Hi Craig -
My husband and I are newcomers to the "neighborhood", (ha) and we are disgusted with the blatant crime and lack of local leadership. You deserve a huge kudos for bringing education to the public and a voice to those of us who want to live in this beautiful area, and don't think we should have to accept the gangs, drugs, violence and general crime.
We watch from our window every night between midnight and 1a.m. to witness the open air drug markets and gang activities at the corner of Lunt/Sheridan. We have called 911 multiple times.
To their defense, the police respond very quickly. However, there seems to be no resolve.
We will be moving once our lease expires. Alderman Moore has made it very clear that he wants to reserve this neighborhood for the uneducated, uncivilized, criminal class of citizens. We met Alderman Moore at the Morse El Station last week, passing out coffee and doughnuts. I might ask Mr. Moore to visit the neighborhood more often, perhaps after dark...or more specifically between midnight and 4 a.m.
After living in other major metropolitan cities, I find the state of this neighborhood completely appalling. Shame on the alderman and his staff for failing the community!
Signed,
Newcomers to be leaving as soon as possible
18 comments:
What other neighbors think.
SORRY TO HEAR YOUR ARE LEAVING- ONE MEMORIY YOU WON'T FORGET IS THE CRUMPLE CHEATOS BAG LITTER-
I sympathize totally with "neighbor", and am carefully considering whether I really want to make the largest and longest financial commitment of my life in a neighborhood whose alderman has as much as stated that he intends to reserve this ward as a dumping ground for the "unplaceables" with intractable social problems, and the agencies that service them.
I really love my apt on Pratt and love the beaches and really love and appreciate the great people here who are working to keep this neighborhood beautiful and solve its problems.
However, with all due respect to jeffo and others, I will never blame anyone for not wanting to live around muggers, gangers, drug dealers, 22-year-old mamas with 9 kids by 9 daddies. Nobody wants to live around this, including respectable, poor minority people. I don't consider someone a "wimp" for removing himself from nightly shootings, decating in the el station, junkies and prostitutes and drug dealers on street corners. It's only sensible.
"Neighbor" is very representative of the majority of middle class people, who take one look at the kind of blight and crime we have on Morse and Lunt and Howard, and push the gas pedal to the floor to get out of here, and as far as I'm concerned, the loss of a good middle class citizen is a big loss.
Note to neighbor: this is how Joe Moore has managed to maintain control as Alderman, by making it easier for people like you who get fed up with the community as his unwillingness to do anything about it to move out of the 49th Ward than it is to fight him.
I used to live on Eastlake Terrace, but I moved north to Evanston.
I pay more per month and higher property taxes, but:
1. Nice neighborhood with mannerly neighbors.
2. No more parking tickets or driving endlessly to find a parking spot.
3. Cleaner streets and alleyways.
4. Better access to lakefront, and a lakefront free of trash and indigent bums.
5. No gangbangers hanging out in front of buildings or in business areas.
I think only clueless people or greenies who move here from out of town would consider living in Rogers Park. And once they've lived in the area, they realize the mistake theyve made. Furthermore, I dont think the blame can be entirely put on Joe Moore.
I would like to see how long Joe Moore would last in walking through Rogers Park ...
"perhaps after dark...or more specifically between midnight and 4 a.m.".
It's so sad that so many people can relate to 'neighbor' because that is really what is going on here. I moved to Roger's Park, on the corner of Greenview and Jarvis. My parents told me so many stories of how vibrant the neighborhood was when they lived there (25 years ago). To say the neighborhood has changed doesn't cover it. My first week in, I saw used needles in the gutters. By Thanksgiving time, I had been mugged a block away at 8 pm. Shady landlords allow blocks to deteriorate and push out the middle class citizens (I moved out in May and haven't looked back) as well as the landlords and business people that are trying to build up the neighborhood. When I asked Joe Moore about fixing the Jarvis CTA station and the climate of the neighborhood, he had no response. But then again, he did get a ban on foi gras passed... Thanks Joe Moore.
How timely. Last night a friend who lives not far from Howard came into his building and went to get his mail. The buildings resident 'prostitute' was sitting on the stoop. The door slammed behind him, as usual and she started of accusing him of doing it on purpose. He said he didn't. She slapped him, he slapped her, it escalated and he called the police.
When they arrived they verified that she was a known prostitute and when he told them the people on the second floor were drug dealers, they said they knew that as well and that the dealers 'day would come'.
The 'prostitute' said she was going to get her man friend to come and get him, so he (didn't) sleep with the refrigerator shoved against the back door.
He called narcotics and told them about the dealers and the fact that they run water for hours at a time and the stench that comes from their apartment, etc., etc.
He uses the Howard station to get to work and has been accosted, seen a woman high as a kite masturbating as she walked down the street, watched people smoking crack on the stoops, etc.
As of the end of this week, he'll be out of here.
We both moved here a year ago. Though I'm in a better (?) area, it amazes me what goes on here and I usually don't feel safe. I've lived in Chicago for 28 years and have never felt this vulnerable- and I'm no wimp. My boyfriend wants us out of here yesterday, but at the moment we can't afford to move. It may happen, though, at the end of our lease.
One of my many regrets will be that I won't be able to vote against Joe Moore in the next election.
Sorry to hear we are losing another neighbor.
Too bad you didn't qualify to live in a NorthPoint building. According to one of the many re-election mailers from Joe Moore-'he fought for the NorthPoint residents to keep their homes. Their homes are guaranteed for at least another 27 years-until 2034!'
We'd be lucky if Joe worried about all of us like that.
We have so much to thank Joe for.
Robin, for your poor, terrorized neighbor who shoved the frig against his back door for fear of getting it kicked in..
.... he complained of a "stench" originating in the drug dealer's unit.
Could that stench signal the presence of a crystal meth lab?
He, and other concerned neighbors should ABSOLUTELY NOT REST until the police raid that place.
He should call everyone, all the time. Call 311 repeatedly and emphasize the urgency of the situation, demand to speak to a city attorney, call 911 when he smells it and tell them he's afraid it's a meth lab, because it probably is.
This is life or death for the innocent near neighbors. Meth fires are fast and horrible.
North Coast...thanks for your concern and advice. I've passed it on. Yes, we think it is a meth lab. He did tell the police, and called the narcotics division. They were very interested in how many people live in that apartment- so maybe they're planning something.
Tomorrow I'm taking he, his cat and a bag to work...and he'll go from there to stay at another friends house. Hopefully he'll be able to get movers to get him out of there ASAP.
The whole thing just sucks.
robin, what is the address and what apartment is he talking about?
My neighbors brother works up here in RP. I'll pass teh info along to him.
Blue...not that it's likely, but unless the wrong people read this blog, I'd rather not put it out there. However, it you want to email me at robin_vice@yahoo.com, I'd be glad to tell you.
Thanks for the help.
Yes, it does really suck.
The other residents of that building better line up movers as well, because if there indeed is a meth lab operating there, the authorities will evacuate the building the very day they do the bust.
I know it's small comfort to your afflicted neighbor, but a couple of years ago, a meth lab was raided in a Lakeview courtyard on Oakdale close to Broadway, and a formerly successful businesswoman in Bonnockburn, a very tony burb, was raided in her $1MM house. The authorities evacuated the entire neighborhood there because of the threat of an explosion.
However, there are not the shootings and other filth in Lakeview or in the North Shore burbs, or in Edgewater or Ravenswood that there are around here. It's the sheer concentration of the crime and filth and social problems in such a small community as ours that keeps Rogers Park down.
North....thanks for the head's up. I'm sending along all the info. Thankfully he didn't smell anything when he got home from work. I'll just be glad to drive him away from there.
Yeah I guess leaving improves the situation,
thats what happend in white flight,
huh this neigborhood is turning to shit, i will help the process by removing myself from it,
some people have no patience,
some pockets are bad,
find a pocket you can live with,
there is a reason its sweat equity,
can you sweat it out while the neigborhood is still bad,
alot cant hack
and some people do live in areas that are very sketchy,
i myself wouldnt live in a building ruled by a slumlandlord,
if you make bad choices, sure correct them,
that doesnt mean Rogers Park is a hell on earth, it just means you didnt choose wisely,
another oh whoa is me,
this is the last bad part on the northside, the last bad part, remember it, cuz its not going to last.
i cant sympathesize
for someone who cant hack lunt and sheridan,
what in the hell were you doing here in the first place? i guess they were ignorant as all hell, the rent is cheap for a reason, there are plenty of supersafe dull as shit neigbhorhoods to move to, to not help out.
okay just off howard street is another issue altogther that is the worst part of Rogers Park,
great infrastruture though,
correct me if im wrong but
doesnt moore live in the neigborhood?, im not defending him (moore), but the persons statement doesnt make sense,
And I want to correct myself, uptown has alot of problems as well, and despite what people think edgewater isnt perfect, and neither is westridge,
i guess if you want a perfect world there is always winnetka or wilmette,
thanks for moving here long enough to thumb your nose at us,
thats really great.
I would put this essayist into the category of risk averse,
billyjoe speaks as if IT speaks for everyone, I moved to Rogers Park and Im staying put and I dont think I made a mistake,
I always root for the underdog, its so much easier to just move to somewhere that isnt South Evanston or Rogers Park, but I chose to improve this Neighborhood instead,
I guess the neigborhood is really going down the shitter now that
1340 w morse and 1345 lunt are being emptied out and the Morse Theatre multimillion dollar project is moving forward,
I guess you guys will atleast be able to brag, yeah I lived in Rogers Park when it was a ghetto,
even though it wasnt a ghetto,
you guys havent been to the ghetto to know how bad it can be,
ever drive thru Austin? that is hell on earth, and even that place has nice pockets,
I lived in Austin on the West Side from 1970 to 1977. One of my aunts still lives there in a senior citizen's building. Not all of it is "hell on earth", but a good part of it is dicey. I've noticed gentrification creeping in over in my old neighborhood on Adams and Lotus. Just like RP, it's going to take a while.
A few years ago, in the apartment building I live in now, a fire broke out in an apartment down the hall. The firemen arrived, and the tenant claimed the stove "blazed up" on him when he turned it on. However, the smoke hanging in the hallway was not your typical fire smoke. Even the firemen knew the guy was lying about how the fire came about. He had been cooking coke and things got out of hand.
I complained to apartment management and alerted the neighbors to the danger that guy put us all in. Not long after that, management showed him the door. I also complained when a duo of twenty-something party guys kept inviting their underage buddies to loud gatherings (complete with drugs and alcohol) to their apartment, which was across the hall from mine. The cops busted them with stuff they shouldn't have had on them, and management also put them out.
It pays to be a bulldog.
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