CAPS Beat 2524 December Meeting (12-15-11)

Good morning, everyone. I would just like to tell all of you about what happened at 2524's CAPS Beat meeting two Thursdays ago, on the 15th. The meeting wasn't on the short side, but it wasn't long, either. Not many people in attendance. It's the holidays, though. You can't except too many people at meetings like this at this time of year. Now, I will tell all of you about the old issues brought up at the last meeting, which was on November 17th, 2011 . The problems were...

* 2417 and 37 N. Ridgeway - Lots of problems with these two vacant buildings, including loitering, drug-selling and graffiti. Our Lady of Grace Convent was victim to gang-related graffiti, which has been removed. Problems have since died down.
* 2723 N. Ridgeway - Abandoned building; is registered as a vacant building.
* Schubert and Monticello - Many issues with drug sales and loitering.
* 3643 W. Diversey - This building is still abandoned. Scheduled for demolition.
* 3701 W. Diversey - LOTS of problems with drug sales, gang activity, loitering, etc. This is an everyday problem at this location. Sgt. Weiglein has been talking to the owner, who isn't all that cooperative.

And now moving onto the new problems:
* Monticello and Schubert - This corner is still a big problem, with groups of large teens and kids loitering and selling/doing drugs, and etc. They are usually out there from 3:00pm to 5:00pm. This is also possibly related to the problems with dismissal at Monroe Elementary school. (Note from Timmy - I have documented a few calls from this intersection regarding this problem, and as someone who used to attend Monroe, I can attest that there were always a lot of problems at dismissal time. Also, I have the exact address of the problem building, as reported at the meeting, but will not publish it due to liability concerns.)
* 3643 W. Diversey - Still occasional trespassing; building slated for demolition.
* 3701 W. Diversey - As previously stated, there is an everyday situation with drug sales, gang activity and loitering, and this is still a problem. (Note from Timmy - I live nearby and have seen first hand of exactly what kind of activity goes down at this corner building. The problem does not show signs of ending soon.)

As I do in every Beat meeting post, I extend my thanks to all for being involved in this meeting. Once again, I ask for those residents who read the blog but don't come to the meetings (because they don't want to), please, come! It only takes ONE hour of your time, and we need all of the help we can get.

Next meeting: Thursday, January 19, 2012 at Our Lady Of Grace (2446 N. Ridgeway) at 7:00PM.

Thank you,
Timmy

Beat 2524 CAPS Meeting Tonight (7-15-10)

Good evening, everyone. I attended 2524's CAPS meeting tonight. This was my first and only visit to that meeting. This Beat is night and day compared to Beat 2523, let me just say that. 2523's meetings usually has a considerable amount of people at them (30-40 people), while this meeting only had five or six other people. It's attendance is VERY poor, and that's not good, considering that this Beat seems to have more problems than 2523.

The old issues that were talked about from last month's meeting were the ones at 2417 N. Ridgeway (an abandoned building), 36XX W Schubert, Monroe School (3651 W. Schubert) and 3643 W Diversey (another abandoned building). The problem the Ridgeway building was that it had gangbangers and other people going in and out of it. The problem on Schubert was gang recruitment, along with shootings and guys passing stuff around. The problem Monroe School had were with gangbangers hanging out on school property and going in one of the parking lots. There was also a problem with gangs recruiting the 7th and 8th grade kids from the school (which is very, very true, I'd like to say. I went to that school for 4 years, I should know). The problem on Diversey was that the property was open. However, Officer Ortiz from CAPS told us that he went by there and it's now closed. Also, that building will be boarded up.

New problems:

• On the 2700 block of N Monticello, someone keeps opening the hydrant.

There were search warrants done to a building on the 2600 block of N Harding, and another one somewhere on Springfield. Drugs were found in the buildings.

Not sure if I should post these, but I have the list of foreclosed buildings from this Beat. Does foreclosed mean that they'll be vacant? If so, I'll post the addresses.

Other observations:
> Like I said before, this meeting was poorly attended. Very poor. Way different from 2523's meetings.
> The shooting from 3701 W. Fullerton was gang related. 28 yr old man was shot exiting from a vehicle.
> This meeting is ran very differently from 2523's. Our meetings go overtime often. 2524's ended at about 7:45. If a woman who wasn't misinformed about where her Beat meeting was (someone from CAPS, or something, told this woman to come to this meeting. She was supposed to go to 2534's meeting), I'd bet this meeting would've ended by 7:30. Also, we spend time talking to each other at 2523's meeting. At this meeting, nearly everyone took off when the meeting was over. Can't really blame them, though. Gang activity was beginning to build up in the area as we were leaving.
> The most incidents took place in the 2400 block of N Kildare and in the 3900 block of W Fullerton. The most crimes were battery (20 reported incidents), theft (14 reported incidents) and narcotics (13 reported incidents). The most incidents took place on Fridays (22 reported incidents) and Tuesdays (19 reported incidents). Most incidents took place in apartments (22 reported incidents) and on the street (22 reported incidents). The most incidents took place in the 7am, 3pm and 8pm hours.

For this Beat meeting post, I'd like to say thanks to the few residents for being involved in this meeting. Lots of work needs to be, however. I ask for those residents who read the blog but don't come to the meetings (because they don't want to), please, go! They need all of the help they can get.

Thank you,
Timmy