May newsletter aldermanic message

A play by play of responses to the crimes that were experienced in the ward during the month of April contained within the Aldermanic message.

In April, our Ward seemed like a shooting gallery. During a 5 day period, there were 12 shootings and 3 murders. What has happened in response?

-We now have a dedicated beat car patrolling 79th St. from State St. east to the Viaduct.

-Supt. Weis and other Brass came to 79th & King for a Walk and Talk on May 1st.

-There was a great 6th District CAPS Block Club Convention where most of the speakers gave solutions to violence.

-We asked for the license of the car wash where 8 shootings occurred to be revoked.

-On May 4th, Supt. Weis and other Brass appeared at the Park Manor Neighbors Meeting.

-On May 5th, Aldermen Austin, Dowell, Pope and I met with the Supt. and his command staff about their plans for the summer.

-South Central Community Center will soon be operating a youth program on 79th St.

-New Police cameras have been installed in the immediate area of 79th & King Drive.

-I have a commitment for additional programming at Tuley Park (a tennis program) and a return to the days of open gym at Tuley.

-I’ve talked to the Supervisor at Meyering Park and am determined to have some community event there this summer.

-I met with Ron Huberman and got a commitment for the equipment, staff and improvements needed at Harlan Community Academy for the new Engineering Program that starts in September 2009.

-In a never ending attempt to get our schools open to the community, Mr. Huberman committed to putting a program in Ruggles Elementary School this summer.

-There was a 1000 Man March in the 3rd District Police last Saturday (May 9th) and many of the men there agreed to mentor our young boys.

Will this end the violence? No it won’t. It will take years before we return to a community with children that respect adults, value education, are raised by their parents to eschew violence. In the short term, however, we have to do whatever we can to remain safe.

Remember for a moment that most of you have lived here for 40/50 years. How long did it take for the problems to escalate to this point? It can’t take that long for us to solve the problems, otherwise there will be no community left to value the change. We can’t right the wrongs done by public policy decisions that decimated our communities. We must however continue working to change those things that we can. Let’s start with the broken windows.