Save for the late-night gun shots, this could be written about our neighborhood.
The area is generally considered safe, but some residents say at night, the neighborhood changes.
“Back in 2011, I saw this neighborhood take a turn for the worse. Late-night gun shots; you see a lot of drug trafficking,” said area resident Richard Benedict.
This, too:
“It gets kind of crazy on the weekends,” he said. “I don’t know if people know that. I don’t know who’s responsible for it, it’s really unnerving.”
The fact that the shooting death of the 19-year-old took place on a street filled with late-night bar patrons is not reassuring.
Nor is the old timer who feels that the erosion in public safety isn’t so bad because it used to be worse a few decades ago:
Paul Dickman, a 54-year-old resident of Wicker Park for 30 years told DNAinfo,”This is the city. I’ve lived here since when this sort of stuff happened every week.”
Unfortunately, a similar event seems increasingly likely in our near- to mid-term future.
