[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 148 (Wednesday, November 30, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: November 30, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                  WEST GARFIELD TAKES BACK ITS STREETS

 Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, the residents of the West Garfield 
section of Chicago are trying to take back their streets. They are 
peacefully confronting the drug pushers who brought violence and fear 
to their community. The West Garfield ``Take Back the Streets'' 
campaign is an effort not only to reclaim their neighborhood but to 
resume the peaceful coexistence that the neighborhood once enjoyed.
  In 1993 alone, there were 94 murders in the West Garfield section due 
to the increase in gangs and drugs. The streets in the West Garfield 
area are the deadliest in Chicago. The people who live in these 
neighborhoods are tired of all the violence that has taken over the 
streets and now they want them back.
  The citizens are making an attempt to rid their streets of drugs and 
violence. Most of the organizers and residents of the 40-day event 
realize that this will be a very difficult task. But they are 
encouraged by the success other communities across the country have had 
with these types of campaigns.
  For 6 weeks the West Garfield neighborhood will sponsor job fairs, 
prayer vigils, voter registration drives, and youth activities. The 
campaign organizers are also seeking city support to clean up the 
vacant lots and demolish abandoned drug houses. They are also asking 
the court system to sentence gang members to community service along 
with fines or jail sentences.
  The citizens of West Garfield ought to be commended for their efforts 
and more importantly for their courage. Their campaign has peacefully 
shown that they are tired of living in fear. They have transformed that 
fear into the determination to drive the drugs and violence out of 
their neighborhood forever.
  Mr. President, I ask that a Chicago Tribune article on West 
Garfield's campaign and other material be printed in the Record.
  The material follows:

               [From the Chicago Tribune, Sept. 30, 1994]

      Drug Buyers, Stay at Home; Marchers Take Message to Suburbs

                         (By John W. Fountain)

       Six-year-olds Darryl Glass and Parcha Mahomes teamed up for 
     a mission Thursday in a place not far from home but worlds 
     away from their drug-infested West Garfield neighborhood.
       Wearing smiles and sneakers, the friendly schoolmates toted 
     a bright red banner amid a band of lively protesters outside 
     a Chicago Transit Authority ``L'' station in Forest Park. The 
     banner read: ``Give our kids a chance.''
       ``We're holding this because we want to hold it,'' Parcha, 
     said. That wasn't the only reason, said Darryl, who quickly 
     chimed in:
       ``It's for the dope march!''
       Darryl and Parcha were among about 100 West Garfield 
     residents who took their fight to save their neighborhood to 
     the suburbs, where police say many people who buy drugs in 
     the city live.
       Organizers chose the Des Plaines Avenue stop of the CTA's 
     Congress train line in Forest Park because it is where many 
     suburbanites park and ride to their downtown jobs.
       The march, speckled with songs and cheers, came a day after 
     Chicago police arrested 100 people in a reverse drug sting in 
     the Harrison police district, which contains the West 
     Garfield neighborhood. Police arrested drug dealers in the 
     1000 block of South Springfield Avenue, and moved in 
     undercover officers in their place.
       Within two hours, police arrested 100 people who attempted 
     to purchase drugs, officials said.
       The reverse sting is part of an effort to fight the drug 
     trade on all fronts by arresting not only dealers but also 
     buyers. In reverse stings conducted by Harrison District this 
     summer, police found up to 80 percent of the buyers live 
     outside the neighborhood where drug buys were attempted. Some 
     of those arrested live in the suburbs.
       ``They don't want it to be known,'' said John Glass, 
     Darryl's grandfather, who attended the rally. ``But we have 
     seen them come into our neighborhood and buy drugs. We have 
     taken down their license plates (numbers).''
       Of the 100 people charged Wednesday with attempting to buy 
     drugs, 51 were from Chicago, 18 from the suburbs and one 
     lived in another state, police records show.
       Wednesday's arrests included residents of Oak Park, North 
     Chicago, Cicero, Bellwood and Harvey. In previous stings, 
     arrestees were from suburbs that included Lake Zurich, 
     Evanston, and Hoffman Estates.
       Since April, more than 1,000 people were nabbed in reverse 
     stings in the Harrison district. Many of them were arrested 
     in West Garfield, where the drug trade has intensified due 
     apparently to pressure in neighboring districts that engage 
     in community policing.
       In Wednesday's sting, police also seized 27 vehicles. Five 
     of those arrested in the sting had warrants outstanding, 
     police said.
       West Garfield, in the heart of the West Side, in recent 
     years has become a portrait of gangs, drugs and violence. It 
     is in the city's deadliest police district, where 94 people 
     were killed last year.
       Violent crime here has soared, authorities say, largely 
     because of the fight for control of a lucrative drug trade. 
     And the success of community policing in neighboring police 
     districts has pushed dealers into the area.
       Still, vigilant residents aim to turn the tide.
       The march in Forest Park was spearheaded by Bethel Lutheran 
     Church and is part of a 40-day vigil began earlier this month 
     with the help of West Garfield churches and community 
     organizations.
       The effort, dubbed ``Take Back the Streets,'' involves a 
     host of activities, including prayer vigils, candlelight 
     services and family gatherings on Friday evenings outside 
     Bethel Church, 4215 W. West End Ave.
       Thursday was the 23rd day. And despite their effort after 
     nearly a month, spirits and energy were high.
       That was evident in the song and quick steps of protesters, 
     who marched back and forth in front of the ``L'' station 
     through the afternoon.
       ``Are you ready?'' a voice blared over a loud speaker as 
     the march got under way.
       ``Yes,'' the crowd roared back.
       The voice blared again. ``All right. This is God's Army.''
       ``We're here to tell the commuters to take back the message 
     that there is a collage of drug activity coming into our 
     community,'' said Ald. Ed Smith (28th), also at the rally. 
     ``The important thing here is that we save the children.''
       John Glass, who spent the evening handing out fliers, 
     agreed.
       ``It means that my grandson will not get hooked up in drugs 
     and gangs,'' said John Glass. ``Drugs and gangs has got to 
     go.''
       ``We deal in hope,'' Glass said. ``Not dope.''
                                  ____


               [From the Chicago Tribune, Sept. 18, 1994]

                   Neighbors Take Back Their Streets

       They stayed up all night, walking the sidewalks with 
     candles burning, singing gospel hymns and saying prayers for 
     the neighborhood's drug dealers and gang-bangers, most of 
     whom slunk away to avoid the attention.
       It was a 24-hour prayer vigil, the beginning of a 40-day 
     ``Take Back The Streets'' campaign run by the churches and 
     community groups of West Garfield Park on Chicago's West 
     Side.
       The vigil also marks the spread of a welcome trend: law-
     abiding citizens peacefully confronting the gun-toting pimps 
     and pushers who have turned their neighborhoods into urban 
     war zones.
       From Rogers Park to Roseland, from Austin to Humboldt Park, 
     ordinary people fed up with curbside drug dealing and nightly 
     shootings are gathering in the streets and in church 
     basements, speaking out against the punks who have laid siege 
     to their neighborhoods.
       On a wider scale, thousands of Chicagoans participated in 
     Gang Awareness Week, which concludes Sunday at a North Side 
     church with a memorial service for victims of street 
     violence.
       Such events will not, by themselves, put an end to the 
     epidemic of drug dealing and gang shooting that has sickened 
     so many neighborhoods in the city and suburbs. But they are 
     hugely important nonetheless, because they send a loud 
     message that the law-abiding majority is not going to 
     surrender their neighborhood to a law-breaking minority.
       ``Residents are tired of living in fear,'' said Mary 
     Nelson, director of Bethel New Life church in West Garfield 
     Park. ``So we've banded together to take back the streets for 
     ourselves and our children.''
       So over the next six weeks the streets of West Garfield, 
     which at times have become clogged with the slow-moving cars 
     of dope buyers, will be alive instead with prayer vigils, job 
     fairs, voter registration drives and, on Friday nights, a 
     Family Fun Fest that will reclaim the corner of West End and 
     Keeler Streets for kids' games and gin rummy.
       Nelson and Ald. Ed Smith, who helped organize the campaign, 
     also are seeking city support to clean up vacant lots and 
     demolish abandoned drug houses. They're asking the criminal 
     court judges to sentence gang members to community service 
     and they want newspapers to publish the names of outsiders 
     arrested in their neighborhood for attempting to buy drugs.
       Good ideas all. So are the community policing techniques 
     which Nelson credits with working so well in the Austin 
     neighborhood that many drug dealers moved east into West 
     Garfield Park.
       Now she's out to move them again by proving the streets 
     belong to the people, not to the punks.
                                  ____


              [From the Chicago Sun-Times, Sept. 8, 1994]

               West Garfield Park Swiping at Drugs, Gangs

       Vowing to ``take back the streets'' of their West Garfield 
     Park neighborhood, area parents and teachers have launched a 
     40-day campaign to break the grip of fear that gangs and drug 
     pushers hold over the area.
       ``More than 100 drug active spots have been identified in 
     the 11th (police) District'' that serves the West Side 
     community, said Laurie Glenn, spokeswoman for Bethel New Life 
     Inc., one of the campaign organizers.
       ``The next worse (police) district is contending with only 
     about 30'' drug hot spots, she said. ``People are frightened 
     and they are ready to do something about it'' in the area 
     bordered by Roosevelt, Kinzie, Kostner and Central Park.
       The effort began Wednesday night with a 24-hour fast and 
     prayer vigil at the Bethel Lutheran Church, 4215 W. West End.
       Activities continue today with a human ``corridor of 
     safety'' in which teachers, parents and city officials will 
     join hands to give students at three elementary schools there 
     safe passage after school. Glenn said Mayor Daley will 
     participate.
                                  ____


              [From Neighborhood Partnership, Chicago, IL]

                         Take Back the Streets


              West Garfield Park-Neighborhood Safety Zone

       (1) 40 Day (6 month) Campaign Kick Off: 24 Hour Prayer 
     Vigil-Keeler and West End. Human Chain of Safety--Tilton, 
     Bethel, Marconni School--Mayor. Family Fun Fest in street--
     prayer vigil. Family fun fare in Mason Park. Five churches 
     conclude out in the Street on Sunday.
       (2) Activities in Streets during campaign: Friday evening--
     Family Fun Nights--Westside artists performing. Friday 
     evening--Prayer vigils until Midnight. Food, children's 
     events (see current schedule). Voter Registration, Job Fair, 
     Lead Van in streets during campaign.
       (3) Operation Clean Up: Clean off vacant lots. Lighting in 
     dark areas. Fencing in vacant passageways of dealers. Streets 
     and Sanitation clean up. Community clean up ongoing during 
     campaign.
       (4) City Co-operation: One way streets; stop signs; cul de 
     sacs. Clean off the streets. Clog up streets with 
     resurfacing. Abandoned buildings, hot spot--demolitions, etc.
       (5) Neighborhood Safety Zone Ordinance: Process of input, 
     introduction. Available to neighborhoods. Courts, penalities. 
     Newspapers publishing the buyers names and addresses. 
     Demonstration in the suburbs--Stay out of our community.
       (6) Alternatives for users and sellers--proactive approach: 
     Healing alternatives--Substance abuse opportunities. More 
     residential rehab needed. Jobs Jobs, Jobs, job fair, 
     employment services. Youth Center, youth alternatives--$ 
     needed to carry on programs.


                          PARTICIPATING GROUPS

       Alderman Ed Smith--28th Ward; Argonne National Laboratory; 
     Bethel New Life, Inc.; Bethel Christian School; Bethel 
     Lutheran Church; Campaign for a Drug Free West Side.
       Chicago Alliance for Neighborhood Safety & VISA Project; 
     Chicago Fire Department--4th District; Chicago Police 
     Department--11th District; Christ English Lutheran Church; 
     Church of Christ (Maypole Ave.).
       City of Chicago: Dept. of Planning, Streets and Sanitation; 
     City-Link: Mid American Leadership Council; Concerned 
     Citizens Inc.; Corinthian Church of God in Christ; Mayor 
     Richard Daley, City of Chicago; Delegation for Christ 
     Chorale.
       ELCA/Division for Congregational Ministries; Evangelistic 
     Outreach Ministry; First Baptist Congregation; Gammon United 
     Methodist Church; Garfield Austin Interfaith Network; Greater 
     Garfield Chamber of Commerce; Guardian Angels.
       Illinois Criminal justice Authority; Interfaith Organizing 
     Project (IOP); Keystone Baptist Church; Loretto Hospital; 
     Lutheran Church of the Atonement (Barrington); Marconi 
     Elementary School; Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church; 
     Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church #2.
       National Training and Information Center; New Mt. Pilgrim 
     Baptist Church; Northwest Austin Council; Operation Push; 
     Princeton '55; Project Clean; Redeemer Lutheran Church 
     (Hinsdale).
       SACC (South Austin Community Coalition); Seminary 
     Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education (SCUPE); Senator Paul 
     Simon's Office; Southminster Presbyterian Church (Glen 
     Ellyn); Tilton Elementary School; The Habitat Company; The 
     Neighborhood Partnership; United Way of Chicago.
       Urban Studies Program--ACM; West Garfield Chamber of 
     Commerce; Westside Health Authority; Westside Ministers 
     Coalition; Westside Small Business Development Center.

                          ____________________