CHACONIAC's Blog

Greetings all:

Spent most of the day working on the west side on two unrelated stories that both make my heart ache. The first was an armed robbery of a daycare center: two guys with guns break in through the back door and tie up two women, then force the 3rd one to give them money. At least 10 kids are in the house, ranging in age from infant to 10. Anything could have happened ...a random shot, a panicky grab for a gun, it's not hard to imagine these children and their grownup caretakers seriously hurt or even killed. As it turned out no one was hurt and the gunmen made their getaway out the back...but still...it's like the bad guys are preying on those least able to fend for themselves. Taking money from babysitters!

Within hours I was back on the west side, 15th and Kedzie, on a big fire. Someone had obviously been spending some money rehabbing a 4-story apartment building: new windows, tuckpointing, and a brand-new metal staircase in the back. But the building had been vacant for weeks, according to the next-door-neighbor, and some ne'er-do-well apparently started a fire on the 1st or 2nd floor and it burned all the way up through the roof. At one point it threatened to spread to the neighboring building but firefighters were able to contain it. What a waste! Nice clean and new apartments that no one will get a chance to live in. How discouraging, not just to the rehabber, but to the entire community. In a tough market like this who wants to watch their investment go up in flames? Next time they'll drive past the west side and put their money somewhere else. And then you are deeper into that spiral of low property values and no money for schools.

I don't have all the answers...heck I can barely figure out the questions...but something has to change fundamentally for these neighborhoods to turn the corner. I hope people get angry enough to turn in the bad guys...and help the good guys make a stand.

Regards,

Lilia