Saturday, April 26, 2008

Meet and Greet a HUGE Success









Thanks to all who attended !! This is our first step. If you were there, feel free to comment; if you were not, feel free to comment as well. Input is always good. Doing is always better.

Edit by Lex - it didn't take long: between 4:00-4:30pm, calls were made about gangbangers "representing" at 44xx N Magnolia and Bronco Billy playground.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for organizing this. It was also surprising to see Ms. Denise Davis at the event. I really admired the seashells in her hair.

Anonymous said...

It was a great turnout. Hope this is not just a one time outpouring of community but actually the start of something.

I enjoyed meeting our best neighborhood reporter Lorraine Swanson in person. Very cool lady who looks like she takes no nonsense from no one and probably could drink me under the table.

Anonymous said...

An unofficial poll shows that 78 of the 80 attendees were happy with the Sunnyside event!

Those are pretty good numbers.

Anonymous said...

I spot Lorraine in that picture with her notebook. I am nominating her for Honorary Uptowner of the Year. Can I get someone to second that?

I am glad that you had a great turnout. I wanted to be there but last night's thunderstorms caused havoc with my travel plans and today didn't turn out as planned. I hope to join my neighbors at another gathering!

Great work, CUCB!

Anonymous said...

Anybody know who the crazy lady was? Thank god the Crime Blotter guy shut her down.

Anonymous said...

Who, the woman who clarified what the police meant by the group meetings being a solution to the gang activity, and insisted her neighborhood was not getting police support? (said his comment was bs)

Anonymous said...

The woman wasn't crazy, she was frustrated.

Having gunfire out of my window and not getting any sort of positive response from the police would piss me off, too.

There was also another woman who had the same complaint: multiple calls to the police with no response, whatsoever.

Whereas I didn't agree with the tact that the woman took, I'm not going to fault her for being angry.

Still - the event could be the start of some very positive motion in this ward, and I commend the CUCB folks for having the foresight and follow through to get it done.

Thank you.

As for the unofficial poll ... I'm curious as to what the 2 dissenters had to say.

Anonymous said...

I loved the event, thanks for organizing it. I came away with a very positive state of mind. Everyone was very friendly and eager to meet other attendees. Next time we will have twice as many people.

Anonymous said...

The woman wasn't crazy, she was frustrated.

Yeah, there was a lot of anger there, not craziness.

But telling someone who's there to help that he's full of sh** is not an effective way of solving a problem.

I'm always amazed by people who don't get the concept:

Insulting or embarrassing someone doesn't make them want to help you.

Anonymous said...

It was a great event, I commend the organizers for putting themselves out there and making this happen. We will attend the next event, and will work hard to get more neighbors/friends there.

Anonymous said...

Hello everyone. Thank you to the organizers and to all the nice people I met (and adorable dogs). This is the girl who one commenter called crazy, and another called frustrated (thank you). I do want to comment that 1) I did not state that the police are full of s*** (as noted by one of the commentors). I DID state that the idea set forth by the department that a weekly club meeting is a major deterrent for crime in uptown, ALONE and without further city or police support was B***S***. I understand that some of you felt that I should not have made those comments, becasue the officers are there to assist, but do not forget that they are also doing this because the CPD is under fire , particularly because the Windsor/Sunnyside/Sheridan/Wilson area of their territory is the only area in the near North side in the last two weeks to have 100% of the unchecked gang violence stats that the entire South side of Chicago has. They have to make a show that they're doing "something". However, when it comes to response when we have needed assistance and are willing to participate, my immediate condo neighbors and I have offered to sign witness complaints when we can't leave our homes because 30 gang members are smashing cars , hanging out in front of our front doors, accosting us when we leave our homes, cutting the lights on the street lamps, they HAVE REFUSED to take complaints and/or meet with us. I do understand that there may be reasons for this, such as an ongoing criminal investigation, but they need to be honest with us in terms of the amount of danger we are currently under on the street, particulary with the random gunfire. Also, to be honest, one does go a little crazy when they become a prisoner in their own home.

Anonymous said...

Wait a minute, you impostor! I'M the crazy woman, and I meant what I said!!!

Anonymous said...

I applaud you all for taking this initiative....I lived at Sunnyside & Malden for 6 months back in 2000. I moved because I thought it was still a little bit shady for a single gal. 8 years later & it's even WORSE????!! I had nothing to complain about compared to what's going on now!! Not sure what I'd do if I still lived around there, even though I'm still on the cusp of all this craziness. Congratulations on a great turnout!

Anonymous said...

Single-handedly, anon 2:03 makes us all take a step away from progress.

Thanks for demonstrating a healthy dose of immaturity.

But, I guess living in your mom's basement all of these years does tend to erode one's social skills.

Anonymous said...

hope the meet went well. If you want to help the police here are a few things to do:
when you call 911 give exact details of descriptions like what they are wearing or where they are heading or where they run to when the police arrive. Next, leave a name. If you are not anonymous then 911 can contact you if the police have a question about something regarding your call. For instance if he "hid the gun in the green car" and there are 3 green cars in the area, the police can ask 911 to call you back and give a little more info like "yes that one that I can see the police standing in front of. Check under the front seat".

Anonymous said...

1:16 if you are comparing the Windsor/Sheridan/Sunnyside/Wilson area to the entire south side of Chicago as far as gangs go? Then you need to get out more.

Anonymous said...

Next time you walk down the street and see one of these gang members ask them who they vote for in the city and then vote the opposite. You may be surprised which youth organizations in your neighborhood support your alderman.

Anonymous said...

To anon 11:14; Please read the post carefully before responding in the manner in which you did. I stated that particularly because the "Windsor/Sunnyside/Sheridan/Wilson area ...last two weeks to have 100% of the unchecked gang violence stats" (gang violence statistics v gangs themselves). You can find these recent stats at abc/nbs/cbs news, or the city of chicago police stats.

Anonymous said...

You may be surprised which youth organizations in your neighborhood support your alderman.

I assume that they all support the alderman. In the next election, we must vote for change. I have no idea who the candidates will be and what their positions will be but anyone deeply embedded in existing organizations like ONE, JPUSA, COURAJ or a few others must not be considered a candidate for change. That being said, there are some wonderful organizations in ONE and we should also select someone with a really good handle on what Uptown has been. We don't need to wipe the slate clean and forget our past or abandon people who live here but are simply poor or have addictions, mental illnesses, etc. We simply need representation that will balance the needs and desires of all constituencies and do so in an open way so that issues get a fair airing before major decisions are made. As voters, we should demand nothing less.

Anonymous said...

The woman who insulted the police does not understand that insults are meant to hurt others, not help. They are not a way to channel frustrated etc energy into something positive. It's really a shame she can't see that, and did not even after some people had talked to her about it.

On the other hand, thank you to everyone who turned out that IS doing something to make our community better! This is our first step and there will be more! :)

Anonymous said...

"The woman who insulted the police does not understand that insults are meant to hurt others, not help." Jami--enough already. Voicing the facts about the lack of response and the failure my neighbors have received when asking the police to take our complaints (yes--OPEN complaints)is a right we have here in America. It is not a PERSONAL attack on the police, and you need to learn the difference.You did not talk to me; rather you screamed at me without asking me what our circumstances were, then stated that YOU were going to help me, but have decided against it. You did the same thing yuo accused me of doing to the police, but did it continuously throughout the two meetngs.

Anonymous said...

I was happy about the turnout for the meet-and-greet, but I have to say, those who showed up were only a part of our neighborhood and not a complete respresentation of who lives here. One reason for that is probably lack of computer access. Another may be that this city is so racially divided. I think we are on to something good here potentially, but for the next event, I would like to see some of us actually go door to door or stand somewhere and hand out flyers to those who may not have the opportunity to read the UU. I'm sure that many of them would like to have a part in promoting safety in this neighboorhood, too.

Anonymous said...

6:09, we could certainly have that if the alderman's office and some of the local organizations would stop treating us and referring to us asif we were devil's spawn and realize that ALL PEOPLE want to live in a clean and safe neighborhood. We have to bridge any divisions & elements of distrust in order to do that. Unfortunately, there has been no leadership coming from other parts of Uptown that might encourage this.

Anonymous said...

I agree with you 100%. The blog trolls from the alderman's office obviously knew what was happening, enough to send Ms. Davis down. She should have spread the word.

Anonymous said...

Screaming..LOL this is seriously hilarious. A for crazy effort!

Anonymous said...

I mentioned this to one of our neighbors in a CHA building and that person did come by. So I agree that more outreach to those who might not have computers (lower income, seniors, etc.) would be a great idea. Would speaking to any store owners e.g. in the Wilson/Magnolia mini-mall and leaving a few flyers be useful next time? Obviously this time was on much shorter notice.