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Old 03-28-2013, 12:10 AM
 
Location: Ocala
145 posts, read 385,081 times
Reputation: 95

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what was the difference between the reds and whites? were the reds way worse?
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Old 03-28-2013, 12:17 AM
 
Location: Chicago
38,707 posts, read 102,697,699 times
Reputation: 29966
The most obvious difference is that the "reds" were red in color, the "whites" were white in color. The reds were south of Division, the whites were north. The reds were more densely clustered but not as tall. The whites were more spread out but they were taller. As for which was "worse," it would probably be splitting hairs as neither were especially pleasant places to live.
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Old 03-29-2013, 12:08 PM
 
622 posts, read 1,190,027 times
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thanks for the interesting read. i was a teen living in rural indiana during the heyday of CG and had heard about them on the radio. when i would ride into chicago for a bulls game or whatever, i always assumed that the robert taylor housing was the infamous CG i'd heard of.

it wasn't until i moved to chicago several years ago that i realized CG was right smack dab in the middle of one of the nicest parts of town. it's still hard to believe that's where it was when i drive past or look that way from the lake.
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Old 03-29-2013, 11:14 PM
 
Location: Nort Seid
5,288 posts, read 8,824,967 times
Reputation: 2459
Easter in Cabrini: Jane Byrne's 1981 PR disaster | Bleader
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Old 03-30-2013, 01:30 PM
 
Location: Denver Tech Center
264 posts, read 278,989 times
Reputation: 262
I would rather get beaten, robbed and forced to join a gang in Cabrini than live outside of downtown. I am living out of state right now, but I'll be back!! : )
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Old 04-01-2013, 06:28 PM
 
Location: Chicago - Logan Square
3,396 posts, read 7,171,604 times
Reputation: 3731
I used to take the Division bus from Old Town to Ukrainian Village in the early 90's and remember the bus being diverted down to Chicago Ave. a number of times due to gunfire from buildings. I walked through it a few times during the day and it was really rundown and sketchy, but the worst thing that happened to me was getting stared at and being asked if I wanted to buy any drugs.
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Old 04-03-2013, 04:49 AM
 
Location: The Brat Stop
8,347 posts, read 7,203,793 times
Reputation: 2279
Quote:
Originally Posted by jmims View Post
I just returned from a trip to Chicago. Before I went I read
a lot about the Cabrini green complex. I was shocked at what I read.
I couldn't believe the amount and type of crimes committed there. I know its been demolished but what I
want to know is just how bad was this area when the complex was around? Was it really a horrific war zone as portrayed ?
Allow me to expound to little hell.

I operated a delivery service, cargo van, owner/operator leased to a transport company in the north suburb of Libertyville.
I'd heard of all the bad stories about the projects. I was born and raised in Chicago, but never ventured into Cabrini Green, because of what I'd heard.

One day I picked up a load of renal supplies at Abbott pharmaceuticals in North Chicago and the destination was Cabrini Green. A daytime delivery.
When I arrived to the address to make the delivery, the place appeared desolate, except for a few people wandering aimlessly about. I pulled to the curb, and called in on my 2 way radio that I'd arrived at my delivery location.
A young man approached me and asked what I was doing there. I picked up paperwork off the seat and said I was looking for a certain address and apartment number. The young man asked me the name of the person I was looking for. I told him the name.

A surprising look came across his face, and he said, oh, that's the sick kid on the 5th. floor.
He asked me, hey, do you have a square? I handed him my pack of Newports. He said, thanks man, and as he was leaving, he said he was going to go get some help. I was

Three young men came back to my van, helped me unload and deliver the medical supplies to the 5th. floor.

More later....
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Old 04-03-2013, 07:16 AM
 
Location: The Brat Stop
8,347 posts, read 7,203,793 times
Reputation: 2279
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chi-town Native View Post
Street gang members literally used cop cars for target practice from the rooftops. What else needs be said?
Yes, that is the truth, according to a Great Lakes Naval Training Center police officer who was formerly a City of Chicago police officer.

He told me of stories where when police were dispatched to the area, the cops became very aware of snipers on the roof. He informed me that when he and his partner would respond to calls, he would park the police cruiser around a corner hidden from sight behind other buildings, and he and partner would remove their {shield-badges, and hats} and walk into the area to answer the calls.

He told me the shiny badges made excellent targets after dark, and that the dark police uniforms they wore were excellent for helping them conceal their identities as police officers.

It all then made perfect sense to me, after I'd heard of cops being shot at from a rooftop. I'd also heard about a young child losing his life from a shot fired from a high rise. Link below.

Allegedly, at some point in time, police took it upon themselves and chose not to respond at all to calls for assistance, some cops were accused of police brutality.

Cops fail to ID colleague in tape of Cabrini beating - Chicago Tribune

The shot that brought the projects down, part one of five | Bleader

Cabrini Green Closed. No More "Good Times" In Chicago

Duck the Bullet: How Children Survive Chicago's Cabrini-Green : Poverty: Gunfire is not the only danger in this high-rise housing project. Kids must also try to dodge drugs, gangs and despair. - Los Angeles Times

End of the End: Chicago's Cabrini Green

Quote:
The large new apartments and large swaths of recreation space failed to mend the area's poverty. The difficulty blacks had finding better, affordable housing gave Cabrini-Green a permanent population. CHA failed to budget money to repair buildings and maintain landscaping as they deteriorated. Cabrini-Green's reputation for crime and gangs rivaled Little Hell's. The murders of two white police officers in 1970 and of seven-year-old resident Dantrell Davis in 1992 drew national attention.
Cabrini-Green
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Old 04-03-2013, 08:36 AM
 
Location: Nort Seid
5,288 posts, read 8,824,967 times
Reputation: 2459
I taught dozens and dozens of Cabrini Green kids, and my mom worked for CHA and will chew your ear off telling you how every time they tried to do things like replace windows, the new ones got stolen as soon as they got delivered to the site.

What should be clarified is it wasn't some place of forlorn misery - the problem IMO was exactly the opposite, the high school aged residents were generally so focused on having a good time (and they sure did, most were actually quite nice) in the short term they didn't think to prepare for the long haul. That's how you get people who are in their 30s and 40s who still have a paycheck-to-paycheck mentality about life.
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Old 04-03-2013, 02:55 PM
 
Location: TOVCCA
8,452 posts, read 14,946,733 times
Reputation: 12528
Another factor that kept young black kids unhappily isolated in the Cabrini Green area was that high schools were redistricted in 1961, so that Wells High School, were most had attended, would no longer take students from the Cabrini area. They had to transfer to Waller High School (now Lincoln Park High School).

Waller was the HS for Old Town and Lincoln Park, which were becomingly increasingly white in the 60's (see my post in this thread on Sandburg Village), not to mention it was the HS for the Gold Coast, for kids kicked out of private schools. After a few years at Waller, due to "overcrowding" the Cabrini kids were eventually forced by 1964 to go instead to Cooley High School (now demolished), one of the worst high schools in the city, and right next door to Cabrini. So the chance for young blacks in Cabrini to integrate outside of the ghetto were nil.
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