Boystown stabbing a sign of worse to come, unless.... Posted by Greg H. at 7/6/2011 11:16 AM CDT on Chicago Business Anyone who lives near North Halsted Street -- I'm about a half-block to the east -- can tell you that the weekend Boystown stabbing was as unsurprising as it was ugly. The prospect of trouble has risen steadily in recent years, as hordes of young people in packs of 20, 30, 40 or more increasingly have taken to noisily hanging out in the street, on the corner or wherever else they want until 1 or 2 in the morning, with little response from police. The local alderman, Tom Tunney (44th), finally seems to get that. "This has been developing for years," he told me Wednesday morning, in advance of a big community meeting Wednesday night. "It's a question of police resources." That's a start. But hanging in the balance is the kind of unique and desirable neighborhood that makes Chicago different from Detroit or Cleveland or Milwaukee or St. Louis. Last weekend's outbreak will look pretty tame unless Mr. Tunney and the police get a handle on things quickly. The problem isn't gay or straight. Most of the surrounding neighborhood these days is straight as, it appears, are the vast majority of the teens and 20-somethings hanging out. Folks in the neighborhood who want to blame the gay Center on Halsted are way off base. Yes, the center serves a really eclectic group of clients. But if anyone needs the center, it's the transgendered kids of color who use services there. Boystown is theirs, too. And they don't number in the thousands, like some of the weekend crowds do. Nor is the problem strictly racial, though both white and African-American friends of mine agree that matters could turn really, really ugly if the next attack is black on white -- or white on black. But the truth is, the upscale neighborhood is almost totally white, and the visitors almost exclusively black. The real problem is cultural, mixed with high crime rates and a lack of respect for others among a rising number young people from inner cities. As in what's been happening on North Michigan Avenue. Or last year's Taste of Chicago problems. For kids trapped in a bad economy and with limited career options, taking the party up to wide-open Halsted Street where the gays seem to do whatever they want must seem pretty attractive. But for local residents who carefully tend houses and condos worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, the sight of gangs of roaming outsiders, who don't patronize the bars or the stores but just hang out, sparks only fear. Mr. Tunney suggests that the Halsted entertainment district effectively has merged with the area around Wrigley Field, where the party can be just as loud and in its own way just as boisterous. And his solution -- and the solution of just about everyone in the neighborhood I've spoken with -- is more security presence. Yes, police resources are stretched thin these days. But there is just no reason why police cannot deal with gaggles of loud, often under-aged loiterers in the middle of the night. And the neighborhood may need to sacrifice, too. Earlier bar hours, shorter and smaller gay Pride festivities. A truncated NortHalsted Market Days. At least for awhile. If things continue the way they are, a very nasty conflict is coming. The neighborhood's instinctive response will be to shut it all down -- bars, parades, fests, everything. That would be a pity. If I wanted to live in a quiet suburb, I would. Mayor Rahm Emanuel, I hope you're listening. Comments (7) | Permanent Link Tags: Chicago, politics, Tunney, mayor, Rahm, Emanuel, race, culture, gay, straight Email this post Read more:
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