What's the deal with Uptown? (Chicago, Oswego: lease, crime, college)

[Pantless1]

Originally Posted by chicagobear

The former alderwoman, Helen Shiller, was a hard-core leftist and was opposed to "yuppie type" development.

More like Shiller was a corrupt B who was in the pocket of the SRO owners and blocked any kind of progress in order to line her pockets.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by Pantless1

More like Shiller was a corrupt B who was in the pocket of the SRO owners and blocked any kind of progress in order to line her pockets.

The fact seems to support Schiller being a "true believer" type that did believe it was part of her duty to use big government to allow people that pooped in their own pants and were addicted to who knows how many drugs to sleep in whatever doorway they wanted to.

I think Helen would have fit in well with the representatives of San Francisco. Sure, she took campaign contributions from SRO operators but she used that to put up ads to defeat opponents and give junkies a ride to the polling place .

I can't really fault her for that.

Her husband was a true believer too -- Marc Zalkin, Activist For Disabled, Poor - Chicago Tribune


I think her kid, Brendan, was an editor for Streetwise before going to law school. Every now and then his name comes up as the kind of lawyer that is more likely to be helping somebody that got beat up by cops to file suit against the city for "rousting bums" as opposed to somebody stacking away millions "fixing" property tax assessements...


That said this is Chicago and to stay in power there are some polticians that don't just help the losers hooked on drugs, they help the thugs that push the drugs too -- Uptown Update: Helen and Brendan Shiller: Protectors of Gangs

[Bucktownbabe]

Originally Posted by romnation

I'm surprised it is still so "ghetto" (don't flame me)

The best way to avoid being flamed is to not say things that beg for flaming.

[Lollapalooza773]

Can you explain what so ghetto about it?

[Aleking]

Sheridan to Broadway from Montrose to Argyle is definitely deep ghetto and if anything is getting worse.


The rest of Uptown continues to slowly improve.

[lenniel]

Originally Posted by Lollapalooza773

Can you explain what so ghetto about it?

Have you ever spent any time in Uptown, particularly around Clark/Montrose, Lawrence/Clark, etc? If not, go do so and you'll see what we're talking about.

[lenniel]

Originally Posted by chet everett

The fact seems to support Schiller being a "true believer" type that did believe it was part of her duty to use big government to allow people that pooped in their own pants and were addicted to who knows how many drugs to sleep in whatever doorway they wanted to.

I think Helen would have fit in well with the representatives of San Francisco. Sure, she took campaign contributions from SRO operators but she used that to put up ads to defeat opponents and give junkies a ride to the polling place .

I can't really fault her for that.

Her husband was a true believer too -- Marc Zalkin, Activist For Disabled, Poor - Chicago Tribune


I think her kid, Brendan, was an editor for Streetwise before going to law school. Every now and then his name comes up as the kind of lawyer that is more likely to be helping somebody that got beat up by cops to file suit against the city for "rousting bums" as opposed to somebody stacking away millions "fixing" property tax assessements...


That said this is Chicago and to stay in power there are some polticians that don't just help the losers hooked on drugs, they help the thugs that push the drugs too -- Uptown Update: Helen and Brendan Shiller: Protectors of Gangs

Wow....my opinion of Shiller was pretty low to begin with but the fact that she helped pay for a gangbangers funeral out of her campaign funds almost leaves one speechless. Just makes you wonder what other things she was spending her campaign funds on? She's like the Betty Loren Maltese of the Northside.

[Aleking]

Originally Posted by lenniel

Have you ever spent any time in Uptown, particularly around Clark/Montrose, Lawrence/Clark, etc? If not, go do so and you'll see what we're talking about.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Aleking

Sheridan to Broadway from Montrose to Argyle is definitely deep ghetto and if anything is getting worse.


The rest of Uptown continues to slowly improve.

The area just south of Truman College is pretty rough too, particularly along Racine. The "Sunnyside Mall" is always good for a few shootings a year, and I would never take my kids to the "Broncho Billy Playlot" after a lot of gang activity and stray bullets in recent years.

I did take my kids to the really nice and new Clarendon Park playground for a while in the morning hours, but that ended after a few incidents in broad daylight. One time I watched the cops pull a handgun out of the bushes in front of the field house, where kids often played. Another time they found a dead body stuffed in a sewer (and that wasn't the only body found in that park while we lived in Uptown). And I saw a few too many gangbangers hanging out in cars glaring at each other in the parking lot across the street. The basketball courts were the scenes of multiple shootings in my years in Uptown, but that was usually later in the day and seemed to quiet down after 2007 or so.

[Aleking]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

The area just south of Truman College is pretty rough too, particularly along Racine. The "Sunnyside Mall" is always good for a few shootings a year, and I would never take my kids to the "Broncho Billy Playlot" after a lot of gang activity and stray bullets in recent years.

I did take my kids to the really nice and new Clarendon Park playground for a while in the morning hours, but that ended after a few incidents in broad daylight. One time I watched the cops pull a handgun out of the bushes in front of the field house, where kids often played. Another time they found a dead body stuffed in a sewer (and that wasn't the only body found in that park while we lived in Uptown). And I saw a few too many gangbangers hanging out in cars glaring at each other in the parking lot across the street. The basketball courts were the scenes of multiple shootings in my years in Uptown, but that was usually later in the day and seemed to quiet down after 2007 or so.

It's definitely gotten worse in the bad areas since you have left.

Still super pleasant here up north.