Several of us attended a public safety meeting on Tuesday evening.
Thought we’d share a summary of issues discussed:
Agreement to urge area not-for-profits, businesses and elected officials to use existing CAPS process to address public safety concerns.
The police commanders, UCC and block club representatives feel strongly that CAPS is the appropriate venue for addressing public safety issues and coordinating next steps. State Senator Heather Steans and State Representative Greg Harris recently held a town hall meeting, as well as a meeting of certain area not-for-profits, in an attempt to better understand public safety issues. We applaud the attention of these elected officials - and want to encourage all concerned to use the existing CAPS structure to work on improvements. CAPS meetings are held in the evenings - at times and locations accessible to neighborhood residents. Residents, CAPS facilitators and area beat cops are closest to the issues in their respective geographies. We feel it would be counterproductive to launch new initiatives which do not directly coordinate with CAPS.
Uptown Community-wide Block Club and CAPS Meeting planned.
Tentatively for Tuesday evening, October 14th. UCC to host. Would like to hold at St. Augustine College - Charlie Chaplin Auditorium.
Individual block club presidents to speak briefly about the recent activities of their organizations. Both commanders to speak about their recent public safety efforts. Elected officials to speak about related topics.
Could Heather's office please secure the venue?
And could Heather and Greg invite the various social service organizations you gathered up recently - so they can become familiar with the block clubs and the CAPS process?
Police Cameras Status
As of Tuesday, there were 3 police cameras deployed in Uptown:
* Wilson & Sheridan
* Argyle & Winthrop
* Lawrence & Winthrop
3 additional cameras have been requested and are in the police department approval/installation phases:
* Lawrence & Sheridan
* Winona & Sheridan
* Clarendon Park Fieldhouse
The block club leadership would like to secure 4 additional cameras to be deployed before Summer 2009. They would be installed initially at:
* Wilson & Magnolia
* Wilson & Broadway
* Sunnyside & Broadway
* U-Haul on Broadway
We are planning a petition drive to Uptown's SSA#34, requesting that they fund these cameras (approximately $16,000 each). And the block club leadership is in agreement that if Christmas greens on streetlamps and/or sidewalk power-washing funds would need to be accessed to afford the cameras, this would be money well spent on public safety. We would need to work with the commanders and the city's Corporation Counsel to create an agreement whereby any cameras funded by private groups would be deployed as the commanders see fit within the Uptown neighborhood.
Methadone clinic public policy review has been requested of Heather and Greg.
UCC and Business Partners approached the state officials with some data on methadone clinics in Chicago and across Illinois - requested that they review the 2 clinics operating in the 4400 and 4500 blocks of Broadway - and asked them to consider state legislation regarding locations and licensing. We found that 25 clinics operate in Chicago and a total of 50 operate in the State. The only north side locations sandwich Stewart School on Broadway. As methadone is a controlled substance, we wonder whether rules similar to liquor stores and their proximity to schools should be considered. Whatever clinics operate in our neighborhood should be WELL MANAGED inside and out, and be sited in appropriate locations.
We hope Heather and Greg will be in position to discuss the issues a bit at the October meeting.
Social Service Provider Accountability
The block club leadership created a list of social service providers which we would like to work intensely with, in conjunction with the elected officials and CAPS, to lessen their impact on the surrounding residential and commercial areas. These organizations include:
* REST men's shelter at Lawrence & Sheridan
* Somerset Nursing Home at Argyle & Sheridan
* White Chapel Project-Based Section 8 Housing at Ainslie & Sheridan
* Salvation Army at Sunnyside & Broadway
* Leland Hotel at Leland & Broadway
* Sylvia Center homeless shelter on Clifton, between Broadway & Wilson
* Lawrence House at Lawrence & Kenmore
* 4837 N Sheridan Project-Based Section 8 Housing at Gunnison & Sheridan
UCC and Uptown United to work together to create security camera purchasing program.
Other neighborhoods have assembled purchasing programs with discounted prices and a local installer for use by area residents and businesses. We intend to develop something similar.
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3 comments:
Just a point of clarification--under the "scoial services" provider listing where you list the 4837 Gunnison building, are you referring to the highrise across the street from the Boys Club?
Also, if that highrise is indeed what you are referring to, then you are referring to my home. What "impact" (I'm assuming negative) on my community do you wish the off-site property management company to lessen relative to my building and its residents? And I would also wonder why none of the tenants of this building are invite dto engage in any the Gunnison block club meetings or in this very important conversation about our community and our home--is market rate rent one of the essential requirements of participation? Is it because you do not consider us tenants quite a part of Gunnison street/Uptown community, and rather "social services recipients" to be "managed"? I have always wondered why a block club on Gunnison existed (which I discovered by way of the internet) but no one from my building was ever given notice--at least none was posted on our bulletin board. If I have assumed incorrectly that the building you and I refer to are the same, then forgive me. If not, then I am curious to know, as I am the last to find out that my home for the past 30+ years has been nothing more than a "social services" agency. This is an odd way to go about building community.
And one final point--all residents in the building at 4837 Gunnison (i.e., 4827 Sheridan) are not on section 8. Thus, it is erroneous and irresponsible shorthand for you to characterize the building as a "project" based section 8 housing. Sorry to post so much, but I have been reading many blogs about my community, Uptown, lately, and in light of the shooting death that recently occurred have been looking for ways to find solutions. Thus, you can imagine how infuriating it was for me to see, while on my way home from work, that I am viewed as part of the problem, an "element" in my community to be managed and controlled. I hope that I see notices concerning upcoming meetings and forums regarding productive responses to violence in Uptown. I would hate to think that some of us in the community are being deliberately excluded from these conversations. If you are truly interested in reaching out across the alley, so to speak, Asha Food is a great place to post any such notices, as people from this building frequent the store often.
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