"More activity at the Wilson/Magnolia mall. A fistfight broke out between a number of people, but I could not tell how many. Cops were called and a lot of the people ran into the mini mart. The rest scattered. I did not see anyone questioned or taken into custody. Watch out!"
From a police officer in the comments: "FYI a private citizen CANNOT sign complaints about loitering on someone else's private property. I've been to that grocery store @ Wilson and Magnolia many times to get them to sign complaints for loitering and they WILL NOT sign complaints. They want the $ from the gangbangers' business. NONE of the stores will sign complaints for loitering so I sugguest that you boycott all of the stores in that mini mall!"
Well we cannot file a complaint about loitering is true. We can let them know, in person and telephone, that if they don`t do anything to help solve the problem they are ignoring, we can get neighbors to boycott and picket shopping at their store. They need a strong message sent.
ReplyDeleteMake the stores in that mini mall decide whose business they want. Do you want the gangbangers business which consists of chips and pop (about $1.75 each)and hangout outside the store preventing anyone else to go inside. Or do you want the residents business who won't loiter after their purchase?
ReplyDeleteAll of the stores in that strip mall? The Subway and the Chinese restaurant seem ok - don't see people loitering in them, or in front usually.. only the "Food Mart". The businesses across the street are even better about keeping the 'problems' at bay (Starbucks, Alma Pita).
ReplyDeleteBy the by, I found a busted up garage door opener at the southeast corner of Wilson & Beacon right by the trash can in front of Fontana. I know there was discussion about one getting stolen recently. It is probably still there, and I took a picture of the cover if anyone really cares to see.
I've boycotted these businesses for over six months now. I used to go visit on occasion because I was tired of supporting Sheridan Park Liquors, but no more. These criminal vermin feel very safe in this mall. I don't, and won't until it stops being a sanctuary for drug dealers and gangs huddling to figure out who to attack next.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the strip mall owners can be convinced to hire a security guard who can monitor the property and stop the loitering.
ReplyDeleteFrom the county assessor's site, you can find the PIN of the property, 4544 N Magnolia: 14-17-117-009-0000.
From the county recorder's site, you can see that the property was transferred from "Metro Holdings Chgo LLC" to "CH & Y Inv LLC" late last year.
That's as far as I know how to get. Anyone know how to identify who the owners are?
Giuseppi - If it's an LLC (roughly the equivalent of the corporation) the Illinois Secretary of State has information about the "real" owners on hand.
ReplyDeleteI have stepped foot in the mini-mart once and did not like the set up. Too cluttered, I wonder how much money they lose to shoplifting. On occasion I will order takeout from the Chinese place and on numerous trips there will be people loitering with no sign that they ordered food or plan on ordering any. I have never seen a problem at the Subway.
ReplyDeleteFor the people calling for a boycott, how many of you already go to those places? A boycott doesn't mean anything if everyone boycotting never shopped there in the first place.
The answer is actually to start patronizing the places. I know Sheridan liquors has gotten worse lately, but I personally have never had an issue there and Mary and Nancy seem to look out for me and my friends. They have an amazing selection of premium beer stocked. I try to buy things from them regularly because they want the business of someone buying a $10 6-pack of premium beer over the guys buying Natty Light.
We are the good customers. We spend more money, we don't shoplift, and our mere presence helps scare away the bad guys. We all like positive loitering right? Think of this as positive shopping. Go in groups if you don't want to be there alone. Get a group of people together, order some Chinese, and eat in the restaurant. Call 911 on anything you see while you are there.
Boycotting the businesses will just lead them to take whatever money they can get and that will be the gangbangers money. If they close, who do you think will move in to that empty spot?
If it is an LLC it has to be registered with the Secretary of State...
ReplyDeleteFinding the owners will be tough. This property was being foreclosed upon last year. That is why the former owners panicked and doubled the rent and people left. The building across the street (Starbucks) did have the same owners but no longer.
ReplyDeleteI would bet a bank now owns this property or a builder who is looking to unload.
Where are our "white shirt" defenders now? Come on out an play.
Any one of those businesses can sign complaints for loitering because they are considered agents for the property. The thugs don't have to be in front of their business to sign complaints. It's like if someone is inside your front or backyard. You are an agent for the property which is private property....just like the mini mall.
ReplyDeleteRemember it's only loitering when an agent for the property tells someone to leave and they refuse. You can't call police to get them arrested for loitering when no one has told them to leave first, even with "no loitering" signs posted.
If the thugs are outside of the property, on the public way (sidewalk) the businesses CANNOT sign complaints.
You know what this area needs? More liquor sales.
ReplyDeleteI avoid that place all together.....I don't even want to go near all that rif-raf for fear that I might get caught in the middle of something. If I was Subway, I make the extra 2 block walk over to Clark and Montrose.
ReplyDeleteBrad - can you please write to uptownupdate@hotmail.com so we can put you in touch with someone about the garage door opener?
ReplyDeleteWe love eating at Magnolia Cafe, but have given up on it recently, due to the gang activity. Parking at night there is just ugly, so we just dont feel safe.
ReplyDeleteAnd we only got to the greek place next to starbucks during the day, when there's street parking on wilson. You would think the owners of these places, starbucks included, would be hopping mad and demanding action from fellow merchants.
The actual name of the grocery store is Top Choice Grocery, Inc at 4544 N Magnolia and it's owner is a Mr. Muhammad Sohail.
ReplyDeleteConcerned citizens could probably call 311 and report the business as a public nuisance. Sometimes store owners are afraid to speak out or make changes due to fears of retaliation, getting more city people involved might give the owner cover to make some positive changes.
There isn't much in that strip mall...if memory serves, it's just the mini-mart, the Subway, and two restaurants.
ReplyDeleteTried the Ghana restaurant last week...it was overpriced and the meat was pretty low quality.
It seems to me that the key to stopping all this is to find a way to let the strip mall owners know that the gangbanger presence IS hurting their business. Someone also might like to talk to the current business owners/tenants and see if they feel their business is hurt by the bangers. The people at the Ghana restaurant were nice and so have the Subway people.
@Wilson Avenue Watcher - I'm enjoying the way you are thinking on this one.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm in. Hopefully this Quicky Mart has some ginger ale tonight when I stop by. The bangers can go eff themselves; this quicky mart is mine now.
If anyone is looking for a non-ghetto alternative when purchasing liquor, I was impressed by the renovation at Rayan's at Clark and Wilson...it really looks great in there, a lot classier than you'd expect from Clark St. north of Montrose but south of Andersonville.
ReplyDeleteI'd say whether you are boycotting or actively supporting, make sure the store owners actually know it/why. Otherwise your boycott means nothing as they might just attribute the lost revenue to economic times or a general lack of patrons etc rather than a boycott. Just a thought.
ReplyDeleteI've heard that some shop owners pump classical music in their stores and onto the sidewalk because it discourages loitering. Might some of you loyal customers try to convince the owners of this? Anybody want to offer up a nice mix CD? At best this would help a little but it sure as hell can't hurt!
ReplyDeleteThis is the Food Mart that supplies these hoodlums with all their necessities... disposable white t-shirts and their 25 cent cheetos snacks. Btw, every chip snack wrapper coming out of that mart is littered all over my front lawn! Until these store owners give up these sales practices and market towards gangsta's nothing will ever change. I'm tired of it!! I'm trying to sell my place and get out of here like everyone else on the block and I can't because of these kids with lack of parenting our destroying this town and reputation.
ReplyDeleteSeems to me that we need to do what New York City did some years ago to clean up the crime they had.
ReplyDeleteThey decided to fine and/or arrest for EVERYTHING ... littering, loitering, drinking in public, using public places as bathrooms, foul language, ignoring curfews, use of guns, etc. etc. etc. etc.
I realize this is dramatic. But it did seem to work for NYC.
Oh, come on Doctor. At least half of those cheetos bags are on my lawn. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI boycott JJ Peppers because of their price-gouging and also their hoodlum problem
ReplyDeleteThe strip mall is hardly the problem. It's just a place like the many others that the gang members hang around.
ReplyDeleteI have lived on Malden for 10 years and believe me, the gang members do not care if they see you standing around or entering a shop that they patronize. Two people were shot yesterday in the late afternoon in broad daylight and how many other shootings have occured in recent memory on busy streets, at crowds of people, in broad daylight? They do not care if you are out or what you are doing.
I have no answer to the problems and I don't know if one exists if you are dealing with people that don't seem to have much of a conscience. A large city-wide police crackdown is needed and that sort of thing is hardly ideal, though basing it on NYC, it appeared to work, but not without a lot of other issues coming up.
I don't really believe the positive loitering does anything, boycotting the shops will not matter, since I agree with Wilson Ave Watcher in that I am guessing a large number of you do not go to the shops. I mean - do you really need to go to the Food Mart unless you are a smoker or need the ATM? It isn't really a useful store. I go to the liquor store regularly for all sorts of things and it seems no worse or better than ever. Also, the gang members don't just loiter at the strip mall. They are in the playlot, on the street corners of Wilson and Magnolia and Wilson and Malden. Up and down Magnolia, Wilson, and Malden, out near Truman and of course Sunnyside Mall.
The fact is, they live here, they don't seem to be going anywhere, the alderman doesn't care, the transient nature of the neighborhood makes it carefee, and the gang members don't care that you're standing around a corner. The media all but ignores the issues and even they publicized it, what would it do? It would keep people away from here, which is probably not what the neighborhood needs. But my own personal answer is to get out of here.
I noticed an ambulance and multiple cop cars on Magnolia near this same strip mall this evening at 5:30pm. Does anyone know what happened?
ReplyDeleteWell said, Bob's Yer Uncle
ReplyDeleteWell....on an unrelated note, the 46th Ward website has info that's TWENTY days old as the lead 'story'. An early July posting about the Red Line not stopping on Argyle.
ReplyDeleteIs their server down?
It seems that I'm already boycotting almost my entire neighborhood, except Target (so far). I do go to Aldi for a few items, and I"m always stuck behind someone who is drenched in urine or someone talking filth/swearing up a storm.
ReplyDeleteI have eaten at Ciudad a few times with no issues .... but that is literally the first restaurant I've frequented in this neighborhood in 3 years!
Went to Magnolia Cafe when I moved here 3 years ago, but never go back because walking over there is running the gauntlet. So feeling badly about not supporting my neighborhood places, went to brunch at Magnolia this past Sunday (despite the gauntlet). It was a lovely sunny day so sat outside. And guess what ..... i had FREE entertainment with three drunks sitting on the bus bench across the street, shouting, swearing, well you get the idea. I remembered why while I live here, I don't do anything in my own neighborhood. On top of having the drunks spoil my meal, our bill was $70 for two people for brunch. Ok, why would I pay that here in Uptown, with what I have to put up with?
Before moving here, I honestly didn't think that Uptown would be that dangerous (most importantly) or so unpleasant in general (secondary of course).
this strip mall is definitely a problem. i see gang members hanging out there just watching the neighborhood all the time. the shop keepers need to be responsible and call the police every time they show up.
ReplyDeleteinfact, as i write this there's drama going on there right now! i was just walking home from the wilson red line stop and had to call the police because a crowd of at least 15 men were all fighting. the police were there within 60 seconds of when i called; someone else must've called right before me.
@ SuzyQ
ReplyDeleteYou're missing out on a ton of good eats: Siam Noodle (thai), Sun Wah (chinese), Tank Noodle (vietnamese), Ba Le (vietnamese sandwiches), Villa May (pizza), Alma Pita (lebanese), Demara (eithiopian), Tiztal (go there for breakfast and get a great waffle for cheap), Blue Ocean (sushi), the Mexican place across from Vis Vitae (burritos), Cafe Too (another lovely breakfast place), Golden Pancake House (cheap, but great diner breakfast), etc., etc. Many of these places will also deliver (Siam Noodle is my personal favorite).
Want bars? Try Nicks, Fat Cat, Green Mill, Crew, Uptown Lounge, Carol's or the Wilde Pug (heck, for a real dive bar experience, you could visit Max's place, where friends meet friends).
Seriously, this is a great area of the city for food and drink and everything is within a 10 minute walk.
Other non-food places you could visit: Sheridan Liquors or Rayan liquors for good beer, Walgreens, Staples, Truman College Continuing Ed, Uptown Bikes, Crafty Beaver, the Riv and Aragon.
Bottom line, unless you are just one of those people that bought in Uptown hoping for a good deal and then walk out of your place and take a cab to Lincoln park each night, you can do this. Really. Time to explore this amazing neighborhood that we're all fighting for...
I know for a fact that the blonde guy at subway allows the p-stones in there without question and the only time he raises his voice is when the police come in there to determine whether these "kids" are loitering or patronizing the place. He calls them kids but they ages range from 21 to 30. What his motivation is for allowing them to remain there and watch wilson avenue for trouble just puzzles me. YOu would think that them using subway as an outpost to watch for other gangs and the police would bother him but he's more concerned with their rights than with the repurcusion of their actions.
ReplyDeleteOne last point. Aaron Carter was arrested in January for possession of a gun by a fellon. Why was he released? If the police caught him with a gun then where in the process was it considered that he should be free to prowl the streets? He was a known shooter for the gang and a multiple felon. We need to look further than the police for these answers. May be something to think about when voting in the next round of judges. None of them live in our neighborhood so they don't care who they set free. THEY NEED TO BE VOTED OUT!!!
IL SOS web site: http://www.ilsos.gov/corporatellc/index.jsp
ReplyDeleteBrings up: CH & Y Investment, LLC
Managed by: CHONG P. YUM and HWA S. YUM, 100 SOUTH PARKWAY, PROSPECT HEIGHTS, IL - 60070
The site does not disclose if they are the members of the LLC, but since they are both managers and given the name, my guess is that they are also the members (i.e., the owners).
Principal office: 4544-4556 N MAGNOLIA AVE, CHICAGO, IL 60640
Registered Agent: SUE J HYUNG, 1247 N MILWAUKEE AVE STE 304, GLENVIEW, IL 60025
I love the Chinese restaurant in the mall, but a few times I was there the thugs came in sat down and were spewing some obscene language. I recall one time a young woman was sitting with a man who was dissing her up and down using all kinds of language to the point that she broke down crying. They have no respect for business, and what can the businesses do? Maybe put up a sign "no loitering"...but the Subway guy doesn't tolerate the loitering and hanging around. it seems to be the food mart primarily...and the Chinese restaurant seems helpless.
ReplyDeleteBut the problem is the Section 8 housing around the corner. Clean up the housing apartment and you'll clean up half of your problems.