North Avenue Beach Assaults?

I've been hearing rumors that North Avenue Beach was closed do to out of control thugs  and gangbangers groping and assaulting people, not due to heat, as has been widely reported.  Rumors of cyclists knocked from their bikes... I know a few cyclists were picked up and dropped in the lake by some thugs early last month. The sources are somewhat suspect, but I wanted to know if anyone had heard or experienced anything.  Generally my least favorite part of the trail, but I'm debating whether to avoid it completely this summer. As the CPD is undergoing regime change, we should be diligent about reporting incidents like this, even if front-line CPD staff are dismissive... so that resources get allotted appropriately.

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Permalink Reply by Michelle S on June 8, 2011 at 2:54pm
I rode the stretch from Ohio to Hollywood tonight both ways between about 7 and 8 pm. Decent amount of visible police presence, in the form of motorized police vehicles driving (on the bike path) between Oak and North, mounted police, and cops just hanging out at North Ave beach house. But besides that, it just seemed like another hot summer night at the lakefront, with people playing volleyball, softball, jogging, and enjoying the evening. The scariest thing was the bikers with only rudimentary knowledge of hand signals. Please don't let fear dissuade you from going to the lake. We need all the law-abiding people out there we can get.


Melanie said:
Hopefully the police presence will continue and it will be safe to travel the LFP once again- thank you for the updates!
Permalink Reply by Shay on June 8, 2011 at 3:05pm

Amen, Vando.  Well said.  Poor doesn't have to equal criminal, and furthermore, that should not be an automatic assumption, nor should it be an excuse.



Vando said:

Ask that oncologist in his sixties who was robbed and assaulted and I'm almost positive that he will tell you that he felt a lot less violated when he learned what neighborhoods these kids are supposedly from. He might even agree that we should not expect a 16 or 18 yr old to know that it is wrong and illegal to beat and rob other people, no matter how rich they are or how nice an area they decide to have the gall to sit and mind their own business in.

 

I grew up and still live in, a lower income/working class neighborhood. Could my local public school have been better? Sure. Would it have been nice if there were more higher paying jobs around here? You bet. But do most teens that live near me know the difference between right and wrong? Of course. Don't get me wrong, there is no shortage of ne'er do-wells around here like everywhere else in Chicago. There are also tons of successful business owners, college grads, and law-abiding citizens here too.

 

Stereotypes go both ways. It is wrong to assume that young minority kids from poor neighborhoods are automatically prone to be criminals. It is equally wrong to assume that because they are minorities and from poor neighborhoods, they lack the ability to differentiate right from wrong and the ability to abstain from robbing people. It is kind of insulting to me as a former teen form a low income neighborhood to hear someone say "its the rotten system that makes you more likely to commit crimes, you really don't have a choice as to your own actions".

 

Sometimes people just rob people because they want an iPad, or because they saw a news story about a wilding and thought it would be cool to do it too...

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on June 8, 2011 at 3:57pm
Well said.  I've met people who grew up in the projects who went on to college and became teachers, business owners, lawyers, etc.  The culture and values of one's family can make a big difference in one's values and actions as a teen and as an adult, just as education and opportunity can.  There are both good people and criminals at all levels of society.  Look at Bernie Madoff.

H3N3 said:

Implying?  I think he was implying this:


"Stereotypes go both ways. It is wrong to assume that young minority kids from poor neighborhoods are automatically prone to be criminals. It is equally wrong to assume that because they are minorities and from poor neighborhoods, they lack the ability to differentiate right from wrong and the ability to abstain from robbing people. It is kind of insulting to me as a former teen form a low income neighborhood to hear someone say "its the rotten system that makes you more likely to commit crimes, you really don't have a choice as to your own actions".

 


MagMileMarauder said:

@Vando

 

Since you're patting yourself in the back here, what are you implying?

 

You don't think that generations of racial segregation play a role here?

 

Do you think everybody has the same opportunities, like yourself?

 

 

Permalink Reply by Dr. Doom on June 8, 2011 at 4:03pm

I don't at all assume that growing up in a bad neighborhood deprives you of the ability to differentiate right from wrong, or dooms you to being a sort of subhuman savage. The vast majority of kids in neighborhoods like Grand Crossing and Washington Park don't go around beating random people down.

 

I do think that neighborhoods as bad as some of those in the worst parts of Chicago are going to produce a disproportionate number of kids with no real sense of right and wrong (or at least no impulse control), and that if you want to reduce the number of such kids you're going to have to address the problems with their communities in the broadest possible sense.

 

Writing off wilding as the product of The Man oppressing poor black communities is wrong, and insulting to the huge majority of families in bad neighborhoods who work hard to raise their kids to have common sense and morals. Pretending that there is no connection between institutionalized segregation and oppression and bored kids deciding to go fuck with rich people gets the dynamic just as wrong, though.

Permalink Reply by Dr. Doom on June 8, 2011 at 4:20pm
Unfortunately, none of the commenters in this thread are (as far as I know) policymakers.
Permalink Reply by Liz on June 9, 2011 at 3:47am


I agree that people are responsible for their own actions and that those involved with these crimes should be punshied.  What I am proposing is going beyond just stepping up police presence and putting those responsible in jail.  I also agree that people from the projects are just as capable of becoming teachers, business owners, lawyers, etc.  So what can we do to increase the succsess rate?

 

Dr Doom is right that none of us are policy makers.  I try to support organizations that do good in the communities as best I can.

 

Am I concerned about riding on the lfp this summer?   No more than I am every summer. The crowds of tourists, the oblivious and teens (regardless of class or race most teenagers annoy me) keep me off the path after 10 am. 


Anne Alt said:

Well said.  I've met people who grew up in the projects who went on to college and became teachers, business owners, lawyers, etc.  The culture and values of one's family can make a big difference in one's values and actions as a teen and as an adult, just as education and opportunity can.  There are both good people and criminals at all levels of society.  Look at Bernie Madoff.

Permalink Reply by in it to win it 8.0 mi on June 9, 2011 at 4:45am

If you beat someone up and stole their (insert item here), you broke the law.

That was your choice.

You should be arrested and face the consequences.

I don't get what is so hard to understand about this.

 

Permalink Reply by Joe Schmoe on June 9, 2011 at 11:14am

^This.

Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on June 9, 2011 at 11:41am
I'm not insensitive to the complex sociological issues which have precipitated these events, but I tend to have a more pragmatic approach. If someone is hitting me in the head with a brick, I'm less concerned with their motivation than I am with making them stop.
Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on June 9, 2011 at 12:14pm
Makes perfect sense to me.

Kevin Conway said:
I'm not insensitive to the complex sociological issues which have precipitated these events, but I tend to have a more pragmatic approach. If someone is hitting me in the head with a brick, I'm less concerned with their motivation than I am with making them stop.
Permalink Reply by Mike Zumwalt on June 9, 2011 at 1:14pm

Wealthy/rich people are paranoid,out of touch, belligerent and behave in a far more Heinous way than thugs but then again the wealthy use the same fear, aggresive tacticts to gain wealth and the are afraid someone will do the same to them.

 

Maybe someday we'll learn this mutual respect thing. Oh yeah LOL! Keep dreaming.

 

Now there are a few really rich people who came up with a great idea and got rich that way but it's not the rule.

 

 

 

 

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on June 9, 2011 at 1:43pm
Center of mass, squeeze, repeat...

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