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Proviso Probe

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

CRIME, reducing violence in Maywood

Last night I attended the Maywood village board meeting. Many residents spoke about the recent spate of shootings in Mayhood. Everybody, especially the elected officials, seemed upset about the violence.

But I’m going to risk annoying some people by criticizing ideas that seemed to be popular at the village board meeting last night.

The ideas that concern me are:

1. Everyone is responsible for the problem.
2. Maywood needs to pull together.
3. Demanding better results from the Police Department constitutes a solution.

Maywood has a climate that makes violence more likely to happen. Maywood can’t fix the institutional racism in the United States, but there are specific policies that can be implemented locally.

However, it’s completely wrong to suggest everyone is equally responsible for the problem. Communities with high levels of street crime have police departments that are corrupt and turning a blind eye. Crooked cops and crooked politicians go hand-in-hand. For organized crime to buy-off the cops, a community needs politicians that are in on the game.

Proviso Township—especially Melrose Park, Maywood and Bellwood—has a history of political organizations that use criminal activity for power and enrichment. The police departments—including Memorial Park District—are seeded with political appointees that are there to look after the allies of their political patrons, including drug dealers, pimps and gambling houses.

Organized crime—mostly in the form of political organizations—bears most of the responsibility for the climate that has led to so many shootings. The responsibility of the average voter is that s/he doesn’t vote for change at election time.

Let’s be honest. The scam run by the political bosses isn’t a secret. It’s pretty open which political organizations are allied with drug dealers. If the political boss did legal work for drug dealers, that’s suspicious. If they politician was busted for drug dealing, that’s suspicious. If the politician has immediate family members that are known drug dealers, that’s suspicious.

The price of reducing violent crime in Maywood is for average voters to open their eyes and to vote out the politicians that use criminal tactics and are allied with organized crime. If Maywood voters don’t have the courage to oust the criminal politicians, don’t whine about crime in the community. If you vote for criminals, you will get crime.

So, Maywood doesn’t need to pull together. It needs to recognize that there is a line between people who are playing by the rules and people that are manipulating the system for personal power. Regular citizens need to get on the “by the rules” side and reject the scammers, con men, criminals and thugs on the other side.

This isn’t as easy as it sounds. Many regular citizens like to get the perks of being connected to political-criminal organizations. The connected don’t have to get village stickers for their cars. They get better government services. They get jobs from the government.

Regular citizens want the violence to stop, but are they willing to sacrifice the little perks of doing things the old-school way?

Finally, demanding more from the police department only works in the short-term. It’s not a policy that can be implemented over time. If Maywood wants to implement a new policing strategy, it needs to have a new policing strategy. Demanding more isn’t a strategy.

8 Comments:

  • Maywood's "business district" is an incredibly dismal, deteriorated, and depressing area which mirrors the quality of a large part of the village in general. Fifth Avenue, one of its main streets, is a pot-holed moon-scape and the recent "work" performed on it makes one wonder where such a band of eminent incompetents was found to perform the "work". The responsibility for these abominations and the rest of the "Eternal Dimness" that constitutes Maywood lies at the feet of the village politicians. Their vision sets the direction for the village, and, as is quite apparent, their vision is not focused on improving the village and may be more focused on enhancing their power and lining their pockets. With the exception of the numerous good people in the village, if the village dropped off of the face of the earth right now, you'd need a microscope to notice it.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:29 PM, February 22, 2006  

  • Man, carl you said plenty! Just thinking about some stuff I know about as a casaul observer:

    1. Trustee Perkins actually went to the police department and took her son out of jail. He was arrested for drug dealing and possession. She said they were not kind to him when he was in before.

    2. Trustee Sharp is the reason that the village has to pay $8,000 a month to a nursing home for an accident suffered by an innocent bystander. Sharp's building was in disrepair and a brick fell and hit this woman. Having no insurance, the woman's husband sued the deep pocket (Village of Maywood) The board in turn absolved Sharp of her wrong doing and accepted the claim. Maywood's been paying ever since.

    3. Harold Jenkins, a former police officer must of had 25 lives before he went to jail for shaking down drug dealers.

    4. Shall I go on?

    What you have outlined is that this system works for some and is paid by all.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:31 PM, February 22, 2006  

  • yawn, don't you think it took decades to drag Maywood down?

    By Blogger Carl Nyberg, at 2:34 PM, February 22, 2006  

  • This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:34 PM, February 22, 2006  

  • Don't post under "anonymous". I delete these posts. Pick a pseudonym or post under your name.

    By Blogger Carl Nyberg, at 2:35 PM, February 22, 2006  

  • Are Collin Simpson, Dick Devine and Lisa Madigan enforcing the law in Proviso Township?

    By Blogger Carl Nyberg, at 2:37 PM, February 22, 2006  

  • What do you think of Bill Dwyer's column connecting plantation politics to Stockholm Syndrome?

    By Blogger Carl Nyberg, at 3:54 PM, February 22, 2006  

  • I was raised in Maywood and I don't recall it ever being a really dynamic and vibrant community. However, on Fifth Avenue, it had a movie theater, the Lido, a grocery store, White Way, and several restaurants among other now non-existent places of business. It was a street that had the capability of drawing diverse peoples onto it for a variety of reasons. Now, Fifth Avenue offers a venue of dollar stores, wig shops, and hole-in-the-wall enterprises that have very little appeal to a diverse public. In this regard and in regard to crime rates and general quality of life, Maywood has regressed significantly. Why? Because the people who lived and live there have consistently elected disreputable, manipulative, power hungry, and sociopathic leaders. The Maywood citzenry appears to be a fertile ground for the propagation of unscrupulous politicians. And, until the citzenry rises up angrily against such politicians, puts on its collective thinking cap, and votes into office worthy public servants, it will continue to see good public policy sacrificed at the alter of expediency and greed. If that is the case, the citzenry deserves everything it gets.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:28 PM, February 22, 2006  

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