Earlier this week, Puptown Dog Park (4921 North Clarendon) posted on Facebook to ask for some help from the community.
"Friends,
We recently found several bags of heroin in the space just east of Puptown (very near the pollinator garden). A resident in the encampment informed us that it was brought in last night by another individual.
We have notified the Alder (Clay) and will file a police incident report.
We have communicated with the Alder our increasing concerns about these issues. The encampment has grown, and with it potential threats to dogs and their owners.
The obvious dynamic is that water service attracts more tents. We have suggested to the Alder that establishing a water service at a location away from dog parks, playgrounds and other high use areas might be a wise thing to do. Frankly, it would seem to be a no-brainer.
Please contact the Alder if you are equally concerned about this situation. Many voices are more effective than one voice."
A more direct suggestion:
- Send an email to the Chicago Park District (play@chicagoparkdistrict.com), AND
- Copy 48th Ward Alderwoman Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth in whose district Puptown is located (info@the48thward.org), AND
- Copy 46th Ward Alderwoman Angela Clay, whose district is directly across the street from Puptown (info@46thward.com).
Obviously, moving the encampments to a more remote location with water is a short-term solution. Permanent housing should be the ultimate goal. But in the meantime, we'd love to see the families who use Puptown to be safe, and we encourage you to drop an email to the people who have the power to make it happen.
This is horrible….I can’t imagine a legal right that homeless can just pitch a tent in public space while I pay property taxes for my lake view…the homeless under the viaduct endanger everyone when there are fires..time for that do nothing angela and brandon to leave office.
ReplyDeleteThey say those tents are their homes and they will NOT move them from the parks. Park district says they can't enforce the rules yet CPD can push people out of Montrose Harbor at 11 pm. Trash, human waste, drugs, needles, etc can continue around these camps without fear the city/CPD will do anything about it.
Delete??? are we providing port a potties for them? If not- -what do they do? Seems like a health issue.
DeleteAccording to the recent Supreme Court ruling the homeless CANNOT camp on public spaces. In California the governor has taken action against the homeless in public spaces, but you know, this is Chicago & Illinois. Very liberal and the governor, city and alders won't do anything. Citizens can sue the city, but I doubt anyone will do that.
DeleteWas the substance in the bags tested? How do we know it was heroin? I find it hard to believe someone who uses heroin would lose their supply in such a manner. But I guess stranger things have happened. Regardless if our housed neighbors in Uptown can choose to use substances in the privacy of their own homes, why can’t our unhoused neighbors be given that same choice? If our community members care about our community and making it safe then they should be engaging with local service providers who offer resources to our unhoused neighbors or talking to our unhoused neighbors about what they need to feel safe. Unhoused folks have been part of the Uptown community since the 1960s. Just because the lack of affordable housing and other systemic issues have made homelessness more visible doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to live in our neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteYou don't have a right to use heroin anywhere in Uptown last I checked.
Delete(1) The crime of heroin possession is set out in the Illinois Controlled Substances Act, 720 ILCS 570/402. This provision states that possession of any material that contains compounds found in heroin is illegal.
Delete(2) According to the Chicago Municipal code: “No person shall use any public way for the storage of personal property, goods, wares or merchandise of any kind. Nor shall any person place or cause to be placed in or upon any public way, any barrel, box, hogshead, crate, package or other obstruction of any kind, or permit the same to remain thereon longer than is necessary to convey such article to or from the premises abutting on such sidewalk.”
Helen ... is that YOU?? Heroin is illegal for housed or unhoused.... NO residents do not need to be engaging with local service providers - we have day jobs and PAY to have the city take care of that. City should engage DCFS and faith based orgs to help these folks out with some solutions other than living in parks. No one 'deserves' to live anywhere- DO they /we. Clay/Johnson will do something about this or NOT. NOT is fine too - people vote when they are angry - and this is a brewing pot. Come on Dem's you can do better than this. You (we) control the city-- so can't blame it on the other party. Frankly this is a bit embarrassing.
DeleteLived in Uptown and was from there, born in '54 here. Back in that time, including the 60s, there were NO homeless in the Margate Park area at that time. To be fair, although everyone was poorer in Uptown then, we had MANY SRO apartments which the area has eliminated. Times have certainly changed.....a shame.
DeleteHere here! People are making things up to be fear mongers about the homeless; they have no interest in actually helping these people.
DeleteIt all seems to fall in deaf ears. One individual from the encampment behind my building walked into the building next door with a weapon and threatened the security guard and beat holes in the wall. Cops did nothing . Several individuals from tent surrounded a female individual walking her dog in the park and started threatening her. Cops did nothing. They sparked a fire a caught their tent on fire in the park that started to spread. He was arrested and was back with new encampment 3 days later. Things are being stolen, drugs are being found, needles are being found, people are being threatened. Not sure what it takes to get this taken care of. It is curious that there are no tents in downtown Millennium Park or Grant Park. Would love to help these trespassers move to one of those parks and see how long they are allowed to set up house there
ReplyDeletemaybe the overall problem in this city is the cops and how useless they are?
DeleteImagine Angela Clay giving any regard to the people in her district. Her role is to keep uptown a dump to keep rents low.
ReplyDeleteUptown is not a dump. If you don't like it, leave.
DeleteBeen there. Done this. Have seen many a penis peeing onto the bridge walls and many a poop dropping out of someone's ass as they sit, naked, on the LSD guardrails to take a dump onto LSD. Have seen homeless take a shit next to park workers and tell the park workers to "clean up my shit!" Do they still higher teenagers in the summer to spear the feces with a broom handle with a nail hammered through one end?
ReplyDeleteThe area between Marine Drive and LSD is park district property. You have to call the Park District police to clear the area at closing time, which used to 11 pm. They are going to want to dodge the issue and say they only have 3-4 guys on duty and can't do it. They are going to say they have no real police powers (true) and that the Chicago Police Officers will not respond to their requests to ticket the offenders, who will not leave. They have asked to get police powers to ticket for 20 years and been denied, even though most are former Chicago Police officers. It's a union issue. Not your problem. Non-response to a service requests is your problem. File complaint after complaint against the commander and individual officers, who are not responding. Escalate the complaint so that you can file more complaints against the lieutenants. It goes on their record and then it affects them personally so now they have some motivation. There was a court case decided in Uptown's favor several years ago. Take that back, I am getting old! It was more than a few years ago. Basically the court decided that the homeless did not have the right to make encampments on Uptown park property overnight and thereby violate the park no-camping and curfew laws that all others have to follow. Homeless can stay on the public way, i.e. on the sidewalks so long as they do not obstruct the public way but they cannot take private control over public property for themselves. The Supreme Court recently upheld the right of cities to move homeless off their property. On April 22nd 2024, the Supreme Court of the United States heard the case of Johnson v. Grants Pass. On June 28th, a decision was announced: people experiencing homelessness can be arrested and fined for sleeping outside when there are no safe alternatives. City workers have to be very careful when removing homeless, and they have been careful in our area in the past. The homeless organizations coach the homeless to file complaints saying that their belongings are stolen or lost or damaged by the city workers doing the removal. That is why the city comes out in mass with witnesses, Dept of Human Services staff, etc. to document the removals and prevent these lawsuits.
The law is the law and the legal cases that interpret the law are what should govern. Hold Angela Clay responsible for choosing to interfere with the law. Historically, the alderman had say over the local police commander and Shiller used that power to prevent certain willing Commanders to follow her wishes. (Bye, Bye Joe Delopez) When refusal to act lead to a child's death near Walt Disney School, DCFS children being used for sex at the Gill Park Pool outings, and young (5-7 yr old) girls being sold for sex, which performed on the grounds of Montrose Harbor (where Ward Superintendent Don Nowatny took his daily afternoon nap in his car instead of working) something had to be done. That was when the city got rid of the small, Uptown Town Hall police district headquartered on Halsted and combined it with a larger district that fell into other aldermen's territory. Right now, Angela Clay and the city department heads are taking the old Helen Shiller attitude, i.e my personal progressive/liberal beliefs are more important than the law so, as an elected official, I won't follow the law. Call the park district police every night at closing time and file complaints
You have to realize that Uptown is a community that has never been allowed to function as a community. It is home to activist organizations that for decades have use our Uptown area, to the detriment of the local citizens, as their base of operations. They want the visibility of setting up next to LSD for all passerby's to see. They strip the school and ward funds, that are supposed to improve our neighborhoods to fund their causes, all with the Alderman's assistance or tacit approval. And as usual, Lakeview throws their shit over the wall into Uptown when their activists operate for homeless and other causes in Uptown that they will not allow in Lakeview. Cases in point: https://www.muchlaw.com/insights/much-partners-with-chicago-coalition-for-the-homeless-to-weigh-in-on-high-profile-u-s-supreme-court-case/ (Steve Blonder, lives in Northbrook. Josh Leavitt, not an Uptown resident.)
ReplyDeletehttps://casetext.com/case/uptown-tent-city-organizers-v-city-of-chi/case-details Andy Thayer, Professional Activist
The political map makers have gerrymandered the 46th Ward such that things remain this way. It could be changed if (like the police district) sections of the 46th were moved to the 43rd ward (lakeview) or 48th Ward (Andersonville) but that's not going to happen because those aldermen don't want it. So the activists/progressives living in across the city, and Lakeview and Andersonville won't live with what they advocate for; they simply come into our Uptown community to promote chaos where we live.
They get funding from the bar associations who use a portion of member dues money for these causes that many or most members do not support and don't know about.