Looks like Uptown residents are fed up with the blatant drug dealing, loitering, and gang activity that occurs in the strip mall on the SW corner of Wilson and Magnolia on a daily basis. If you share this feeling, let your voice be heard by signing this petition that will be given to the owners of the strip mall. Please forward the petition to neighbors and your friends on Facebook.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Petition Regarding Loitering/Gang Activity In Strip Mall
Looks like Uptown residents are fed up with the blatant drug dealing, loitering, and gang activity that occurs in the strip mall on the SW corner of Wilson and Magnolia on a daily basis. If you share this feeling, let your voice be heard by signing this petition that will be given to the owners of the strip mall. Please forward the petition to neighbors and your friends on Facebook.
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I absolutely agree and will sign the petition. It should be noted, however, that these petitions never provide an alternate solution (i.e. where is all this activity going to occur if the petition is successful). In my opinion, this type of activity is going to occur somewhere, even if it is no longer visible in front of that particular strip mall. Something else is needed….how long are we going to simply sign petitions and expect any change? Any ideas on what else we can do to promote EFFECTIVE change??
ReplyDeleteNick,
ReplyDeleteAn on-site security guard would be a great start. It worked wonders on Clifton.
Sounds good. I was wondering if you know of a data base that provides information on crime statistics in Uptown. I am interested in comparing crime rates pre- and post- interventions such as police cameras, guards, ect. to see what impact, if any, these methods have on crime rates.
ReplyDeletethanks
On the evening of the vigil, I went to this strip mall and spoke to the workers at each business. I let them know that people are talking and they should tell the owners of their business that pretty soon people will boycott their business because of the loitering and gang activity. The only business that took me seriously was the Chinese restaurant. They were very concerned about the loitering and said that they haven't been able to control it. I think they are afraid of the loiterers. It's sad.
ReplyDeleteAlso...there needs to be a city wide NO LOITERING law Iike NYC has.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the link that someone posted where people took owners like this to small claims court for nuisance? Last case scenario because nobody wants to drag any local business into court.
ReplyDeleteOn the evening of the vigil, I was eating at Alma Pita's. You could set up a video camera here and catch drug deals all day long. While I was eating my Chicken Curry I watched a p-stone on a mountain bike, that was too small for him, sell crack to three different people over the span of an hour. He was just crusin around very slow and would meet people in the ally behind Subway to do the deals.
ReplyDeleteI also witnessed several cars, vans, etc pull into the lot, get drugs and drive on through, never actually parking. Everytime I eat here It's the same scene over and over again. I'm no expert yet even I know whats going on; you would have to be a moron not to.
I know that I never shopped at the strip mall. What will happen to business if the bangers are run off? Is there enough non-banger traffic?
ReplyDeleteI too continue to be very concerned about the safety of our neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteI have signed the petition but would recommend that the following sentence be edited, as the end of the sentence seems to be missing the word "from". An oversight, I am sure, but it should probably read the way it is intended.
"We are very alarmed about the recent murder that took place just steps away the mall."
I used to shop at the convenience store and Three Harmony until it got overwhelmingly frightening to be the only person in there who wasn't transacting drug deals. Seriously.
ReplyDeleteI have never eaten at the Subway, not because I don't want to, but because I'd rather drive to one in a safer location.
Drive the bangers out and watch the foot traffic increase.
Yes they should pay for security guards. It would show they care about safety conditions for their customers and help make it known loitering scum and gang activity will not be tolerated on this property. Me and my wife both signed the petition and hope it does some good but I also think not to expect some change any time soon from the slum lords that allow these conditions to be present. They are the only ones who can make them change.
ReplyDeleteHow do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. How do we clean up Uptown crime? Same way.
ReplyDeleteThe mall is the # 1 hot spot. We take the next bite, and the next one--Sunnyside Mall, Broncho Billy.
Same time, have to ask and learn, where do the people live who are involved in the drugs, gangs, and guns?
And like the engergizer bunny, you keep going, and going and going until your neighborhood is a safe and welcoming place.
I've walked to the Subway. They actually do a good job of keeping the store gang banger free; the parking lot, on the other hand...
ReplyDeleteThe petition may or may not have an impact with the store owners, but I believe it can also be brought to the attention of people at CAPS meetings, the newspapers, the alderman's office (i know i know), or other places where our voices might be heard.
ReplyDeleteIn case you didn't hear, the City's bond rating was cut today. We need to get rid of these burdens on society ASAP. No more money for "poor" drug dealers who live in public housing and drive brand new Cadillac Escalades. Then they remove the cabinets from the taxpayer funded kitchens and then SELL THEM!!
ReplyDeleteNo more crazy union rules where the City can't get anybody to do their job, excluding police and fire.
Thanks liberals!! It is finally coming home to roost for you. (Or really the rest of us because we are stuck with the bill.) This city is in bigger trouble than anybody realizes.
Just venting....
I am sitting outside at Starbucks and the cops just came over and on their speaker told the guys at the strip mall to leave. They said there is zero tolerance. It was nice to see and hear.
ReplyDeleteThese loiterers/losers need to get real jobs, which we all know will never happen.
Do the businesses there complain to the owner? They should, and should ask for security.
Last week we got our car towed from that parking lot while we were buying milk at the convenience store there and then hopping across the street to Starbuck's for 4 mins. I find it ironic - and disgusting - that legit patrons of that stripmall are harassed but the drive-thru drug market is allowed to flourish. Nice priorities, guys. I will never shop there again.
ReplyDeleteJust too qualify my previous post, I am very socially liberal.
ReplyDeleteA California Neighborhood of approximately 15 people filed small claims cases against a drug house and won. They case went to appeals and they won the appeal. Hit them in the wallet...Google California neighbors file small claims against drug house and multiple articles come up, including articles from the New York Times.
ReplyDeleteAgree with Krista - the word 'from' should be added to the petition.
ReplyDeleteAlso agree with some of the comments about the Chinese restaurant(Three Harmony) and Subway trying to keep loiterers at bay as best they can.
To Bluestreak - that is at least encouraging!
To CLC, I'm really sorry to hear your car was towed, but I'm pretty sure the parking there explicitly isn't for Starbucks.
Google California Neighbors file small claims against drug house and read the articles about how 15 neighbors made a difference by hitting a property owner in the wallet.
ReplyDeleteand put those same claims beofore the cook county judges and see what you get nada. Thanks to da mare and his cronies who run the show.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the sense of writing and complaining about the things we don't like about the community and expecting others to fix the problems. A neighborhood block club could initiate individuals small claims for $3.00 and a little time. Something positive could come from trying. Using the system as an excuse not to be proactive is surrender. (Feel like an Animal House peptalk).
ReplyDeleteGoogled as suggested: http://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/17/us/neighbors-in-west-use-small-claims-court-to-combat-drugs.html
ReplyDelete"Robert Nelson, a high school teacher who was part of the Berkeley neighborhood group, said he believed the Small Claims Court approach was ''a good process.'' But he said it addressed only a small part of the problem. The drug dealer from their block has simply moved into an apartment three blocks away, he said.
And on Ashton Avenue, Mr. Brady says his leading role in closing the drug house on his block makes him the possible target of retaliation. He has just sold his house and is moving to a location he has declined to disclose."
I read the petition and it always makes sense to have the owners involved in making the community a better place, but I will not be signing it because I think it is poorly written and because the strip mall isn't the problem with this neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteWhy are you petitioning the strip mall? Why not petition the management of the Section 8 housing if you want a petition?
The strip mall is hardly the problem. Are you going to petition the sidewalk on Malden or Magnolia or every renter and condo owner on those streets? What about Sunnyside Mall or Broncho Billy playlot? Broncho Billy is hardly a playlot after 3:00 p.m. and police ride by there all the time.
Say the petition "works" at the strip mall. What about all the other spots? I see a lot more drug dealing on the streets than I do at that strip mall. I would think the place to start would be the management of the Section 8 homes.
Bring that to the attention of others and not focus in on the strip mall unless its on a more positive note for the owners/workers of the shops. They could be, and quite possibly are, greater victims of these gangs than just the loitering.
I just don't see this being a solution to anything. Start with the housing otherwise you are not solving any gang issues.
We are already living in a war zone...Retaliation against a whole neighborhood...unlikely...Not the point....A community needs to stand up as a whole and when they move to the next house, the community is there as well. If you stand for nothing, you fall for everything... The point of a "civil" small claims case is that no one individual stands alone. We stand together as a community. It is difficult to organize against 15 neighbors on 4-5 different blocks.
ReplyDeleteI have a couple of ideas. There is a device (I think it's called the "Mosquito"), which emits an annoying sound that is heard only by people below about age 25. It is used to drive away loiterers. Why not give it a try?
ReplyDeleteAnother possibility might be to use some phony pigeons, which we could position directly over the heads of the loiterers. We can add a nice friendly touch by allowing a shop owner to, by remote control, cause the "pigeons" to drop "poop," which would be something harmless, like flour and water. I figure even the most hardened ex-con would not dare loiter beneath a bunch of pooping pigeons.