...And
That's My Opinion©
By Sandy Goldman
The Rogers Park
Community Curmudgeon
**For
openers: I laughed out loud when I read
columnist Mark Steyn of the Sun Times quoting the first female Anglican Bishop
Barbara Harris. She was speaking of a
meeting she attended,” If assholes were airplanes this conference would be an
airport.” I can relate!!
**Marches
and candlelight parades aside - here is an intriguing scenario that might work
in Rogers Park. Click here for story about Milwaukee’s suburbs going
after landlords with troublesome tenants. I asked many community leaders, about this as a possible solution
to some of our problems. Some thought that since R.P was the prototype for the
development of the CAPS program, maybe we might want to try this technique,
offering this community as the prototype once again. We need to have a politician who would pick up this ball and run
with it.
**Speaking of Item# 1, there was a meeting at Gale
School concerning the development of 33 town houses and 10 condos at Howard and
Ashland (the old Lerner property) proposed by the Howard-Ashland LLC. This is a
group headed by John Terzakis whose name should be familiar to those who watch
Illinois development proceedings. This is the group, which presently owns the
Wisdom Bridge building and has allowed it to fall into serious disrepair.
**Referring again to Item #1 there was an airport
meeting at the R.P Library to discuss the Morse Avenue streetscape proposal. It
was a parade of city functionaries essentially discussing which type of
lampposts were most appropriate and the configuration or desirability of bump
outs at the corners. Real tough
decisions about a crime-ridden hellhole.
** At the same meeting it was revealed that the
vacant Osco property would be filled by a Washington Mutual Bank, a yet to be
determined tenant and a –get this folks—another dollar store. Real upscale
destination developments.
**A good friend of mine has revealed a recent scam
at Gateway Center. It seems that she
was about to go into the Bally Fitness Center (she is a member of the
Lincolnwood facility). As she drove
into the parking lot a man walked up to her car and said that she could not
park in the open lot, but must go to the parking garage. Being a single, nubile young female, her
mental warning lights came on. She demurred and checked with the desk at Bally.
Told that this was not true but that they were having this problem, she left
and went to Lincolnwood. What do you
think would have happened if she had heeded the instructions? What would have been waiting—assault,
robbery, rape? Just thinking!!
**And speaking of Gateway, what is going to
replace the early tenant—Best Price Fashions—which gave up and left. Just asking. Maybe it will be another dollar store. Oh, save me.
**Where are the voices of all our
representatives-- local, state, federal—vis ā vis the potential marina
proposed across from Calvary Cemetery (see column Wake Up The Dead). For that matter where
are their voices on the ill conceived extension of parkland north of Hollywood
to the city limits. In fact Congresswoman Schakowsky secured or proposed
multi-dollar appropriations for both scenarios without any R.P. community
input. Click Here for Tribune
story How is that for
representative government? Just
asking! To learn more about this
travesty call Citizens for Lakefront Preservation at 847-604-0784; ask for the
very informative flier called “Marina Alert”. You owe it to yourselves and to
future generations!
**Here we go again. Less than two weeks to go and the Cubs are hanging by their
fingernails. Is there anyone but me who
can remember the joy of a Chicago Cub World Series?
**A 10 year
Program Evaluation Summary (Vol 2. No. 1 - April 2004) of the Chicago
Alternative Police Strategy (CAPS) gave the following grades: Public
Involvement – Grade B; Agency Partnership – Grade A; Reorganization Grade –A; Problem
Solving Grade - C
Beyond the grade status, however, are the
critiques of each of these categories and the total report. Page four in
particular deals with the district advisory committees (DAC). The report states
that the DAC is less than what might be desired. As a former DAC member, the report is exactly what I expected.
The report is available from the Illinois Criminal Justice Information
Authority.
**On Sept 1 there was a community gathering/block
club party at 1500 Greenleaf Ave. It
was a good example of community togetherness coalescing around a central
theme—know your community.
** One conversation at the above was “Morse Avenue, better now than 2 years ago?”
You answer the question.
**The problem with CPS, and it has been since we
were young parents, is that they work with numbers, not results.
**I suspect that most of you are too young to
remember them, but on the Hallmark Channel there are some of the best T.V.
shows of the past: M.A.S.H, Northern
Exposure, Perry Mason, Banacek, Hawaii 5-0, Kojak, Magnum P.I. to name a few.
**Some say it’s a whole new generation
re-inventing the wheel. As someone who was there when our wheel was invented I
say more power to them. Go for it! But remember two things: an unattended
rolling wheel will falter and fall and sometimes a wheel will break from it’s
own weight.
** Congratulations to the 24th District
Police for the quick apprehension of the R.P “goonies.” Quick work and good work by everyone.
** “There comes a time when the younger folks have
to move on up”…John Daley NBC newscaster.
I can relate to that—which is where we began this column—too many
airplanes—too many airports—not enough control towers!
...And that's my opinion.
And I'm Sandy Goldman
Send me your e-mail address
or those of others who would be interested and I'll add them to my rapidly
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E-mail
Sandy: smgoldman@ameritech.net