Roseland Heights Community Association

Dear Suntimes Editor,
After reading "Safe Wait for Bus" (Monday, April 23, 2012) I was left pondering why all the focus on crime when Harlan is in a safe community?  Instead of focusing on crime the reporter could have talked about our community gardens or how the former alderman used Harlan's parking lot for children after school activities because it wasn't safe in the neighborhoods in which they live. But then this was an article about a program that lets teens in high-crime areas wait inside the school.  So why not talk about schools in a "high-crime" areas? Here is my comment:
 
The "Safe Wait for Bus" article in the Chicago Sun-Times (Monday, April 23, 2012) told about excitement at school dismissal in "crime-ridden neighborhoods” which led Chicago Public Schools to start a Bus Tracker program. The Bus Tracker system displays a sign, with monitors, at front exits so students can wait for the bus in the safety of the building. Readers will assume this program would best service schools in high crime areas, but the pilot school was Harlan High School at 96th and Michigan in Roseland Heights!  Harlan was chosen by CPS because it has a high number of students taking public transportation not because it is in a high crime area. Harlan's Principle Reginald Evans says "you're in class trying to learn, and if there has been a problem out here on these corners, then it's just survival mode now, trying to think 'Do I go this way or that way'". The impression that was given by his statements implied that students are exposed or have a vulnerability to harm, injury and death because Roseland Heights is a dangerous  neighborhood. The article goes on to speak about students thinking about the best way to get home without running into "gang-bangers, witnessing a drug deal, getting robbed or shot". The article then says that there is a bus stop right outside the school and a train at 95th ,"But standing around schools in high-crime areas can make you a target, and it's something Harlan is dealing with successfully ".
     The only thing Harlan has been successful at is hiding the facts. The Community of Roseland Heights (95th to 99th Street, State to Cottage Grove) with sustained righteous indignation would like to set the record straight!   For the record the residents beg to differ with anyone who thinks this community is crime ridden.  We think the bus tracker program is a good thing , but reject any implication or conclusions that Harlan's students are in danger because of the community in which the school is located.
     "Here's the facts: Harlan is not in Roseland; it's in Roseland Heights. It's students can get home to the neighborhoods in which they live without running into "gang-bangers, witnessing a drug deal, getting robbed or shot,” by walking down any street in this community! Principle Evans should know the only problems on the corners of Michigan between 95th to 99th are caused by the students from Harlan, who don’t live in this community, (His school is the reason there is a blue light police surveillance camera on 97th Street). And the only fear of robbery & crime is from the students who left the building not the residents. Check police crime statistics or Blue light camera records; they will support our collective outage. Better yet drive around this community day or night and while you’re at it drive North through West Chesterfield (87th to 95th, State to King Dr.) or South through Rosemoor (99th to 107, Michigan to Cottage Grove) You’ll find them safe also. Maybe Bus Tracker funds would be better spent to stop the illegal activities in the area of the CTA Red Line, 95th & State. Most of those perpetrators don’t live in this community either! Crime and illegal activities can and do happen here and in all neighborhoods but not every neighborhood south of 22nd street is “crime ridden”! CTA Bus Tracker may protect students from crime at the 35 other high schools but in Roseland Heights it protects the Residents!
 
Submitted by Clevan Tucker, President Roseland Heights Community Association