From a reader:
"Hi, Updaters. I saw your pictures of the disgusting layers of pigeon crap on the Lawrence Avenue viaduct a while back. Don't know if your readers know exactly why we are so BLESSED with so many pigeons and their left-behinds. So I'll tell you.
I take the Lawrence bus to work around 7:00 a.m. Every day the famous PIGEON LADY comes to the parking lot on Lawrence around that time with 5 or 6 effing heavy bags of rice and bread. There are literally HUNDREDS of hungry pigeons waiting for her to show up with their tasty breakfast. She empties what's gotta be 25 pounds of food into the parking lot for them. It's just around the corner from the Lawrence viaduct, where you showed pix of the layers and layers of pigeon crap.
People prolly think she's some sweet harmless little old lady putting out bread crusts for a few birds. NO! She's gotta spend a FEW HUNDRED BUCKS a week on her mobs of pigeons because I've heard she's got a lot of stops where she feeds them. I've seen her at the Wilson L and at Stewart School too. She's like the Ford assembly line of pigeon enablers!
As if the pigeons aren't bad enough, the other day I made the mistake of sitting on the planters in the video, the ones right in front of the parking lot on Lawrence [just west of the Lawrence viaduct]. I heard some rustling and looked down and they were just CRAWLING WITH RATS. It was broad daylight. Rats are nocturnal! If they're active during the day, the planters must be chock full of them and their tunnels. You can see her shake bread crumbs into the planters in the video I took of her last Friday. Think about THAT next time you sit on the planters waiting for a bus!!!
Obviously, Uptown has other problems, and there's gotta be some mental health disorder at work here, but there's also a VERY REAL HEALTH ISSUE that she is bringing to Uptown with her pigeons and rats and many stops each day. Just wanted to help your readers put two and two together and see what BLESSINGS this woman is bringing to Uptown with her obsessive pigeon feeding. GROSS!"UU Note: Another "benefit" of having Pigeon Lady here is shown in the photo below: City subcontractors out on the weekend power-blasting the pigeon crap away from the Lawrence viaduct. Your tax dollars at work, thanks to Pigeon Lady. Guess we should probably call the City for some rat baiting in the planters, too.
disgusting
ReplyDeleteThanks for pointing that out. She has a NUMBER of places she feeds,including the parking lot BEHIND the Baskin Robbins/Dunkin Doughnuts on Wilson. I do not understand how she is not arrested for a number of charges.
ReplyDeleteThis is bringing disease and insects directly in contact with our children and elderly. It is beyond a mental health issue for her, but a physical/health threat to hundreds in Uptown.
Can't anyone help?
Her accomplice drives a dark gray Prius with Illinois license plate 333 9178. The address where this dumping continues to occur is 1120 W Lawrence Ave.
ReplyDeleteIf you see the car approaching this lot, or actually witness this dumping of food, please call 911 right away.
I would have thought her activity would die down after the altercation with the Alderman. Didn't they arrest her?
ReplyDeleteI was present at one altercation involving her opposite the T-Mobile store on Broadway at Leland. She was dumping bread all over the sidewalk and a guy from the private gym on the corner was out with a broom and bucket of water trying to sweep them away. She was going crazy, trying to grab the broom and quite a crowd had gathered.
ReplyDeleteI told her that I understood her desire to help the pigeons but this wasn't the way to do it. She's creating a public nuisance and the birds are hardly starving. They've been living just fine in the city for decades without her help. She wasn't having it though and kept screaming at people.
I realized I wasn't going to get anywhere with her and left. That was last year. Now I've seen her jump out of that car, dump her payload and speed off with her accomplice. I guess she figured out how to avoid those confrontations.
I demand that someone befriend her and produce a documentary film. It would be awesome.
ReplyDeleteThis woman has been feeding the pigeons since at least 2008 all over the Uptown, Edgewater, and Rogers Park communities:
ReplyDeletehttp://rogersparkbench.blogspot.com/2008/05/dont-feed-pigeons.html
That being said, I don't understand why she cannot be stopped! She is in clear and documented violation of Chicago Municipal Code Section 728-710 which invokes a $500 fine and chance for prosecution which is the Municipal Code of Chicago / Health Nuisances Ordinance:
http://www.amlegal.com/nxt/gateway.dll/Illinois/chicago_il/title7healthandsafety/chapter7-28healthnuisances?f=templates$fn=default.htm$3.0$vid=amlegal:chicago_il$anc=JD_7-28-710
I also have another "crazy lady" who visits my neighborhood who feeds the squirrels and I have had to chase her away. She usually just wanders and is not combative as is pigeon lady.
I will call Cappleman's office and I would encourage others to do so as well.
I wrote an email to the Alderman about this the other day. Is the appropriate action to call 911? She lives at 4911 N. Winthrop. She never throws food in front of her own building, but instead, across the street. She speaks English as well. The Prius picks up and drops off at the corner of Winthrop and Ainslie.
ReplyDeleteI'm really curious if there are any other actions other than 911.
I don't know that Cappleman can say anything publicly, because he's the witness/victim in an assault case that's currently making its way through the court system involving her.
ReplyDeleteHe was sweeping up the massive amounts of bread under the Wilson el when she allegedly returned, saw him and pushed him into traffic on Wilson.
I personally know six people she's physically assaulted, everything from grabbing the broom out of their hands and hitting them with it, to throwing a bucket of bird crumbs at them. I would urge people not to engage with her, as she's not stable.
I had thought it was a harmless little old lady but after seeing this video I have another theory. It looks as though she is dumping food byproduct from a restaurant. It would explain the volume of food she is dispensing.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with Ryan.
ReplyDeleteomg. she obviously must not be sane if this is her life. hopefully someone can stop her, this is gross.
ReplyDeleteI used to think life was so wonderful in Uptown, in my busy and diverse neighborhood. So interesting and exciting, I told myself. So lively and vivid and real-world. So Chicago.
ReplyDeleteNo. It is just plain dangerous and disgusting.
Sorry, just had to vent after seeing/reading this. Life should not be like this, folks, dealing with rats and trash and aggressive, unstable people pushing others into traffic.
One call to 911 down. They did say that they will send somoene out and that calling is the right (well, at least appropriate) thing to do. What a waste.
ReplyDeleteMy hope is that since she pushed our alderman into the street and physically assaulted him, her day in court will result in some relief for the fine citizens of Uptown. Until then, I'm wondering what she would do if copious amounts of bread and food were dumped on her stoop, now that someone has posted her address. Could be interesting.
ReplyDeleteWell, L Train, there was a taxi driver who attacked his passenger in an alley in Lincoln Square a couple months ago after he dropped her off at her destination. A guy in Edgewater met a 15yo runaway at a party last week, took her home, and raped her in his building's parking garage. Four people were beaten last month in Wrigleyville, when four men jumped out of a limo driving down Clark. A block from where I grew up, in a neighborhood I always thought of as Mayberry, there was a gang fight where nine people were stabbed, some of them innocent bystanders.
ReplyDeleteMy point is, this is life in the big city. Chances are you will at some point be the victim of a minor crime, but probably not a major one.
As for rats and crazy people, I daresay it would be difficult to find any neighborhood in Chicago that doesn't have those. There are certainly nicer places in the city than Uptown, but there are more places that are worse. You won't find any that are crime-free, and I think there are quite a few communities who would trade their troubles for Pigeon Lady's presence.
You may be burned out, it happens, and a change of scenery may be just what the doctor ordered. But if you're looking for Utopia, it probably doesn't exist in the city of Chicago.
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ReplyDeleteIsn't it amazing how one lone individual can ignore that her actions bring in rats and disease while costing the city a lot of money in clean up? Isn't it amazing how one lone individual can ignore the harm that she causes others when they have to walk carefully on a sidewalk so that they don't slip on bird crap?
ReplyDeleteI wonder what the world would be like if everyone would appreciate the Golden Rule of doing unto others what they would want done unto them?
Never mind me. These are just the musings of a neighbor who cares about the rights of others.
Can't the owner of the properties file a restraining order against her?? That way when someone sees her feeding her "friends" she can be arrested immediately for being in violation. Maybe some time with the lovely ladies at 26th and California will help her realize her errors in judgement.
ReplyDeleteI am now a Rogers Park resident but stil pass through Uptown alot, and have an interest in it, I am always ready with my trust camera(s).
ReplyDeleteI just did a free week at CorePower and was unable to use either the #36 nor the #151 bus shelter nearby due to an ongoing drinking party which was in effect the next day at NOON. I nervously used the Wilson El every time I left Corepower (that place is awesome).
It could be worse...
ReplyDeleteAt least we don't have a monk who wheels out a wheelbarrow everyday with 40 kg. of grain...down-under......
https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/aug2012low?refcode=2012.08.13_bc_nd_b&amounts=20,35,50,100,250,500,1000&amount=35
My apologies....
ReplyDeleteHere is the correct link:
http://www.pigeoncontrolresourcecentre.org/html/pigeon-problems-FAQs.html
@ Holy Moley~
ReplyDeleteYour response to joey cracked me up! Perfect!
Why doesnt the Alderman or Police do something about this women, I am always dodging pigeon crap all over, This is A REAL HEALTH ISSUE.
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