End of Cabrini Green
For those of you who didn't get a chance to patrol these monstrosities, you really have no idea what you missed:
It almost seems forlorn in the surrounding emptiness, a 15-story hulk of concrete with telltale, steel-fenced, open-air galleries characteristic of old public housing.
This is 1230 Burling -- the last Cabrini-Green high-rise standing.
- On Oct. 15, 27 families received 90-day eviction notices from the Chicago Housing Authority, bringing the end in sight for what once was one of the nation's most notorious public housing projects.
There certainly aren't many of the old places left; Taylors, Stateway, Ida B's, Ickes, Rockwell, Horner, Altgeld. The sights, the smell, the entire atmosphere of being in an entirely alien world where everything about you was unwelcome. Don't touch the walls, don't touch the handrails, don't use the elevators. And always look up.
Labels: we got nothing
posted by SCC at 12:03 AM
155 Comments:
Come on, you can use the elevator, but always jump on with a couple of locals. They are less inclined to drop bleach on you if your with someone's family.
my partnerns and i spent some of those great days of special employment at the green, got some good zzzzzz's and made a little overtime, but we all agreed the time spent together we would have worked for free. thanks , mayor
Spent 7 years in PHS. Been in every one of the listed ones, as well as Alligator Gardens. Complete shitholes with the worst of the worst sub-human pieces of shit in the world, but what a time it was cause you had to be the police there....or you'd get eaten alive!
I'm not an old timer. But I have enough time on to have experienced 11th District's Rockwell Gardens.....SCC don't forget Ogden Courts.
Good Riddance Cabrinini!
Its kind of perverse and I can't explain it but I'm kind of going to miss the high rises.
Worked there Friday night. Supposedly only 20 families left in the building. But,you'd never know it by the number of hoodrats and thugs that came out after dark and hung out in the parking lot and playlot.
The row houses aren't much better. Old school folks sitting on the stoops, playing dominos, drinking pop (well, at least that's what they wanted us to think, with all the pop cans around), lady selling food out of her front door. And just think, for $350,000, you can sit on your balcony or patio and watch the greatest show on earth! lol
... ahhh, the smell of urine in a stairwell in the morning; it smells like... defeat.
Total, utter and complete chaotic breakdown of society. Bizzaro world. Ugly is beautiful, bad is good, broken is preferred. Good riddance.
There certainly aren't many of the old places left; Taylors, Stateway, Ida B's, Ickes, Rockwell, Horner, Altgeld. The sights, the smell, the entire atmosphere of being in an entirely alien world where everything about you was unwelcome. Don't touch the walls, don't touch the handrails, don't use the elevators. And always look up.
Amen too that my brother/sister in blue!!! Those coming on the job now have no idea what they missed out on. You forgot a couple of them though SCC, never stand next to the buildings and never stand in one place too long.
The dregs of society who inhabited those dumps had no place in a densely populated urban area. Conversely, they are not 'more functional' when commingled with other productive communities, as we're seeing today with the shifting of CHA 'residents' onto the Section 8 voucher system, where they now occupy formerly decent communities, or the rapidly failing 'mixed income housing'- where the delusionaly idealistic market rate buyers have since learned a hard, hard lesson about certain 'cultural disparities'.
The idea of 'public housing' might work in Japan or Sweden... It was destined to fail in a city with an enormous population of socially-nitwitted 'dependents' who don't have the life-skills to succeed in a modern, civil society.
I won't miss having to stomp my feet to make sure that I'm wasn't bringing any roaches home with me that might have crawled up my boots or pant-legs.
Huh?
How could ya miss ABLA but we concur on all counts SCC.
We personally don't miss any of those vertical shit-piles nor the colonies of netherworldly denizens that inhabited them.
Too many mornings of stripping off the uniform in the back yard so as not to bring smells, vermin and other things known only to the Almighty into the house. Even the pups (all 300 pounds between the two of them) as devoted as they were would shy away sometimes.
Where else would you see bags of shit, bottles of piss, car parts, bathroom fixtures, canned vegetables, furniture and shitty diapers snatched off the baby's ass in a fit of rage to be flung out the window at the Police.
On the other hand, we would have loved to hear j-fled, masters x3, brust and the current crop of clout baby bosses screaming for their lives as the flesh eating walls in the stairwell between the 13th and 14th floors began to "close in" on their narrow asses while they're brawling with Pookie & Family.
"Put that fuckin' weapon away, j-fled you goof! You'll kill the Police too if your stupid ass sends rounds flying in a concrete stairwell!"
That's how we did it... Pick a muthafuckah and beat his sad and sorry ass half to death in spectacular fashion with the sad, sorry ass he brung with him if the Police got bum-rushed or otherwise impeded in any way.
If the current crop of feeb exempts were around, we wonder how "egregious" they would have thought the "out of control Po-leece" were for doing what was necessary to go home to their families.
Shit... We've seen Sergeants, Lieutenants, Captains and even a stray Inspector (sorry big bird, not your chicken shit-ass, you hid out to write up uniform infractions hours after the dust cleared) opening big bags of beat-ass side by side with blue shirts in the high rises.
J-fled and company would shit the very elastic out of their drawers.
We remember after one particularly hot session of shots fired at and by the Police, a BIG boss rolled through and asked if we were ok. After assuring him we were, he gave a nod and said "good job officers, be sure to police the brass laying around, clean and fully loaded weapons for tomorrow right?" Yes, he showed for weapons inspection.
God almighty... We'll never see Policing or Police BOSSES like that ever again. That alone almost makes the aches and pains we endure from that time almost bearable. Still hurts like a sonny-bitch thought.
You young'uns missed a great time and times do change. For better or for worse sometimes.
We hate so much what the liberal, yellow-pinky pussification of this country has done to the Military and to The Police. A couple of generations of Fem-Men, metrosexuals and video gaming nancy drew & hardy boys fans who never had to fight or stand up for anything are in power like shortshanks, sparklefarts, the loevys etc.
Glad we had a chance to put the Chevy on the sidewalk in the name of the law and for the few people who needed us to do that for them...
Sometimes when we close our eyes we can still hear the 350 hollerin' and the rear tires yellin' while the radio was hella-poppin'...
The tail-lights madly dancing into the darkness of 3am and getting smaller in the distance.
Shut up j-fled... This is too "egregious" for you. Tease a cat why don't ya.
...sorry for the long post SCC but you got us and the memories going. Some good, some ghastly, some funny, some not so funny.
A clink of the rock glass with two fingers of cask strength bourbon...
Ironic isn't it? Something that was only supposed to be a "band aid" when you were down on your finances, became a responsibility of the government. Babies having babies as Bill Cosby calls it. Why is it the working person...the responsible person...who has to pick up the tab for a group of people who can't see past today, can't plan ahead for a future further than 24 hours, can't wear condoms? When I worked in 007, we had entire blocks of ONCE beautiful single family homes occupied by "LOCUSTS". They would move in, feed and destroy everything that was "OWED" to them from liberal society, and then move on to the next..."HOST". You have 4th and 5th generation families (hardly a dictionary descriptive...) on public aid. And it's taken 40-50 years for this demographic to evolve. Do you think it will just GO AWAY? I think not. They tear down these housing project high rises and relocate the fine upstanding honor roll students 2 doors down from you and me, in that foreclosure that was bought by a suburbanite so that he could remain safe and sound while HE gets his section 8 rent. This trend has got to change, it's killing the working person...and city worker.
Let's not forget 6217 S. Calumet.
And I am sure they are anxiously excited to destroy their next free home.
I can't really say that I will miss them, but they certainly did play a big part of my early police career. It was a good training area for a recruit, I learned so much from the older guys about the job there!!
Cabrini's worst of the worse, all three being the tallest (19 floors) CHA highrises. in the city:
(3) 500/502 W. Oak
(2) 1117/1119 N. Cleveland
and the "winner" is "the ROCK":
(1) 1150/1160 N. Sedgwick
and don't forget Robert Taylor in 002. The largest public housing project in the nation "a city within a city"
I grew up in Andersonville as sheltered white kid. The only Police stations I had ever seen were 019, 020, and 023. The only cop I had ever spoken to was a drunken Irishman who went to "lunch" at the corner bar, on-duty and in uniform, and who I always wondered how he rode his 3-wheeler back to 020 without falling off every night. But this was in the 60's. Once, I saw a cop with his gun in his hand on a traffic stop. I was 18 at the time and had never seen that before. All of this had ill prepared me to be a cop. On a dare, and never before having considered a police career, I signed up to take the Police Exam. My life would never be the same again.
As a young PO in the Academy in 1978, I can remember getting our assignments for our first foray onto the streets since donning our "blues" and receiving our stars: the district ride-along, our first time out in a beatcar carrying a radio and living the "dream". I was assigned to the 018th District. I had no idea what that meant. Someone said, right away, "Wow, that's the Gold Coast and The Magnificent Mile! You're lucky." And so I thought until I arrived at rollcall.
Turns out the 018th District was also home to the Cabrini-Green housing projects, whose only claim to fame until now, was the sniper killings of 2 cops, Sergeant James L. Severin and Patrolman Anthony N. Rizzato on July 17, 1970. These men were part of a community relations "walk and talk" program, designed to foster good-will between the police and the public, and they were killed as they walked across the baseball field to mingle with the kids. Nice place, that Cabrini-Green.
So, my "dream" became a nightmare that ride-along night in 018. No Gold Coast for me! An officer called in last minute and hit the medical. I was converted from a ride-along to the partner on a car in, you guessed it, Cabrini. I could write a book on the shit that happened that ONE NIGHT! But again, my life would never be the same!
Reading some of the above comments have sent this old ghetto ranger on a nostalgia tour in my head. Jayne Byrne moved in surrounded by cops, but made the news nationwide, if not worldwide. I'm sure the walls in her unit didn't move with the scurrying of cockroaches when the lights went on, but I digress. Cabrini-Green... Good riddance to bad rubbish!
When I first hit Cabrini in the late 70's, I worked on a car w/ Caeser Brown and Dana 'muffman' Williams(RIP). They took this new, shiny white kid under their wing and taught me how to survive in the ghetto. We ran into those high rises with shotguns at the ready, constantly. To this day, I can't believe some of the shit we walked into, or that we even survived it.
Cabrini was the ultimate failure in high rise public housing. We knew it was a failure in the 70's. I'm surprised it took this long to eradicate them.
Spent alot of time there on the Gang team in 018 when 400 402 Oak was at it's peak, total shitholes. Seen more than a few people shot there and also a few Officers as well. My question is why did it take so long in the first place to bring them down?
Thank goodness a plaque was placed on the street at 340 S. Western honoring this location as where the 'smash-and-grab' was invented.
Now all you fools on the northwest side gots to deal with the scattered site nonsense. Projects in Norwood park?
The buildings should have been imploded while fully occupied.
back in the day there would be a domestic up on the 20+ floor of the hilliards and the elevators never worked(if they did you didn't want to take'm)and its was below zero out and the old timer would say " kid we ain't goin up there - give it a minute and we'll code it! that was back before O.J.!
WE took over From CHA in 1999. I am proud to say I worked in housing for 5 years. Housing West. The 10 hour days, the fleas, Special only for Housing, the un-policed. Wow in my 17 years, I/we had the best time at 756b.
Entire neighborhoods going straight up. Many folks say Englewood, the Deuce, Harrison, Gresham, South Chicago, Austin were the busiest. Housing was in all these districts.
Housing was the filthiest, roach invested, cesspool, of inbred, dysfunctional leftovers. The good folks had left years ago. What was left were humans without humanity. No different than the Somalis!
Some of this stuff was hilarious, sobering, and painful. How many of my fellow officers have died, were shot, and hurt. Seeing my partner shot and praying to God she would be all right. We all volunteered to work in housing. Officer's you were the bravest and you know who you are.
OMG the CR's just kept coming in they must have been stored in some box.
The best assignment I ever had!
I worked at Rockwell and Horner and I must say the experience left me believing that the inventor of the Raid roach motel must have grown up in one of these political socialist created nightmares of human existence. The best thing they ever did was start emptying these human sand pits of people and remove future generations from such a awful experience.
a kid came home from school and told his dad(cop) he wanted a pair of those hundred dollar gym shoes- dad took the kid to the projects and said "you can have them but we'll have to live here" end of conversation!
remember using an arrestee as a human shield backing out of those places so as not to catch a can a corn to the head from a top floor- hell they'd throw whole bathroom vanities at us and if a human body ever went over a railing it was always ruled a suicide - no burglaries or robberies in the projects- always classified cttl,theft- keep da stats down ya know
oh carbini green, what memories you hold--- mama byrne spent the night but your end came nearly twenty years ago with the shooting death of dantrell davis--- the eggheads should have a field day with demographic study of this area--- people living in million dollar homes right across the street from some of the scummiest most dangerous public housing complexes in the country---
The sights, the smell, the entire atmosphere of being in an entirely alien world where everything about you was unwelcome. Don't touch the walls, don't touch the handrails, don't use the elevators. And always look up.
wow scc... excellent prose. you certainly have a way with words. thanks for the smile this morning
You're missing the whole point....thanks to the projects being knocked down, no we have Section 8 shit in our neighborhoods. They should have knocked the buildings down and rebuilt new ones for them to ruin. You can thank the Dems and Daley for Section 8 in 008, 022 and 016. And to the people who rent their property for Section 8 shit....well, I'll probably be censored with what I have to say !!!!!!
before they caged the outside walkways a shopping cart pushed over at the police. didn't see it but it sounded like a bomb went off. thank God it missed.
Don't forget 2822 S. Calumet. Total shithole right behind 021 that had bullet holes in the elevator doors
Spent years in Public Housing West. Have to say I miss it. Have 23 years on and I have to say it was the best place I have worked. Great times!
Box Chevy Phantom, couldn't have said it better myself..I always thought that "the Hole," and the few highrises in Ida B (706,730, 3833, 727, "The Lonely Building, and 4414 CG / 4445 Ev) were the worst that mankind had to offer.Made me a believer of other life forms being dropped on our planet,
BTW, CHA and Mayer D, the towns of Riverdale, Dolton, and Cal City thank you for tearing down the "jets."
The only more distinctive odor than the combined smell of urine, turds, garbage and malt liqour on a hot summer night is a 7 day old stinker.
Why is the city in the housing biz anyways?
And yet their offspring thrives in a neighborhood near you. Thank you Mayor you useless piece of shit...
I read the article.
I love how these bastards have the balls to think that public housing (the government) is entitled to GIVE them housing.
Fuck all the liberals that cater to these useless half-wits.
Some of the best stories came out of those buildings. It's just a shame that normal people couldn't tour those hell holes and see how the other half lives. Telling the civilians about them just doesn't convey what you see, feel, and smell going into one of the jets.
I saw the biggest Cockroach I ever saw in my life in CPH, and that includes the southeast Asian roaches. Those things will carry you away if you weigh less than 125 lbs. Good Eatin though...!
4 of the best years on this job were in Public Housing hated to leave when we got disbanded. Worked days off in Cabrini cried like a baby when we had to go
Mother Cabrini would be proud of what her vision turned into. What a dump!
The only problem with the 'jets going down is the residents have spread like a cancer, infecting formerly healthy areas of the city and county, eating away at the quality of life for real, honest to goodness, tax paying, law abiding citizens!
And they've all moved to the suburbs. Wonder-fucking-ful.
---not a cop
[...]
Amen too that my brother/sister in blue!!! Those coming on the job now have no idea what they missed out on. You forgot a couple of them though SCC, never stand next to the buildings and never stand in one place too long.
10/24/2010 01:03:00 AM
Never park the squad car next to the building.
Like the time at the Washington park homes, 220 E. 63rd, when the refrigerator landed on the squad car that a couple of hard chargers had parked under the gallery.
No police hurt and did we give them shit about it later.
The residence about the 10 th floor had removed a section of the cage and the rest is history.
Great place for the new kids to learn. Too bad that 'academy' will no longer be available to them. Nothing, and I mean nothing, will ever come close. It was truly Thunderdome.
We used to make CFD take the dead bodies out and pretend they were still working on them so the residents wouldn't go ballistic. They would throw cans of food donated from churches at us around the holidays. I saw guys grazed by them, but no good hits. It would have killed them, and the residents knew it.
What a job we have. What a life we chose for us and our families. We were all going to save the world.
Projects were a wonderful creation.
You always knew where they were.
Their destruction means this city will fall.
Projects are the world they would create if they were in charge.
Obama in '10.
It's a damn shame that the ghetto housing has been torn down and the fine residents displaced all over the area into formerly decent areas. Here in south suburban Lansing, what used to be a nice town with many old white folks who would carefully tend their lawns every week has turned into a totally different environment. Nowadays all I see walking the streets are packs of ghetto rats with their pants hanging down their ass. Not a pretty sight. At least when the projects were around these "people" were all confined to small areas instead of being spread out among the hard working, tax paying folks.
90 day eviction notices? Haha they all got a free ticket to section 8 in the suburbs, good riddance!
I only got to cruise the halls there as an Area 3 dick. It was sure interesting to see that buildings of concrete and steel that would have withstood the pre invasion bombing of Normandy Beach could be compromised by generations of Cabrinites pissing in one corner until there was nothing left but a gaping hole!
Glad I was a Housing cop. It was the best training in the world. The new kids will never experience that and will never know the fun we had "back in the day". I'm proud to say I worked in everyone of the city's PJ's The court was abundant. Never needed to work any special employment.
As for the bugs, that's why we carried Raid Roach spray in our bags.
Ahhh, good times.
Anonymous said...
Come on, you can use the elevator, but always jump on with a couple of locals. They are less inclined to drop bleach on you if your with someone's family.
10/24/2010 12:11:00 AM
It made no difference why you were there or how high you were going, all things considered, the stairway was always the best access route. When leaving, taking a ride down was also at your own peril, especially if one or more of them was unwillingly leaving with you.
Wow!, great write up 10/24/2010 04:07:00 AM
Only got 5 years on in 003 so the only thing I got to experience was 2 years of the Calumet Building 6217 S. Caulmet.
Box chevy phantom hit it right on the head!
RIP ABLA, what a blast it was.
But it does show you what cradle to the grave dependency on the government, and in particular the Democratic Party, who wanted to provide them with everything to secure their votes, does for society.
What year(s) was 1230 N. Burling encased in ice?
And, are they currently demolishing the last two Ickes buildings?
1982 -500-502 Oak ViceLord Building surrounded by Discpiles- Gunshots EVERY MINUTE it seemed cause it was the blacktop for those in the know - first night in the projects-Walking up to shut down a breezeway party when my partner grabs me and stops me in my tracks. Then a glass jug comes crashes down in front of me. I look up and there's scores of people on the breezeway against us two. "What are we going to do? I asked my partner. Call for a (one) backup car and lets go kick some ass. We did and a turntable wound up in the garbage chute. My intro into Cabrini and how to be the real police . Thanks TC RIP my friend.``
The Box Chevy Phantom :
Excellent post. Very well done Sir. No doubt you have earned the right to ride with The Ghost of Revolver Police.
...sorry for the long post SCC but you got us and the memories going. Some good, some ghastly, some funny, some not so funny.
A clink of the rock glass with two fingers of cask strength bourbon...
10/24/2010 04:07:00 AM
I, for one thought it was a GREAT post!
And didn't that experiment in socialized housing work out well.
Favorite memory of the highrises: 3 a.m. in the morning, hooting and hollering, music, mayhem. Burners on full blast to keep the place heated since the windows were wide open.
Yelling "POLICE" walking up the stairs so nobody mistook you for a potential robbery victim.
I often think of the days of working special there. The elevators reeked of urine & I always made sure I had residents with me when I rode. It was easy $$ if you knew the ropes of working there.
RIP 765B
Odgen Courts! Always a fight in there. Alba by far the worst. 1111 W. Roosevelt and 1209 S. Racine....
For the much of my younger years on this job, I was 18-21.
I have photo of that area of when my grandmother's house had been and where my dad went to school before going to World War II and becoming a cop.
Old Man Daley created those vertical hellholes to destroy the Republican Italian vote of that neighborhood and to contain the new immigrant black and Democrat votes out of Chicago neighborhoods.
I thought I would cheer when this day came. But the damage has been done and will spread.
Stay Safe, there was the Cabrini Stomp, quickly exiting away from the building and stomping you feet hard to shake off any roaches.
I will never forget the cold. Why did it just get so fucking cold up there when your trying to get some shit head to open up.
Who can forget them opening up the top of the elevator and pouring gasoline on us and trying to light us up.
RIP: Highrises
Those was the days. Have my most fun at cabrini green....
With all the "Housing " gone everyone gets to have some new folks in their hood to turn it into a festering shit hole. Get your gun ma, the vikings are invading !
Don't forget also, the Dick's dad built these things to lure more democRATS to the city. His buddies made killings on building them, his son's on tearing them down, along with the resulting infrastructure improvement and redevelopment, and also building the scattered site housing which along with section 8, brings the scum to everyone. Yes the Daley legacy. Destroying our city. All the pretty flowers in the middle of Irving Park Rd, and the Bean pales in comparison.
Box Chevy Phantom, thanks for your post.I am a BT 1231 child snatchin,(taking them into protective custody)stab wound staunching,body recovering,"he hit me"refereeing,flying roach ducking,washing machine out the window dodging,piss puddle jumping,
(just to land in another one),survivor of ABLA.
It was challenging thinking back at it now, but the main thing you said that I didnt realize then was that going through those things 6 days a week was Police training in an extreme way. The experience more than prepared me anything I would have to deal with after.
All Housing Rangers from before and today, lets pick a place and meet and
throw back a few, recognize each other like the city we labored for wouldnt. Maybe tell war stories, maybe not but it would be good to see old friends again.
Anyone interested?
Heard Area 4 went up a little last night 5 shot and a murder......
Did anyone predict this violence?
Rest in piece Seversen and Rizoot Two CPD officers killed by sniper fire at cabrinni
NEVER FORGET
Every time I drive down the Dan Ryan I wonder why there is not shade! It seems surreal that those buildings aren't there any more.
Also, when they tore down the "hole" the rats were running into the lockup in 002 (among other things! LOL) we couldn't keep the doors open at all... not that doors could stop those rats!
I worked Cabrini (special) and Housing South (assigned and special) nothing compares. All the posts here bring back memories... good and bad.. Never forget the BLUE BLOOD shed at those projects...
Old Retired Task Force:
Spent most of my tours assisting at Robert Taylor. The second you got out of thre car, you knew you were hated. No saftey vests back then, either. But we were the police back then, and you just did the job which was watching out for each other.
They started tearing them down shortly after the young Officer Ceriale (002) was murdered.
Be safe. Always help one another. If you see a 99 on a stop; just ask. It's appreciated always. I see patrol cars pass by street stops and traffic stops all the time....didn't happen back in the day. Then again, I'm really old.
Memories Part II:
The Area Four 10-1 Tour & Shit-bird Talent Show!
RSVP & BYOB
Tips! Wings! Hot Links! Combos!
Red and grape pop!
"We fights da Po-leece every night!"
Simultaneous melt downs in ABLA, Horner and Rockwell then the "cousins" in Ogden Courts would get the call to join in in "doin' tha fool" too. Then the Citywide would pop with Cabrini going up.
Shit.
It wasn't even safe going to Goose Island Shrimp House for a while.
Some dirty muthafucks took a pot shot one night (1230 Burling building?) at the 011th District wagon and wounded one of the P.O's
The officer was ok and THE POLICE DID WHAT THEY DO BEST! Locked that muthafuckah down and shook it REAL HARD!
Oops! Sorry! J-fled would have said that was "egregious."
...And since we're on the subject.
Go away beady eyes... Don't you have cats you need to titillate and tantilize? Grown men are discussing Real Police business here. A concept as foreign and strange to you as you are to us.
We hope yet to live long enough to see you rot alive in a USBOP facility for Treason in the role you played in the run up to 9-11
We would pay good money to ensure that a "jody cam" is put in your cell so we at CPD will have the pleasure of seeing live feed of you rotting behind bars where you put Cozzi and where you tried to put Agent Wright and where you're trying to put the coppers from 006.
Try selling old crazy in new packaging somewhere else.
You're a failed human being and a COWARD!
Anybody remember the CHA Police? The day they were disbanded, Special Ops, 002 Tactical, and 009 Tactical recovered more guns in one tour than the CHA Police recoverd in a year. It was like New Years Eve when we invaded Robert Taylor.
Always dangerous, but somehow fun.
Hey Box Chevy Phantom:
Love the post!
I remember you once went on a rant with an opener of "Units on Zone 3, Units on Citywide......."
Care to repost it? I can't find it.
THANKS!
Civilian here.
Can I ask a question? WHY was it fun (working in the projects)? It sounds horrible.
Also, were there any good people in the buildings? Any? Just curious.
thanks
Evicted and relocated to 1611. Rebuild them.
Sad part of it all is the way it keeps spreading like cancer. The previous poster commenting on suburban Lansing is 100% correct.
I know many people from Roseland and West Pullman who fled in the 1970's when those once great neighborhoods went downhill. They settled in South Holland,and Lansing. Now those places are turning to shit, now these people are in their 70s and 80s and are to old to move again.
Riverdale used to be so nice. I lived there as a child. Dolton, Blue Island,Calumet city,Harvey all the same..went to shit thanks to "social engineering" Aka section 8.
Fuck Daley and the Democrats!
Saw the biggest rat ever at taylor homes..... It wasnt scared of us and its tail had to be 3 feet long
Worked 6 monhts at the Cabrini Station and 3 years at the Taylor Station. Having a building come down on you was something you wouldn't forget soon. How about taking stupid into custody and a crowd of 30 or so friends of the shitbird decide you ain't takin' him and they are between you and your squad because you had to chase the fool to arrest him. Flying bottles and rocks. I worked the 51st street plaza (at State & 51st) on a Bulls championship game. When they won the Championship, the ground shook as all the doors in Taylor opened and slammed and thousands came down the stairwells. They came out of the buildings and we went in. Got hit with a bottle that day.
I always shook my head in amazement when I heard coppers stuck in an elevator in the Green. Who in their right mind would take an elevator there? I stayed thin because I was in and out of the car all night and up and down those stairs kept you fit. The calls were always on 10 and above and we ALWAYS walked.
It was a good experience, dangerous, but good for learning the job.
Two names: Severin and Rizzato. Never forget. Never forget. Always remembered in my prayers. RIP. With love-JM
What about them LAthrop homes in 019? Those guys are out there at least five deep!
765A-Rockwell/Horner.....Un-real the shit we saw & had to deal with!!! But we did have some good laugh's!!!! If only we could have a camera showing the real world what was going on!!!! No-one on the outside would believe it!!!!
The Housing Projects may be gone but Section 8 is alive and well. The suburbs are overrun with these people from the projects and they are living in nice homes and apartments (subsidized by the govenment)going to our schools and paying no property taxes. Go to the store and out comes the Link card. It's a travesty.
It never ceased to amaze me how the people could live like that~dirty diapers & sanitary napkins in the hallways, urine & feces everywhere, cockroaches scurrying from one apartment to the other and when you had the unfortunate luck of answering a call on the 11th floor of one of these hell-holes was horrifying! Just going in to see the "moving walls" and the chicken bones on the floor, the stove on for heat even though it was already 140 degrees in there and the stained couches & dirty mattresses on the floor where at least three or four little kids were napping with the roaches! Good times,,,,
They should have left them up and kept these pieces of shit out of the nice neighborhoods.
May the rest of the huge concrete urinals finally see their day of rubble.
The dregs of society who inhabited those dumps had no place in a densely populated urban area. Conversely, they are not 'more functional' when commingled with other productive communities, as we're seeing today with the shifting of CHA 'residents' onto the Section 8 voucher system, where they now occupy formerly decent communities, or the rapidly failing 'mixed income housing'- where the delusionaly idealistic market rate buyers have since learned a hard, hard lesson about certain 'cultural disparities'.
The idea of 'public housing' might work in Japan or Sweden... It was destined to fail in a city with an enormous population of socially-nitwitted 'dependents' who don't have the life-skills to succeed in a modern, civil society.
..Well said. They have infiltrated decent neighborhoods that are now seeing more graffiti, more burglaries, more veh thefts, more litter, etc., etc. We work hard in these neighborhoods to keep them neat, clean and crime-free and now we have the vermin living right next door to us. Thanks to mayor daley and the other liberal idiots who have allowed this to happen. Let your alderthief and other politicians you don't want anymore of this crap and don't vote dummycrat.
That was a blast from the past! I did my time at 4005 S. Dearborn in the early 80's. It was the armpit of the city then. The only ambulance I ever worked that had bullet holes in it, glad it wasn't in us. We had "come on down" written on the roof in tape, sometimes it worked. These kids today have no idea.
Who remembers the days when milk and ketchup came in glass bottles and the walkways were not caged? BOOM!
"Keep Looking Up!" was good advice long before Jack Horkheimer, the star gazer, said it.
To the previous poster:
You have no idea what you are talking about. Richard J. Daley did not build the projects to attract the blacks living in the South. He built to keep them out of the nice white neighborhoods. Why do you thing the Dan Ryan was built at it's current location?? Have you ever hear of White Flight? What would you do if all your white residents were leaving and were replaced with black residents. How long do you think you would stay Mayor? Read the book American Pharoah instead of making stupid comments.
How about 2145 W. Lake. Ten (yes,10)PO's shot in one event on a Friday afternoon in October, 1969.
My father is retired CPD. One of his best friends used to patrol Horner. It was the comment "And always look up" that made me think of him. He was one of a kind. Tough SOB. One day while answerign a call he pulled up to Horner, and while exiting the squad saw a funny shadow, looked up and jumped away from the squad. The is when a car tire and rim dropped from above, smashed the roof of the squad to the floor boards. Unfortunately, it was cancer, that got him cause the hoodrats couldn't.
Projects are the world they would create if they were in charge.
Obama in '10.
10/24/2010 12:03:00 PM
--
They were constructed as temporary, transitional housing for returning soldiers, and young families just starting out, beginning in 1942, and were racially/ethnically mixed. Go read a history book (and stop blaming Obama for something that happened before he was born).
Watch guys still had to handle CHA jobs anyway because you were just support personnel
All Housing Rangers from before and today, lets pick a place and meet and
throw back a few, recognize each other like the city we labored for wouldnt. Maybe tell war stories, maybe not but it would be good to see old friends again.
Anyone interested?
10/24/2010 04:30:00 PM
--
Rest in peace, Lt. Bob Curry. Those were the days...
Don't forget when winter came and the temperature inside those hellholes hovered around 120, what with the furnace and all burners on the stove going and the oven door open.
It was then that the apartment came alive with vermin while the occupants slept or nodded. And the odors, ah, I can still smell them, although they were unidentifiable, but extremely pungent.
You had to be there, there is no other way.
I feel so old reading these posts. It seemed like yesterday when I think back on my time in 011 and going up and down in Rockwell Gardens and then to all the other high rises in the city when I went to SOG. Different addresses but the same buildings and the exact same rat living within those buildings.
I'm not knocking the hair gel police but this SCC post is really only for those with some time on the job.
So, may I say this... To anyone whoever walked a ghetto high rise staircase without ever touching a handrail... we all shared a sneak peek of hell and may I give you one last thank you for always having my back!
Horner Rockwell Maplewood Harrison Ogden courts..man the nights the smells the stories watching muzzle flashes so you knew where not to stand.have a street dep. order us out of the Building cause "we" were out of control..standing the perimeter watching the AKs coming flying out during search warrants ..seeing matt trying to open a door with a flower pot..LMAO locked in a liquor store on Van Buren watching them shoot up the place..losing a good friend Michael Ceriale...RIP..Brother..
Lost In Fillmore..(( been there Done that..))
Coppers always have good stories, but I do believe these particular stories- of working in these hellholes as a police officer- have something special going on. I'm not smart enough to know just what it is, but I can recognize something special when I see it and the tales from police working the projects really strikes me as something that should be archived, in detail.
05:48:00 PM
Which media outlet is this?
Ask some of the former residents why they thought it was fun to shoot guns and fling bags of shit at the Police.
Not that what the Police have to say really matters much in the Brain-Washed People's Utopia of Chicago. Right?
Damn, the last building going down! I spent 6 and 1/2 years there, while the station (East Chicago District) was still on Chicago Ave. The 10-1's, shots fired, jump'n the curve with the Chevy Caprice to get as close to the entrance as possible before going to handle a fucked up job, always looking up to see what the fuck those animals were going to throw down, climbing the stairs to the top floor cause the elevators weren't working, chasing mutts from one unit to another through holes in the cinder blocks, etc., etc. Everyday was like going to war! Well, good riddance to Cabrini-Green. I am glad I did my time there. It made me a better cop, but I would never want to that shit ever again! Maybe when this building comes down, I'll grab a brick for a memento.
And to all those cops I worked with there, those were the best years I had on the job and the most fun. Thanks for helping make sure we all got home with the same amount of holes we came to work with.
Ah, Cabrini...and the old 1822 car.
The 'double deuce.' Lots of good coppers assigned to that car in the 90s. A few even got promoted to Sgt.
One even made it to cmdr. All the Division st. bldgs. were on that beat, including 1230 N Burling. Back in those days, that building was a model of efficiency. The CHA had remodeled all of the apts. Armed security controlled the lobby. Good, strong fluorescent lighting permeated each floor, and stairwell. Very few calls were dispatched to that building back then. They had a tenant council. They voted you in from a list when vacancies occurred, and if your kids became a problem, they voted you out. The armed security actually were proactive back then, and worked with the police. The CHA tried to incorporate this model into the other buildings in Cabrini back then, but the word was, the tenants of the other buildings 'just weren't ready.' Those were the days!
Obviously, with the exception of the horror of the Severin-Rizzato murders and other nights from Hell, it was all in your attitude.
If you were vigilant and enjoyed "living on the edge", the jets could be a lot of fun.
On a few occasions in the stairwells, we'd find an abandoned can of spray paint. The graffiti ("TYRONE MAMA IS A HO", etc.) became rather boring. As a cerebral upgrade, we'd write "NIETZSCHE IS PEACHY", "SARTRE SLEPT HERE", "KAFKA IS A COCKROACH", etc.
Sometimes, dressed in business attire (as detectives), we'd take the 'vator down with a few bangers.
In our wimpiest voice, we'd say that we had better get to the bank with all the insurance payment CASH we had collected. They'd never take the bait: ("we know you be da PO-leece. office").
As a psych major, I wondered why as we entered the breezeway, even a 3-yeat old kid would greet us in plainclothes with "Hi, PO-leece". So I'd tell the little fella that we were just businessmen. A typical response: "You be da PO-leese. I can tell da way you walk like you know where you be goin', y'all don't smile and you be lookin' up a lot."
And to those that think that all CHA residents are mutts. No way. There were decent, hard working, law-abiding folks living in the P-Js too. Some had immaculately kept apts. and they'd instinctively hit the deck at the sound of the pervasive gunfire.
I kinda miss the jets. Lots of laughs.
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Civilian here.
Can I ask a question? WHY was it fun (working in the projects)? It sounds horrible.
Also, were there any good people in the buildings? Any? Just curious.
thanks
10/24/2010 05:48:00 PM
Yes but they were few and far between. Usually Grandmas (or great-Grandmas) raising their children's children. I remember a woman offering me an ice cold can of pop after climbing the stairs on a call in the summer. It was unopened so no funny business there. Other mothers would yell at their children if the children said hello to us. Bringing up young haters.
I was working for Sgt Ray in 016 back in the day. We got a New Years detail to one of the Division St buildings at the "Green". We were walking around, freezing. I'm standing next to a caged room and I hear tons of shuffling and paper/trash ruffling. I hit it with my flashlight cause I'm curious. It was a mountain of Rats!! I've never seen that many rats in one place in my life. It freaked me out but I couldn't believe the garbage men had to contend with it. Nasty!
Can't forget leclaire courts in 008
im surprised the damn liberals/democrats didn't try to make the last building a historical landmark. what a joke. I hate spike lee, but he set it best "self cleaning ovens"
Anonymous said...
How about 2145 W. Lake. Ten (yes,10)PO's shot in one event on a Friday afternoon in October, 1969.
10/24/2010 10:55:00 PM
The Lake-Leavitt shoot out! One PO almost didn't make it (Walton)
Anonymous said...
Civilian here.
Can I ask a question? WHY was it fun (working in the projects)? It sounds horrible.
Also, were there any good people in the buildings? Any? Just curious.
thanks
10/24/2010 05:48:00 PM
The good people wore uniforms. Any decent people got out long before when they could.
.....Good times,,,,
10/24/2010 08:27:00 PM
Aint we lucky we got 'em?
Fuck Daley and the Democrats!
The republicans aren't much better or did you forget George Ryan releasing all of those thugs from death row and making them millionaires in the process?
Best training ground for police work there ever was. The young guys and girls coming on now will never know what that was like. Too bad for them.
For me the fun of working in the projects was: Sgt Ward (Cabrini) and all of the old timers from different districts, the funny situations & camaraderie and most of all, going home and being thankful that I didn't live like that!
Had a fire call there, dude 'cueing in the bathtub with one of those cheap opentop grills set the place up. After fire left and I was filling out the paper dude comes ask me "office dey save my meat?"
Classic.
In honor of two CPD hero's the block in front of the present 018 District (Division/Larrabee) was officially dedicated with honorary street signs... Sgt.James Severin andPO Anthony Rizzato Way.
Both members killed in Cabrini by heartless snipers on 17 July 1970.
Inside the 018 station they dedicated their 'community room' the Severin/Rizzato community room.
Also in that room I saw a display case with a display of mementos honoring those two members with additional street signs on a post within.
Worth a trip to view this tribute to two of Chicago's Finest, 'Always Remembered.'
I'll tell you where they went. Your neighborhood and mine. Never had so much shit happen until now.
The special employment really helped a lot of people put their kids through private schools all these years,or pay child support.Have to ride the wave till it ends.Hopefully more special employment will start when cabrini ends.Be safe out there boys and girls.
I still got my Housing West Swat T-Shirt! The Real police that work the "Last Outpost" know what I'm saying.
I worked for the CHAPD for 8 of its 10 year run. I have experienced nearly every story told by the previous posters. It took a special breed to work the projects. When a person applied to work CHAPD ther was no misunderstanding where you would be going. Not like in CPD where daddy clout might get you sent to a "nice district". There was no such thing as a nice project and that was kmown walking in the door. The academy was extended and there was extra PT and lots of running the stairs....I can still hear Gus Tero saying "fight that feeling". MOst cops who talk abpout it both CPD and CHAPD will tell you it was the best time they ever worked as cops. You took care of business and you were the real police. Lots of people have their stories where they like to slam CHAPD but those are usually the whiners who lacked the stones to ever go there. CHAPD was created for a reason there were too many people for just bt 1231, 214, 1125 and 2133 and a few others to handle. In 1999, after a lot of the lies and BS that most CPD officers are complaining about today the CHAPD was shut down. Today you use the term de-police in the last year of the CHAPD the lies and games played by the city tore everyone apart. 500 Officers were let go, CPD shoved bodies in and even offered four ten hour days because no one would bid to go to jets. The city proceeded to tear down the buildings and pawn the residencts off onto the southern burbs and other parts of the city which explains the rapid decline of the south burbs and other parts of the city that we have today. Despite all of the challenges the CHAPD also lost an Officer, Jimmy Lamar Haynes to a sniper in the Taylor Homes in 1991. He was the ONLY CHAPD Officer to die in the line of duty. Following its demise, most officers with the CHAPD were hired by other agencies including CPD, ISP, FBI, DEA, ICE, the Railroad PD's and most of the burbs. Many have excelled because of the career length experience compressed into the short ten years of the CHAPD. You blame the Mayor today, we blamed him nearly 15 years ago, nobody listened and now look at the mess but damn it was fun!!!!!
im not kma, but im not a rookie either.. i got the pleasure or displeasure of working in algeld, taylors, cabrini, rockwell, leclaire, just to name a few. these news cops (10yrs or less)-have no idea what it was like out there. these projects should have NEVER been torn down--the cancer is now spread over the 6 county area. also if the elevator worked in one of these high rises, it usually worked better than the elevator at 11th and state
I really like reading the comments of Box Chevy Phantom and Northside.
Good times.
Projects are the world they would create if they were in charge.
Obama in '10.
10/24/2010 12:03:00 PM
--
They were constructed as temporary, transitional housing for returning soldiers, and young families just starting out, beginning in 1942, and were racially/ethnically mixed. Go read a history book (and stop blaming Obama for something that happened before he was born).
10/24/2010 11:01:00 PM
The projects were never built as temporary housing for servicemen or anyone else. Just a look at the formidable structures should tell you that. CHA was started in the late 30's, and did greatly expand in the late 40's, amid much controversy. Whoever posted earlier about the division between blacks and whites on the south side was exactly correct. One of the main reasons that the Ryan is where it is was to protect Bridgeport from the blacks. Robert Taylor was built on reclaimed land to the east, and in fact was not completed until the early 60's. I remember thinking, in the late 60's, when I worked in the "deuce" about the irony of how something that new could be so fucked up. A large part of the projects being what they were was the result of bad planning amid great controversy about whether to build them, and if so where. CHA was also one of the worst managed entities ever to exist in the Chicago area, and that is saying a lot. It is also interesting to note that when started in the 30's most projects were low rise, townhouse types. They were usually run by a resident manager who could pick and choose the tanants. If you were a problem, he could kick you out. They initially were well run on a local level. Eventually, just because of demand all of that went away and anyone showing need, or knowing somebody on the Commission, could become a tenant. They were an interesting place to work though.
And, are they currently demolishing the last two Ickes buildings?
Now in progress. Seen it from the Rock Island last week.
Anonymous said...
How about 2145 W. Lake. Ten (yes,10)PO's shot in one event on a Friday afternoon in October, 1969.
10/24/2010 10:55:00 PM
The Lake-Leavitt shoot out! One PO almost didn't make it (Walton)
10/25/2010 05:01:00 AM
No Waltons there. It was retired commander Tom (Sybil) Cronin.
There were a LOT of decent residents in those buildings. Unfortunately, just like law abiding, job holding residents of many minority communities today, they are forced to maintain a reserved, unassuming presence within their own neighborhoods because the bad guys set the tone, and we as police officers are pretty much powerless to protect those who need and desire our protection the most.
I met quite a few nice people during my many years of working Special in Cabrini, Robert Taylor, Henry Horner and Altgeld Gardens. But due to poverty and other dire circumstances, they were stuck there.
But I have been in quite a few immaculate apartments, many with nice furniture and fresh paint, and well behaved kids. Just because one is forced to reside in a ghetto doesn't mean they have to live like it. I also noticed that it became so easy for many of us officers to generalize about project tenants and/or black people in general. I can recall one traffic stop in my past that turned violent, with me and the driver wrestling around...an old black woman came out of her house with a broom and beat the guy repeatedly about the head, shouting the whole time, 'don't go fightin' that Police Officer!'
Another time, chasing a man with a shotgun, I struck a citizen's car with my squad. After I got the situation contained and the offender arrested, I saw the owner of the car standing on his front porch (Burnside neighborhood). I walked up to him, and informed him that I would call over a Sgt., and he would have a report filed documenting the damage to his car.
The man said to me, "Officer, I'm a Christian. I really appreciate how you got out of your car and handled that situation across the street from my house. If this is gonna cause a problem for you with your superiors, I'm willing to forget the whole thing, I can get this fixed on my own. I don't want to cause you any problems, I want to see you out here as much as you can be out here.' You could have knocked me down with a feather.
What about them LAthrop homes in 019? Those guys are out there at least five deep!
10/24/2010 08:06:00 PM
==
Hahahahahaha! And, I bet you refer to these little buildings as 'the jets'. They are NOTHING like the projects of the old days. Don't kid yourself, kid.
I remember being a PPO in 013 and working BT1333 at Henry Horner with an old timer who told me NEVER to touch anything at the projects~didn't really know why until I saw the hell-hole and when responding to an in-progress job, ran after an offender who took off into 120 N Hermitage....we ran in right behind another PO who grabbed the door handle and then screamed in horror while looking at his hand which was covered in shit! I thought I would pee in my pants from laughing so hard! They covered the door handles in shit!
GOOD TIMES.....
When I was young, I remember asking my Dad if he ever shot anyone, he said no. Then I asked him if he ever pointed his gun at anyone, he said "once or twice". My dad spent his whole career in 018. Then I joined the CHAPD for 3 years before coming to CPD, and I knew my Dad might have been less than truthful about pointing his gun at someone...lol. I had a blast working ABLA, the Hornets, Rockwell and Cabrini. TV couldn't write the stuff we've all experienced in housing. I remember doing a premise check in 1520 Hastings and pushing the elevator button, sometimes the dope boys rode them. Door opens and inside is a minor inferno. Someone had set a couch on fire and sent it down to the lobby. My partner and I just look at each other and bust out laughing. You didn't want to get caught in the courtyard of the Racine buildings (1209, 111, 1239). You had Rockwell's 2517 W Adams shooting out the back door across at 2515 W Jackson. Backing out of 502 W Oak with a "shield" in front of you while the savages threw cans of corn or whatever down at you. Always interesting in Housing, whether it CHAPD or CPD.
I will forever miss working Beat 1822 on midnights and getting the 6am domestic every morning on 1823's beat as soon as they went down for lunch!! I will miss working a gang team in cabrini, where sometimes u take an impounded car (tinted windows) that belongs to a shithead and drive up to the building he was from only to see the faces of his friends when "THE POLICE" comes bailing out to lock your ass up ... good times!!
I think the shooting at 2145 W. Lake was Joe Cali. You can look it up on ODMP. He was hanging a ticket on a parker and two shit heads shot him with a .22 rifle from one of the CHA Lake Street garbage dumps. One is out of prison already, maybe the other piece of ass wipe is too. Joe was a good guy, Viet Vet too. Came from a very nice family. It was always amazing to me he could survive combat in Nam but some little bastard with a 20watt IQ would take his life in the streets of his hometown. But it is remarkable given the depravity that lived in the projects police losses were not more. Back in the 60's to think some day hdqtrs. would be at 35th and Michigan, well you could not imagine it. Of course it still does not make sense even now.
Worked a lot of Special in all of the projects for straight time,it put my kids thru grammar and high school.Favorite memory was whenever CFD responded to a fire in the hi-rises the first thing out of the window was the TV set,no matter what room had the fire(Usually a burnt dinner).It was like that old Second City TV show where all of the TVs flew out all of the floors.Good memories,don't miss the circus but I miss the clowns and the brotherhood.
Retired..........and loving it.
I am a former feeb, current cop.
I was in Cabrini arresting dude on a drug warrant. As i put the cuffs on he told me about his infant son sleeping in the next room. He had an auntie two floors down, and he called her to take care of the baby. Auntie showed up with a substitute teacher, long ass cigarette, dangling from her lips to take the child. I said to dude "that's a cute baby what's his name?"
"Dijon" he said.
"Like the mustard?" I asked.
"Huh?" he said.
"Do you spell it with a d or a j?" I asked.
"It's di...Jii, I don't know some shit!"
Sad, funny, definately f-ed up , the projects are gone, the bullshit is still there.
I hope the kids do better in the neighborhoods. The children never deserved to live like that.
Yes, it was Joe Cali(RIP) and he was working special employment that fateful day.I quit working special after that, no sense in giving them any extra chances.
Anonymous said...
Worked a lot of Special in all of the projects for straight time,it put my kids thru grammar and high school.Favorite memory was whenever CFD responded to a fire in the hi-rises the first thing out of the window was the TV set,no matter what room had the fire(Usually a burnt dinner).It was like that old Second City TV show where all of the TVs flew out all of the floors.Good memories,don't miss the circus but I miss the clowns and the brotherhood.
Retired..........and loving it.
10/25/2010 11:22:00 PM
I remember a veteran CFD fire fighter going up the stairs to a fire and meeting one of the residents on the way down with his TV in his arms. The fireman said "here, let me help you with that" and took the TV and threw it down the stairs and told the shithead that now he can go back for his family. One of those priceless moments you rarely see any more.
Anonymous said...
I think the shooting at 2145 W. Lake was Joe Cali. You can look it up on ODMP. He was hanging a ticket on a parker and two shit heads shot him with a .22 rifle from one of the CHA Lake Street garbage dumps. One is out of prison already, maybe the other piece of ass wipe is too. Joe was a good guy, Viet Vet too. Came from a very nice family. It was always amazing to me he could survive combat in Nam but some little bastard with a 20watt IQ would take his life in the streets of his hometown. But it is remarkable given the depravity that lived in the projects police losses were not more. Back in the 60's to think some day hdqtrs. would be at 35th and Michigan, well you could not imagine it. Of course it still does not make sense even now.
10/25/2010 09:44:00 PM
Joe Cali was shot and killed by a sniper on May 20, 1975. The juvenile killer was paroled in 1986.
The shooting at Lake-Leavitt in 1969 was a full fledged firefight, 10 officers shot, one critically. Started when wagon men were removing a man shot by the police.
Imagine ten coppers shot in one incident today. The only similar full scale battle I can recall was the North Hollywood shootout of 1997. 11 officers and 7 civilians injured in that one.
Even Mayor Jane Byrne had an apt at the Green, she was no J-Fled of a person . She knew the dangers of the job and when police were killed , wrote a check to the family from her own account.
I worked for the CHAPD for 8 of its 10 year run
-----------------
CHAPD was a joke...when they were all disbanded CPD had to go in and clean up the mess. Some good guys but for the most part...dogs
Anonymous said...
Anonymous said...
How about 2145 W. Lake. Ten (yes,10)PO's shot in one event on a Friday afternoon in October, 1969.
10/24/2010 10:55:00 PM
The Lake-Leavitt shoot out! One PO almost didn't make it (Walton)
10/25/2010 05:01:00 AM
No Waltons there. It was retired commander Tom (Sybil) Cronin.
10/25/2010 11:24:00 AM
Cronin is correct. Different event than the Joe Cali murder. 6 years apart.
I know someone who used to be a caseworker at the welfare office that serviced Cabrini. He stated that a big secret no one wants to talk about is that workers who did the crossmatches for child support screens were aware that there was an incredible amount of inbreeding in Cabrini. Example...a half brother and sister having babies together, first cousins having babies.... What was even more astonishing was that the clients didn't even know it. Because no one signs anyone's birth certificate and children rareley carry their father's name. Or if so, it's the name of the preferred boyfriend at the time of the birth, NOT the name of the biological father. When women are forced to give information on the father otherwise face being taken off the medical card, the information given to the state is usually somewhat accurate because it's totally confidential. When you do crossmatches to see which guys are listed as father or possible father with which babies, and look over one or two generations of records, you see where inbreeding occurs. It has been speculated that maybe this has something to do with the high occurrances of "Learning Disabled" and "Behavior Disruptive" kids from the projects. A steady diet of Twinkies, Fire Cheetoes, and red dye #3 soda pop may be involved as well.
/24/2010 02:45:00 PM
Anonymous said...
I will never forget the cold. Why did it just get so fucking cold up there when your trying to get some shit head to open up.
10/24/2010 02:49:00 PM
how about the wind when you were just getting to the elevators....YIKES!!!!
I was employed as a CHA officer for five years. I am proud to have served with some of the best cops I have ever known! Both CHAPD officers and CPD officers. This cop who is bashing the CHAPD is probably some four year know it all!! I would not trade the experience of working at CHA for anything, and if you ever worked the projects you know what I mean. As for "dogs." There were dogs at the CHA. Just like there are dogs in the Chicago Police Department and the current department I work for. I want to finish by saying that we were a special breed at CHA. If you worked there you know what I mean. Keep safe ALL my brothers in blue!
@ 4:24:00 PM...
OHHHH YEAH!!!
Inbreeding was one of the BIG turds in the punchbowl that the powers that be blithely ignored.
A lot of coppers figured this was a damned plausible reason why some of the "cliff dwellers" did the truly incredible and unexplainable shit they did.
Add to the mix of bust-out ass corner store owners trading a few dollars, some huggies and a bottle of "bumpy face" for a few minutes of a teen aged (and some instances pre-teenaged) girl's (and boy's too) charms.
The kicker was that the residents KNEW THIS WAS GOING ON! The Police could only speculate to a point but with "no snitching" in full force what could we really do?
Oh, sorry. The Po-leece is racist for bringing up funky shit like this.
These are the misguided, dysfunctional, no true or magnetic North on their moral compass having people that shortshanks cynically dispersed throughout the city as a big and final "fuck you" to the people who pay the freight in this town.
God Almighty! It's so aggravating when we (The Police) who saw this shit too close up and too personally, were sounding the alarm when all the yellow-pinky entitlement bullshit of section 8 began rearing it's ugly head when the high rises started coming with a vengeance and EVERYBODY was too damn busy waiting with baited breath for the next pile of anti-Police propaganda to fly from the nether regions of the widely grinning media control and public brain-washing minions of Daley Inc.
Hope you enjoy the changes Chicago!
The Police have literally shut down and really don't care about much other than surviving the current regime.
The next regime doesn't look so good either. Nothing but floggings on the horizon for not improving our own morale.
When the people choose to forsake and turn their backs on the guardians, how long can the guardians, (imperfect though the people demand saintly perfection from those who walked a path to confront demons) out of their sense of duty continue what seems to be a sisyphean task?
"Take back the streets" the people cry to the guardians.
The guardians cast a jaundiced eye toward their brethren swinging silently on the scaffold the people allowed to be built...
... The silence is deafening though only the reasonable man can discern it form the raucus cries of the people.
Chicago is getting what it deserves...
Good, old fashioned Policing is finished.
The era of the alderwhore, rev'run, clueless yellow-pinky, politically correct Police Department is here.
They say you will learn to love it.
The smell cannot be described. Even the cold could not make the smell go away. And it was fucking freezing on those walkways. Just fucking freezing.
And only a dummy took the elevator in the projects.
Memories, memories.
It's sad to see that after 10 plus years there are still folks that attempt to bash the CHAPD. The department is long gone and the haters are still talking about how they had to come in and clean up the mess. Give me a break, I worked at CHAPD for 9 years, and have been with CPD for almost 10. I have worked with great cops on both departments, both departments have and had their share of dog officers too. Let it go, it's petty.
Hahaha a friend of mine pointed me to this blog.
I worked for a music shop in the early 80's. We did home deliveries of any instruments we repaired for our customers. So, we get a bass in for a new tuning key and restring. To be returned to: You guessed it. An apartment in Cabrini Green. No one wanted to take it but I figured what the hell, I'll take it, so I drove over, parked, got out of my car and started walking in.
Two cops who had been parked nearby and saw me pull up in the delivery van come flying over and jump out of the car. I figure something was up, so I started looking around. Turns out they were coming over to ask me what the hell I was doing. I told them- music shop, returning an instrument- they kind of rolled their eyes and said OK, we'll walk you in, but make this fast.
Smell was like everyone else said, walked up the stairs, as we were going up you heard people shouting "POLICE, POLICE" from above.
We get to the dudes apartment, I knock on the door, he opens up and it smells like a weed factory... He sees me standing there with his bass, then notices there are two coppers standing next to me. Says "Oh shit!" trys to slam door shut, they force their way in and bust him. Found a bunch of stolen property in there.
They call in more cops, get him cuffed and tell me to follow them. I walk back down with them (no one threw anything but they shouted at us), then back to the van. Asked the dude in cuffs what I should do with his bass... He told me to shove it up my ass.
Been playing that bass since 1982.
Can't forget ABLA..1209,1111,1510,1440 fucking shitholes one and all..but damn those were fun days. At least we had 'em all in one place instead of scattered around all over the state. Uh oh Poleece creepin....get little
GET LITTLE! Hahaha! That was my favorite call out for the police! Many many great memories working for the CHAPD! Most Chicago Cops do not understand what working the projects was like. Unless your worked public housing or a specialized unit. Those were fun times!! Still on the job, but it's just not the same. B-Safe my brothers and sisters!!
"...there was an incredible amount of inbreeding in Cabrini. Example...a half brother and sister having babies together, first cousins having babies."
--10/26/2010 04:24:00 PM
...and let's not forget that there was a competition of sorts to see how many babies you could have -- as evidenced by that fad of people wearing twenty photo buttons of babies as proof.
The "sociologists" and "urbanologists" claim that "warehousing people in high-rises" was the cause of all of the crime and insane behavior in the housing projects.
This theory is borne out today, in The Hell That Is Sandburg Village.
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Hoorah! Cabrini Green revitalization project announced! I can't wait to hear the comments on this.
Just enjoyed reading through this, these housing projects sound like quite a spot to be working as a law enforcement officer..
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