Medill Reports covers the $3 million going towards the Wilson El rehab, and talks to residents and vendors about why it isn't enough... and what needs to happen to turn the area around. Read about it here.
As the article ends with, any improvement in the area is welcome. Between the Wilson station, the streetscape and the Target, it will be curious to see if the area actually does change.
The worst spot for litter is that little area next to the strip mall at Wilson and Magnolia where the gangbangers hang out. They've put up "No Loitering" signs over the past month or so, but the thugs seem to view that as a challenge. It's interesting: if you walk on the east side of the street, the garbage is kept to a minimum, but on the west side, the section between Wilson and Sunnyside is always strewn with trash. I've seen a lot of kids walking down the street eating candy and chips and brazenly throwing wrappers over their shoulder as they go along.
While I want to see the Wilson station rehabbed as much as anyone, I agree that crime is a bigger issue. Let's fact it: as much as I think the "positive loitering" events are good for the community, they don't scare the thugs. We need a strong police presence in the area and to send the message that these people are not our neighbors, but are NOT WELCOME in the area. The thugs aren't going to be touched by our attempts to be friendly towards them. They know that most of the neighborhood is scared of them and too afraid to speak up when they see people drinking beer at 8:30 in the morning in front of the Wilson Men's Hotel, too intimidated to call someone out for littering on the sidewalk.
Down in Lincoln Park and Wrigleyville, street vendors hawking worthless junk know they will not be tolerated, but up here they know that nobody will dare question their ghetto behavior and presence.
cops busted two thugs yesterday at Wilson and Magnolia, so let's hope the arrests continue. I hate walking by there every day and seeing these a--holes and the trash they throw around. So much potential for our neighborhood that gets destroyed by these thugs and Blood Alley.
Will, On Monday, I went into the convenience store in said strip mall and told the cashier how much garbage was out there. He said that when the cops come, the loiterers leave but then come back. I kindly asked him to see that it gets cleaned up because there was a ridiculous amount of food wrappers, empty bottles, etc.
Blue - I sympathize with whomever works at that convenience store. There is a very nice Middle Eastern man who works at the Clark St. Market (corner of Clark and Montrose) who told me he used to work there until he caught several shoplifters and was targeted for gang harassment.
I'm not sure what can be done about that corner...it is located only a block from two "problem buildings" on Magnolia and I think the bangers see the No Loitering signs as a challenge now. The police can't always be there and I doubt that whomever owns that strip mall is going to pop for a private security force.
My private solution now is to pretend that area doesn't exist...I walk the extra distance to the Brown Line and transfer to the Red Line at Fullerton. However, I have noticed some ominous signs of crime in my own area...about fifteen black youths had a fight in front of the apartments on Montrose between Malden and the alley adjacent to Magnolia last week and I've seen more panhandlers at the 7-Eleven at Clark and Montrose.
The problem will be solved only by either gentrification (tough because of all the Section 8 buildings) or by increasing security and police in the area. It's obvious that the community and police presence right now do little to deter either the hardcore thugs or the harmless-yet-depressing coterie of ghetto street merchants.
Ooooooo.....unnamed Truman College student wants the area to be gentrified. Doesn't he know them's fightin' words? Somebody needs to ask him why he hates diversity, and STAT!!!!!
Maybe because nobody wants to admit that the majority of crimes, at least in this neighborhood, are committed by low-income people without much to lose. It sucks to think Section 8=crime, but that has been proven to be the case in the past. How many of the supposed "evil condo owners" are caught buying drugs, drinking in public while others are going to work in the morning, or breaking and entering.
I don't blame him for his comments on gentrification...if you're a college student working hard to ensure a better future for yourself, why shouldn't you show disdain to people who won't do anything to help themselves? Drunks and thugs have no place in this neighborhood.
The man in the store sounded kind of hopeless about the situation when I talked to him.
These loiterers are social deviants who offer nothing to society in any way. It is a societal problem. We can't go back in time to give these thugs a better childhood, better grades in school, the desire to succeed.
It is just something we have to deal with living up here. That, and a nasty el stop.
Will, many people in low income buildings share the same values for wanting a safe neighborhood. Let's start there before we start picking on any one group of residents.
We have had some lousy management in some of the larger residential buildings. The focus should be on improving management before we start pointing any fingers at the residents.
Any finger pointing should be on Helen Shiller for not encouraging better building management.
Let me get this straight. The illicit drug trade is putting a damper on the illicit street vendor trade and I'm supposed to do/think/care what about it?
I luv the comment from the lady in Rogers Park about how they used to have the same problem. Tell me about it!
Pookie the Public Pooper's prior administrative violations were written up there. Thanks so much for cleaning up your area and sending her our way.
Of course, Uptown can't pass her on to any other community because Uptown is the land of those "with no place to go." and those like Pookie, who choose to even go when they have a place.
holy - I agree. I certainly don't think all low-income people are potential criminals, and agree that these buildings need better management. I would think that Section 8 would remove the profit motive and the need to fill up empty apartments with anyone at all.
I wonder what some of the non-Section 8 leasing companies would have to say since this activity is affecting their business. The large building next to the convenience store on Magnolia has had banners announcing big breaks on rent for ages now. It's a nice building, at least on the outside, but I don't know who would want to live there with all the thugs hanging out all day long.
There are problem areas that need to be targeted, including Wilson from Broadway to Malden, the convenience store on Wilson/Magnolia, and the Broncho Billy playground.
Do they even have street cops walking a beat anymore? It sounds like an old-fashioned idea, except for maybe in the Loop, but would a few cops walking through the neighborhood help things rather than a few cars cruising? It would encourage a more concentrated approach to crime instead of just canvassing the whole neighborhood.
I am not exactly sure how to do it, but some people simply need to know they or their antics are not welcome here. People like the aforementioned "Pookie" are well-aware that 99% of people are too afraid to protest even the most egregious antisocial behavior.
I've met a beat cop on Wilson -- he was stopping at Alma Pita to make sure everything was okay. Don't know if that's a one-off or not.
Also have noticed the bike cops around my neighborhood in good weather, even though I live on a residential street. It's nice to see them driving by keeping an eye on things.
Back to the point of the article, this rehab is going to do little to change the behavior of the thugs and bums who hang out around there. Unless Helen starts to actually working with the cops to police this area, its going to remain dumpy and crime ridden.
I am glad some money is going into the station, but frankly, I think Helen is using $3 million in taxpayer money to make her look good right before election. Bad thing is, some people are uninformed enough to think she's great because they are all stary-eyed over the new Target and Wilson El improvements. Its going to take more than that from an alderman to deserve re-election. Those things are not going to stop crime. We need to educate everyone we meet and make sure they vote.
Article should have mentioned the arrest of CTA station employeee Tim Stovall for dealing drugs on the job. http://www.uptownupdate.com/2010/05/surely-not-at-wilson-stop.html
Of course, Will, it's pretty well known that some (not all, and of course not you) people in the "condo owner" socioeconomic class have been known to indulge in "powder" among other illegal pleasures, and they have to buy it somewhere, right? And their teenage kids may be indulging in the odd toke of a joint now and then also, and how convenient it is that their "source" may be just down the street, rather than hanging out behind the boys' gym at high school.
What I'm saying is, ever since the 1960s the drug problem has stretched to all levels of society and is not a simple matter of getting rid of the decadent lower classes so that the middle and upper classes can live in peace.
If only poor people were drug users the business would not thrive. It needs an influx of money from the upper classes with disposable income to stay solvent.
How to deal with the problem has occupied the minds of our politicians, social workers, clergy, medical personnel and ordinary folk for almost half a century at least. Are any UU's among these, and if so what do they suggest?
"people in the "condo owner" socioeconomic class have been known to indulge in "powder""
Gayle, have you been watching Dynasty and Falcon Crest on SoapNet?
Or, maybe you're hooked on Don Johnson reruns again?
Also, if I've said it once I've said it a million times, Cabot Cove is NOT the murder capital of the free world, no matter how many times you've witnessed Jessica Fletcher stumble across incidents of foul play.
“There are quite a few methadone clinics and quite a few one-room and by-the-week hotel rooms in the area and a lot of crime in this neighborhood.”
Did I hear someone just yell 'BINGO!' ?
Why, or why, does this lowest common denominator continue to thrive up here? I've asked the 46th Ward office many a time. To see things get worse after 18 years up here, is bewildering. And Helen, it's frankly embarrassing too.
Has anyone actually been to Howard Street in Rogers Park lately? The multi-million dollar CTA station has done nothing to improve the economy on that street or bring any businesses besides new cellular phone stores or restaurants that don't make you throw up. Charlotte of Lost Eras is just like all the other Joe Moore apologists. Howard Street is a desolate blighted ghost town where gun slingers shoot it out in the morning while kids on their way to school. Even the Rogers Park Business Alliance, formerly DevCorp North, has abandoned Howard Street while profiting handsomely from its stake in the new el station; 85 percent of the new storefronts are empty. The station, meant to be a gateway for tourists visiting the 2016 Chicago Summer Olympics, is over-designed. I can't believe CTA spent $37M on it. The emperor is naked, folks, and these crackerjack Medill student-reporters just lap up all the BS being spoon fed to them. Go talk to the residents who live near Howard Street and hear their horror stories, or the cops in the 24th District who have to deal with all the thugs and gangbangers up north.
Agreed. It's a cheapened version of Schaumberg. It wasn't geared toward foot traffic at all and if people are going to get in their cars to shop, they'll go elsewhere. It's nothing but franchises.
It's only going to be as clean and nice as the people us use it.
ReplyDeleteSort of like our sidewalks, and neighborhood overall. I am sick of all of the food wrappers strewn everywhere.
As the article ends with, any improvement in the area is welcome. Between the Wilson station, the streetscape and the Target, it will be curious to see if the area actually does change.
ReplyDelete-Brian
The worst spot for litter is that little area next to the strip mall at Wilson and Magnolia where the gangbangers hang out. They've put up "No Loitering" signs over the past month or so, but the thugs seem to view that as a challenge. It's interesting: if you walk on the east side of the street, the garbage is kept to a minimum, but on the west side, the section between Wilson and Sunnyside is always strewn with trash. I've seen a lot of kids walking down the street eating candy and chips and brazenly throwing wrappers over their shoulder as they go along.
ReplyDeleteWhile I want to see the Wilson station rehabbed as much as anyone, I agree that crime is a bigger issue. Let's fact it: as much as I think the "positive loitering" events are good for the community, they don't scare the thugs. We need a strong police presence in the area and to send the message that these people are not our neighbors, but are NOT WELCOME in the area. The thugs aren't going to be touched by our attempts to be friendly towards them. They know that most of the neighborhood is scared of them and too afraid to speak up when they see people drinking beer at 8:30 in the morning in front of the Wilson Men's Hotel, too intimidated to call someone out for littering on the sidewalk.
Down in Lincoln Park and Wrigleyville, street vendors hawking worthless junk know they will not be tolerated, but up here they know that nobody will dare question their ghetto behavior and presence.
cops busted two thugs yesterday at Wilson and Magnolia, so let's hope the arrests continue. I hate walking by there every day and seeing these a--holes and the trash they throw around.
ReplyDeleteSo much potential for our neighborhood that gets destroyed by these thugs and Blood Alley.
Will,
ReplyDeleteOn Monday, I went into the convenience store in said strip mall and told the cashier how much garbage was out there. He said that when the cops come, the loiterers leave but then come back. I kindly asked him to see that it gets cleaned up because there was a ridiculous amount of food wrappers, empty bottles, etc.
Blue - I sympathize with whomever works at that convenience store. There is a very nice Middle Eastern man who works at the Clark St. Market (corner of Clark and Montrose) who told me he used to work there until he caught several shoplifters and was targeted for gang harassment.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what can be done about that corner...it is located only a block from two "problem buildings" on Magnolia and I think the bangers see the No Loitering signs as a challenge now. The police can't always be there and I doubt that whomever owns that strip mall is going to pop for a private security force.
My private solution now is to pretend that area doesn't exist...I walk the extra distance to the Brown Line and transfer to the Red Line at Fullerton. However, I have noticed some ominous signs of crime in my own area...about fifteen black youths had a fight in front of the apartments on Montrose between Malden and the alley adjacent to Magnolia last week and I've seen more panhandlers at the 7-Eleven at Clark and Montrose.
The problem will be solved only by either gentrification (tough because of all the Section 8 buildings) or by increasing security and police in the area. It's obvious that the community and police presence right now do little to deter either the hardcore thugs or the harmless-yet-depressing coterie of ghetto street merchants.
Ooooooo.....unnamed Truman College student wants the area to be gentrified. Doesn't he know them's fightin' words? Somebody needs to ask him why he hates diversity, and STAT!!!!!
ReplyDeleteMaybe because nobody wants to admit that the majority of crimes, at least in this neighborhood, are committed by low-income people without much to lose. It sucks to think Section 8=crime, but that has been proven to be the case in the past. How many of the supposed "evil condo owners" are caught buying drugs, drinking in public while others are going to work in the morning, or breaking and entering.
ReplyDeleteI don't blame him for his comments on gentrification...if you're a college student working hard to ensure a better future for yourself, why shouldn't you show disdain to people who won't do anything to help themselves? Drunks and thugs have no place in this neighborhood.
The man in the store sounded kind of hopeless about the situation when I talked to him.
ReplyDeleteThese loiterers are social deviants who offer nothing to society in any way. It is a societal problem. We can't go back in time to give these thugs a better childhood, better grades in school, the desire to succeed.
It is just something we have to deal with living up here. That, and a nasty el stop.
Will, many people in low income buildings share the same values for wanting a safe neighborhood. Let's start there before we start picking on any one group of residents.
ReplyDeleteWe have had some lousy management in some of the larger residential buildings. The focus should be on improving management before we start pointing any fingers at the residents.
Any finger pointing should be on Helen Shiller for not encouraging better building management.
Let me get this straight. The illicit drug trade is putting a damper on the illicit street vendor trade and I'm supposed to do/think/care what about it?
ReplyDeleteI luv the comment from the lady in Rogers Park about how they used to have the same problem. Tell me about it!
ReplyDeletePookie the Public Pooper's prior administrative violations were written up there. Thanks so much for cleaning up your area and sending her our way.
Of course, Uptown can't pass her on to any other community because Uptown is the land of those "with no place to go." and those like Pookie, who choose to even go when they have a place.
holy - I agree. I certainly don't think all low-income people are potential criminals, and agree that these buildings need better management. I would think that Section 8 would remove the profit motive and the need to fill up empty apartments with anyone at all.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what some of the non-Section 8 leasing companies would have to say since this activity is affecting their business. The large building next to the convenience store on Magnolia has had banners announcing big breaks on rent for ages now. It's a nice building, at least on the outside, but I don't know who would want to live there with all the thugs hanging out all day long.
There are problem areas that need to be targeted, including Wilson from Broadway to Malden, the convenience store on Wilson/Magnolia, and the Broncho Billy playground.
Do they even have street cops walking a beat anymore? It sounds like an old-fashioned idea, except for maybe in the Loop, but would a few cops walking through the neighborhood help things rather than a few cars cruising? It would encourage a more concentrated approach to crime instead of just canvassing the whole neighborhood.
I am not exactly sure how to do it, but some people simply need to know they or their antics are not welcome here. People like the aforementioned "Pookie" are well-aware that 99% of people are too afraid to protest even the most egregious antisocial behavior.
I've met a beat cop on Wilson -- he was stopping at Alma Pita to make sure everything was okay. Don't know if that's a one-off or not.
ReplyDeleteAlso have noticed the bike cops around my neighborhood in good weather, even though I live on a residential street. It's nice to see them driving by keeping an eye on things.
Back to the point of the article, this rehab is going to do little to change the behavior of the thugs and bums who hang out around there. Unless Helen starts to actually working with the cops to police this area, its going to remain dumpy and crime ridden.
ReplyDeleteI am glad some money is going into the station, but frankly, I think Helen is using $3 million in taxpayer money to make her look good right before election. Bad thing is, some people are uninformed enough to think she's great because they are all stary-eyed over the new Target and Wilson El improvements. Its going to take more than that from an alderman to deserve re-election. Those things are not going to stop crime. We need to educate everyone we meet and make sure they vote.
Article should have mentioned the arrest of CTA station employeee Tim Stovall for dealing drugs on the job.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.uptownupdate.com/2010/05/surely-not-at-wilson-stop.html
Of course, Will, it's pretty well known that some (not all, and of course not you) people in the "condo owner" socioeconomic class have been known to indulge in "powder" among other illegal pleasures, and they have to buy it somewhere, right? And their teenage kids may be indulging in the odd toke of a joint now and then also, and how convenient it is that their "source" may be just down the street, rather than hanging out behind the boys' gym at high school.
ReplyDeleteWhat I'm saying is, ever since the 1960s the drug problem has stretched to all levels of society and is not a simple matter of getting rid of the decadent lower classes so that the middle and upper classes can live in peace.
If only poor people were drug users the business would not thrive. It needs an influx of money from the upper classes with disposable income to stay solvent.
How to deal with the problem has occupied the minds of our politicians, social workers, clergy, medical personnel and ordinary folk for almost half a century at least. Are any UU's among these, and if so what do they suggest?
"people in the "condo owner" socioeconomic class have been known to indulge in "powder""
ReplyDeleteGayle, have you been watching Dynasty and Falcon Crest on SoapNet?
Or, maybe you're hooked on Don Johnson reruns again?
Also, if I've said it once I've said it a million times, Cabot Cove is NOT the murder capital of the free world, no matter how many times you've witnessed Jessica Fletcher stumble across incidents of foul play.
“There are quite a few methadone clinics and quite a few one-room and by-the-week hotel rooms in the area and a lot of crime in this neighborhood.”
ReplyDeleteDid I hear someone just yell 'BINGO!' ?
Why, or why, does this lowest common denominator continue to thrive up here? I've asked the 46th Ward office many a time.
To see things get worse after 18 years up here, is bewildering. And Helen, it's frankly embarrassing too.
Has anyone actually been to Howard Street in Rogers Park lately? The multi-million dollar CTA station has done nothing to improve the economy on that street or bring any businesses besides new cellular phone stores or restaurants that don't make you throw up. Charlotte of Lost Eras is just like all the other Joe Moore apologists. Howard Street is a desolate blighted ghost town where gun slingers shoot it out in the morning while kids on their way to school. Even the Rogers Park Business Alliance, formerly DevCorp North, has abandoned Howard Street while profiting handsomely from its stake in the new el station; 85 percent of the new storefronts are empty. The station, meant to be a gateway for tourists visiting the 2016 Chicago Summer Olympics, is over-designed. I can't believe CTA spent $37M on it. The emperor is naked, folks, and these crackerjack Medill student-reporters just lap up all the BS being spoon fed to them. Go talk to the residents who live near Howard Street and hear their horror stories, or the cops in the 24th District who have to deal with all the thugs and gangbangers up north.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. It's a cheapened version of Schaumberg. It wasn't geared toward foot traffic at all and if people are going to get in their cars to shop, they'll go elsewhere. It's nothing but franchises.
ReplyDelete