Blue Light City

On Thursday evenings, when I am in Chicago, I always go to the south side to meet with friends.  Later, I'll stop by my favorite Taqueria (18th street) for a carne asada tostada, then "retire" to my favorite 24/7 Starbucks on North ave in Old Town for a session of blissful, uninterrupted late night computing.

In between, I often wander off the main roads which take me to parts of the city most visitors don't see.   These places now have the distinction of being marked by flashing blue security lights and surveillance cameras operated by special divisions within the Chicago police department.  The claim is that by installing these blue lights and camera in troubled sections of the city, the crime rate in these areas plunges dramatically.  One has to wonder, though, if property values in those areas also plunge, or if the adjoining neighborhoods are adversely affected when the criminal activity migrates away from the watchful eye of the City.

I thought I'd take you on a little tour of these.  The first is on the near south side, just off Roosevelt, a few blocks east of Ashland.

The following are a stretch of west Madison, which still has not quite recovered from the devastating riots in 1968, following the assisination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  This is the neighborhood which caused the current mayor's father, Richard J. Daley, to issue the order for police to shoot to kill any arsonist, and maim or cripple anyone caught looting.

 

The reddish photo is a block north of Madison, on Damen Ave.  I tinted this photo red on purpose, since the hood here is very red light.

These blue light deterrent/surveillence cameras are all over the west side.  But you can find them even adjoining some of the fancy neighborhoods, including Old Town and the Gold Coast.

Continuing my drive, I cut over the Chicago river by the Chicago Tribune plant and the one of Chicago's last chocolate factories (I love the smell of that chocolate wafting into the hot summer night), into the tony River North section of town.  Adjacent this is the infamous Cabrini Green complex operated by the Chicago Housing Authority.  They are tearing these high rises down now, but a few still remain. 

Here are some more blue light scenes. When I took these photos there were lots of fireworks crackling around, and hollaring coming from the (chain-link fenced-in) balconies.  It occurred to me that firecrackers and gunshots  sound an awful lot alike, and I had to wonder what was really going on.

What is kind of amazing, is that the land these buildings occupy is worth a gold mine.  I made a quick estimate, that the high rise (slated for demo) shown here is sitting on land worth 50-100 million, at least. It sits within blocks of the Gold Coast, and enjoys the absolutely best set of views of the Chicago skyline (the backside, that you normally don't see in photos).

At  this point, you might be thinking what kind of fool drives the mean streets at these hours.  I don't know. I do know that plenty of kids call these places home, and there are families there that regularly protest the city's demolition plans.   There are attempts to create affordable housing for displaced residents.  I actually don't know how well that is working.

Comments

[aalu paneer]

i have lived in chicago suburbs for four years and never knew of this. thanks for sharing this with us!

[rob]

My pleasure. I wouldn't recommend touring these places at night obviously, but if one ever finds oneself off the beaten track its important to remember that in addition to the gang bangers there are many more normal, innocent and lovely people who call these neighborhoods home.