A reader sends in the following pics and info; as always call 311 and report overgrown lots:"I've attached some images of the prairie which is growing in the lots on the west side of Malden between Wilson and Leland.
It's not good for all the obvious reasons. Vermin (and I'm not just talking about rodents) can use it to hide in. It's regularly used as a big trash can for the local addicts. The grass along the parkway is just as long as the grass behind the fence. It's a great place for drug paraphernalia to be tossed, and then stepped on by playing children. Even when it's mowed, the parkway fills up with litter, including broken glass, bottles etc. I find myself collecting it frequently. It just gets nasty and doesn't have to be.
It would be great if this property could be developed, but in the absence of any progress in that direction, at the very least, it could be mowed once a week rather than once every three weeks."
It's been years since I have been in that area, and I am having a hard time identifying that location. Regardless, it looks like a mess!
ReplyDeleteThats the lot on the west side of Malden between Wilson and Leland.
ReplyDeleteThats the lot with the sidewalk that was an ice skating rink all winter on which I almost broke my ass at least 5 times last winter.
Thats the lot that prevented us from buying a unit in the building with the decks on the left side of the picture.
Thats the lot that could have been made into a great football or soccer field if managed properly.
Those are actually five lots - not one. My understanding is that one of the lots used to be the home of one of Illinois' governors. In any event, I called 311 and filed a complaint under Confirmation No. 10-00907331 with Operator Walker.
ReplyDeleteI sent in pics like this to Uptown Update a while ago and no attention was given to it. Perhaps it was bad timing, and other things were going on... but things are just as bad over here by Clarendon/Maryville as they are in Malden/Leland/Wilson/Clifton land. In fact, we witnessed three gang members loitering around a car that was obviously NOT theirs for an hour, walking away pretending to be hanging out when cops would drive by or residents of the neighborhood would be walking their dogs on the sidewalk by the said car. They were scoping that car (a white Chrysler) up and down, left and right.. they noticed us, and ended up leaving.
ReplyDeleteI'm just saying that maybe other areas of Uptown need to be given more attention as well. We had three drive by's in the past week that haven't been reported on here, that I know of... and many more before that. Uptown consists of more than the guts near the redline, Magnolia/Malden/Leland, etc.... Clarendon and Windsor is swarming with ... well, why don't you come see for yourself. I suggest some positive loitering over here.
That lot looks like a mess, and I'm glad the correspondent cared enough to send that in to UU. I agree that it needs attention and better maintenance, and it is a shame that children should be allowed to play in an area where drugs are used...
ReplyDeleteThat said, I do object to having posters to this board refer to ANY people as "vermin."
I think we can do better than that, folks.
Still wondering why my pictures that were pretty much identical to these (only in another area of the god forsaken ward) were not posted on the site. The mess was just the same over here by Clarendon Park that it currently is in this article.
ReplyDeleteActually Buena Boy. I do believe that vermin is appropriate here. While you may be giving the connotation of it being a rat or something less than human, it does also describe a disgusting person. And anyone who would leave broken beer bottles, refuse, and other nasties laying around less than 200 feet from where kids are playing all the time. Then yes the people in question are indeed "vermin".
ReplyDeleteStill wondering why my pictures that were pretty much identical to these (only in another area of the god forsaken ward) were not posted on the site. The mess was just the same over here by Clarendon Park that it currently is in this article.
ReplyDeleteand
I'm just saying that maybe other areas of Uptown need to be given more attention as well. We had three drive by's in the past week that haven't been reported on here, that I know of... and many more before that. Uptown consists of more than the guts near the redline, Magnolia/Malden/Leland, etc.... Clarendon and Windsor is swarming with ... well, why don't you come see for yourself. I suggest some positive loitering over here.
Let me try to answer your questions.
1) You sent the photos in on a busy day - May 28th. There was a mid-day shooting in Clarendon Park where a gangbanger was hit. When someone gets shot, we try to keep the story at the top of the page for a while instead of burying it behind other items.
2) There were all sorts of meetings that week regarding Maryville, in Clarendon Park. We were trying to focus on the citizens who were holding those meetings and the reasons they felt disenfranchised from the TIF and development process.
3) Since the weeds were at Maryville, and the wannabe developers were holding meetings and open houses with the public that week right there in Clarendon Park, did anyone go to meet them and mention the shabby condition of their property?
4) We know from other commenters that Maryville hires people to mow the lawn there. If they're not mowing the weeds in the parkways, the contact information for the Sedgwick developers has been posted here and on the UCRD website. Give them a call or send them an email and ask why they're not maintaining the parkways. In contrast to the Malden lots, I don't know if neighbors know who owns them or how to contact the owners.
For that matter, if you're "still wondering" why your photos didn't run - why didn't you write us and ask us? A month is a long time to be bothered about something.
(continued next post)
(darn character limits!)
ReplyDelete5) You say that there have been drive-bys that haven't been reported here. How about telling us when they happen, rather than complaining that we don't run them? We don't have an army of reporters. The community is that, for us. Tell us when you see and hear stuff. Or post it to our Facebook page. If you didn't see that the photos of the weeds were posted in UU, and you didn't want to ask us about it for some reason, you can always post 'em yourself to FB.
6) If you want positive loitering, get a group going. Contact your block club. Go to CAPS. BE THE CHANGE. Look for solutions.
The Clarendon Park CAPS meeting is regularly the worst attended beat meeting in Uptown. Often there are more cops than citizens present. You've got a great beat facilitator who's eager to help the cops and community make changes. He can't do it alone. If you want things to change, show up. Talk to the cops and your block club about creating positive loitering events. CPNA organized citizen patrols a couple years ago, but they petered out because no one showed up to do them.
Who started the positive loitering at Leland and Sheridan? Neighborhood Nights at Goudy School? Who shot video of the street violence that went viral and ended up on CNN? Who started UU? Regular joe neighbors who got sick of the same ole same ole. No one came by and anointed them. No one is going to come and stand up for a community if people who live there aren't willing to do it themselves.
Look, we get your frustration. We are frustrated, too. Until there are leaders who will listen, it falls on the residents of Uptown to implement change. It's time-consuming, frustrating and it's not our job. But if we want it, we have to do it, at least until we get leadership who's willing to take it off our shoulders. I'm not fighting with you, I'm just saying that we're on the same side here.
7) Sometimes emails just get lost in the shuffle. Some days we get 50 emails, and some days we get two. Everyone who reads the mailbox works at least one job, and each person gives as much time to UU as he/she can. It's all volunteer. Things sometimes fall through the cracks. I'm awake right now because I just got home from my second part-time job, and I'm posting this comment and scheduling items for tomorrow even though I'd much rather be in bed.
8) Just for the record, we don't discriminate against neighborhoods, and we do run a lot about the Clarendon Park area.
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So, now that that's out of the way -- what's the weed situation like at Maryville now? Are the people who cut the lawn taking care of the parkways, which you sent in photos of? If not, have you tried to contact the developers? Are the weeds better or worse than they were when you sent in the pictures a month ago?
Dutchess -
ReplyDeleteI have sent a couple things to UU that were not (ever) posted to my knowledge.
The unfortunate realty was that there was other stuff going on that required the immidiate attention of the community.
I used to live over by Maryville, and now like closer to Uptown Square. Wihtout UU, I would have had no idea of problems at either Maryville or around Sheridan Park, even though I lived less than a mile from each!
I think your heart is in the right place, but let's not turn on UU and others in out community that are concerned about the state of affairs here. I think its awesome that Uptown has people like you focusing on the issues over at Maryville as well as the poster who sent the Malden Pics to focus on the issues over there.
If you post the tracking numbers from your calls to 311, I can join you in the follow up effort here.
Has anyone actually taken the time to pick up the phone and call 311? It's a really simple task and it only takes a moment of your time.
ReplyDeleteI live w/ a window view of this lot and walk my dog past it daily. Honestly the grass inside the fence is quite nice compared to whatever our ward would allow to be developed in this space. They need to take care of the parkway some more, but I for one am not pushing hard for any development here. In 3 years I have never seen anyone in it, trash yes, but no people or drug addicts. They prefer the kids playlot two lots north.
ReplyDeleteI've noticed over the last few years that they're slow to cut the grass at the beginning of the season but after that it's always kept nice and neat.
ReplyDeleteI heard that many years ago the city tried to buy/confiscate the land because they thought it would be a great place for a treatment center. The owner of the property fought the plans and kept the overly restricted zoned lots. I’m sure someone on this site can fill us in with greater detail on that lovely story.
Anyone try emailing Shiller's office? I can't stand the woman, but her staff has been quite responsive I have reported similar problems near my building. I can't guarantee results, but its worth a try.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, isn't it a damn shame that the oldest house in Sheridan Park (the white house that was directly behind these lots on Beacon) wasn't moved across the alley to one of these lots? How cool would that have been? Instead, the developer tore it down and we still have 5 empty, overgrown lots on Malden and a sink hole on Beacon.
I still remember hearing a rumor that the person who owns these lots refuses to do anything with them until Helen is out of office. Could be a myth, but they sure missed a fat profit in the mid-2000's by letting them sit vacant.
I think that UU has done so much for the neighborhood already that the last thing you guys should be doing is defending yourselves against accusations that you're not doing enough. Please keep up the good works. The effects are most certainly showing and the neighborhood wouldn't be the same without you.
ReplyDeleteThese lots, if not developed, should be used for neighborhood garden plots. If the owners won't develope the land then let the people use it until other uses are found.
ReplyDeleteTimothy, that's an admirable thought, but can you imagine the liability the owner would incur if the lots were opened up to the public - especially given the activity that would likely take place there...
ReplyDeleteMany years ago when this part of Uptown was blighted, ill-intentioned city planners might have viewed this land as a perfect place for a treatment center of some sort or some other inappropriate (for the neighborhood) project from which they could personally gain.
ReplyDeleteThe highest and best use of this land, in my opinion, is well designed, properly scaled residential sold at current market rates that will attract more caring residents to what is a very nice street in a very nice community to help with the progress here.
I would rather see land in Uptown sit vacant (and properly maintained) then developed by people hell bent on making the same mistakes of the past that have left Uptown in the precarious position we find it in today.
Newark Mayor Cory Booker tells a story about a similar lot in Newark, which one neighborhood resident just decided to start mowing and caring for. Quite a compelling story. http://www.acslaw.org/node/16387
ReplyDeleteEvery morning I walk past Maryville to get the bus. Until they put the fence up I would actually walk on the through-way behind the building. 4 out of 5 days a week there were people sleeping back there or if they had woken up already, just hanging out. Sometimes they were already drinking beer at 7 or 8am. With the fence and boarded windows and the lack of maintence to the building and grounds, it looks awful. I have reported it but that got as much attention as when I report trees that need to be trimmed to the alderman's office. lol
ReplyDeleteKitty - this kind of "positive loitering" has been taking place in other "troubled" neighborhoods around the city, with mostly good results. Neighborhood residents take over a vacant lot, plant flowers & veggies, make the produce available for anyone who asks (because it's a COMMUNITY garden) including local food drives, and by their presence during the day (planting, weeding, harvesting, etc.) keep the bad guys away.
ReplyDeleteIt's happened near Cabrini-Green and in Logan Square...what makes you so pessimistic about Uptown?
Gayle - this is private property. Do you pay the property taxes? What makes you think the community can just "take it over?" If these were my lots (of course I'd keep them mowed), I'd be super pissed if I had people trespassing and doing whatever they want on my land. So its ok for you to plant a garden, then its ok for gang bangers to hang out there all night, right?
ReplyDeleteKeep it fenced off and develop it after Shiller is out. "Development" and "Shiller" never go too well in the same sentence so its better off empty.
I also don't consider myself "pessimistic" about Uptown, Gayle (I just like to respect a land oweners rights). You're the one comparing Uptown to a "troubled" neighborhood. We have our problems, but Uptown is not anything like Cabrini.
My twin labradoodles, Genghis and Khan, love some of the weeds along the fenceline on this property.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, those must be some tasty ass weeds.
Once the economy picks up again I'd like to see a four story building go up there. Something better looking than much of the more recent construction and no split faced block on the sides or rear of the building.
Throw in indoor parking with "elevator lifts" so you can get two cars in nearly every spot and that would be a nice addition to da hood.
When lots go undeveloped like this for years, they should be put to some sort of good use. It would be great to see this turned into some community gardens or a park area instead of a blighted area. These little things would do so much for the neighborhood. The lot east of Hazel on Wilson is exactly the same, and it could be great art center space for the high school across the street, or a park.
ReplyDelete"Until there are leaders who will listen, it falls on the residents of Uptown to implement change. It's time-consuming, frustrating and it's not our job."
ReplyDeleteIt is our job actually. That is how a democracy is supposed to work. We "hire" representatives to take care of government and issues, but if they fail, we tell them. We are the boss, we do the work if they can't or won't, and we elect people who can and do listen to their constituents, all of them. It is time consuming, but it is what citizenship is all about. Change only occurs from action.
Sorry, Stef, I didn't phrase that right. What I meant was that it's not ordinarily the job of the citizenry to implement change in the neighborhood by positive loitering, by going to court, by serving on task forces, by pressuring the city to enforce its own ordinances, by filing lawsuits, by doing all the things that Uptown residents do to make our voice heard. It *is* frustrating and time-consuming. Personally, I can't wait until we have leadership who listens to and is guided by, rather than thwarts, residents.
ReplyDeleteI learned from a good source that the owners of this lot received a citation.
ReplyDeleteA reader just wrote in to tell us that there is a crew of landscapers mowing and weed-eating this lot as we speak. Progress.
ReplyDeleteBRAVO UU! I am watching them mow. The poor guys have to stop every once in a while (probably to move nasty debris), but they're mowing. You guys kick rump! :)
ReplyDeleteJLVALUEPLAYER, I agree with you. I too live with a view of this lot (from my deck). While it can be unsightly at times, in 4 years of living in Uptown I have never seen a person inside the lot. Sure I do see the occasional piece of trash blowing around but never loitering, never drug dealing. You're also right in that the loiterers and dealers use the park up the street at Leland/Malden. A shame. I don't have a problem with the lot being undeveloped. It's nicer to look out at a "prairie" while I sit on my deck than other people 30 yards away sitting on their decks facing me from the other side of the alley.
ReplyDeleteBAD BRAD, I too have heard that the owner refuses to develop while Shiller's in office. We actually had our real estate agent look into what was planned for the lot when we purchased our condo because we were concerned about what may become of the space. Our agent learned the same thing (not sure how) but I trust she had a good source.
The workers left yesterday without mowing the parkway. They also left a lot of cans, bottles, and other debris on the lots rather than collecting them. Hopefully they'll be back today to finish the job?
ReplyDeleteWho's responsible for cleaning the parkways in front of properties? Is it the property owner or is it the city's responsibility? Anyone know? The only reason I ask is because the parkway in front of that lot is still a mess and still completely littered with debris.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like they chose not to mow the parkway in front of the lots as well. It's still hugely overgrown like the lots were until yesterday.
ReplyDelete