Tuesday, April 17, 2012

More Of The Same On Clifton


More drug dealing on Clifton? You be the judge. Doesn't look like the "security" provided by Cornerstone Community Outreach is intimidating this guy much.

22 comments:

  1. great video

    I think it's well agreed upon that all the various private security clowns are nothing more than weak attempts to placate the masses and maintain the status quo.

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  2. A friend of mine has also seen them dealing, via bicycles, out of STARBUCKS at Lawrence and Broadway..YES STARBUCKS... I wish our undercover police friends would come back to Uptown and help us out as summer approaches...the boldness is crazy..

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  3. How is this blamed on Cornerstone's security?

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  4. Irish-like Pirate makes a valid question.

    Cornerstone's private security is responsible for what happens on its property not the public sidewalk.

    If Uptown Recording thought it was a drug deal going down, they should have called the police or gone downstairs and "secured" the public sidewalk in front of their building the same way they expect Cornerstone to do.

    Also, given U.R.'s previous 'histrionics' with their security cameras during the aldermanic campaign (i.e. "a Molly Phelan volunteer tried to break into my building!" when in fact he was putting out his cigar) demonstrates a severe wont of perspective - both of its cameras and the owners.

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  5. Uptown Recording does call the police on these types of things. It seems that with the district merge that happened it's slow to respond to these types of calls. The act was actually on Cornerstone Property their loading dock is right there. The deal didn't go down infront of Uptown Recording. There was no security in front of the shelter where the woman waited for the dealer to come back. Have you watched the video?

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  6. QRBNST, it's probably not in Cornerstone's best interest to have their clients do drug deals 20 feet from their front entrance. If state or city funding cuts have to be made in the future, I wouldn't want to be the social service that has drug deals on its front steps. Just sayin'

    As for the election last year, well, that was so last year. Let it go. I heard Phelan moved out of the ward immediately after the election so I don't expect we'll be hearing from her again.

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  7. The video is great but it is worth not much as the police have their hands tied in most cases. They could bring some heat to the ones in the camera. I doubt they will as this is not the good old days when a cop was a cop and he could take some action in the back seat of his squad car to rid them out of the neighborhood. The dam laws now put into place protect the drug dealers and as you see they could care less about being on camera as they know the law too.

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  8. He probably lives at the Wilson Mens Hotel. Drugs dealers have been known to rent a room at the beginning of the month.

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  9. @uptown dude: I did watch the video. And based on the length of time (less than 2 minutes) that the deal actually taking place off the sidewalk in the loading dock zone, I still find it ridiculous to try and blame Cornerstone's security.

    @holey moley: Your attempt at snark is misdirected, as I was neither a Phelan supporter, nor a Cappleman opponent in the last election.

    It does not change the fact that Uptown Recording has a history of taking what shows up on their cameras and blowing it out of proportion. In this instance, trying to blame their neighbors for the probable drug buy that went down.

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  10. @QRBNST,
    I can't speak for Uptown Recording but I can say they live on that block so I would imagine they would have a much better idea about what's going on than either one of us.

    UR once did a video about drug deals occurring on their street and a short time later, a major drug bust occurred on their block involving residents of the shelter. Last year, one of the shelter's security guards was arrested for selling heroin to some of the shelter residents. Any remote suggestion of histrionics on their part is unwarranted.

    With regards to the election last year, I don't care who you voted for. It's over. We have a new alderman.

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  11. "I still find it ridiculous to try and blame Cornerstone's security."

    I'm not blaming them, they're just useless that's all. It's a way for these dumps to say look we're doing something to improve without actually doing anything.

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  12. I have to wonder how dumping $131 million into the Wilson El is going to clean this area up? Sure, the stop, tracks, and platform will look great, but seems worthless when you have "deals" like this going on and the disgusting Wilson Mens Hotel right next to the El stop. I hope there are bigger plans we don't yet know about...

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  13. Let's face it, uptown will be uptown no matter how much $ is dumped into the L stop. And speaking of dumps, as long as there are "shelters" like the Wilson Hotel in the hood, there will always be a need for thugs to sell drugs to their residents. So, to solve the problem, the condo-owners should probably give them more tax money to help their residents with their addiction problems. Wait, the real solution will be when Cook, Chicago, IL, and the US finally end the war on drugs and begins a drug on gangs.

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  14. "I have to wonder how dumping $131 million into the Wilson El is going to clean this area up? Sure, the stop, tracks, and platform will look great, but seems worthless when you have "deals" like this going on and the disgusting Wilson Mens Hotel right next to the El stop. I hope there are bigger plans we don't yet know about... "

    This talking point is old. A great new station flat out improve the desirability of the area...period.

    The reason we have the open air drug markets is because the area is an undesirable dump filled with flop houses. As soon as the property in the area starts gaining some value, we'll start to see the client base dwindle as their crash pads shutter.

    Major projects like the Wilson station and Uptown go a long way towards boosting desirability.

    There are no "bigger plans" buildings have owners and they'll change when it's profitable to do so.

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  15. Well speaking of Uptown........

    http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2012/04/17/the-uptown-theatres-opulent-decay

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  16. I don't think the security is being blamed here, I believe it's the lack of proper security, which would come with licensing. These shelters are not required to have any type of license to run. They are "non for profit" places making money off of the poor. There have been many calls for 911 service and with the amount of addicts, and dealers within a square block, you would think the city would crack down on the lack of service these people are getting. These places are sometimes the last hope for an addict to escape the hold on them that drugs can have. With an open air drug market going on right there, it's counter productive. Oh and QRBNST, who puts a cigar out on sombody's door? Perhaps he wanted to finish it later and putting it out on the street might stain the cigar with urine or something. Instead let's stain face brick on a business's front entrance.

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  17. I agree with Alek. Well said. Investments in infrastructure and the increase desire to live in the city, high gas prices etc, all of those forces will push rents up and the landlords will do whats in their own best interest, which is what they always do.

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  18. Totally agree with Alek. It's just smoke and mirrors (lots of smoke).

    Until the liberal progressives stop thinking "we can all coexist" in a happy place, we're never going to see change.

    When will we see change? When places like Cornerstone are GONE. Get rid of these agencies.

    Or keep dreaming.

    JJO

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  19. Really? Unless the CTA sends a new Purple line track directly into the JPUSA shelter and Wilson's Men's Club via emminent domain - they aren't going anywhere. The Men's Club makes a nice profit off of their chicken wire "cells" and JPUSA would stay there until enternity to spite everyone in this ward - unless they were actually shutdown.

    So as much as I believe the new El station will be "desirable" on its own - and a rehab is sorely needed, I don't see these properties, that cause many of the problems in the area, changing hands anytime soon.

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  20. A smart and well researched application of "harm reduction" (which many, many people far more intelligent than myself have written papers on, google is your friend), would reduce this kind of nonsense nationwide.
    Prohibition didn't work for alcohol.
    It's not working for drugs, either.

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  21. just curious? whoever made this video, did you call 911?

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  22. Agreed JC

    "Wait, the real solution will be when Cook, Chicago, IL, and the US finally end the war on drugs and begins a drug on gangs."

    The city spent roughly 70 MILLION prosecuting MARIJUANA offenders last year, but we can't find 6 mil to keep the Woodlawn Health Clinic open?

    Shame.

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