Tri-Taylor residents, business owners address rowdyism 

By Patrick Butler 

More then 30 Tri-Taylor residents and business owners vowed to take their neighborhood back from an influx of rowdies during a special Oct. 9 meeting at Granddaddy’s Subs, 2343 W. Taylor St.

Restaurant and bar owners agreed to start refusing to serve unruly customers, including those who leave their car radios blasting while they go inside to place take-out orders.

Not everyone was eager to change policies, however. “Do you know what it’s like for a businessman to tell a customer to turn down the radio or whatever and have that customer tell you where to go?" asked one business owner who requested anonymity. "We can put up ‘Respect our Neighborhood’ signs and we will. But it’s going to be very hard for us to be heard by those people because we’re not the police. They won’t listen to us because we don’t have a badge.” 

While several of those who turned up for the meeting agreed there have been no “serious” crimes so far, the increase in rowdyism is "a concern” said a local woman, who described how “scores of young people” routinely congregate in the streets around Polk St. and Bell Ave. as late as 3 and 4 a.m. “yelling, screaming, and partying. A couple weeks ago at around 3 a.m., they had a sofa out in the middle of the street—the middle of the street!—where they were having a party,” she said.

The woman, who said she moved into the neighborhood about a dozen years ago for its affordability and stability, said a group of youths recently blocked her alley, keeping her from parking her car in her garage.

“It’s almost as if they’re daring the neighborhood to do something," she continued. "When I called 911 to report the situation, I got no response. There’s a problem.”

Alderman Daniel Solis (25th) and 12th District Police Commander Ron Sodini were at the meeting, and Sodini said he was pleased a resident was able to give the specific location of the building the troublesome youths appear to be living in, as well as the date and time of incidents. Sodini promised to talk to the landlord and “put some pressure on” to get rid of any undesirable tenants.

“And in the future, if anyone calls the police and doesn’t get any response, ask for a supervisor,” Sodini said.

He also urged the neighbors to attend their local beat meetings regularly to pass on information to police working the area.

            Sometimes, of course, even that is not enough, he said, noting police have arrived on the scene when the offenders are still there but cannot arrest them because they did not see them doing anything wrong and could not find any neighbors willing to sign complaints “so we can go to court and get serious about this," Sodini said. “It would really help,” he continued, pointing to several police officers nearby who he said “just love to make arrests. Give them a reason and they’re going to do it. But a lot of times a quality-of-life complaint just doesn’t reach the level where we can arrest someone. I hate to tell you that just hanging out in front of your house isn’t something we can arrest them for.” Sodini said sometimes the best police can do is ask them to move along.

Sodini then asked the community’s help in alerting police any time a particular gang member who lives on the 2300 block of West Taylor St. "steps out of line. Just once. You should know he’s been arrested with a gun, was convicted,” and sentenced to two years’ probation ending in August 2009. According to the probation order, Sodini said, “he’s got a 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew, can’t associate with known gang members, or engage in any gang activity. And can’t  possess any gang paraphernalia or clothing. We’re trying to put him in the penalty box. We don’t want him on the street. And we need your help.”

A leader of the Greater Tri-Taylor Business Association stated the police have been “more aggressive recently. And we haven’t seen any gang members for a week, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be back."

The man emphasized, however, that the area is not awash in a crime wave, but that the association wants to stop any problems before they get out of hand.

So far, the Tri-Taylor area has not seen any increase in its crime stats, Sodini said.

            “I think people just want to keep it that way,” he concluded.