Saturday, March 3, 2007

* It Happened Again Last Night - A True Story


If you believe Alderman Moore, Mr. Rider, Kevin O'Neil and their little CAPS beat 2431 propaganda, they'll tell everything is fine and dandy. Crime is down around the Rider building in beat 2431. Mr. Rider is working 'hand-in-hand' with the community.

I say, don't believe a word they say. They are not telling the truth. Watch and see how easy and fast it is to illegally enter the Rider slum property without a key.

Here's how it went down. 4 AM. First it was the drunk yelling back and forth that woke me. Then these two mutts tried getting in by pushing the moveable parking lot gate. That's when I got out of bed and found my video camera.

You may ask yourself - Did this happen once before this year? Yes, it happened once before!

Once recording, the illegal trespassers finally entered the Rider compound, one, by jumping over the seven foot high barbed wire fence and then letting the other very jittery and agitated guy in through the gate. Personally, I would've loved to see the jittery one try to climb the fence, he was a wreck and would've surely gotten hung up on the barbed wire.

They processed to enter the 1340 West Morse Avenue property from the unlocked door. Just watch, it all captured on You-Tube. In 41 seconds flat.

At this point, why call 911? Why waste the police officers time? No one helped before. The system let us down. I took time off work, I did this once before and got no help from the Alderman's office. With the communities safety at stake, the Alderman and his office was no where to be found.

This time the two fucked up guys got in the Rider building and were at 'free will' to do what they wanted to his slum property. I'm tired of asking Alderman Moore where's the security and accountability. Because under his poor leadership, there is none.

I say, let Alderman Moore worry about who these two mopes may have robbed or mugged. Let Mr. Rider worry about these two illegal trespassers and who they may have beaten up or raped. Let the manager worry about what criminal damage they may have caused to the property. Let the tenants smell the piss and puke stench left behind. Let Kevin O'Neil and CAPS beat 2431 worry about how they're going to spin the index and non-index crime numbers.

I'll work at electing someone I believe will fix the job right. Not cover it up and sweep it under the rug where no one can see. Then claim victory.

Blognotes:

Mr. Rider's 'Broken' New years Resolution.

A tenants view.

Another tenants view.

A neighbors view.

David Fagus chimes in.

The Fagus Files Part #2.

3 comments:

The North Coast said...

Craig, you should have called 911. Now, I don't know if the city is as religious as it should be about keeping all the records of 911 calls, but those records should be available to prove that calls were made, but nobody responded.

Thank you for documenting this incident by video, anyway. Every bit of documentation helps.

About that building and others like it in this ward: I will expect our next alderman to take appropriate action to up to and including court-ordered vacates,as well as a court-ordered sale, and steep fines for the ownership and management. The ownership should bear the biggest responsibility, for they are the people who tell the management how they want their property managed and allocate the money for it.

We still have way too many buildings in this ward being operated in this fashion. I am watching to see what happens with 1200 W. Pratt, which was vacated about a year ago and is now being renovated. It doesn't look to be a very professional job.

There is also a very bad and large building on Estes close to Sheridan, to name only one, and of course there is Jay Johnson's swelling portfolio of slummy crime-holes.

It is really a shame about these places, because we badly need cheap, decent housing for low wage people. The 1200 W. Pratt Bldg is a case in point. I had many acquaintances in the building who had to scramble for cheap housing when that building closed, including a couple of free-lance artists and a very delicate, unhealthy older man.They had nice little apts in this place, that rented very cheaply. Yet the building had become very dangerous for these and other good tenants, in that it had multiple electrical and plumbing violations, and unacceptable overcrowding in most apts. Additionally, the corridors were very dangerous because of the large number of criminal tenants dwelling there.

However, the only solution when a building gets this bad is to vacate it, because the building is usually so deteriorated that it is usually unfit for habitation and has become so disreputable it can no longer attract good tenants. Therefore, tenants should be given more advance notice of a notice to vacate, and stable tenants should be given relocation assistance at the expense of the ownership.

The North Coast said...

Well, Carol, I don't want Craig or anyone else to put themselves at physical risk in order to stop or document a crime. But you should make a call to 911 when you witness a crime in progress.

It's not that I don't understand how Craig feels. I can see why people become apathetic when they call to report crimes in progress and the 911 operator takes the attitude that if you aren't the victim, you shouldn't call. I find that attitude very strange- I mean, how can someone call when he is down on the ground and three thugs are pummeling him with a blunt object? Yet I encountered it on the numerous calls I made over fights breaking out in front of the 1200 W Pratt Bldg when it was still operating. On half the occasions I called, no police officer responded, and I wasn't about to go down to the scene and stand there to wait for them.

The local law enforcement people take their cue from the local political leadership. If the alderman makes public safety a priority, and makes it clear that he expects the police department to be responsive, competent, and sensitive, that happens. If, on the other hand, the alderman makes it clear that he is oblivious to local problems by enabling slumlords and displaying contempt for any citizen who isn't one of his monied cronies and contributers, the police pick up on that, too, with the result that you get complete lack of response to real situations combined with brutality toward any citizen they don't like the looks of, like young minority males.

Guess what we have?

Ryne said...

Joe & his little puppet kevin should be made to to live in the rider building all summer!!

Come to think about it joes future home in federal prison is about as bad, I hope he takes kevin with him.

Vote Don Gorden April 17th....change is at fingertips let us not regret this opportunity we have to make the 49th ward a better place to live.

'Broken Heart' Past Blogs