Chicago had FORTY murders in January. Ten more then Philly.

**mixiboi** · 02-14-2012, 01:59 PM

Chicago Murders Up Fifty Percent | News One

Though crime in Chicago, Illinois has decreased overall in 2012, the murder rate has increased by a shocking 50 percent, reports the Chicago Tribune.

Police Chief Garry McCarthy told the Tribune that there have been 40 murders this month in the Windy City, up from 26 in January of 2011. According to police records, the increase in homicides continues the same violent streak that held the city hostage at the end of last year.

And we get **** on, and this bull**** is put out like its the best in the world:

Chicago Murder-Free, Shooting-Free For First 24-Hour Period In A Nearly Year

Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy announced the accomplishment Thursday in a statement that praised recent changes in the Chicago Police force.

"The last time we went a day without a murder or shooting was nearly a year ago in early 2011," McCarthy said in a statement. "This is clearly the result of the tremendous police work of the men and women of the Chicago Police Department."

McCarthy says this week's silent night is evidence that the recent changes are working, but that the city's police force still has obstacles to overcome in improving their effectiveness.

Note it was 7 degrees that day in Chicago....

We really need to start playing the PR game better and stop being Negadelphia. If they can get away with this, so can we.

**hkp** · 02-14-2012, 02:09 PM

80% murders at 40 compared to 50 in Chi
58% of population at 1.5 million compared to 2.6 million in Chi

**toxigal** · 02-14-2012, 02:55 PM

baltimore has a weekly column in teh city paper called "Murder Inc". They keep a running tally of murders.

I also fondly remember the day the front page, above the fold, headline in the sun was "Seven Days - No Murder!" Now that is something to celebrate!

**Sharkfood** · 02-14-2012, 03:39 PM

As long as we continue to brag that we're not the worst of the worst, I doubt anything will improve.

**Hospitalitygirl** · 02-14-2012, 05:59 PM

Originally Posted by Sharkfood

As long as we continue to brag that we're not the worst of the worst, I doubt anything will improve.

The point isn't that we're not the worst of the worst, but that a) people don't know how to read articles critically enough and just jump at the headlines, and b) we have to stop making this so dire. As it's been pointed out, we aren't a hell hole and most of us aren't at real risk, especially if you exercise a modicum of caution.

But, what would you do to "improve"?

Incentivize birth control until some (too many?) of the people having children are older and more mature?

Incentivize abortions to control some of the growing population of the most at-risk? (In case you've forgotten, and some never knew, the origins of Planned Parenthood were found on Margaret Sanger's belief in the use of Eugenics.)

Put some onto ships at sea and sail them around the world until they all off one another?

We've been doing certain things, like dumping lots of money into education, for many, many years with little appreciable results to show for this.

Are some more of you going to intervene when you see a mother with several children, on the bus or on the sidewalk, yelling MFer at a small child or three because they aren't doing something the "parent" wants?

Enlighten the rest of us...thanks.

**daveydoo** · 02-14-2012, 07:29 PM

Just let the first paragraph sink in:

Chicago's Schools, Police Work To Stem Violence : NPR

I have nothing against Chicago. I went to school there and go back every year. But it would be difficult to make an argument that the grass is greener there. There are large parts of the West & South Sides that have seen better days. Plus cost of living has definitely shot up the last ten years or so. Sales tax is now over 10% I believe. Property taxes shot up big time. This put the end of Daley's reign under a cloud because of (perceived but not quite provable) corruption and his love of tax-increment financing. For those who live with the high taxes it's understandable that they would be less than enthusiastic. As a visitor however, I must say that the lakefront areas are looking better and better every year. And while many other neighborhoods get the short end of the stick, Daley was smart in understanding that if you pay particular attention to the areas that visitors are most likely to see, the perception will stick with them as they return to wherever they're from.

Tax-increment financing is particularly loathed in some circles. It's understandable in that the city as a whole does not benefit from the new taxes a particular development would generate. And because there are many TIF developments in Chicago, chances are the new condos and townhomes you see there are not benefiting the city treasury all that much. There was always a suspicion that forming these TIF districts was a way for Daley to collect favors, but again if it was, proving it was the tricky part.

**funk** · 02-15-2012, 06:03 PM

they also have better rappers.

**mixiboi** · 02-15-2012, 06:06 PM

Originally Posted by funk

they also have better rappers.

Like hell they do.

**Geno** · 02-15-2012, 06:25 PM

Originally Posted by Hospitalitygirl

The point isn't that we're not the worst of the worst, but that a) people don't know how to read articles critically enough and just jump at the headlines, and b) we have to stop making this so dire. As it's been pointed out, we aren't a hell hole and most of us aren't at real risk, especially if you exercise a modicum of caution.

But, what would you do to "improve"?

Incentivize birth control until some (too many?) of the people having children are older and more mature?

Incentivize abortions to control some of the growing population of the most at-risk? (In case you've forgotten, and some never knew, the origins of Planned Parenthood were found on Margaret Sanger's belief in the use of Eugenics.)

Put some onto ships at sea and sail them around the world until they all off one another?

We've been doing certain things, like dumping lots of money into education, for many, many years with little appreciable results to show for this.

Are some more of you going to intervene when you see a mother with several children, on the bus or on the sidewalk, yelling MFer at a small child or three because they aren't doing something the "parent" wants?

Enlighten the rest of us...thanks.

Teens having children is perpetuating the problem. The war on drugs is another part. How about some legalization/decriminalization on some drugs and some "mandatory" family planning. Those are ideas outside of the mainstream, but nothing we are currently doing works. Also, not sure where the money we "dump" into education in Philadelphia goes, but when I taught in a Philly public high school for nearly 3 years, the principal had to use revenue from the soft drink machine to get text books that were newer than 3 decades old.

**Hospitalitygirl** · 02-15-2012, 06:26 PM

Originally Posted by Geno

Teens having children is perpetuating the problem. The war on drugs is another part. How about some legalization/decriminalization on some drugs and some "mandatory" family planning. Those are ideas outside of the mainstream, but nothing we are currently doing works. Also, not sure where the money we "dump" into education in Philadelphia goes, but when I taught in a Philly public high school for nearly 3 years, the principal had to use revenue from the soft drink machine to get text books that were newer than 3 decades old.

We *KNOW* where it goes--to administration, not the classrooms.

**Geno** · 02-15-2012, 06:35 PM

Originally Posted by Hospitalitygirl

We *KNOW* where it goes--to administration, not the classrooms.

Bingo. And a few years back, somebody decided the school I worked in was failing so they brought in a private company to manage the place. They occupied some nice offices on the second floor. They rarely came out, nothing improved. They wore nice suits to work, I am sure they were well paid to do nothing in those offices. Meanwhile, the music program was cut, the ovational programs were cut and the books were bought with soda money. The teens kept having babies and kids kept going to jail for minor drug offenses and coming out hardened and violent.

**Swinefeld** · 02-15-2012, 06:55 PM

Originally Posted by mixiboi

Like hell they do.

Chicago-style pizza rocks.

**forkiks** · 02-15-2012, 11:39 PM

Originally Posted by mixiboi

We really need to start playing the PR game better and stop being Negadelphia. If they can get away with this, so can we.

oh so you want to trick the fools into believing this is some sort of oasis...?

philly is awesome in its own way. it's not better or worse than some other urban city.

**mixiboi** · 02-16-2012, 12:34 AM

Naw, this is, as Nick would say, to get people head out the sand in this city. We aren't alone in the gun violence issue, and we need to stop acting like we are the worst of the worst.

That would be the first psychological barrier to break if we are ever going to tackle this iisue.

**mixiboi** · 08-26-2012, 01:20 AM

Jeeze, they are trying to beat us to the bottom....

6 dead, at least a dozen wounded in less than 24 hours in Chicago - U.S. News

Six people were killed and at least a dozen wounded in shootings that started Friday afternoon in Chicago and continued Saturday, police say.

Nineteen people were shot late Thursday and early Friday, NBCChicago.com reported. Thirteen of those were shot over a 30-minute period.

**Hospitalitygirl** · 08-26-2012, 10:37 AM

Originally Posted by mixiboi

Jeeze, they are trying to beat us to the bottom....

6 dead, at least a dozen wounded in less than 24 hours in Chicago - U.S. News

Holy Hell!! That's just awful. It speaks to a bigger problem than just a city, any city. I have seen some ink devoted to programs that attempt to treat this epidemiologically, and frankly for all the money that's spent on so many other programs, divert some funds and see if this doesn't yield better results.

**OffenseTaken** · 08-26-2012, 01:19 PM

Originally Posted by mixiboi

Jeeze, they are trying to beat us to the bottom....

6 dead, at least a dozen wounded in less than 24 hours in Chicago - U.S. News

Crime overall is down in Chicago this year, and most of the murder increase is due to gang conflicts. So long as bystanders don't get hit, it sounds like a win-win.

**daveydoo** · 08-26-2012, 05:54 PM

Originally Posted by OffenseTaken

Crime overall is down in Chicago this year, and most of the murder increase is due to gang conflicts. So long as bystanders don't get hit, it sounds like a win-win.

I'm guilty of this mindset as well. Shootings in Kingsessing are mostly due to disputes between drug dealers. Of course bystanders are unfortunately not immune. I heard on the news yesterday that virtually all of the bystanders in the Empire State Building shooting were hit by rounds discharged by police officers trying to take down the shooter.

And this kind of news obviously doesn't help perception. People are obviously not going to stay away from lower Midtown Manhattan, but in the case of many neighborhoods in Philly & Chicago that have seen better days, new citizens (particularly middle & upper middle class citizens) wouldn't hurt. In his first term Mayor Nutter talked about sponsoring college scholarships for kids from tough neighborhoods. While it's a noble endeavor, it doesn't address the next challenge: getting them to return to their neighborhood once they have the nice job obtained due to their education (which itself isn't a guarantee these days). If there is going to be a larger scale movement back to these areas, it will most likely come from folks who grew up in the suburbs and want to try something different. In both Philly and Chicago this has happened to a certain extent as those moving in are familiar with the landscape because they went to urban colleges. I know the news will always have a sensational bent, but when the violence gets to the scale it has in Chicago it ends up pushing the idea of moving to these cities farther back in that suburbanite's mind.

**thoth** · 08-26-2012, 07:18 PM

Decriminalize drugs and the black market goes away. Violence will go down. We're trillions of dollars in the hole on this "war", god knows how much more if you count prison costs, we've made millionaires out of the leaders of countless drug syndicates and destabilized entire nations. And the result? Rampant drug crime, continuously high rates of addiction, and neighborhoods torn apart by drug violence that is made justifiable by the enormous profits made through black market drug sales, not to mention tens of thousands dying in Mexico. Are we better off than before? Not by a mile.

In 1929 there were over 200 murders reported in Philadelphia, probably significantly more when you take into account the likelihood that many murders occurred without police knowledge for myriad reasons. At any rate, it was at least in the same ballpark as today's out of control murder rate. After prohibition was repealed, the murder rate dropped to under 100 within a couple years. And that was during the Depression.

**thoth** · 08-26-2012, 07:25 PM

Originally Posted by daveydoo

I'm guilty of this mindset as well. Shootings in Kingsessing are mostly due to disputes between drug dealers. Of course bystanders are unfortunately not immune. I heard on the news yesterday that virtually all of the bystanders in the Empire State Building shooting were hit by rounds discharged by police officers trying to take down the shooter.

And this kind of news obviously doesn't help perception. People are obviously not going to stay away from lower Midtown Manhattan, but in the case of many neighborhoods in Philly & Chicago that have seen better days, new citizens (particularly middle & upper middle class citizens) wouldn't hurt. In his first term Mayor Nutter talked about sponsoring college scholarships for kids from tough neighborhoods. While it's a noble endeavor, it doesn't address the next challenge: getting them to return to their neighborhood once they have the nice job obtained due to their education (which itself isn't a guarantee these days). If there is going to be a larger scale movement back to these areas, it will most likely come from folks who grew up in the suburbs and want to try something different. In both Philly and Chicago this has happened to a certain extent as those moving in are familiar with the landscape because they went to urban colleges. I know the news will always have a sensational bent, but when the violence gets to the scale it has in Chicago it ends up pushing the idea of moving to these cities farther back in that suburbanite's mind.

Sponsoring scholarships for kids is great, but from a development standpoint it guarantees that more successful kids will move out of their sinking ship neighborhoods. That's not a bad thing, but you're never going to retain successful Philadelphians until these neighborhoods are stabilized. Kenny Gamble moved to Gladwyne as soon as he got successful and only returned to his home neighborhood after it gentrified. Stabilization will only happen through quelling violence, guaranteeing everyone a decent education and reintroducing low-skill, medium wage jobs. The liklihood of any one of these things happening in the near future is next to nil, so for the most part gentrifaction is the only tool we have for reviving neighborhoods and rebuilding the tax base so that fundamental services (increased policing, street cleaning et al) can be restored to paper over of the problem of persistent poverty to a certain degree. As opposed to now where certain areas have effectively been cut loose.