There are an increasing amount of foul mouthed teens lurking around this station. The usual loitering, loud music and pants hanging low. This stop isn't as bad as the Wilson or Lawrence stop but it's still not safe. There will be the occasional vagrant sleeping inside the station also.
The liquor store & bar outside the station caters to bad elements. I'm not sure why others don't share my opinion of banning the malt liquor & tiny bottles of booze that fuels the madness. I saw one can of malt that was 1.29 for 24oz. & had 11% alcohol! Yet gentlemen can be seen guzzling these products at 8AM.
Those beer and booze bottles end up strewn all over the neighborhood the next day. Despite alleys full of garbage containers, and at least one garbage can at each intersection, I can easily fill 4 grocery bags with bottles off of the parkways walking the dog a couple blocks. (I'm always amazed at the indifference that many condo buildings show towards the trash. With at least six owners per building, not one has ten minutes to clean up the trash?) I wish there was an effective way to either ban the cheap liquor or tax the hell out it in areas with higher concentrations of alcoholics.
@americanlt: You mention several L stations, but don't say where you live in the neighborhood...perhaps if you explain your concerns (in-person) to your neighbors and enlist their help in speaking with the Alderman's office about getting restrictions (or alternatively, voting the precinct dry), you might get someplace with the effort. It's easy to be condescending about annoying yet harmless (in and of themselves) behaviors, it's another thing entirely to spearhead an effort to do something more constructive than grumble about something you don't like.
@UptownRevivalist: 1) See above; 2) Have you spoken with the condo owners in those "indifferent" buildings? I'm an owner in a 6-flat condo building myself, and spent a LOT of precious time picking up trash that a) blew over from a Section 8 building's open street-side dumpster, b) was dumped by Truman College students and Section 8 building visitors parked on our street, c) got tossed over our fence by residents of ANOTHER Section 8 building or d) was dumped around that building and not cleaned up by their building management, e) was tossed by the gangbangers coming and going, f) was dumped by people coming from a day at Montrose Beach, and g) was blown out of Truman's construction site. I used to go out with a garbage bag EVERY DAY to pick up newspapers, flyers, alcohol containers, chicken bones, fast food containers and wrappers, crack bags, used condoms, used diapers, used feminine hygiene products, broken toys, household trash, construction debris, empty cardboard boxes, pop cans, junk mail, pieces of clothing, cigarette butts...the list goes on and on. I could clear the grounds of our building AND the sidewalks, gutters, street, and alley around our building...and literally an hour later, MORE trash would suddenly appear. I like keeping our building and grounds looking nice, but it shouldn't be our sole responsibility to be the trash collectors--and spend our money filling OUR dumpsters with trash we didn't generate. I have spoken with the neighboring buildings' management, spoken with Truman, enlisted the help of "condo" neighbors, spoken with the (previous) alderman's office and Streets and San...I've politely pointed out to people dropping McDonald's bags in the gutter in front of our building "Excuse me, but I think you dropped something..." (to their consternation) before they've driven away, and yelled at Section 8 neighbors I've caught tossing crap over our fence. The people in our building all work full-time, and we don't always have time even to vacuum our building's vestibule, let alone pick up our neighbors' trash...yet we spend a little scarce money to hire a local small business to vacuum--AND pick up the trash--once a week. We're lucky, too, that Clean Sweep also comes through occasionally and sweeps up trash. I even hose down the public sidewalks to wash off the regular grime--and dog poo that inexplicably gets deposited there without getting picked up when it happens, too. So maybe those condo owners are indifferent...or maybe they're just tired of being unofficial trashpickers. They might appreciate well-meaning passersby pitching in with them to help...I know that WE certainly would appreciate it, but we never see anyone on OUR street picking up trash unless it's someone from our building or someone from Clean Sweep. Wanna help?
There are an increasing amount of foul mouthed teens lurking around this station. The usual loitering, loud music and pants hanging low. This stop isn't as bad as the Wilson or Lawrence stop but it's still not safe. There will be the occasional vagrant sleeping inside the station also.
ReplyDeleteHuge waste of money. The white shirts don't care if there is a camera.
ReplyDeleteBig brother is watching.
ReplyDeleteA security guard would be nice also.
ReplyDeleteThe liquor store & bar outside the station caters to bad elements. I'm not sure why others don't share my opinion of banning the malt liquor & tiny bottles of booze that fuels the madness. I saw one can of malt that was 1.29 for 24oz. & had 11% alcohol! Yet gentlemen can be seen guzzling these products at 8AM.
ReplyDeleteThose beer and booze bottles end up strewn all over the neighborhood the next day. Despite alleys full of garbage containers, and at least one garbage can at each intersection, I can easily fill 4 grocery bags with bottles off of the parkways walking the dog a couple blocks. (I'm always amazed at the indifference that many condo buildings show towards the trash. With at least six owners per building, not one has ten minutes to clean up the trash?) I wish there was an effective way to either ban the cheap liquor or tax the hell out it in areas with higher concentrations of alcoholics.
ReplyDeleteThe 7-Eleven near the Wilson stop actually has a lock on the beer coolers...you have to get an employee to use a key to open it for you.
ReplyDeleteHow come they don't put cameras on the Wilson stop? What do they need, a multiple murder?
The Wilson L stop seems like a delightful oasis (compared to actually exiting this crusty station, and walking west(or east) on Wilson)
ReplyDeleteThis is one of Helen's legacies...Wilson and Broadway can be such a hideous. dangerous freak show riddled with anxiety.
Will the CTA get to look at the station via the cameras and see how nasty this station is? I mean, next to Wilson it's pretty gross.
ReplyDelete@americanlt: You mention several L stations, but don't say where you live in the neighborhood...perhaps if you explain your concerns (in-person) to your neighbors and enlist their help in speaking with the Alderman's office about getting restrictions (or alternatively, voting the precinct dry), you might get someplace with the effort. It's easy to be condescending about annoying yet harmless (in and of themselves) behaviors, it's another thing entirely to spearhead an effort to do something more constructive than grumble about something you don't like.
ReplyDelete@UptownRevivalist: 1) See above; 2) Have you spoken with the condo owners in those "indifferent" buildings? I'm an owner in a 6-flat condo building myself, and spent a LOT of precious time picking up trash that a) blew over from a Section 8 building's open street-side dumpster, b) was dumped by Truman College students and Section 8 building visitors parked on our street, c) got tossed over our fence by residents of ANOTHER Section 8 building or d) was dumped around that building and not cleaned up by their building management, e) was tossed by the gangbangers coming and going, f) was dumped by people coming from a day at Montrose Beach, and g) was blown out of Truman's construction site. I used to go out with a garbage bag EVERY DAY to pick up newspapers, flyers, alcohol containers, chicken bones, fast food containers and wrappers, crack bags, used condoms, used diapers, used feminine hygiene products, broken toys, household trash, construction debris, empty cardboard boxes, pop cans, junk mail, pieces of clothing, cigarette butts...the list goes on and on. I could clear the grounds of our building AND the sidewalks, gutters, street, and alley around our building...and literally an hour later, MORE trash would suddenly appear. I like keeping our building and grounds looking nice, but it shouldn't be our sole responsibility to be the trash collectors--and spend our money filling OUR dumpsters with trash we didn't generate. I have spoken with the neighboring buildings' management, spoken with Truman, enlisted the help of "condo" neighbors, spoken with the (previous) alderman's office and Streets and San...I've politely pointed out to people dropping McDonald's bags in the gutter in front of our building "Excuse me, but I think you dropped something..." (to their consternation) before they've driven away, and yelled at Section 8 neighbors I've caught tossing crap over our fence. The people in our building all work full-time, and we don't always have time even to vacuum our building's vestibule, let alone pick up our neighbors' trash...yet we spend a little scarce money to hire a local small business to vacuum--AND pick up the trash--once a week. We're lucky, too, that Clean Sweep also comes through occasionally and sweeps up trash. I even hose down the public sidewalks to wash off the regular grime--and dog poo that inexplicably gets deposited there without getting picked up when it happens, too. So maybe those condo owners are indifferent...or maybe they're just tired of being unofficial trashpickers. They might appreciate well-meaning passersby pitching in with them to help...I know that WE certainly would appreciate it, but we never see anyone on OUR street picking up trash unless it's someone from our building or someone from Clean Sweep. Wanna help?
The Lawrence Stop is completely wired, just missing cameras. Even the "surveillance notice" sign is up so any day...now over there.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the Sheridan stop got priority because some Cubs fans prefer to embark/disembark there rather than at the crowded Addison stop?
ReplyDelete