Random Bitter Musings about a Bitter Saturday Night

Just a few tips for the crazies that I saw last night. The span of these happenings was about 45 minutes, which makes me question the sanity of some of my fellow Chicagoans... or maybe it is me? Either way, it made for an... interesting kind of night. Yeah, this entry should probably be under Fed Up Friday, but it happened on Saturday, so there you go.

Dear lady breathing super hard next to me on the el: First, seriously, there are literally hundreds of other places you could have sat on this train. This train is not crowded. Why are you sitting RIGHT next to me? Is it for body warmth? If so, we probably should have agreed that you would wash your body BEFORE you plopped down next to me, invading my space. I don't care WHY you are breathing hard, just know that you are disrupting my silent reading time, while depositing cooties on my person. If I wake up, and heavy breathe just one time tomorrow, I will wish some other plague on you... like seriously maybe a shower, or some breath mints. I hate riding the train with weirdos.

Dear dude asking for money on the corner: 1- I saw you with a cup overflowing with cash about 2 hours ago, now you have two cups- one with steaming hot Starbucks coffee in it and one for the change that you want from me. 2- something is wrong with this picture because one of my new years resolutions is to make more coffee and spend less money at expensive ass Starbucks, but now a man asking me for money is taunting me with the most expensive coffee on the planet? I just can't. I would have totally given you the 63 cents in my pocket if that were a McDonald's coffee cup. I mean, $1 for any size coffee shows that you are economical. $4+ for a fru fru drink from Starbucks? Not so much.

Dear old guy asking me for my number at the train station: Yo, here is the deal: I expect it from you now. I get off at two train stations in my neighborhood, have seen you a LOT, so I am well versed what I am going to get when I encounter you. You are messing up your moment. Do NOT say "hey darling, you are looking so fine today" when I am wearing yoga pants, salty winter boots and the pom poms that dangle off my super thick socks are now dangling from my boots. Not when I am having a natural hair disaster and am comatose from sitting next to smelly Sally on the train. You take away the special. I know I don't look fine today. Save it. Save it for a day when I am looking so fabulous that everyone HAS to comment. Or at least save it for a day when I don't want to punch everyone in the face? Yes. Safety first!

Dear Redbox: Sigh- Oh you have been a gift and a curse. I appreciate the ease of renting, and mostly everything touchscreen, however there HAS to be a way that we can make these touchscreens work while I still have on my gloves. And not those fancy, schmancy $30 gloves either. I'm talking gloves that keep my hands super warm that I ultimately have to take off to work the RedBox. This is Chicago, dammit!! It is winter. My movie watching decision should not rest solely on whatever I can choose on the first page of options so that I can get my fingers back in my gloves as fast as possible. It makes for a MoneyBall watching evening... and I haven't liked Brad Pitt since he took up with that super skinny bitch with the big lips- I'm not even typing out that hoochie's name. Needless to say, I narrowly kept my fingers attached to my hand (frostbite is real!) and now I am stuck with some shitty movie that better be good or my animosity towards to once lovely Brad Pitt (think nakedness on Troy) will grow exponentially.

Dear people taking up the WHOLE sidewalk: Get out of the way, fuckers. I can see you, so I KNOW you can see me. Your conversation about whether or not Khloe is, in fact, actually is a Kardashian is not world altering so move your punk asses over! I wouldn't give you a pass if you were talking about nuclear physics, do that shit in a single file line when you see someone coming from the opposite direction, you rude assholes. You have to take up the WHOLE sidewalk? You bitches HAVE to carry those large ass bags? I seriously want to push you into oncoming traffic.

And that was Saturday night.

I might need to give anger management a whirl in 2012. Nah, it couldn't possibly be me, right?! Nah! :)

Fed Up Friday- Chicago

There have been several things on my mind about the city that I live in, that I really need to express. It is true that I choose to live in Chicago (thank you to one of my friends for reminding me, every time I say something negative about the city-- you know who you are!!). I love it here. I moved two states away from my friends and my family to make a life in Chicago and MOST days it seems totally worth it. There is always something to do; the people are welcoming without being super touchy feely (hot, black and bitter does NOT do touchy feely); the people of Chicago WORK-- hard, and party hard, which I can appreciate; and the people who make up Chicago's population are hard core. We survive Chicago winters every year, Chicago crime, and Chicago politics-- it takes a strong group of people to make it through that year after year. Trust me- I am six years in and it is hard! But with everything there is room for improvement, right? Right!

So here is part one of my Fed Up Friday- Chicago edition. I have severe issues with Cook County and taxes. Yep, I said it. Cook County has been the highest taxed county in the United States for two years (at least), yet it is all over the news that Cook County is broke. My taxes keep going up but the cops have to take furlough days? I have to go to Meijer in a neighboring state or county to really afford groceries and we can't pay police officers or city workers? There is a deficit? Um... What? I pay higher taxes than Los Angeles and New York and we are broke? Something. Does. Not. Compute.
Not only is the WHOLE county broke (and the state is financially ill too) but where I live is exceptionally bad. Damn. The south side is the step child in the city. The el doesn't come all the way down here (stops at 95th street, city limit stops at 136th street), and the services we receive are substandard. That is all kinds of messed up. I am a homeowner that pays the same percentage of taxes as some homeowners on the north side and I suffer because I live south of downtown? Huh? Let me give you an example: the closest major intersection in my neighborhood is 115th and Halsted. Halsted is a major street, and has mostly been cleared off from last weeks blizzard, but 115th (also a major street and an exit on the expressway) hasn't. In a majority of places it is down to one and a half lanes. Which doesn't sound awful, until you are stuck behind a bus. You can't go around, it sucks. Or it is Sunday and you have to wait for people to get into House of Hope's parking lot (which makes me curse at the people headed to church). And it has been a week and a half since the blizzard. What? On the north side companies are towing cars, clearing the snow and putting cars back. Um, I just more than one lane shoveled.
Where the hell are all my tax dollars going? I look around- we have a failing school system, public transportation systems that are always asking for money and raising rates, we're losing business because our businesses are getting tax breaks in other states-- which also means we are losing jobs, the south side gets ignored, we don't have enough cops, crime is skyrocketing (despite what the reports say-- it REALLY depends on where you live) and like Eddie Vedder says: "the haves be having more, yet still bored." And that is just the beginning. What the hell am I paying for? I want to see some return on my investment... there are just over 5 million people living in Cook County, paying some ridiculously high taxes and we are broke? Impossible.
So then the question remains- why do I live here? It has been asked often- especially during times of unemployment (or break ins), and honestly- it is the easiest question to answer. I live in Chicago and take all that it offers (or doesn't) because I love this city. I sincerely think that I am where I am, so I can help the people in my neighborhood. Everyone might not like my tactics-- hey, if your kid is acting like an asshole, I'm going to call him an asshole-- but it all comes from a good, less bitter place. I want to help the south side get the recognition that it deserves (we aren't all ghetto fab). I want my senior citizen neighbors to be able to feel safe in our neighborhood. I want the kids on my block to know that they can accomplish something more than knocking up some girl or standing on my corner all day. If I don't call attention to the problems and lay out a plan, how are they going to get fixed? Chicago is like a close family member-- if you live here, you can talk shit about the city (or inhabitants) because you live here and you experience this craziness. But you only get that privilege if you LIVE here. No outsiders can talk shit about your close family member or the City of Big Shoulders... When you do, you get to experience the Chicago Way... and that, my readers, has nothing to do with taxes! Happy Friday!

Chicago Crime Rate Is Down... EXCEPT

According to the Chicago Tribune, in 2010, the city of Chicago experienced its lowest homicide rate in 45 years. In 365 days there were 435 homicides. The articles also states that "preliminary numbers from the department showed that total crime through December 27 was down 4.3 percent and violent crime is down 10.3 percent. Murders, on that date, were down by 24." I am not saying that I am unhappy in Chicago- in fact, I am doing all that I can to stay in this city- but I will venture out on a limb and say that I don't believe those numbers. From my vantage point, crime is not down by double digits. Murder is not down to its lowest level in 45 years. In fact, from the vantage point of living in a neighborhood that is predominantly Black, crime is up and ultra violent. I hear sirens at all times of the day, all day. New Years Day was no exception, and I fear that tomorrow will be more of the same.

The article kind of tackles this view point by saying: "a nagging concern for the department, and communities, is the fact that violent crime still has a choke hold on some neighborhoods." A choke hold? They had an expert throw in his two cents and state that "the long term reduction that is taking place is not as substantial in African-American communities." Hmmm. Who wants to bet that those communities are on the west and south sides of the city? Who also wants to bet that numbers of violent crimes that happen in said neighborhoods are not as diligently reported as crimes on the north side? Right.

Jody Weis (who will likely lose his job soon) has "restructured gang units and increased the number of search warrants" for weapons, so it looks great that crime, as a whole has fallen. But even with ALL that "work" everyone seems to be content that only parts of the city are "safe" while other portions are literal war zones. All the while, politicians are readying themselves for an election that would make them the King or Queen (aka Mayor) of Chicago.

Will the citizens of Chicago make them work for the title? Will we show them that we are not content? Will we show them that the citizens of Chicago are no longer happy with the unbalanced status quo? Let's hope so. New Year. New Standards?