"I wanted to highlight some of the other effects of the Lawrence House scaffolding coming down: the drug dealers and crackheads are migrating elsewhere to residential streets.
I got home early from work Friday (around 3:30) to find a black woman with shorter auburnish hair dealing crack just south of the west Dib window. I saw her and two men light up a large crack pipe as they walked further south a few more houses. I shouted at them so they would stop and not feel so comfortable, but they did not seem to care. I also called police, they came right away, but I think she had already handed off the crack to the men who had walked away.
Please neighbors, be vigilant as always, but let's place some special attention to the few block radius surrounding Lawrence House now that their scaffolding cover is gone."
I also saw dealers in the alley behind the yellow convenience store at the southeast corner of Leland and Broadway....dealing out in the open yesterday... this is a new spot for them.. hope the police read this and start busting people there too .. I, too, called it in as an FYI..
ReplyDeleteSimilar to cleaning up Blood Alley, it's a case of careful what you wish for.
ReplyDeleteUnless we take a unified approach that that crap is not tolerated in Uptown, they will just keep moving from one dark corner to another.
Shouting at them only gets their attention to get rid of evidence. Instead, just call the cops and have them deal with it. You wouldn't want to get too many crackheads' attention.
ReplyDeleteTrust me, the more times you call 911, the more likely that these people will move on to another area where they don't get the cops called on them.
I know all about this in my neck of the woods, up in Rogers Park they still try my corner of wayne and farwell since Morse is a bit too high profile now.
ReplyDeleteIt takes awhile to dry up a drug dealing operation. Like I said I have been fighting with them the past 5 years at morse and wayne.
ReplyDeleteDont give up!
Once out ward is in the hands of our new Alderman lets see if his words become action and he can work with the CPD about addressing these areas of drug dealing that can be seen daily all around Uptown streets.
ReplyDeleteA solution to one problem inevitably creates another host of issues or problems. The hope has to be is that the negative effects of the newer issues is less than the negative effects of the "solved" issue.
ReplyDeleteA somewhat famous military theorist by the name of John Boyd explained it better than lil ole me.
FYI...We live on Beacon and had our garage broken into! Young hispanic male, black hair, backpack, black
ReplyDeletehoodie, white shirt, nice new gym shoes jumped the fence, walked down our side yard and into the garage and rode out on an expensive black bike with specialty toe clips and "handle bar". great photo of the young thief which was turned over to police. Early AM robber! He also rode off with our garage door opener. Be watchful everyone!
Michele,
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry about your property losses, but I'm perplexed about how someone could have simply jumped a fence, walked into your garage, and walk away with the things that were stolen. It's great to have a photo, but where were the basic precautions of locking up your garage and locking up the bike and garage door opener?
Fences and gates are things that only make unauthorized entries a *little* bit more difficult...if you have property you DON'T want stolen, you need to lock it up, chain it down, or not be worried if it grows legs and walks.
I don't recall ever seeing as much drug dealing as I've seen lately, and I've lived in the area for 6 years.
ReplyDeleteBear60640
ReplyDeleteWe have security locked our front gate with camera and buzz entrance only. We have a 5 foot iron fence. He used our neighbors property to climb our wooden fence. We have security systems, etc. If you watched the video of our thief, he did simply what I explained. Very bold. I initially thought we had left our garage door open, imagine my surprise when I watched the video. I am glad he only made off with what he did. Believe me, I dont leave things around I won't miss. At least I don't have broken windows and pryed doors to deal with. Just wanted to alert my neighbors to what happened.
Michele, I still don't understand. Did you leave a garage access door unlocked for the guy to walk through? Did you leave your garage door remote sitting on the dashboard of an unlocked car? Again, I'm sorry to hear of your property losses--and I applaud you taking the initiative to let your neighbors know that this happened--but the most basic security stuff like stowing valuables and using LOCKS does a lot more good than showing a police officer a videotape of a fait accompli (particularly when they're chasing after people committing higher-priority crimes that you read about here in UU).
ReplyDeleteHere's what I'm talking about: lock your garage door remote in your car (and out of view)...and then lock your garage doors, too. Don't trust that a 5-foot wrought iron fence (which is nothing more to a burglar than a pummel-horse is to a gymnast) will keep people out...and if your neighbors' property is not secured, don't expect your own grounds to be secured. Over the past 16 years, I've seen that people can vault over our SIX-foot gates, and climb over EIGHT-foot chain link fences and wood fences; overhead garage doors can be pried open *just enough* for a skinny person to slide beneath if there's too much play in the mechanisms, and there's much more. Like I said before, lock things down tight as a drum if you want to keep them, or be prepared for sticky fingers to take what you have. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. And be sure that you have your garage door opener re-programmed when you get a new remote.
Hey Bear, knock it off.. she did nothing wrong.. if she had let all the doors and windows open to let the breeze in.. it was on her property...SHE was the victim here... and she is trying to share her story with the neighborhood...
ReplyDeleteso please, be a little more sympathetic and a lot less judgemental and preachy..
Ok Bear I get it! basic stuff... My bad that some guy jumps my fence on my private property and steals my stuff out of my garage. Got it! My point is that this guy is in our neighborhood and is a calm, cool thief. Lock your stuff up! All for it! There were plenty of other things he could have taken, but didn't. He knows our pattern and habits. This isn't his first theft. Perhaps this has or will happen to someone else. Maybe You'll have your stuff locked up and he'll bust the window on your car or saw off your exhaust system for scrap. Don't know! Just letting readers know.
ReplyDelete@Bear - I am soooo tired of people blaming the victim when they are victimized. I should be able to leave all my windows and doors open with my valuables in plain sight and expect them to stay where they are. Unfortunately, we don't live in a world where that is possible and doing so would make me unwise. However, if I was unwise and was victimized, it is NOT my fault. The only person at fault is the POS that stole what did not belong to him/her. Such is the case with Michele. NOT HER FAULT! Back off.
ReplyDelete@uptownwitch
ReplyDeleteAt first I thought you were all sarcastically funny and wise and I was smiling, but then you ended on a bad note and I frowned.
First rule: Protect your ass...ets.
Second rule: This ain't your college campus, sweetie.
@Toucan: I agree it is unwise to leave ones ass-ets hanging out for all to see. What I take issue with is someone immediately going on the attack against the victim, regardless of how unwise they may or may not have been, like Bear attached Michele. Not cool.
ReplyDelete@Guapo and Witch: Back off yourselves. I'm not "blaming the victim"...for that matter, I've had a car stolen and stripped 25 years ago, and had cars broken into in two different garages since then. I didn't kick Michele in the teeth, but I *was* sharing wisdom. It certainly isn't Michele's fault that someone climbed the fence from her neighbor's and stole from her, but can we please learn from the experience instead of just wringing our hands?
ReplyDeleteIn my own building over the past 16years, one neighbor had a bike stolen from his front deck, another neighbor had thousands of dollars of business merchandise stolen from his garage by virtue of the overhead door being pried open as I described...I've chased off people who have been on our garage roof, had one neighbor in a garden unit have a guy on a drug trip try to knock in her kitchen window (while she was sitting there) after he vaulted our gate, AND the CPD have met us in our back yard at least twice--from chasing suspects who climbed our fences or vaulted our gates. We have learned from our experiences in our building, and we fixed overhead garage doors, keep doors locked, trimmed back bushes, moved dumpsters back, secured valuable property, and added security lighting to make us less easy targets.
Which leads me AGAIN to the question I asked, Michele. We all know that there are criminals in the neighborhood who will steal stuff when given the chance, and we all know that there are lots of those criminals who are very smooth and experienced. Your garage door apparently didn't get pried open, and your garage windows apparently didn't get broken out in order for the perp to get in there to steal your stuff. Did you leave things out, or did you NOT take those precautions? Is there something that we can learn from your experience, or should I actually BE rude and ask if you're simply spreading old news that we have people in Uptown who trespass on private property and steal things?
I'm the thief! Muah ha ha ha....
ReplyDeleteNo, actually, sorry you got jacked. That stinks.
ReplyDeleteI was complaining to some of my service providers that things at the LH had gotten worse, especially when the scaffolding went up and the general consensus was I was just being a jerk and overreacting. Glad to see you guys validate my belief. I predict something really horrible will happen at LH, probably a bloody murder right in front of their front door or worse, and maybe something will finally be done about the situation there.
ReplyDeleteHi, I'm Uptown Update commenters.
ReplyDeleteI don't have any major foes to attack since the elections are over so now I'm going to go after myself! Isn't that fun?
So instead of having two candidates and their supporters to battle, I can nitpick and fight myself on EVERY SINGLE POST from drug dealers to murals.
I bet this makes the community on the blog stronger as well as providing an fun daily (or now LESS than daily) read!
Michele, you used alot of exclamation points.
ReplyDeleteCP - I hope that nothing too awful happens, but keep spreading the word, calling 911, etc. We appreciate - and validate - your concerns.
ReplyDelete@ALL - Let's bring the fun back to Uptown!
ReplyDeleteRegarding Lawrence House, I wish they would sell it to a responsible developer who is really interested in a Win/Win outcome. Clean it up, provide safe affordable housing, and make a return. It CAN be done in Uptown...
I like exclamation points. They're fun. I certainly didn't mean two raise such issue here. Nor was I looking for sympathy. I don't leave my ass..ets hanging around for all to see. It was only a bike, no one was injured. Having lived in the city, I tend not to lock certain things because having had car windows broken and other things broken that are costly to fix and are a big hassle to deal with. I just don't leave anything around worth stealing. The bike we usually bring in the house, but just didn't that night. My point was just to raise awareness that there have been burglaries lately of the sort we experienced on the midnight shift according to CPD.
ReplyDeleteAs a side note, if for some reason you decide to live in a building that is serviced heavily and has many clients of mental health services, you are often placing yourself in a situation where you are not treated like an adult. Often the staff feels it's ok to search your room (without a search warrant/police officer), items go missing, and they threaten you with consequences about things that most adults take for granted as God given rights (like having guests/boyfriend/girlfriend over). This didn't happen at Lawrence House, but it did happen to me at some places that were just "rooms for rent" at a SRO or similar place.
ReplyDeleteI don't blame the social service agencies, they have no control over their clients when they were out of their sight. But all the same I noticed that the people who lived in these places behaved like children (breaking toilet seats, graffiti, public domestic violence) and necessitated these kinds of rules. I am finally free of those places and can live like a man should.
Today, I signed up for comments because I saw a lot of concerned neighbors. Even tho. some comments may have,in my opinion, been a little testy, people are talking and sharing and this is good for all of us (there are things that I was unaware of). So, don't stop caring about our neighborhood and about each other.I have been an active resident about as long as I have lived here, about 29 years. It does get overwhelming and consuming but it sure helps to know thst others care. Bless you all.
ReplyDelete