"I snapped this pic in front of Arnold's moments ago. Here is the neighborhood eyesore of "Cash For Gold" people directly in front of Arnold's door. This is partly why they closed! The van in the background is Arnold's moving van. The owners of Arnolds are hauling their stuff out today to flee from this kind of crap. Notice the four street people hanging out in front of the business. I sincerely hope the entire Uptown community makes a big stink about these Cash for Gold people. They harass people on the sidewalk and are a complete business killer!"
UU Note: According to a sign on its door, Arnold's recommends customers visit its "other location" -- the Diner Grill at 1635 W Irving Park.
Not sure if this issue will get addressed until a new Alderman is in office, but this should be a very easy one to address.
ReplyDeleteEnforce our laws that discourage this type of thing, and put pressure on Cash for Gold to take some responsibility for its business.
Partnership between the other businesses, the police, and the Alderman's officer, perhaps?
Sidewalk solicitation is constitutional grey area, AFAIK. What are the laws that apply in Chicago? I'm interested, if anyone knows.
ReplyDeleteSidewalk solicitation may be a grey area, but operating without a license is not. Much like our friend the sock salesman, this guy is probably not operating with a valid business license.
ReplyDeleteIt really makes the area look so ghetto to have these people with their ugly signs. It is a real turn-off for customers. I also am starting to see people standing on the corner of Sheridan and Montrose with sale signs from Unique Thrift Store when they have sale days. Call them and voice your anger over what they are doing to our neighborhood. 1-708-371-4242. The front of their store looks like sign city too. They act like they don`t know what I was talking about.
ReplyDeleteA Cash 4 Gold business in general is a blight on a neighborhood, like those awful usurious payday loan places.
ReplyDeleteThe guy who runs the tattoo parlor next to Arnold's rents out the building that Cash 4 Gold is blighting up. Talk to him.
ReplyDeleteWhat should really make us mad is that the economy is such that people feel a need to trade in their gold for cash!
ReplyDeleteRemember, Uptown is an economically diverse neighborhood and the businesses (both legal and non-) cannot survive on poor peoples' patronage alone.
Did you know that the prime demographic for pawn shops (often also cited as evidence of "blight") is now the working- and middle-class?
I think the fact that a person is holding the sign allows most zoning laws to be effectively dodged. This is why the human-sign-holder job exists at all.
ReplyDeleteI certainly wish it would go away. Hopefully, they are only there temporarily, I don't think the operation looks very permanent IMO.
I look at Irving and Broadway with a sigh....Wilson and Broadway is so dreadful, that this still seems like a little piece of civilized heaven.
ReplyDeleteI REALLY look forward to the time when the area surrounding the Alderman's Office, is a place of pride and stability. (not to mention progress).
Alot of guys from all over hang acroos from the Uhaul place on Broadway also-but they are usually looking for work.People ask them to do moving jobs and charge alot cheaper than hiring a moving company.Problem is ,alot are hanging around just asking for money and drinking.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with the uhaul place
ReplyDeleteon broadway is that it is an ugly cinderblock windowless excuse for a building.
It should be a regular windowed nice storefront/factory type building. And shouldnt allow loitering of the unsavory type.
If you guys hound the uhaul (by phone or in person) about the loitering I think this would c change, but someone(s) local has to really care and to consistently call for this to change.
Do people actually hire the guys that hang around the UHaul facility? I don't live around that area to notice guys getting hired, but I suspect that it has to happen a few times to make it profitable for them to do that.
ReplyDeleteWhat is interesting is that the other UHaul facility that I'm familar with is off of Fullerton Ave, and it'll be a cold day in he-LL before you get a group of dudes hanging around that facility all day looking for jobs.
Geofredo - I believe most storage-company buildings are windowless (except perhaps at the front-office area) for security reasons.
ReplyDeleteMy family has a lot of heirlooms, etc. stored at an out-of-town facility like this and I'm quite glad that there are no "windows of opportunity" that could give bad guys ideas on how to sneak in and steal the merchandise!
Regarding people "hanging around looking for work" - this is a common part of just about all urban societies, stretching back to the Bible. (There's a famous sermon in the New Testament about this practice which I shall not bore you with here.)
There are other spots like these scattered around the city, where employers (legit or borderline) know to go to in order to pick up a few day laborers for cash wages.
Knowing Uptown's demographics I'm not at all surprised to find it here.
Believe me, Home Depot's are notorious for men of Hispanic origin hanging around looking for jobs. It's not an African thing at all, just curious as to why it happens in one part of the city and not in others.
ReplyDeleteWhen I lived in L.A., I always saw lots of men (always Hispanic) looking for work at the Home Depot on Sunset Blvd. I never saw them harass anyone, though, so more power to them for trying to get some work.
ReplyDeleteI see the men in front of that U-Haul every time I pass there.
It does not matter if they are white,black,blue ,pink whatever.If they are looking for work ,thats great.You can tell the difference if they want to work or just hanging around drinking and asking for money.
ReplyDelete100% agree with Molbop. Trying to make a living while not harassing is not what's at discussion with the Uhaul people. They block the sidewalk and drink all day/lean up on the cars.
ReplyDeleteThe Cash For Gold people make our neighborhood look trashy!
ReplyDeleteYeah late in the afternoon, usually its just guys drinking and hanging out. That is not needed.
ReplyDeleteThe uhaul building at racine and fullerton is an old factory building, nice looking.
Its has a regular look to it.
The uhaul building on broadway is very depressing, ok, it has two windows at the very bottom north end, otherwise its a cinderblock monstrosity.
The old storage buildings of chicago do have windows, they arent huge for a reason, but they do have windows and are not abdominations.
Even the prison in downtown has tiny windows, which makes it looks cool.
The guys outside of the Uhaul aren't looking for jobs. They stand out there and party and heckle people all day.
ReplyDeleteCappleman has been in an office just down the street from these guys for two weeks. I don't see him making any changes to the situation.
Loiterers and public drinkers be gone!
Gee, Moosh (aka the 46h and Bittersweet Place and who knows how many other IDs), Michael Carroll has lived footsteps from the U-Haul loiterers for years and they're still there. So have you. So has Molly. So now you're blaming Cappleman for them?
ReplyDeleteTruth is, with no blame attached to any of the current candidates or residents, there's been a task force of community members working for years to try to resolve the problem. Cappleman has been on it, as have many Buena Park residents.
The task force has arranged offers of employment to the regulars there, all of which were rebuffed. The current alderman supports the loiterers. I imagine that's a situation the new alderman will take on, hopefully more to the satisfaction of the local residents.
Moosh, you're the only one playing the tired old "Let's pit Candidate A against Candidate B" game. It's already old. (Have you heard the term "negative excitement"? You might want to google it.) Again, truth is, we have a fine slate of candidates. What a relief to have positivity instead of the hatred and divisiveness that Shiller has promoted for so long. The community is sick of bashing people -- and that's why very few people are playing the negativity card.
Vote for your candidate of choice (and we all know who that is). Promote him or her. But the negativity? We've had it and we're sick of it. Funny that in promoting Carroll, you're acting just like Shiller.
I have to wonder how many people have been turned off to Carroll by your acid attacks?
Carroll's a nice guy and I have to wonder how he feels about you acting as his very own "Helen Shiller"?
@TrumanSquareNabr
ReplyDeletePress here to listen.