This morning, in broad daylight, a young black male was hit in both legs by one bullet on Ashland, near Birchwood. The Rogers Park shooting happened around 9:30AM.
Police reports say a verbal argument started this entire episode. The victim was taken to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston. The black male offender headed south on Ashland in a grey car. No word if Joe Moore is chasing the grey car at this moment.
22 comments:
i live right at the scene of this latest Birchwood Ashland shooting and this is the 2nd time this has happened over here and not so long ago either..the first time the victim was some guy sitting in his car at about the same location. maybe we need a camera over here i moved over here last september and as soon as my lease is up this sept I am outtahere. another bitch of mine is the shitty parking during the day during the week from the commuters who give NOTHING to the community they do not want to use the big giant parking garage on Rogers for a lousy 2 bucks a day and the hell with those of us who go to work and are invested in the community by LIVING HERE not being able to find parking by our homes before 6 (i get home at 3:30pm) it's nuts I called the alderman's office but they said they did n't want tp upset "the businesses" around here..with some zoned parking what the HELL DID YA BUILD THE DAMN GARAGE FOR? these commuters are not benefitting businesses these people are taking the L train to work OUT OF THIS AREA,coming back picking up their cars and getting out of here... so i guess Joe Moore feels to hell with those of us who want to try and LIVE here and bring the area back up huh? I felt hopeful coming here, i thought I could help breathe decent life back into the area, but forget it.. the SECOND SHOOTING on the SAME DAMN STREET has been the last straw.. i will not regret leaving Rogers park at AT ALL my only regret is trying to give this area a chance with officials that suck ass to those not living here
I don't blame you for feeling this way, jalan.
Every time I think the north end of the ward has improved, I hear about stuff like this.
And yeah, our elected representative cares way more about rich donors from outside the ward than he does about any homeowner, business owner, or decent renter in it.
We had our chance to elect a good man who is wed to this nabe, a homeowner of 30 years who has made huge contributions to the area. That chance is probably gone for good. After this election, I can't think who will want to take on our extremely entrenched AlderCreature.
Jalan, I felt the same way shortly after I moved here. The neighborhood 'in transition' was sort of yet to happen - is still in the works. But I hate moving, I like my place and to a certain politico's dissatisfaction - I'm staying indefinitely!
Unlike you, I have made an investment and the only lease is the mortgage. So good luck and I hope you find a peaceful neighborhood.
WTF
I often park my car on that strech of Ashland. As a matter of fact, I was parked there this morning, I left my house to go to work around 9 am. I can't imagine what i'd seen had I been late.
well toni, i too just moved into the area and i am thankful i was wise enough to check the neighborhood out and rent first before i got tied to a mortgage in an area that has no possibilities or prospects. what it does have, however is a great opportunity should you be walking down the street on the wrong side of time (as another poster jeff just about found out) for you or a loved one to reside in another piece of land..a cemetery plot. good luck to you cause you and yours are the ones needing luck (and maybe a few prayers )just to go out and even mow your lawn
Good morning to you too Plagam!
Hello Neighbor Jalanhara. Don't leave! We need your spirit. I'm just 2 blocks away from you, at the corner of Sherwin and Ashland. I was coming home yesterday morning and saw the street blocked off by police searching for evidence after the shooting. We moved here in the mid-90's, yet we remain appalled by the "Bermuda Triangle" atmosphere in this part of the community.
Yes, we've had many shootouts and muggings along Ashland at Brichwood or Fargo that seem to occur like clockwork. The parking and traffic management problems in our little neck of the woods persist and beg for someone to pay attention to creating solutions. We also have the infamous Jarvis Public Toilet masquerading as a CTA train Station.
Ironically, this climate has persisted, just a stone's throw from the alderman's office. I'm not surprised by the dismissive non-response you got when you called them.
Don't leave: we need vigilant neighbors like you to help press for more accountability and responsiveness from the powers that be.
Don't leave: there have been positive changes that signal improvements for our quality of life and there's more to come. What Dan Sullivan and other entrepreneurs are doing to uplift the Jarvis area give us a lot of hope.
Don't leave: whether you seek out another part of the neighborhood or someplace else, you are probably going to just trade one set of problems for another.
Leaving is not a good option.
Michael, you are a lovely human being, and if we get enough people like you to come here, this will be the greatest nabe on the planet.
Still... I don't blame the two jumpers posting here for bolting the area.
People can say that "crime is everywhere" all they want, but the bald truth is that RP has a steeply elevated crime profile and you really are much safer in Edgewater.
Moore and his people are always saying that "change takes time", yet Edgewater was much worse than RP just 10 years ago. Now it is the 2nd-safest 'hood in the city.
What are they doing that we are not? It gets back to leadership, and unfortunately we are stuck with the man who had done the most to slumify this area.
Slumify the area - too true. I've seen way too much of cheapskates using Fargo and Ashland and Paulina as their personal park & ride.
For a while, I had a big problem with CTA employees driving like complete maniacs looking for parking spaces on my block (including flying down Fargo fast - in reverse). I sent an e-mail to CTA customer service describing the problem and giving the license plate number of the worst offender. The problem stopped quickly after that.
Too bad Joe is not as responsive as the CTA. Waittaminute....is there a hint or two of irony in that? ;)
As a dog walker, I spend a lot of my time on the streets just south and north of the Howard station. Gotta tell ya, the majority of the CTA personel use our streets to park their cars while at work. Here's my take on the parking issue. Employees of the CTA should not be expected to pay to park their cars. The CTA should provide parking for them at the new garage. I worked for Linen's N' Things downtown and we had a garage card for a parking facility adjacent to the building. The same needs to happen here! It is completely unfair that CTA employees utilize scarce parking in our neighborhoods, when available parking is so near by.
Good point, Margot.
However, you could add that most CTA employees really ought to be taking the trains and buses to work. Most of them don't, though, because their working hours and distance from work make the system unusable for them. They live mostly in outer neighborhoods where the service is non-existant in the wee hours of the morning, which is when many of them either leave for work or arrive home. They also don't have many choices about where to work within the system- if you live on the North Side but get assigned to a garage on the southwest side or to the train room at the south end of the green line, you will just have to cope.
This is what our society has become, since we signed ourselves into slavery to the automobile after WW2-a place where even the employees of the 2nd-largest transit system in the country can't do their jobs without a car.
this neighborhood is not going to change I don't want it to. WHY? THIS HERE is THE EDGE OF TOWN and we poor here HAVE NOWHERE LEFT TO GO,you wanna push us out with your renovated condos and yuppie scum high rents? EVERYBODY needs a home, its been sickening watching how this has happened before all over the city, I would rather live with the gangs and the drugs and the shootings because you once you get a hold of an area won't allow me to live here anymore I won't be abl;e to afford it. The gangs and the poor need to unite against you all rather than be pushed out by wealthy yuppie scum who wanted to steal more space from the poor because you want the lake. Let this stay a neighborhood of what it is; people struggling BECAUSE IT'S REAL PEOPLE, why don't you all go buy your condos elsewhere go show your smug and pompous and totally pretentious attitudes elsewhere as well. You like your "badge of courage" the bragging rights or the "prestige" of being cutting edge and living in a "risky" (life wise) area before it turns all the way to over priced housing $1000.00 a month rents for one bedrooms and we start seeing those $500.00 strollers being pushed by the Eastern European nannies and "summer girls" and seeing the designer (overpriced) bicycles outside the local Starbucks where you can meet and greet "your kind" . right now i know that my neighbor is struggling with the dilemma of whether to buy medicine or food.That the lady across the hall is shopping the thrift stores for her kids' clothes NOT BECAUSE THEY ARE COOL AND RETRO like you aLL DO BUT BECAUSE SHE CANNOT afford NEW CLOTHES FOR THE KIDS PLUS FOOD PLUS RENT PLUS UTILITIES , god if the rents start going way up what are WE gonna do? These gentriying fools have no concept that we want to live too we are not just trash and those of you who buy houses here hoping for that gentrification wil come and you can have your little ipod wearing jogging cliques on the lake .. try to see we are people we have kids we struggle hard and I guess you say well you made you choices.. but we CHOSE to live here and this is OUR HOME you all can go anyplace we cannot. At least we have the comfort of knowing we share each other's pain and we live the empathy not just mouth the words. Many times i have had to pay my rent on a weekly basis and my agent has said I am not alone in that, because we are all in the same boat here and the landlord knows it and UNDERSTANDS OUR STRUGGLE we are a community albeit a poor one... but nevertheless WE need a place too
anzu:
wah, wah. go cry like a baby somewhere else. you want the neighborhood to stay the same? you are so ignorant, and that is why you are struggling to pay rent. who in there right mind wants shooting on their street? will you want shootings when it is a friend or family member who is caught in the crossfire?
people make their choices. some moved here hoping the neighborhood will change. they have to accept the living conditions until it changes.
then there are those like you who have made their bad choices and have fallen on hard times. you will have no choice in what happens to this neighborhood, because money is power. you don't have any. maybe you will improve yourself and work for a better existence where you have a choice of where to live.
That area is somewhat of a little drug corridor/prostitution alley itself. My late sister used to live about a block west of there. One night her and I were walking there, and saw a guy we had known since we were in grade school. He and his wife lived in the area then; I'm not sure if they still do.
The guy was over in the shadows, in the alley by the viaduct there, with another guy. Something was exchanged, as my sister called out to him. The other guy did a quick fade when he saw my sister and I. We didn't say anything to our guy friend, but my sister and I figured some little lightweight drug dealing had transpired between him and the other guy.
I'm not surprised there has been a shooting at all.
Issac, everybody doesn't have the option of moving up in this life for various resons, some of which, are completely out of their control. Jesus stated in the Bible that "you will always have the poor among you". You will also always have the working class and moderate income people, like myself, as well.
Your comments point out the major problem with gentrification -- there is no respect or consideration for those who aren't rolling in the big bucks. This attitude of "they need to get out because they are not our kind" is egregious. It makes the false assumption that just because everyone doesn't want or can't attain a upper middle-class/yuppie lifestyle, doesn't signify that they mean less in society. And please, why brag about paying a mortgage on an apartment, which is essentially what condo dwellers do?
Like Anzu said, everybody deserves to have an affordable place to live and be able to cover their basic living expenses. Like Chris Rock said in the movie Head of State, it's a damn shame that people can't afford to live in the city they work in. Do supporters of rampant, unchecked gentrification think they're going to be able to hide and dismiss all of the low-income/poor, working class and moderate income people? Sounds like the basis of a nasty civil war based on class differences, to me.
Anzu et al,
NOBODY has the RIGHT to affordable housing.
If you want affordable (cheap) housing talk to your elected officials (JoMo HA!)
In the past two quadrennial re-assessments the assessed value of my little 3-flat has gone up by almost 50% EACH time! What do you think that does to the property taxes paid? 3-4 years ago the price of heating gas went from its long term average of 33-35 cents a therm to 80-90 cents a therm, where it has remained ever since. That's TRIPLE. Guess what, RENTS GO UP because COSTS go up. Currently, because of out of balance market forces, it is cheaper to rent than to own an equivalent space. Historically, it was always more costly to be a renter. Why you ask? Because it's called capitalism. If you have the capital, you generally get to earn a return on it. So, with your capital, (IE a down payment and monthly mortgage payments) you get to buy a place and maybe make a return on your CAPITAL INVESTMENT. The higher cost to renters was the result/cost if THEIR lack of capital.
Why do you think all elected officials make noise about "affordable housing", but openly foster condo conversions and other development? Here's why. Take an average vintage 3-4 flat in Rogers Park. The property tax on that building will be about 6000-8000 a year. Now convert that building into ANY kind of condo, yuppie "luxury", affordable, whatever, the tax on each individual UNIT will now be between 3000-5000 a year. Do the math, now the same property is generating 2.5-3 times as much tax revenue for the City.
It's far, far worse for the large rental buildings as the tax rate on them is triple that of the 5- unit and smaller buildings.
Don't blame the landlords. Blame out of control government spending, and take personal responsibility for one's life choices that have them in the place they are.
And, even though I am a capitalist, I don't think being "poor" is necessarily a bad thing. I have rented to "poor" people. They were good people as I do rigorous screening. However, if being poor means your kids are out of control, pissing in the public way, littering without a thought, ripping limbs off of trees, rampaging through flower beds, SHOOTINGS, DRUG DEALING and other basically ANTI-SOCIAL behaviors, well I say who needs you around? I sure don't!
Most of the "yuppie scum" moving (buying) into this area don't do it because they desire to live here; they do it because this is STILL the most affordable North Side neighborhood. It's all they can afford. Most everybody is struggling in one way or another. Not everybody that buys a place is "rich".
Let's see you come up with the wherewithal to qualify for a mortgage, buy into a community, and then be OK with the GROSS DISRESPECT of your fellow citizens to your property. I bet you wouldn't be OK with it anymore than anybody else is.
To I live here too. . .
I lived in a house in an inner city area when I was a kid. You probably don't believe people in so-called blighted areas can keep property up, but they do. My mom cut the grass, painted, clean up --the whole nine yards you have to do when you have property, she did. She wasn't the only one on the block who took pride in her property, neither was she the only one who complained when others around us brought down the area with their antics. She wasn't a yuppie, and she had three kids to support.
People who own property don't have a patent on not wanting to put up gross disrespect in their neighborhoods. Renters would like to live in a decent area, too. But then, gentrification cheerleaders stereotype all of us renters as being irresponsible, so our opinions don't matter much to them. They just want us out.
To, Boxing Tomboy
What you say is my point exactly. There is nothing wrong with being a renter, a responsible renter. As a small building owner I depend on renters. Before I moved here I had rented the previous 15 years. As a renter I shoveled the snow for my building, I cleaned the curb area of leaves and litter. I did not get any "credit" from the landlord for these things. I did because that was where I lived.
There is nothing at all wrong with being a renter.
It IS wrong to believe one is entitled to anything other than the chance to do things for ones self.
It is wrong to partake in clearly anti-social activities as documented in this blog. For whatever reason there seems to be an owner/renter, responsible/not-responsible schism here that gets all politicized. It's not about poor, white, rich, black, Hispanic, or anything else. It's about respecting yourself, your neighborhood, and your neighbors.
There is an unwritten "social contract" we all must follow to live in a crowded, stressful urban setting like Chicago. It is the breakdown of this social contract that, in my opinion, leads to the unpleasant realities of the current situation in Rogers Park.
boxing tomboy:
i specifically addressed the comments of anzu. you do not condemn his/her bs rhetoric such as accepting violence and crime!! instead you quote the bible and make generalized statements.
i pointed out facts. such as:
money is power. money will change the neighborhood. people without money will have little say in that change. i did not "brag about paying a mortgage on an apartment", which is an example of your own bigoted bias. i also do not claim to have the answers as to where the poor and working poor will live when there is gentrification. you assume i want everyone out. and rogers park is still affordable compared to many areas of the city.
next time you post, why dont you condemn the ignorance of people like anzu first? which would you rather have, poor neighbors who are involved with crime and violence, or biggoted yuppies pay a mortgage on their apartment?
I think our community has a very strong identity crisis. I saw the crack problem hit our area when I was a child. I grew up on wolcott and rogers in the 80's, started my first business on rogers and howard in the 90's, and i have been in and out of RP my whole life. What I see going on is crazy. I understand hating that the people across the street are living in a rehabbed unit, while you have NO a/c, heat, or even decent appliances. I've been there, but this is America. If you love rogers park so much, own it. Buy it, and grow it. I know it may be hard to pay the raising rents if you have a low or fixed income but the world can not stop to wait for you. If you want the neighborhood to get better, rents must rise. Businesses must want to come here and they must do well to attract other investments. Certain people must go. All I hear are people complaining, yet doing nothing. I have made an investment in Rp, hopefully something that will help make the neighborhood better for ALL of us. I grew up and lived in rental units for my entire life, until I recently bought property at the beginning of the last boom. I think some people should grow up, see where they are, and thank the new people for trying to clean up the hood, and not just let the same bs keep repeating itself.
Thanks, I live here too, for expanding on your previous comments. I appreciate it. I often forget that property owners may have been renters at some point.
Issac,
What Anzu said is not totally ignorant. I don't agree with continuing to put with up crime, although, there will never be a totally crime-free spot anywhere. I do understand Anzu's concern about being economically discriminated against, and I believe that's what they were trying to get across.
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