lostlucy

OK, I'm pissed enough to call out the University of Chicago. why not point fingers?

my sweet boy is ok. My doorman's 14 yr old nephew was murdered at point blank range though, in a similar 4pm mugging in broad daylight, and he was also just walking home from school -- in a neighborhood 1 mile south and west.

my son and a friend were just walking home from school on our main drag, and then he took the chicago public bus (CTA) to school one morning, and when he was the last person on the bus, the driver drove off her route, turned off the bus, locked the door and wandered away for 20 minutes, telling him "i need a break".

well, this particular CTA busline is owned and operated by the universwity of chicago and is prominently advertised as the one safe way to get through our hyde park chicago neighborhood.

My children's school was very supportive, but a father at the school who happens to be the University person in charge of this busline stonewalled me. told me there were no witnesses and no way of doing anything. told me to watch all of the bus dirvers and to get the badge of the busdriver ourselves by watching all of the drivers and copying down their badge ID when we saw her.

Even high-ranking husband's phone call did not motivate him much initially.

Good thing I am a hot-headed reactive individual who went off like a cork and threatened to call NBCchicago and my atty!! i also let him know that the minutes from his mtgs detailing other safety breaches on this bus route were posted on the web for everyone to view. I wish i'd printed this out as the fool went and pulled these now.

anyway...

2 days later we got a long official email detailing the entire incident with my son as transcribed from the existing videotape from that bus ride!!! that fucker knew a tape existed and tried to send me away!!

the driver is on medical leave and has a disciplinary hearing upcoming. that is enough for me as i don't want her head per se, I want the people overseeing the drivers to know and to address it from the system-wide failure of safety in hde park!

finally, in 1988-1994 manhattan, when my kids went to a private school up near columbia university, it took ONE incident where a kid was hit coming home from school and the entire community banded together to create parent patrols form 3-5 to wlak thru teh neighborhoods to ensure the safety of kids walking home. Because after all, what we all have learned from the reduction of crime in NYC, Boston and LA, is that you have to have people WALKING THE STREETS to make the streets safer.

the University of chicago has a police force the size of the entire city of chicago police department and they are here to supposedly keep hyde park safe. both the U of C and city police this area.

In their cars, sitting their fat asses in their cars. a few are on bikes now, and i notice they are real fond of riding up and down the lakefront where there is minimal crime.

I have been to the university police to discuss foot patrols -- first did this in 2006 when there were 27 armed robberies of citizens in hyde park in a 6 week stretch. all of the robberies happened between 3-7pm, often the victims were with one or more friend.

stunning complacency, cover-up, victim-blaming and denial occur down here among officials designed to protect, and they do this bc they fear if peeople know how bad it is they won't send their kids to college here.

I guess the short of it is that when i had to hear from my grocery delivery guy that one of his customer's middle school daughters was also assaulted in an attempted rape at 5pm...

I am forming a parent patrol - my first foray into this will be tomorrow night's Parent association mtg.

If they can't do it on their own initiave, i hope that I can shame them into action with the idea that this petite angry 45 yr old mom is willing do to what they won;t.