While I'd agree that the northside experiences more than its fair share of social problems, I'd like to add that because we're all individuals, we all interpret and react to situations in different ways. Dyna's way, of staying inside a lot and building fences is indeed one method of coping with the issues that's been tried by numerous residents, without much success I might add.
Dennis, there's no point in sugar coating it- our neighborhoods are de facto crime containment zones. Was not your own garage broken into and thousands of dollars in tools taken? Was not a toddler shot and near killed in your 'hood last summer? On my block alone we still have one very active drug house and another drug house in foreclosure and often used by squatting dealers and hookers.
There are many success stories on the northside. The Jordan neighborhood has recently hired a new executive director, Jonathan Palmer, whose rolled-up his sleeves and really gone to work for the residents in Jordan, on issues that most felt were unsolvable. He's getting results and residents are starting to become more involved again. It's very refreshing.
Jonathan is a great guy and I wish him luck, but the problems here in the criminal containment zones are pretty much intractable. We are under attack from all sides from a criminal justice "system" that sees us as an easy dumping ground for there overflow. From corporations that have redlined us. And from a city that harasses us with criminal charges for peeling paint...
I suspect Dyna, it's time to get out this spring and meet some of your new neighbors on your block. No, you don't live in an affluent neighborhood, and yes, we have a lot of solvable problems left to deal with on the northside. But, sitting inside and wishing it were "like it used to be" isn't going to improve your position.
About as safe as going for a stroll in the prison yard without a guard in sight. I have a few neighbors I can trust, but most have left. Sadly, this is probably the future trend for the impacted neighborhoods- a relief valve for overcrowded prisons and jails with little legal business activity remaining.
I mean this respectfully.
thanks,
Dyna Sluyter, hunkered down in Hawthorne
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