* Johnsons’ buildings have been an issue here long before we arrived. There are other problem building owners North of Howard whom Joe has chosen to 'sweep under the rug' to maintain this area that he and a handful of outsiders see befitting to their cause. What Joe has ignored is the reality of that cause which is severely flawed when the buildings are not properly managed. Source/Read more.Bernard Garbo said....> "I'm beginning to wonder if paying off section 8 inspectors is what's going on). Tenants are often intimidated by drug dealers and allow them free access..."
* Police recovered 396 grams of marijuana when answering a disturbance call on the 1600 block of W. Howard. Of the six individuals in the apartment, three had a combined record of prior 60 arrests.
* Police also arrested a Sullivan student on school suspension after he had allegedly committed a street robbery. The youth has since been charged with a Class X felony. Source/Read more.
Monday, March 2, 2009
What Others Are Saying
KLD said...> "There really should be some sort of zoning limitation on the amount of scatter site Section 8 Housing in a particular area....."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
Joe's Section 8 housing does NOTHING to improve the quality of life in the neighborhoods!
A number of us, NoH have been advocating for years about the need to reduce and disperse the over concentration of subsidized, very low income, rental housing North of Howard (approximately 50% of ALL residential property). Until this is addressed, there is little hope that there will be any real long term retail revitalization along Howard Street East of the El. Additionally, our neighborhood quality of life issues will not significantly change for the better, continually requiring the 24th District to focus resources NoH (Howard Street Initiative) in-order to attempt to maintain law and order in the area. It's not 'rocket science'!
In case you missed it.... From the 'Chicago Journal/News Star':
Quality of life
It’s not rocket science
A refreshing breeze is blowing through Rogers Park. For the first time in a long time, residents' concerns about drug dealers operating on their street corners, fellow tenants disrupting the sanctity of their homes by engaging in criminal behavior and drivers with suspended licenses driving like bats out of hell on residential streets are being validated.
A recent initiative to enact a zero-tolerance policy on Howard Street - a street mind you, that has seen better days - was implemented on Feb. 1 by the new 24th District police commander.
Enforcing all city and state laws, including a crackdown on curfew violators, kicking people out of the parks after closing hours and arresting those who drink and defile public property and streets, seems like a no-brainer.
This is particularly true since residents attending their neighborhood CAPS meetings have been complaining and pointing out to police the same public enemies who have been engaging in criminal activity and stealing their children into gangs for years.
We wonder why it took so long to enact such simple steps that will hopefully restore order and reduce crime along Howard Street?
As the new police commander pointed out, problems that tear at the fabric of decency and quality of life in all of Rogers Park all shared one common denominator: "Howard Street, Howard Street, Howard Street."
This may be our last chance to grab hold of Howard Street and bring it back to the street we remember from decades past.
Economic growth cannot take root and flourish if there are gang members plying their drug trade in door vestibules and shooting one another.
We have a beautiful new park district community center at Willye B. White Park that offers a haven for residents for the young, middle-aged and old alike. The park breathes with life and neighbors continue to come up with creative ideas to put it to its best use.
Howard Street and its adjoining streets and parks belong to us. They do not belong to those who intimidate law abiding citizens by using the public ways for their outdoor drug markets.
Our new commander and his forces are working hard to set a zero-tolerance tone in the winter months. They're not going anywhere; and by all accounts and appearances, they'll have our backs when summer comes. Let's help them by continuing the tone.
The issue is whether scatter site housing is really scattered. Was the term merely political fluff when Cabrini Green was torn down or a legitimate plan that was quelled by North Shore politicians who feared that their real estate values would drop? Either way, you can't integrate and encourage kids to properly socialize until they witness good manners and begin to assimilate.
The concern from the suburbs is that kids who have kids should not be rewarded with a section 8 apartment that is rented at well under the market value. I mean how can a section 8 tenant move to Wilmette and disperse? The answer is that the City and Governor Quinn will do more to appease for the big bucks coming from up north.
If Quinn had a political backbone, he would do more than posture. Frankly, we know what his predecessor did.
Buildings must be reasonably managed and tenants have to be pro-active. Maybe this is a sign that there should be some sort of "tenants/home owners union" that network at Charmers to put pressure on landlords who don't 'tow the line.'
Of course, those of us who own homes need to work with those who own. For those of us who know the landlords who are more willing to react, we can encourage them. However, we can put pressure on Long-Kogen, among others, who can better maintain their properties at a minimum.
I was attracted to RP because it is an Island of Misfit Toys..but ALderman Moore has encouraged a dangerously high level of subsidized housing. Rather than neighbors pulling each other up, decay has set in.
Please examine your conscious before contributing money to, or voting for Alderman Moore. We have given him two decades. Do you trust Alderman Moore with a third decade of decisions?
Seriously.
No - we do not trust Moore for anything at this point.
"Of the six individuals in the apartment, three had a combined record of prior 60 arrests."
The courts are failing us.
RP30...amen
It's not scattered site housing I hate, it's the apparent negligance on the part of the owners of those properties that I hate. In a way, they're the gatekeeps of a good neighborhood with section 8 housing. If they would maintain their property, do through checks of their tenants and follow up with regular monthly checks on the living conditions of the residents, as well as surprise checks to ensure that people not on the lease are living there, things would be a lot better.
I agree, MOTS, scattered site housing, per se, is not the problem. The problem is a concentration of scattered site, subsidized rental housing on a particular block or in a paticular neighborhood. The original intent of 'scattered site, section 8 housing' was to avoid and disperse concentrations of low income housing. It's intent and promise has never been realized in Chicago due to lack of enforcement of the court's ruling in the early
1970's.
"The scattered site program began in 1969 as the result of a court case known as Gautreaux vs. CHA.
Dorothy Gautreaux and other public housing residents charged the city with deliberate racial segregation by concentrating all public housing in large, high rise buildings in minority communities.
The judge agreed and ordered the CHA to develop small buildings scattered throughout Chicago’s many neighborhoods, particularly in predominantly Caucasian neighborhoods."
For details on the case and ruling Google: Gautreaux vs. CHA
Post a Comment