Maywood, Illinois (Chicago, Rockford, Aurora: low income, crimes, roughest)

[potter]

Originally Posted by BRU67

Neither am I. As far as I know, the Oak Park PD is involved in the regional anti-gang taskforce with Berwyn, Cicero, Riverside, etc. and has been viligent in fighting crime. This year was tough but it was like that all over. When the economy turns down, crime goes up.

The days where the cops would intimidate the bad guys out of town like some 1950s Alabama hick sheriff are long, long gone. Fighting crime these days is very complex, and involves things like increasing your demographics, regulating your apartments, community policing, residents diligently calling in suspicious activity, intergovernmental agreements and good communication with other departments, crime mapping, special units, etc.

With all due respect to Humbolt, shaking down some ne'er-do-well on North Ave. in a public display of tough probably made the cops feel good, but likely didn't do jack to lower crime in River Forest.

Thats precisely the problem, police are not able to due their jobs to the fullest extent. THis problem is not just in Oak Park though. Its across the country, where individuals such as Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson will march and try to have a police officer fired when a young black kid is killed by the police. More times than not the killing was justified but these activists will argue that the boy was a nice child who did well in school and loved sports. The real deal is we are handcuffing our own police due to their constant worries of being sued and reprimanded. This is solely the fault of all the liberals- who feel sorry for criminals, rather than making them accept their responsibilities. I truly feel for police officers in 2008 and so on.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by potter

This is solely the fault of all the liberals- who feel sorry for criminals, rather than making them accept their responsibilities. I truly feel for police officers in 2008 and so on.

As a somewhat moderate liberal myself, I tend to agree with potter on this issue. This is an area I believe liberals have really screwed things up.

The examples I have in Oak Park mostly deal with minors. Teens from Chicago who come into Oak Park to rob other kids of their bikes, cell phones, and money are often released to their parents without charges (or just get slapped on the wrist by the courts). Parent groups have tried to clean up certain parks, but police are powerless to kick out roudy teens for fear of racial profiling accusations. Protests about unequal discipline at OPRF high school between black and white students have led to greater discipline problems.

I'm not saying that every black teenager wearing baggy pants should be shaken down by the cops, but the police need to be able to trust their instincts about people without accusations of racism. Sometimes you can just tell when someone is trouble. And the village government needs to back up their police force against frivolous accusations--which unfortunately are a normal part of modern police work.

[potter]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

As a somewhat moderate liberal myself, I tend to agree with potter on this issue. This is an area I believe liberals have really screwed things up.

The examples I have in Oak Park mostly deal with minors. Teens from Chicago who come into Oak Park to rob other kids of their bikes, cell phones, and money are often released to their parents without charges (or just get slapped on the wrist by the courts). Parent groups have tried to clean up certain parks, but police are powerless to kick out roudy teens for fear of racial profiling accusations. Protests about unequal discipline at OPRF high school between black and white students have led to greater discipline problems.

I'm not saying that every black teenager wearing baggy pants should be shaken down by the cops, but the police need to be able to trust their instincts about people without accusations of racism. Sometimes you can just tell when someone is trouble. And the village government needs to back up their police force against frivolous accusations--which unfortunately are a normal part of modern police work.

Well said, and as far as racial profiling goes- this has made being a cop even harder. The problem is if the majority of people in an area committing crimes look a certain way-those are the facts. So police would be and should be more likely to pull over a group of young blacks in Oak Park, because the majority of crimes committed in Oak Park are by young urban blacks, primarilly from the westside of Chicago.

[Venom]

How did this become about Oak park?
Anyhow, there's a new condo being built on 1st ave. pretty weird.

I love and hate Maywood.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Venom

How did this become about Oak park?
Anyhow, there's a new condo being built on 1st ave. pretty weird.

I love and hate Maywood.

There have been condos built in some pretty strange places in the past ten years. But if condos were getting built in Maywood, public transit nodes would be a likely spot--or near freeway access.

[Venom]

Yeah, that place is a pretty isolated area. There's the river/forest in the back, a park in the front, Gas station, Mcdonalds, Walgreens, etc, to the side and more forest on the other. So they have virtually no neighbors.

Also the Metra stop is right there.

[gardener34]

Also Berkeley cops do a great job policing the "up to no goods" that walk into that town via the bike path.
As for all the near west burbs, many kids go to the catholic schools in and around there who do not want to end up at Proviso. Many of the kids I went to catholic school with were from Northlake, Melrose, Maywood, etc. because of the whole gang issues thing.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by potter

Thats precisely the problem, police are not able to due their jobs to the fullest extent. THis problem is not just in Oak Park though. Its across the country, where individuals such as Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson will march and try to have a police officer fired when a young black kid is killed by the police. More times than not the killing was justified but these activists will argue that the boy was a nice child who did well in school and loved sports. The real deal is we are handcuffing our own police due to their constant worries of being sued and reprimanded. This is solely the fault of all the liberals- who feel sorry for criminals, rather than making them accept their responsibilities. I truly feel for police officers in 2008 and so on.

I think a lot of that has to do with the segregation options that our country affords. Many people who are very liberal, in my experience, tend to also be very affluent and/or from communities that do not have urban problems. And those who don't understand urban problems from first hand experience really don't understand urban problems, if you know what I mean. They tend to inaccurately view people who live in urban blight as exactly the same as them, just poorer and perhaps a bit down on their luck. The fundamental differences in attitudes, culture and motivation aren't apparent to them from where they're sitting.

One reason why more diversity would be a good thing.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by BRU67

I think a lot of that has to do with the segregation options that our country affords. Many people who are very liberal, in my experience, tend to also be very affluent and/or from communities that do not have urban problems. And those who don't understand urban problems from first hand experience really don't understand urban problems, if you know what I mean.

This is pretty much how I feel about the entire city of Minneapolis. The self-righteous finger pointing from that city is nauseating.

Of course, it doesn't really explain the hardened urban commies like my Alderman (Helen Shiller) or any of the activists we have up and down the North Lakefront.

[bungalowdweller]

I'll throw in my 2 cents. A friend of mine and her husband bought in Maywood and own a huge two story house with a double lot within walking distance of the Metra on Broadway at Melrose Park. The house was a fixer-upper.

They are a black couple with 5 children. He is a professional who grew up in Maywood, she's a stay-at-home homeschooler. They are both highly educated people.

My friends have poured money into their house to make it a home. They built a garage. They installed privacy fencing around the lot. They had to remove at least three trees. Alot of moolah to make it nice for the kids. You all get the picture.

Two years ago, someone began dealing drugs in front of their home. The dealers are brazen. They KNOW that my girlfriend is there all day. She has been fighting this tooth and nail. She's called the police ad nauseum. She's written and spoken with Kimberly Lightford (is that the name of the state rep.?) She's even VIDEO-taped the drug deals!!! What more can one person do?

A few months back, the cop who runs the Neighborhood watch or whatever they call it there told her that she may as well "get USED TO IT". That there was "nothing they (police) could do" about it. That every town has these problems!

Now she wants to sell. She's in that house all day with those children and things are so bad that she can't sit on her front porch. The cops won't do a thing!

She doesn't want me to visit her anymore because she's afraid for me coming into the community---she thinks I'd be targeted. (I'm white.) As it is, the only time I ever visit is in the day, not any more.

This is a disgrace. These are good, honest, decent people who have helped to improve the block they live on. Why should they have to live a life staying away from their front windows? And WHERE are They going to go? With 5 kids she needs a bigger house. In the past they lived in Aurora but the husband works downtown so they want to stay in the near west suburbs. Whites and Hispanics can pick up and move anywhere. Outside of Oak Park, where else can a black family go that isn't more of the same (like Bellwood)?

I really had hopes for Maywood because of its location and affordibility but I think its too far gone. It's a disgrace.