"Yesterday afternoon, a dead body was discovered in Clarendon Park. At this time, we have no information about this person's identity, but our hearts go out to his family when they learn of this news.
I have been in contact with the 23rd District Police Department and have been told that there is an active death investigation in progress. The police have not determined if the incident was an act of violence or an unfortunate accident.
If you have any information on this incident, please contact Area 3 Detectives at 312-744-8263. I will provide more information as it becomes available."
Then a second email blast with sobering information:
"Minutes after my previous newsletter went out, we learned that the death of the young man in his 30's was ruled a homicide due to blunt trauma to his head. His identity remains unknown at this time.
Public safety remains a top priority for me and the 23rd Police District. At our Town Hall meeting a few days ago, we laid out plans to promote a greater amount of safety throughout the ward. More details about that will be in our newsletter this Monday.
Prior to this murder, we already made plans to improve the lighting along the park. We will also be adding additional lighting to the new Clarendon Park dog park.
Again, if you have any information on this incident, please contact Area 3 Detectives at 312-744-8263."
Somewhere there's a family wondering why their son, or husband, or father, hasn't been home. Somewhere there's someone who committed a murder walking around free. Both truths make us sad. We hope for the quick identification of both the victim and the person who took his life.
This is a sad story, yet it doesn't shock me in the slightest bit. I feel like the neighborhood is in a downward spiral. And personally this is the last straw for me and uptown. I lived there for years in pensacola place, then another year at Sheridan and montrose. When it came time for my wife and I to buy it was a no-brainer to flee uptown. I couldn't imagine trying to resell a condo with this kind of crap going on right around the corner.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I still enjoyed eating in uptowns restaurants, going to nicks uptown every now and then, and playing softball on the fields where this person was found. But this event coupled with the numerous drug deals I've seen in plain sight during softball and the lack of action leads me to say "no more"!!! I will no longer take my wife to Michael's pizza. I will no longer go to bar on buena. I will no longer eat dinner at fat cats. And I will no longer defend uptown as a great place.
At some point you realize that the community has given up on itself and even though that isn't the reality, that is how it appears. And as my mom always told me "perception is reality"
Don't let the door hit ya on the way out, fed
ReplyDeleteIt does not surprise me either but I have owned here for over 20 years and it is not as bad as a lot of other neighborhoods I see and visit. Sure there are some gangs, homeless and other fools around here but what neighborhood does not have their own share of them too and even way worse. I too have thought of selling out and moving back into my old Bridgeport block area that is full of retired cops, city workers and the good old club boys that make it safe for sure. Fuhgetaboudit! I love Uptown, the lake and the parks too much to give it up. Crime is everywhere and it is just part of Chicago life. You can`t avoid it but you can defend yourself against it which I surely do. I still will call Uptown my home for good.
ReplyDelete"Fed-up", EXCUSE ME. How in the world can you take announcements from a responsive alderman about a heinous crime, along with a thoughtful post about it all from Caring Neighbor, and in good conscience turn it into a condemnation of your former neighborhood--and the people who live there?!?
ReplyDelete*YOU* gave up on Uptown--we haven't. YOU feel like the neighborhood is in a "downward spiral"--we don't. YOU make me angry as h*ll, because here you are, picking out one incident that could just as easily have happened in Edgewater or the South Loop, or Lake View or even Lincoln Park, and you're going off on the rest of us in Uptown like you're holier-than-thou. BFD. You lived in Pensacola Place for "several" years, and another year a block away. Some of us have invested our lives here for MORE than "a few years" and continue to do so--and we continue to chip away at the problems that took *decades* to develop. WE *do* something about it beyond b*tch and whine. WE have neither given up on ourselves nor on our neighborhood. WE pick up the phone and call 911 when we see drug deals going on, instead of expecting someone else to do all the dirty work while you play softball, stand back, and grumble "no more!!"
You said yourself that you bailed out, so I don't see why you feel the need to "contribute" to UU. You can groan and complain as much as you want, but if you don't have the b*lls to be part of the solution, then you have no business bad-mouthing the blood, sweat, and tears that literally thousands of us put into Uptown to make this a neighborhood we can all be proud of. Yes, it's a work in progress, but you can't undo the decades of damage done by Shiller and her buddies any faster than you can make an aircraft carrier turn on a dime. If you can't or won't be a constructive collaborator in supporting this neighborhood and in helping to create the change we all strive toward, then I'm sure that I don't speak only for myself in inviting you to not let the door smack your keester on your way out.
Now, let's pray for the soul of the Clarendon Park murder victim and for his family, and pray that justice is swiftly served to his murderer.
This incident is really awful. I do not have the facts, but from what I know, it sounds horrid.
ReplyDeleteThat aside, my perception has been better this summer than the previous two. I have felt Uptown has been calmer, more civil, etc.
There is A LONG way to go, and leaving is a personal choice. Sounds like Fedup made his choice...
FUWU,
ReplyDeleteYou lived at Pensacola Place and Sheridan and Montrose and you're whining. It's best you left. You might wet your pants at Wilson and Broadway.
As Yo so eloquently said don't let the door hit you on your ass and please don't come back.
I've been here for 20+ years. I recall the neighborhood in the 70's. This neighborhood is slowly getting better. The only downward spiral is your IQ, as you apparently flushed your brains down the toilet after your final burger at Bar on Buena.
Seriously, if the problems in Uptown were too much for you then I'm glad you left. Everyone has a different tolerance level, but you lived in one of the quieter locations in Uptown and dined in Buena Park and you're complaining?
It seems to me you've taken the meaning of this song literally and not as the joke that it's meant to be.
Perhaps I should write a "Traditional Uptown Folk Song" just for you.
Nah, you ain't worth the cells off my fingers, babee.
Jeeze guys, can't someone express their opinion about Uptown without you jumping all over them?
ReplyDeleteThis is a terrible thing. But my main question is this: should we assume that this had nothing to do with gangs? I haven't read anything that says it's gang-related, so what does that suggest?
I'm serious when I say this. I'm happy you have taken offense at what i said. And I'm happy you care about your neighborhood. But what I looked at was more than one incident. We strongly considered buying a beautiful condo on Racine. But we had just had enough. So call me names for leaving, that's fine. Tell me I didn't do my share. I did. I voted. I called the police when I saw things go on. But when it comes down to it, I'd rather walk around with my wife and soon to be child in Lincoln square rather than uptown.
ReplyDeleteLet's call a spade a spade. Not everyone in uptown is bad, actually most of the people are great. The parks are beautiful and most restaurants are great. Hell i proposed to my wife in montrose park But the bad is worse than majority of areas, and I've been hassled by enough bums while walking to the store, or walking around the neighborhood or playing softball at Clarendon park than I care for.
I hope this doesn't cause more angry post, I'm just looking to clarify and I seriously hope you are able to clean up the neighborhood. If I didn't i wouldn't keep an eye on uptown update.
Sad story, but we don't know much about the incident. He could have been killed somewhere else and the body dumped in the park for all we know.
ReplyDeleteJeeze guys, can't someone express their opinion about Uptown without you jumping all over them?
ReplyDeleteThere's a way to express an opinion, and there's a way to express an opinion.
Or, to put a finer point on it: don't sh*t in someone else's sandbox unless you brought along a shovel.
so what does that suggest?
It suggests that political and educational navel gazing isn't terribly effective.
FUWU,
ReplyDeleteLincoln Square huh?
Let me guess you're the poster here formerly known as "Urinetown".
You left years ago yet you still feel the need to post here to tell people how bad things truly are.
We're Doomed!
It's hopeless!
Holy Dr Freud, Batman!
Why don't you find Mooshie and breed a whole race of whiners.
Better yet two words for you:
Vaz
ECT OME OMY
I don't know what to say.. What's creepy to me he was found laying in the middle of the feild. It's not the usual.
ReplyDelete@Mr. Will P. What does #3 mean?
ReplyDeleteLet me clear my comment up because I don't want anyone to think I'm vindictive in any form or fashion. What I ment by saying it's not the usual is most people are murdered on the street, walking, ect. It's unusual to be found in a feild, in other words lots of questions..from what you said in YOUR post about the person....... Well. I don't know. I can't say.
ReplyDeleteHey fed up with Uptown you know it is a fact that your wife is ten times more likely to be the victim of a rape in Lincoln Park and your abode is three times more likely to be burglarized in Lincoln Park. Statistically speaking uptown is pretty darn safe for the common person.
ReplyDeleteWise Guy always strapped.
ReplyDeleteIrish Pirate, nice meeting you.
Mstery solved!! Al Capone is bak.. Don't u luv being part of his land?
I'm here to stay FEU..
Oh, folks, FedUp with Uptown is probably a Denise Davis plant, whom I understand is VERY interested, honest to God, in running against Cappleman in the next election. They are just getting some digs in early....I have heard more from James in his 3months in office than I did from Shiller in the last 10 years... so keep in mind when you pull up profiles, etc and see they were just made and then are all negative...they are just getting ready for the next election
ReplyDeleteFUWU, I hope you find your place and the happiness and sense of security you desire. With that said... "Don't let the door hit ya..."
ReplyDeleteBack in the day, when the BPN message board was the go-to site, some dear soul (to whom I'm forever grateful) posted a link to a song called "Uptown" (written and performed by an angel named Maron) adapted from The Bible, Matthew, 5:14-16.
ReplyDeleteBut you don't need religion to understand it.
YOU are the light of the world.
Denise Davis ... whom I understand is VERY interested, honest to God, in running against Cappleman in the next election.
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm sure that she is.
Too bad for her in 4 years(ish - probably sooner), Uptown is going to be a considerably nicer place for everyone than the environment of division she helped oversee during Shiller's reign of error.
Still, I do hope she runs - it'll be hiliarious.
Fedup with uptown believes uptown is in a downward spiral. WOW!
ReplyDeleteIs this another first time poster/laststraw man?
I think the next one should call themselves LAST STRAW...
Some people will fight to improve the neighborhood and some will just throw their hands up and start running. If you move into a changing neigbhorhood it is not going to magically improve just with your presence. You are going to have to work hard to make it better. I think this is a problem with SOME condo people, they just want to pay the condo fees/mortgage and expect everything else to be taken care of. Doesnt work that way.
Yeah this smacks of some sock puppet with someone with an ax to grind. Again if you have stuck it out this long and now when things are finally turning around with a decent new alderman you obviously have an agenda or as others have mentioned have a very low IQ.
When you buy into an area, you SHOULD fully expect to be there 10-15 years and think long term.
DD for Alderman!
ReplyDeleteOnly 36 months until we start gearing up for the next election!
Davis could have run in the last election. I guess she didn't want to split that hardcore 9-10 percent Shillerista vote that Kaplan got.
It's unfortunate Shiller chose not to run. Her being defeated by 15-20 points might have convinced her supporters to put on their raspberry berets and move on to another neighborhood. She likely wouldn't have lost by 20 plus points like Bernie Stone did in the 50th, but it would have been a mass a cree.
Now they can sit around trying to convince themselves that they have a chance for a comeback. Ain't gonna happen. Be unreasonably generous with the February vote results and you might be able to convince yourself that a Shillerista candidate could get 40 percent of the vote. Unlikely, only a Shillerista candidate named Helen Shiller could do even that well.
Nope those days are gone. Any candidate can be defeated, but you need the right someone to do that and the right set of circumstances. They don't have the someone and they likely won't have the set of circumstances.
We also have a ward redistricting coming up. I haven't looked at the census data for a few months, but it would be very easy for Cappleman to split off half a dozen revanchist precincts to neighboring alderman and replace them with precincts likely to vote for him.
Nope, get used to it Shilleristas. Barring his getting caught getting lapdances from underage girls at The Admiral Theater I suspect the Capplemaniac will be very difficult to defeat.
I'm confused, one body, one time and we want to dump an alderman, move out of dodge and say this happens all the time? ahh gentlemen those bodies in your bedroom ain't dead, just hung over from last night....
ReplyDeleteFed up with the uptight fed-up-ness.
ReplyDelete