitting you up for cash every five feet.
ReplyDeleteSupport the Broken Windows Theory
ReplyDeleteIf we attack the small, petty crimes, the "bigger fish to fry" will follow. I know first-hand that it works.
It will work in 46 - so let's take it back.
I believe, if I am not mistaken. AZUSA LIQUORS received Wilson Yard TIF money to move across the street from their original location.... so, if someone can verify this, it would make for a very interesting question to Alderman Shiller... our tax money goes to help people remain alcoholics ...
ReplyDeleteLast week I heard loud talking outside my window and looked out to see two gentlemen with 40 oz'ers standing on the sidewalk talking. I called 911 and within a minute a police "M" car was there. It was surprising (and happily so) how fast they responded. I know the police have to rank the crimes called in by order of importance, so I guess someone was in the area and available right when I called.
ReplyDeleteKeep calling it in when you see it. At least we're adding to the evidence that public drinking and public intoxication are a problem in our area. The way the brass in the city and police department work, statistics are everything. Call it ALL in to prove it's happening here, every day.
I saw this group yesterday outside of the Jewel on Montrose about 3:00PM. They were loud and carrying on then too - but I guess Jewel didn't call the police either.
ReplyDeleteI support the broken window theory and agree it WILL work in Uptown, but not until leadership is on board.
ReplyDeleteThe cool part is, it isn't about income, race, etc.
Shiller - when you addressed the community, you wanted ideas - well there is your idea! It is working in a city of 8 million (NYC), so no reason it can't work in 46.
Nice to see our girl "Pookie" back out in Da Hood.
ReplyDeleteI irony about officials complaining about the cost associated with locking these folks up cracks me up. I have seen emergency vehicles attend to "Pookie" there at least a half dozen times. How much does that cost to John Q Tax payer?
The fact that they are nomadic now brings a warm smile to my face. A few years back these same Samaritans were the ones hanging in the Dearborn parking lot before the fence was put up.
Ever since "Pookie" treated me to a piss water fall in the middle of Montrose a few years back I have had a warm spot in my heart for her. Ahhh "Pookie"
There was a young man drinking, yelling, and urinating on the street at around 2:00am a week or so ago in front of my building near Montrose and Broadway, lining the cans up on the sidewalk in front of him. It took five calls to 911 and holding the phone out the window so the dispatcher could hear the volume for the police cars to even slow down when they passed. They finally told him (without parking, without exiting their patrol cars) to go home. Nothing about the cans on the sidewalk or his obvious inebriation.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'll do it again. If they don't want ten calls in a row from me, they'll do it the first time.
I just called on someone drinking and peeing and hiding some bag behind a dumpster in the back of House of Prayers (entrance on Winthrop).
ReplyDeleteI hope I don't have to watch any more poo coming out of Pookie's butt this summer. That is one unpleasant sight, particularly when she does it in the parkways between the street and sidewalk with cars and kids passing by.
ReplyDeleteThis issue is not going to be resolved by banning the drinking or selling of alcohol at 8am. If a person wants/needs to drink they'll find the way. These people with the problems are not law abiding citizens to begin with. In addition, if I want to go to the store to buy alcohol at 8am to get ready for a party I'm having, or simply just when I am doing some morning grocery shopping, I don't want these laws/rules to stop me. Because I would be the one abiding by the law not the drunks of Uptown.
ReplyDeleteThis problem is not going to be solved easily but it can be solved. There are many factors to consider but dealing with the individual drunks themselves or making rules for stores selling liquor is not going to make a "real" change. We need to look at the big picture first to stop the endless supply of people we seem to have ending up on the streets and in public housing with no way out. We have to ask why each of these people is in the position they are. Learning whatever that reason is, by fault of their own or the fault of unfortunate circumstance, is where we will find the solution to clean up the situation.
My personal belief is that it lies in the fault of the welfare system to some degree.
Maybe this isn't my college campus...but upholding everyone to the standards of the law seems within reason.
ReplyDeleteWhat I would really like to know is...Have the police been told by the Alderman over the years to leave them alone. Don't bother, they aren't going anywhere. Like most of the Shilleristas on here I imagine this is just status quo for the neighborhood. I beg to differ. Time for a change.
Top to bottom....clean them out. All of the city government (if thats what we are calling them these days).
Well folks, let's face it. Broadway and Montrose, and ESPECIALLY Broadway and Wilson, are like a Blade Runner-meets-Third World-Bazaar.
ReplyDeleteOrigin unknown lotions, liquors, socks etc. are sold a stones throw from the 46th Ward Office. (I can see drunks selling Tartar Sauce for the future Fish Farm).
Just last summer some poor soul wanted to trade 'used underwear for a cigarette' at Wilson and B'way.
I'm counting on the possible increase of security at Target (the private sector) to steer things in the right direction?
I was told by a friend who works in government relations for the city that the chances of Schiller not being our alderman are very, very slim. I know this depends on the election, but I guess there is not a lot of concern for any change in "leadership" in uptown. Now, if people just went out and voted...
ReplyDeleteTruman, you may not be aware of it, but the CPD does NOT prioritze calls, that's done by OEMC. They are NOT a part of the CPD and answer to no one as far as I can tell. Having said that, not arresting people who are drinking on the public way is simply sheer laziness. There's no excuse for it. Not in a district like 020,023 or even 024. The excuse that they don't have a lockup is bogus. What does that have to do with anything. You take the prisoners into your station, do the paperwork and then arrange for them to be transported to a facility that does have a lockup. I wish I could tranfer into your neck of the woods. It seems like it would be so simple to make you all so happy.
ReplyDeleteUptownism:
ReplyDeleteIt's very unnerving to me that someone working for the city government seems to think that there is little chance of Shiller being replaced. We, the citizens of the community, are responsible for choosing our leaders. And we must mobilize our voting base to choose the candidate that we beleive will best benefit our community.
That being said, does UU endorse a particular candidate? The Sun-Times and Tribune endorse city politicians running for elections, will UU? Since UU has such a strong following in the community, I would think that an endorsement would be a good way to rally voters...food for thought.
Take Back 46:
I agree with you that the "Broken Windows Theory" will work. And I agree, LET'S TAKE BACK OUR NEIGHBORHOOD. I'm tired of being embarrassed when I tell my friends that the closest big intersection that I live near is Wilson and Broadway, and I'm tired of feeling nervous that something bad will happen whenever I have my in-laws over.
I believe block clubs are the best way to start fixing problems at a small level. I encourage everyone to find out which block club that they are in, and participate! The Magnolia-Malden block club is going to start undertaking efforts, and I encourage anyone interested to please join.
Daley may not be our Mayor so I see a lot of changes come.
ReplyDeleteI think Washington wants Daley out.
Interesting title for this post.
ReplyDeleteOr if somebody is taking a leak on your building go outside and take care of it yourself. I bet a million dollars CPD will arrest them for public intox before they even bother listening to a drunk idiot complain about getting his teeth knocked in.
ReplyDeleteYou would think if you where a business owner you would be more concerned about this problem. Customers will never or even attempt to enter a store that has a bunch of drunks hanging around their front doors. This is probably why no business wants to come to Uptown. One look of what hangs around alot of the stores in Uptown would tell me to look for another area to open one....
ReplyDeleteThis is not an emergency - so stop calling 911... 911 operators handle actual emergencies, like car accidents, fires, robberies, heart attacks - etc... and you shouldn't be clogging up the phone line just because you saw someone drinking outside.
ReplyDeleteCall the non-emergency number, that's the real way you can do some service to this community...
I really don't understand the whole "loitering outside" culture. Period.
ReplyDeleteOh, contraire, mon Pierre. Call 911 when you witness illegal behavior. This includes public drinking. Time and time again, we go through this exercise. If it is a problem happening in real time and you need the presence of a police officer, call 911.
ReplyDeleteBon soir!
Pierre's advice is 100% factually wrong. To report public drunkedness you should call 911, not 311.
ReplyDeletePierre, I would think there are plenty of 911 operators to handle calls.....a menacing drunk wandering into the street (or starting up a party of the like-minded) warrants a call to prevent a potential disaster.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, it might be a good idea to call 911 AND email the 46th Ward Office about the incident.
I know they care, so we should 'carbon copy' the office with these kind of disturbances in the 46th.
Social Justice is a term that seems to get bandied about alot these days. The subject was brought up regarding the proposed fishy farm.
ReplyDeleteIf someone is caught and arrested or recieves a citation for public drunkeness or public urination on the Mag Mile, Loop, Lincoln Park or Lakeview, this is done so my health, safety and welfare is protected.
However if this same offense is not pursued in Uptown I am not entitled to the same protection. Whether someone pisses in Uptown or on the Mag Mile still makes it disqusting. However, it does not rise to the same type of offense. If someone is swigging out of a paper bag in the Loop, the cops will swoop. However, if its done in Uptown, why that's a free pass.
Social justice means I should receive the same protection whether I live high on the hog or below the poverty line.
But sorry, I don't.
Looks like coach Shanahan supports the broken windows theory as well - I will call him tomorrow to see if he would like to go on a ride-along with me in the blue and white -
ReplyDeletehttp://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/There-will-be-no-double-parking-under-Mike-Shana?urn=nfl,235057
Stop giving them your spare change?
ReplyDeleteHow about looking at electing Michael Carroll who is running for Alderman of the 46th ward. Michael is currently on the Chicago police force. I'm sure if he hits the Alderman seat, the police presence in the neighborhood will there.
ReplyDeleteAlderman Shiller doesn't care about some beer drinking thief. Shoot. She doesn't even care about the homeless people that LIVE right behind her disgustingly dirty office.
Electing people with no police background or pull in the area of crimes like this, will NEVER be able to control the stuff that's going on in Uptown.
Remeber this post when you go to vote. SHILLER OUT. CARROLL IN.
:0)
Moosh,
ReplyDeletethanks for the campaign commercial.
Now back to our regular scheduled comments..............