What's Going On?!

[pkd50]

I would NEVER use a phrase like that, ever.  Don't try to put words in my mouth.  You are not the only one who understands.  I've lived the life.  I understand!  Now I'm living a better life in Berwyn.  As far as poor people, bring 'em on.  They are entirely different than gangbangers, and it's unfair to assume all poor people are undesirable.  Go right ahead and assume that all gangbangers are undesirable.  By the way, the gangbangers I knew were anything but poor.  Rich, poor, black, white, I'll live with them all, but gangbangers.....NOT IN MY BACKYARD.   Trouble is I'm running out of money to run away from them again.

[Bru67]

As far as poor people, bring 'em on.  They are entirely different than gangbangers, and it's unfair to assume all poor people are undesirable.

They tend to bring in problems.  That's all I'm saying.  The word "undesirable" is not a good word and we probably shouldn't invoke it here.  I'd like to stay away from that because it's not productive.  They are virtually always nice and well intentioned, often to a fault, but woes follow them.  I think that's well documented enough to be considered fact.  So if you're tired of running, you may want to ask yourself again if you really want to "bring 'em on."  Maybe you do, which is fine, but if that's the road you're going to travel, I think you'll have to do some very careful planning; e.g. things like the Oak Park Regional Housing Center to keep poverty from getting too concentrated in one place and causing "block by block" flight situations, to make it work out for you.

[pkd50]

I'm sorrry but I can't figure out where you're coming from.  You say you volunteer to help poor people, and yet you want to limit their access to housing.   You don't seem want the trouble they bring, but you show compassion for the girl who stashed weapons.  I doubt that the girl who was renting an apartment in Berwyn was poor.  At least by the standards of some truly poor people that I lived among.  They weren't paying the kind of rent they would have to pay in Berwyn.  Don't you see that gangbangers, not wannabees, have money.....real big money.  The Oak Park Regional Housing Center....my hats off to them, but when will Berwyn realize that we are not Oak Park and probably never will be.  People live here because it's more affordable, not because it's better.  People who can afford Oak Park live in Oak Park.  I think you and I can agree that we want Berwyn to remain safe, clean, and just a nice place to live.  Can't we?

[Bru67]

Yes, we can pkd.  Of course we can.  But some tough choices will need to be made if we are going to have what you and I want here.   Do I have compassion for the girl we're talking about?  If she's like I think she is, yes, I really and truly do.  Do I want her in my community?  No.  It is (way) beyond my ability to rehabilitate people.  Truthfully, I don't know if anyone has that ability.  If we did, we would not have poverty.  Even Oak Park, as high on the horse as it is on this point, hasn't been as successful as it likes to think it has.  It has problems too -- it's just not on the darn news every day like ours seem to be.

As to the 'bangers, oh yes, they've got money.  Lots and lots of money.  Real big money, as you say.  Very lucrative is the trade where the medical insurance and workers' compensation of your employees is paid for by the state.  But despite their own personal affluence, you can find 'em in lower income areas.  Their employees and customers come from there and those communities will offer less resistance to them.  What would happen if the Latin Kings tried to go into Naperville?  I have a feeling most of their potential dealers would pick U of I over the Kings.  A kid in, say, Englewood probably does not have the same choice. 
 

[pkd50]

Funny you should mention Naperville.  I know the wife of a banger who's living there with her two kids right now, three in Plainfield,one in Claredon Hills.  They're getting a little more mobile than you might think.  Did you ever hear the saying "Don't sh-- where you eat"? 

[marysol_21]

I came from a similar poor community, yet I chose U of I instead of the second option you mentioned. But I totally understand the underlying concept that you are trying to convey: Lower incoming communities tend to be more torelant because they are somewhat used to the setting, for lack of a better word. It is the reality they have learned to accept and live with, so to speak. Higher income communities on the other hand will not torelate what they believe will threaten the comfort zones and will do something about it as a community. The point being that the initial option that you mentioned exists, while some children may choose the better option, most will not.     

[Ana]

North Berwyn as it is today is threatening my comfort zone.  The graffiti is threatening my comfort zone.  The cars speeding by with their boomboxes are threatening my comfort zone.  I grew up in the inner city also and I am very sensitive when it comes to my comfort zone, but I am not running.  I want my home to be the home that my children come home to when they are off to college.  The one they remember in their best memories of their youth.  I love my home, my neighborhood and my neighbors are wonderful.  I refuse to let the "bangers" win this fight.  That is why I am placing A LOT of my hopes on the IVB to change things before they get worse. 

[hvychev]

Well said Art.