Why Chicago's Worst Public Housing Project became a National Disgrace

[@ITSHISTORY]

To start comparing quotes and simplify insurance-buying, check out Policygenius: policygenius.com/itshistory. Thanks to Policygenius for sponsoring this video!

[@remyw.4959]

Can you do a video on stiltsville? (Miami)

[@tylerjones7263]

I don't see where you remove insulting statements. There all over the comments. Selective

[@jayskicksnfits9372]

@@tylerjones7263 *They're* , not There. 🤦🏼‍♂️

[@bernardcole4911]

It’s History why you say these were condo’s for wealthier people, these housing buildings or projects were built for the poor whites, it was called free housing for the immigrants…. Then after the government pulled us in as to say they built it for us all lies

[@tylervance0146]

The movie 'Hardball' wasn't filmed at Cabrini-Green. It was filmed at the former Grace Abbot Homes that used to be in the city's West Side. The movie was based on a youth baseball team out of Cabrini-Green in the 90s.

[@lilliancenteno6272]

I lived there for 5 years back in the 60' s. It was scary. 636 W. Evergreen in the white buildings. I was bullied by the kids. Almost raped by 2 teenage boys when I was 9. My father got brutally beaten and robbed on several occasions. But the straw that broke the camel' s backs was the riots of 1968 when MLK got shot. I was ever so happy when we moved to Lincoln Park that summer. My father thought if we stayed, we would all die. Needless to say, the area got worse over the years. The projects needed to come down.

[@jamarerashaanmcdonald187]

Damn that’s crazy I grew up in Philly we had high rise projects ass well glad my family never had to live in them

[@bunk95]

Tortured into appearing to have sex unwanted sex, rape?

[@tias.6675]

This is so sad. Nobody deserves to go through that. Glad you all are okay.

[@iandhr1]

That's awful. I am glad you got out. I moved to Chicago in 2018. I lived on the other side of Evergreen. The area is quite different now. The block is now a duplex-style space. There is an apartment on the ground level and a three bedroom apartment on the top level. I lived on the one on the top with roommates. There are also a lot of new very upscale high-rises.

[@laurafabianmarrero]

@@bunk95 what??🤷🏻‍♀️

[@berrylarry20]

My dad grew up in Chicago Public Housing. He told me that they were nice at first with amenities, mixed income, and diverse. When the city stopped caring they fell into disrepair creating contained concrete boxes of crime. Such a shame how the demolition of these buildings just spread the crime around and ruined neighborhoods in Chicago. Where I lived in the Southside used to be such a nice neighborhood until all the riffraff came in. We're still reeling from the affects of these mistakes till this day. 😔

[@rridderbusch518]

My daughter lived on the south side of Chicago for several years as a student at the U. of Chicago. She got lucky because one of the corners of the property she lived in actually touched the property of President Obama's home. The Secret Service was present in a 6-block area around his home 24/7. They knew who the students were and kept an eye out for them. As time went on it got worse so she moved closer to the lake. But you're right: the houses on the south side looked nicely built with a park nearby.

[@rridderbusch518]

@@kurtlamprecht93 I can only go by what my daughter told me at the time and the photos she shared with me. That doesn't mean I live in a "bubble". I'm an American who stood in Red Square, USSR in '81, so YOU must live in a bubble for never having been there. Great logic, kiddo.

[@fmiller36]

"The city stopped caring"? Or jobs went overseas leaving the community and resulting tax base for certain areas of the city destitute? Do you think cities choose to house people in projects/trailer parks just for sh*ts and giggles?

[@berrylarry20]

@@fmiller36 Hey I agree with you. My family came from Cuba to Chicago and worked in factories until our family became stable. Most those factories closed down and the ones that stayed open became automated displacing thousands of jobs. It's an American problem stemming from greedy Capitalism with overseas cheap labor

[@rridderbusch518]

@snappeas1031 It's wonderful that your friend's niece felt safe and had a nice senior prom. It's a shame that resources are held back now and everyone suffers for it.

[@carolmirelez170]

It's so sad because there were many good people who lived in Cabrini Green. Not all were on drugs they were just poor. I know I used to work for CHA many years ago!

[@peterharren8909]

This is why I always cringed when people didn't recognize that. However no matter your color or income, if you didn't live or work there you probably didn't know the unwriten rules making it dangerous to outsiders. That unfortunately is the root of the problem.

[@carolmirelez170]

@@peterharren8909 It was like a fort!

[@Megaritz]

A lot of drug users are good people, too. The government is standing by waiting for them to die of poisoned drugs instead of doing the smart thing which is legalizing drugs and supporting universal mental healthcare.

[@yourfinalhiringagency3890]

U see, the gov has evolved to only care about absorbing tax dollars. Screw every other agenda.

[@yourfinalhiringagency3890]

Every politician now has stocks in whatever the gov buys. The more tax payer absorption, the more their stock goes up

[@howielavaty75]

I used to sell maintenance equipment and I called on all the CHA projects. I would have my sales calls at about 7 am since the gang bangers weren't active at that time in the morning but one time when I was leaving I was carrying a sample case and my briefcase. As I left the building and the door locked behind me I was greeted by about 5 gang members who were just coming home..one of them flashed a gun at me and demanded my cases and my wallet. Will that I figured that they could have the cases but I wasn't going to relinquish my wallet..I tossed the cases to them and I took off running towards my car. A couple of them gave chase but I was in pretty good shape at the time. just as I got to my car a Chicago police car came driving down the street and the gang bangers fled the scene. I thanked the cop and he let me retrieve my cases but I was terrified. from then on I always carried a gun when calling on the project's .In conclusion. The CHA was a great account since my competitors wouldn't go to see them they bought anything I was selling.

[@almilhouse9059]

A gun was essential anyway

[@onemoremisfit]

Thank the Lord you didn't have to shoot one of them and end up in prison doing double life.

[@Three_Random_Words]

@@onemoremisfit No, that's Canada, where shooting someone in self-defense will get you sent to prison, in part for 'murder' and also using a gun even if you have a rare permit in an unauthorized manner.

[@slowery43]

Wow that is so amazingly and totaly not interesting to anyone but you... this isn't the "tell us your life Howie" channel

[@christianmenard9033]

@@slowery43 I liked howies story...

[@ericponce8740]

A story needs to be told on Robert Taylor Homes. It was the Hercules of public housing in Chicago...much larger than Cabrini Green Homes.

[@alikhan81]

I drove cab in college (2002-05). The instructor for the license class was an off duty police officer. She made it very clear that we can’t refuse service and should go to ALL underserved areas. One day she invited a seasoned cab driver and just stepped out after a few minutes. The old man told the class straight up that there’s no amount of money worth going into Cabrini. The only time I went to the Whites was when one of the three guys in my cab put a knife at my throat. They got in at the Viagra triangle, took me to the whites and made me turn off my car and headlights, they did a drug deal, went into the Reds off of Orleans & Oak, picked up a prostitute, made another drug deal, picked up Portillos, went to Evanston, IL and gave me a $100

[@rushmatic]

I haven’t lived in the Gold Coast for about 20 years and you recount of events brings back so many memories! Thanks for sharing!

[@crystalbrame7886]

Sounds About Right !! 😐

[@JG-tt4sz]

Urban Entrepreneurialism.

[@Skarry]

I used to hang out at Mother's. I'd take the blue line down and walk. I always crossed the street before Cabrini. I haven't lived there in a long time but seeing the Viagra Triangle referenced brings back memories.

[@pebblepod30]

Wow but still pay the driver well afterwards.

[@rilke3266]

I think what was most interesting about Cabrini Green growing up in Chicago was how close it was to downtown. It wasn't some far flung off neighborhood stratling the Chicago city boundary, but was just 10-ish blocks from the wealthiest part of Chicago, the Gold Coast.

[@EverydayImHusln]

If you think about it, most of the worst areas in major cities are close to downtown, which makes them ripe for gentrification & displacement

[@cfldriven]

I recall a comedian saying "it was just a gun shot away from the loop".

[@humbledragger6411]

In Baltimore more than 90% of our projects are in a circle bordering downtown from all sides

[@dirtyd2316]

It kinda makes sense if you think about it,cause all those downtown businesses need cheap labor to keep them going, and who better to exploit for that role,than the people that are already struggling to pay their bills and feed their families,that will work just about any job for little pay to do so.

[@k.anderson5039]

Yes! In the late 90 I was driving w a friend thru Chicago moving to NYC. We stayed a night at her friends house & wanted to see Cabrini Green on way out. That was about 25 years ago & I have a vague memory but I still remember think this is right by downtown. I assumed it was one of the massive project buildings that lined the highway as you approached Chicago with the skyline ahead.

[@AbuSous2000PR]

i was a cab driver for 2 yrs in chicago between 1989 to 1991and i know this area well. Cab driver going north west cannot avoid this area. i used to say prayers when i had to go through Cabrini Green. My cousin told me once he got a bullet in his windshield

[@jazbenz9933]

I believe "Candyman" was inspired by a real life case on (a resident named Ruth Mae McCoy of Chicago ABLA Homes on Racine Ave -- I think demolished as well) McCoy was murdered through her bathroom cabinet, which was closely connected to an apt that was supposed to be vacant but unknown to CHA it was occupied by a delinquent whom was given the keys by the former tenant that used to live there. The delinquent had been observing-listening to McCoy's conversations, her steps ~this is what I remember reading.

[@WickedWayne57]

The ABLA Homes are only row houses now, their high rises are all torn down.

[@jazbenz9933]

@@WickedWayne57 Had to look back into it & Yes, you are right; those CHA high-rises have been demolished. What I didn't know is that there are still rowhouses there. If I remember correctly Ruth McCoy lived in one of the Grace Abbott high-rise bldgs - on the 11th floor- the bathroom "medicine" cabinets were like 2 feet closely connected from unit to unit. It's crazy! What's sad about this true case/story is that McCoy (though she had a mental illness) lived by herself & the delinquent heard her phone conversations about when she would be receiving her first disability check by which she planned on moving out of ABLA Homes/ projects & from what I recall reading that's why she was murdered - delinquent & his accomplices broke in, shot her & ended up stealing her money, furniture, etc.

[@mkevicus1755]

And the tv show good times.

[@bigdog8993]

You're right this happened in 1987 when she called police and said they were coming in through the medicine cabinet which confused the dispatcher also didn't help that Ruth had a history of mental illness... Little fact that the housing projects were so poorly condtructed that many apartments were connected and the only separation was the installation of each apartments medicine cabinet

[@bigdog8993]

Just realized the lady in Candyman that the two ladies was named Anne Marie Macoy coincidence or more likely a nod to the actual events

[@bramlintrent1145]

First time I ever visited Chicago, I looked out my hotel window and saw "the Good Times buildings" in the distance. They were unmistakable -- the "Reds". I immediately rode the train up to them and took a walking tour. Later, it was explained to me that the buildings were the Cabrini-Green projects and I'd taken my life in my hands.

[@keishawinn2153]

It wasn't filmed here. Though

[@NOHSAL]

🥴😭

[@NOHSAL]

@@keishawinn2153 it's already understood they were oblivious.....

[@bramlintrent1145]

@@keishawinn2153 Of course not. The show was filmed in front of a live studio audience in Hollywood. But the Cabrini Reds were featured heavily in the opening and closing themes, and were used as a backdrop outside the Evans family's apartment.

[@thisblackgirlslife]

Really? You took a train? No train near there, only buses. 🤦🏾‍♀️

[@maryreilly5092]

Unfortunately, the residents of Cabrini Green were sent to smaller towns in Northern Illinois such as Rockford and Belvidere which has ruined those two towns permanently. The new residents didn't want to go there and the old residents did not welcome them including the African Americans who were already living in those smaller towns and cities. The Cabrini residents brought huge crime problems and the individual neighborhoods they were brought to were decimated. Sorry, but this is fact!

[@jovo5577]

Dekalb il too

[@deliciaford4343]

Thanks

[@Cheezburgercatz]

It's almost like being displaced w no opportunity to escape the endless cycle of poverty will cause problems

[@natashaalexander4651]

Not disputing it at all

[@raquellucas2202]

If you are a moral, working person, you don’t want criminals, drugs, etc. in your hometown! Doesn’t matter the color, most people want to be safe. That’s why in the late 60’s and early 70’s we saw a mass exodus from the great cities of the north. Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland were left deserted because of crime, drugs and early gang activity. Truth .

[@MrBiglig]

In the early 2000’s I lived in Wicker Park and worked construction in Cabrini rebuilding the empty lots after tear down into new mid-rise condos. I literally saw it all. We would take gunshots into the new building from the still standing towers nearby. I will say that aside from the crime I saw just as many examples of stable families doing the best they could to survive. Great video thanks for the history and memories!

[@timsmith2525]

When I was a kid, watching Good Times, I didn't know what those building were, and I assumed they must be the factory where the dad worked. When, as an adult, I found out that was the building they lived in, I was horrified.

[@jamescondall4705]

😳🙀😹😹😹😂😂😂💯♥

[@187reese9]

For crying out loud LOL 😆

[@kalvinkalvarino9536]

Really? 😂

[@freetolook3727]

I was interested to find out who Cabrini Green was. It's actually two different people: Cabrini was a nun who was canonized and Green who was a labor leader. How a catholic saint and labor leader responsible for ending mandatory loyalty to non-union shops, got their totally unrelated names together on a low income housing project is a question for another day.

[@MrJstorm4]

In the 1940s several hundred row houses were built I believe named after Cabrini and then in the 1950s the high-rises were built as the Green extension. The two aren't necessarily connected to each other but both deserved to be memorized in such a way

[@American-Motors-Corporation]

and then there's the great distancing of the middle/upper class from everyone else yet most fail to realize it's that very middle/upper class that owns the rental properties and is in hot pursuit of that fat government check via section 8 housing aka metropolitan housing help!! Though I'm sure most with in the middle class purely ignore that fact because of their false belief that the middle class nor the upper class "doesn't in anyway benefit from welfare"! Lol shit, that's why rent is high, hell I remember here in Ohio back in 06 the big rush for landlords to place their properties on section 8 housing started, it took our local government over 9 years to admit that 50% of the town the rentals! Yeah, went from being able to rent a single family home at $425-$550, to no less than $600 because metropolitan sets the bottom line price for any area! Of course those prices was then, now we're seeing the ghetto demand 12 to $1400 a month! Modest prices are for a one bedroom apartment mostly studio apartments, $725-850 of course higher depending on credit score... But the modest prices are disappearing it's quickly becoming, over 950 bucks a month and that's a hole in the wall the equivalent to a cardboard box! But hey those landlords yes the majority of them have the majority of their houses placed on the government system and no one says anything! Hummm the government pays their taxes their insurances and their mortgages plus any upkeep that we know they don't want to do all the while providing them with an income! Explain to me how they're not the real welfare recipients??? I'd love to hear it!

[@Amerikanerer]

I do not believe "green" is in reference to a labor leader. It is in reference to the green field on which the complex was constructed. i.e. Cabrini "Meadow" ...You now, like Bowling "Green"...a green meadow where people bowled...

[@maxant4285]

@@Amerikanerer So you think you know more than Chicago Housing Authority?

[@gamertron0993]

A lot of project buildings were named after good people back then even in NYC

[@jaybob324]

Chicago projects were like no other Robert Taylor homes was 26 high rises stretched across 4 and a half miles!

[@stevencreelman1986]

I moved to Chicago in '95. I lived a few miles NW of downtown and I got a job waiting tables @ Melvin B's downtown. I didn't want to pay for parking downtown, and decided to bike to work. I pulled out a map and charted my direct route to State/Division. I ended up biking directly through the Cabrini Green neighborhood. I was such a Greenhorn. They knew I had no idea what I was doing, and some kids messed with me, but it was all good. No worries, but everyone I worked with thought I was crazy. Let's just say I took a more round about route home with $200 cash in my pocket every night.

[@robertschumacher2707]

Friend of mine lives a few blocks from Cabrini. I still remember his instructions to get to his place ending in "If you go too far, immediately hang two turns, and don't stop for anything. Do NOT go back down the street you came in on."

[@twofiveb]

I lived on the North Side in the 90’s. I remember the tragic incident with Girl X at Cabrini-Green and how it was all over the news. That happened roughly about the same time as Jon-Benet Ramsey tragedy. It wasn’t long after that a full on commitment to shut these housing projects down.

[@tylervance0146]

The movie 'Hardball' wasn't filmed at Cabrini-Green. It was filmed at the former Grace Abbot Homes that used to be in the city's West Side. The movie was based on a youth baseball team out of Cabrini-Green in the 90s.

[@greatmartini1]

This place was so dangerous that police were afraid to go in. I worked on an ambulance and if someone had a heart attack we were not allowed to go in without police escort and that wasn't "in the building" that was out front and sometimes you would call for people to bring down the patient because it was to dangerous to go in. When they realized that the property was prime real estate, close to McCormick Place, Midway Airport and the south lakeshore then the towers came down and million dollar townhouses came in.

[@greatmartini1]

@@kurtlamprecht93 Cabrini Green was only a few miles from some of the most desirable areas of Chicago. I am mistaken at the distance from McCormick Place. I doubt Millennial Park would be as popular if that area hadn't been demolished. I grew up on the North Side, Irving Park and Pulaski. That area where the projects were, from what I have been told, is now high end townhouses and condos. Cleaning up that area made it more convenient to access and work in the south shore area. I haven't been in that area since 1984 so my memory is a bit sketchy. You are 100% correct on the locations that I though were within the vicinity of that area. My apologies on that.

[@American-Motors-Corporation]

and then there's the great distancing of the middle/upper class from everyone else yet most fail to realize it's that very middle/upper class that owns the rental properties and is in hot pursuit of that fat government check via section 8 housing aka metropolitan housing help!! Though I'm sure most with in the middle class purely ignore that fact because of their false belief that the middle class nor the upper class "doesn't in anyway benefit from welfare"! Lol shit, that's why rent is high, hell I remember here in Ohio back in 06 the big rush for landlords to place their properties on section 8 housing started, it took our local government over 9 years to admit that 50% of the town the rentals! Yeah, went from being able to rent a single family home at $425-$550, to no less than $600 because metropolitan sets the bottom line price for any area! Of course those prices was then, now we're seeing the ghetto demand 12 to $1400 a month! Modest prices are for a one bedroom apartment mostly studio apartments, $725-850 of course higher depending on credit score... But the modest prices are disappearing it's quickly becoming, over 950 bucks a month and that's a hole in the wall the equivalent to a cardboard box! But hey those landlords yes the majority of them have the majority of their houses placed on the government system and no one says anything! Hummm the government pays their taxes their insurances and their mortgages plus any upkeep that we know they don't want to do all the while providing them with an income! Explain to me how they're not the real welfare recipients??? I'd love to hear it!

[@taxpayer9546]

@@American-Motors-Corporation , very insightful aspect. Nice to know.

[@icemike1]

Always

[@marleneflanagan7137]

Are you thinking of the Robert Taylor Homes?

[@AnthonyMcGowan]

This so echo's the situation in high rise estates in Glasgow from the 1970's through the 80's and 90's. The biggest problem was the management who did not care who they dumped there, as long as the number of voids (empty apartments) was as low as possible. if keeping the figures right meant dumping mentaly unstable people, drug addicts and dealers, or people evicted from other areas for gross anti social behaviour, then so what, the housing managers didnt have to live there.

[@johnstudd4245]

Well that's what public housing is largely about. Giving people who have not worked for it and don't really deserve it, a place to live. It becomes like them, and what they make of it. Does not matter where you put it, it all turns to shit after a while.

[@penskepc2374]

@@johnstudd4245 would you rather have armies of homeless walking the streets? Public Housing doesn't just benefit the lowest in society

[@covercalls88]

@@penskepc2374 You are describing the situation in Los Aneles skid row.

[@penskepc2374]

@@covercalls88 that would be a drop in the bucket in comparison to public housing not existing. We should definitely build them different than regular apartments.

[@johnstudd4245]

@@penskepc2374 I agree with you, build them with bare concrete blocks and bars for windows. They can't destroy that.

[@krystynasmyth1891]

My father worked at cabrini in the 90's as electrician, he actually got pulled into the office for working too fast. They said they didn't want things fixed and if he kept fixing things they would fire him 🤷‍♀️ the city would keep buying tons of supplies and let parts get stolen and didn't care. This goes on for plumbers, hvac, etc. He said at times the police would tell them to just drag the dead bodies out to the front 😂 there was crazy gang riots that would last all night

[@Lau_465]

Wow!

[@aprilh9124]

Really?? 🤔

[@josephmessina3587]

Must have been his union bosses. No joke intended.

[@marih3286]

Housing thousands of people in a structure with no support services was a stupid idea with failure built right in. Poorly run public schools. No job training programs. No child care programs for people who had jobs. Poor public transportation. What exactly were they expecting?

[@carlysmarlyson]

Yep yep yep and a lot of people (in these comments especially) are too racist to see that

[@dapperdonny4051]

These social programs cost a lot of money. But the politicians don’t care one iota. It’s not their money.

[@Fabulos1]

@@dapperdonny4051 It was about the proximity to the downtown area of chicago, it was prime location, I grew up there and i didn't know of anything going on, I was a kid and i stayed a kid, i didn't wonder about anything else but being a kid.

[@ryanrohauer5940]

it was done by design they were ment to keep poor people poor same as the welfare system it was designed to oppress the racial minoritys and keep them down. the democrats arent the good guys and neither are the republicans they are both just as racist as the other. one just hides it better. why is some of the higest crime cities are democrat run for decades and they always run on change but never do. its all by design...

[@danielpeters2282]

People to not be scum bags? I know. A high bar

[@JL03241]

My family and I live in a rowhome in what was the Greens of Carbrini Green area north of Division off Halsted. Totally transformed community. It has come a long way. There is a super Target off Larrabee and Division. New City shopping center with a Mariano's and Dicks and more upscale restaurants. The pricing of market rate housing is getting high - but still not as expensive as neighboring Lincoln Park and Old Town/Gold Coast. The church on Larrabee by the Stanton park is still there although it looks abandoned. Great presentation! Fascinating to learn the history.

[@musclecarfan74]

I remember it well, as I grew up in the northern suburbs in the 80's. It was frequently in the news on a regular basis. I just turned 18 when Cantrell Davis was killed by gunfire on October 13, 1992 on his way to school. He was only 7 years old.

[@rasp57]

Small detail, where did the people move when Cabrini Green and Robert Taylor homes were demolished. Section 8 housing destroyed thriving neighborhoods such as Chatham and South shore. Cabrini Green had the Chicago Gold Coast (The most expensive real estate in the city) to the east and Miracle Mile, high end retailers. Why did this happen, Mayor Daley 2 went to European capitals to developed a strategy to make Chicago a higher level world class city. The idea was to grow from the center out. For this to happen, the projects had to come down. Crime could be contained within the projects and now crime is spread all over the city. The idea was, move people in the projects into good neighborhoods to create better behavior. Unfortunately people without money see other people in the neighborhood with money buying brand name products want to have the same and the crime cycle continues. I won't discuss the criminal prosecution changes which makes matters worse.

[@2006gtobob]

I can tell you were a high percentage of them went: Portage, Hobart, and Valparaiso, Indiana turning what were quiet apartment complexes into drug and crime riddled areas. The police departments learned a bit about what violence is. The Democrat mayor's of those towns were ousted next election.

[@stevenkilgore5771]

The same happened in Dallas. I bought into what was a good neighborhood around 17 years ago and sold last year. Went from a relatively safe and crime free neighborhood to one of constant crime. The difference was the soft on crime and section 8 housing that came. And people wonder why middle and upper class say not in my neighborhood, this is it.

[@American-Motors-Corporation]

@@stevenkilgore5771 and then there's the great distancing of the middle/upper class from everyone else yet most fail to realize it's that very middle/upper class that owns the rental properties and is in hot pursuit of that fat government check via section 8 housing aka metropolitan housing help!! Though I'm sure most with in the middle class purely ignore that fact because of their false belief that the middle class nor the upper class "doesn't in anyway benefit from welfare"! Lol shit, that's why rent is high, hell I remember here in Ohio back in 06 the big rush for landlords to place their properties on section 8 housing started, it took our local government over 9 years to admit that 50% of the town the rentals! Yeah, went from being able to rent a single family home at $425-$550, to no less than $600 because metropolitan sets the bottom line price for any area! Of course those prices was then, now we're seeing the ghetto demand 12 to $1400 a month! Modest prices are for a one bedroom apartment mostly studio apartments, $725-850 of course higher depending on credit score... But the modest prices are disappearing it's quickly becoming, over 950 bucks a month and that's a hole in the wall the equivalent to a cardboard box! But hey those landlords yes the majority of them have the majority of their houses placed on the government system and no one says anything! Hummm the government pays their taxes their insurances and their mortgages plus any upkeep that we know they don't want to do all the while providing them with an income! Explain to me how they're not the real welfare recipients??? I'd love to hear it!

[@kelvendyson1508]

Same thing for ABLA, Ickes, Stateway Gardens!

[@ハワルドスタンテシヤ]

You are absolutely correct op.

[@gnosticnight]

Look for an old book called The Horror of Cabrini Green by Bruce C. Conn. His family lived there. Great read. The Green was sitting on some prime real estate near Chicago's touristy and pricey Old Town, so it had to go. The years passed and now the whole town is Cabrini Green.

[@natlinturner1184]

I read that book it was so good I could not put it down.

[@ハワルドスタンテシヤ]

I’m a native Chicagoan. Thank you for telling this history. Was born in the 90’s and my family owned property over by Hudson and North Ave. So I’ve known about Kabrini Green and it’s sketchyness since I was a little girl. Also my father grew up in one of those buildings. He’s from a huge Jehovah’s Witness family with 15 other siblings. So he’s told me some wild stuff that has happened. Like him and his sister getting robbed on their way to the store and a gang member putting a gun to my grandma’s face whilst she was out doing field service ( knocking on doors to share the religion). They’re father worked and mother stayed home. Also I’ve never knew the history of the area before it was Kabrini Green. It seems like that area has always been trouble.

[@v10-ACR-E]

It was successful at first. Everyone knew eachother, people were there for eachother and everything al the way until the late 60s, early 70s when it started to become a place for gangs and rival gangs to turn it into one of the worst public housing projects where it was almost never safe. It used to be a nice area, until the gangs messed it up.

[@cho6140]

You mean "Cabrini" Green?

[@MsPopCulturista]

Cabrini with a C

[@ハワルドスタンテシヤ]

@@v10-ACR-E yes with a C. But I'm not adding the C because that place doesn't deserve to be named after a saint.

[@ハワルドスタンテシヤ]

@@v10-ACR-E I didn't know about that. It still doesn't deserve to be named after a Saint though. To many lives lost and destroyed there.

[@dinkyb2000]

Robert Taylor was poorer and more violent. It was the largest housing development in the world until its demolition in 03

[@tpm9949]

Yes the Robert Taylor homes were even worst!

[@iwouldliketoorderanumber1b79]

Yea I use to drive from Rogers park up north to either 35th and state or the buildings I believe was on 43rd and federal behind the that bp gas station on state. As soon as you pull in that parking lot on 43rd you have about 10 dudes all on the hood of your car trying to get the sell. Hands all in your car window with bags of weed.

[@hairyape3935]

More violent than CG? Must have been Hell

[@johnathanjones5624]

It was larger but because Cabrini green was located a stone's throw away from goals coast that's what made it hard

[@dinkyb2000]

@@hairyape3935 absolute hell. It was the headquarters of the GDs and BDs before the BDs moved to Randolph Towers. The MCs and Stones had buildings in the 80s and 90s then the MCs were the only nation under the 5 still in the Taylor. 5322 5326 State and 5323 S Federal were the buldings in the hole

[@dennismorgan1445]

In the winter of 1979-80 I was on my way to work as a house officer at Cook County Hospital. As I passed Cabrini Green, a young woman flagged down my car, upset, asking for help-someone was after her. I let her in the car and said I would take her to the police station. She insisted I wait there. Instead I traveled down the block. When I stopped at a red light, she jumped out, without explanation. When I later recounted this to colleagues, I was deemed a naive fool and told that I was more likely the one in trouble than her. And that was always the problem with Cabrini Green-should you stop and help, or just steer clear.

[@GregoryTheGr8ster]

You should *always* stop and help those who are in need. Even if you are hurt or killed, it is for a worthy cause. Sacrificing one's self for others should be required by law.

[@jrocgnomesayin8697]

@@GregoryTheGr8ster lmao what

[@tanyabell-abercrombie3042]

@@GregoryTheGr8ster Nah, don’t think so. Not in this day.

[@MomMom4Cubs]

@@GregoryTheGr8ster I agree with you. If I'm meant to help, I help. Just like other strangers have been meant to help me. I'm not afraid to die. How could I be afraid to do something everyone does? I wasn't afraid to be born. I dunno about requiring sacrifice by law. It seems to me making assistance compulsory would increase cynicism and selfishness, whilst decreasing the actual quality of said help. Sorta like jury duty.

[@spikefivefivefive]

@@GregoryTheGr8ster - Put the pipe down already.

[@duenge]

There were these 2 firemen from Michigan who, in the late 80's, spent a week chasing fires in the Windy City. Their mini van dropped its transmission in Cabrini green. We still drove it, we had to! First gear,...350 highway miles...Good times!

[@jrm78]

From what I remember, the 1992 slaying of 7 year-old Dantrell Davis was the watershed moment which eventually led to the project's demolition almost a decade later. A crime so shocking that the politicians started seeking the removal of the buildings instead of their replacement.

[@ME-th9yo]

my wife was born and raised there and she was the same age as girl x around the same time she was murdered my wife was also living there as a child. even though she was a small child she tells me some of the stuff she remembers and its beyond crazy what these people had to live through

[@mindyabidnesstoo5720]

Girl X is still alive today. Where did you get this story from? Who is your wife?

[@panpanpanpan4631]

I came from Poland fir a summer holiday to Chicago. I asked my mother to tske me to the worst district to see famous american getthos. It was far far more that i was prepere for. People was laying on the ground drunk or stoned, half of windows was broken and i even didnt got out from my car. In my country it is tottaly safe and i can sleep in the city center with my phone next to me and nobody will take it.

[@thatgui88]

@@panpanpanpan4631 Wished my parents took me to see how the ghettos looked like. My parents pretty much shielded me from that stuff until I became an adult and witnessed it for myself. Words cannot describe how disgusting some of the living conditions people put themselves into. How can people turn places into that is beyond me.

[@acykat2069]

I interviewed for a job at the Montgomery Ward headquarters building in 1999 and drove through the project afterwards, white knuckling it all the way. My father worked for Wards for years and said they had bulletproof curtains on all of the office windows facing Cabrini Green, and from my visit to their offices it seemed possible.

[@boothwodensen4897]

We were in a hurry one time due to an emergency and the fastest way from point a to point b was by cabrini green. My friend literally weighed the pros and cons of it but decided to do it. That section was white knuckles for sure and just shock at how broken down it was.

[@jst7714]

I’d say getting a job at Wards in the late 90s would not have been conducive to long term career goals.

[@obosumba]

@@jst7714 yeah since they went bankrupt in 1997!

[@carlmelville]

When I was kid in the 70's in the chicago suburbs I remember story about the projects (as we called them) in the Chicago Tribune. The author described them as "vertical visions of hell." Sadly, an on the nose description. I did not know some of that backstory. Thanks.

[@jonnytlong]

@@kurtlamprecht93 boomers were born after World War Two. He said he was a kid in the 70’s.

[@sb-tb1oh]

​@Kurt Lamprecht depending on his age, I'd say Gen X, but the zoomers don't give a f*** and don't distinguish between the two, though they are very different

[@aprilh9124]

Yeah I'm 44 and we call them projects too 😂

[@beaushaver3779]

Public money always runs out. EVERY public work, exists on borrowed time.

[@ハワルドスタンテシヤ]

This is true.

[@ricechido1089]

That’s because they steal and officials are just conservatives dressed in liberal clothes to manipulate people in voting for them

[@FerdarPleaseSubscribe]

Because mayor's can't go into debt

[@jays1079]

Same for capitalism funded entities. Where is Sears? Kmart? Montgomery Ward? Venture? It all dies off eventually public and private. Mismanagement is something both of them have in common.

[@KatKiddEnt]

One thing that has always stayed with me has been what was pointed out in the original Candyman movie. When you ride the train, the side that Cabrini Green was on looked dramatically different from the opposite side of the tracks. That building was an eyesore! I used to feel fear any time I rode through that area. I hope that the people who moved from there were able to improve their lives .

[@hairyape3935]

They didn't and crimes flowed

[@C4m4r0]

Chicago does it's best to cover up is how it handled the relocation of the residents. A large portion was relocated to DeKalb, IL and were put into a housing community that is in between where the majority of students live and the campus forcing many students to cross past a heavily active crime area to and from classes. The housing community was originally designed as apartments for students and the city of Chicago forced the owners to kick out the students as part of the relocation process.

[@Frank00]

The Expletive that lived there are animals and will be animals in any location

[@lieut89]

Dekalb? Maybe a small portion, most were reposited to the southern suburbs where resegregation continues unabated.

[@aprilh9124]

Naw you must be mistaken because a lot of them came right over the border to my hometown where I grew up Hammond. There were so many Chicago people that came because we are right over the border from the SS. We only had two housing projects The Renaissance and Columbia Center and they were packed with people from the city. I was in highschool from 93 to 97. Alot of them had their vouchers and just came across . I met some really good friends back then.

[@HangingGarden606]

I went to public school about half a mile north of Cabrini. Amazing how different life can be within the span of a few blocks. Kids who came from uber, uber wealthy families (homes valued in the 8 figure range) lived a 5 minute walk away from Cabrini. Hell, our current governor (heir to the Hyatt empire) lived right next to the school. The older I get, the more I appreciate how crazy that dynamic is. Wouldn't trade it for the world, but man. Even at a time when Cabrini was very close to being shuttered, it was a stark contrast. By the time I left that school, Cabrini was mostly skeletal. They built a posh private school basically smack dab in the middle of it, an apple store, the whole shebang. Still a few highrises left up, and a lot of people still living in the rowhomes. Such an extreme schism looking back, especially when I consider that Cabrini was surrounded by extreme wealth on all sides. Ultra contained poverty and suffering. Even so, there is a worthwhile argument to be made that other public complexes like the Robert Taylor homes had it worse. I have not been back to Cabrini in a decade, but I hope the city takes measures to enshrine the human experience that was the norm there for half a century. It's their duty to educate the next generations about the skeletons underneath their duplexes.

[@miragefd]

The effects of LBJ's Great Societies programs were briefly touched on. I wonder if the same federal inspectors used to ensure that there were no male breadwinners living inside the same apartment as families receiving welfare benefits as done in Pruitt Igoe, written about by Amity Shlaes in "The Great Society".

[@breakingbadenterprise328]

The home rules only happened for 4 yrs.

[@MsNooneinparticular]

What's it matter? Single parents need the help more than 2-parent homes, it could be argued. Mass incarceration contributed greatly to the lack of fathers in homes.

[@gart7511]

@@MsNooneinparticular why they committing crimes then

[@Crezelltree4261]

Crime has not decreased.What is the narrator talking about?Chicago is Murder City.

[@lifesuckstbh]

@@gart7511 poverty

[@raeannaruby8306]

0:23 there's 16,000 people in my whole county, i could not imagine sharing a roof with that many people.

[@cris_261]

St. Louis tried the same thing with Pruitt Igoe, with the same disastrous results.

[@DramaMustRemainOnTheStage]

Now they give renters a voucher stating they have a confirmed payment monthly. You can have someone living next to you on government substituted rent. As long as they are leading a fruitful life there should be no judgements

[@UNUSUALUSERNAME220]

It's called Section 8 Housing. They have minimum income requirements and the apartment complexes that do it have to tell the tenants that they are involved with it.

[@TheSaikou96]

As someone that works a block away. It’s an eyesore to still have those row houses there. Some are occupied and there are shootings among other illicit activities in those couple of blocks. Mind boggling how it is allows to occur in The neighborhood considering 600 W at the corner employees thousands of middle class people. Plus some nice condos on the area as well. Imagine paying $1M+ only to overlook this mess of history

[@mkervelegan]

Let the buyer beware

[@judyarvy3702]

wawawa,,,,then vote for government who doesn't pay you to vote to eliminate.

[@jacknewberry5720]

They're still there i was there in 2013 and they had tore down most of them i figured they would have tore the rest down by now

[@American-Motors-Corporation]

and then there's the great distancing of the middle/upper class from everyone else yet most fail to realize it's that very middle/upper class that owns the rental properties and is in hot pursuit of that fat government check via section 8 housing aka metropolitan housing help!! Though I'm sure most with in the middle class purely ignore that fact because of their false belief that the middle class nor the upper class "doesn't in anyway benefit from welfare"! Lol shit, that's why rent is high, hell I remember here in Ohio back in 06 the big rush for landlords to place their properties on section 8 housing started, it took our local government over 9 years to admit that 50% of the town the rentals! Yeah, went from being able to rent a single family home at $425-$550, to no less than $600 because metropolitan sets the bottom line price for any area! Of course those prices was then, now we're seeing the ghetto demand 12 to $1400 a month! Modest prices are for a one bedroom apartment mostly studio apartments, $725-850 of course higher depending on credit score... But the modest prices are disappearing it's quickly becoming, over 950 bucks a month and that's a hole in the wall the equivalent to a cardboard box! But hey those landlords yes the majority of them have the majority of their houses placed on the government system and no one says anything! Hummm the government pays their taxes their insurances and their mortgages plus any upkeep that we know they don't want to do all the while providing them with an income! Explain to me how they're not the real welfare recipients??? I'd love to hear it!

[@yvettevitacaponigro]

@@American-Motors-Corporation Best comment! ✌🏼😊

[@JDoors]

I lived in Chicago. I liked to explore the city, late at night. I was riding the subway at around 2 a.m., decided to get off at a stop name I didn't recognize. Could be interesting, right? Went up the stairs, didn't recognize the neighborhood either, but I was able to orient myself to start heading homeward. I'd done a lot of exploring so finding my way home was always easy. Uh, uh-oh. I recognize those buildings: Cabrini Green. Two o'clock in the morning and I'm walking through Cabrini Green. Yikes. I had already walked far enough that the choice to return to the subway or keep walking toward familiar ground was a fifty-fifty shot. Nothing happened. I don't know if my fears were unfounded, or if I was lucky.

[@UNUSUALUSERNAME220]

You were lucky. 2am walkin around there if you didn't know where you were the attitude of anyone that you may have run into would be, you should know where you are! It's 2am, the game is on at 2am! Walkin around there they would view you as a player, you put yourself in the game. Situational awareness is how you avoid gettin killed. I lived around that shit my whole life and you better know where you are and what's going on at all times! We knew that as kids, do not go over there or you will get hurt! You got real lucky my friend!

[@marchellochiovelli7259]

Stupid is more likely.

[@UNUSUALUSERNAME220]

@@marchellochiovelli7259 C'mon now, be nice.

[@DoubleDogDare54]

@@UNUSUALUSERNAME220 It was an honest answer and I agree with it. It was stupid and could have gotten him killed.

[@jenleigh342]

You were DAMN LUCKY. PERIOD.

[@notmitch2891]

I remember the last buildings of Cabrini Green being demolished in 2011 and the old residents used to throw parties on the blacktop that Target now sits on. Thank you for another amazing video 💪🏾

[@sjtsnow]

“When everybody owns something, nobody owns it, and nobody has a direct interest in maintaining or improving its condition. That is why buildings in the Soviet Union - like public housing in the United States - look decrepit within a year or two of their construction...” - Milton Friedman

[@landonclipp4293]

Unfortunately the Cabrini Green row houses are not completely vacant. It remains one of the most dangerous areas of River North. Shootings happen there on a nightly basis, and there is always couple of police cars permanently stationed at the end of the street. I used to live just across the street from these row houses, and the amount of violence that would spill out made me fearful for my life. My building had bullet holes in it, and multiple people had been robbed or beaten at gun point. The Montgomery condo building recently had about a dozen or more bullet holes introduced to it, which didn't even make the local news. The sooner these buildings can be destroyed, the better. These row houses attract so much murder and death that it boggles the mind. I'm glad I got out of there before I got shot.

[@swannoir7949]

No wonder there's always some shit going down in that area.

[@1DEADBEEF1]

Are you seriously implying " these row houses attract so much murder" ???? Wth kinda statement is this? How are these buildings attracting crime?? Same logic as "gun violence" like its a building or a tool commiting these heinous crimes...

[@swannoir7949]

@@1DEADBEEF1 There are criminal elements around those row houses.

[@GODislove99999]

@@1DEADBEEF1 hey truth hurts it’s a lot of violence in those row houses

[@1DEADBEEF1]

@@GODislove99999 I think you missed the point completely - associate the violence WITH PEOPLE, not with buildings, neighborhoods and firearms

[@bigcrowfly]

Because of Norman Lear's top rated TV show Good Times, everyone in the US in the 1970s knew all about Cabrini Green. If not for the familiarity of it to the public through Good Times, the outrage about it and later demolition would not have been as great events.

[@tinajeppesen5948]

Candy man & Good Times got me interested years later & then. As a kid I remember seeing them when we drove through Chicago. I was curious why they were called the “projects” & always thought about how many people lived there.

[@nativetexanful]

On the show Good Times, they never mentioned Cabrini-Green. But you could see it when they showed the intro.

[@dripdreezy]

My dad and his siblings were born and raised there.. I spent my early childhood hanging out in the playground and riding the elevator up to my grandmothers apt.. she had plastic on her couches and we made icey cups, and boy was it fun times😊

[@IAMBENNYBLANCO.]

Proud Chicagoan native here, I remember the first time going back to Chicago and seeing what became of that area after the city got rid of CG.... big difference, looks so nice. That's something Chicago should have done ions ago.

[@T.S.000]

Yes, the areas around the Near North Side have gotten better, but other neighborhoods in Chicago as well as the suburbs have gotten much worse, because the former-residents (and gangbangers) got relocated to various locations.

[@Fools_Requiem]

Problem is that when you tear down a housing complex that houses 15k people, those people have to go somewhere... including all the gang members and druggies.

[@dski8097]

animals in cages, if you don't earn anything, you can care less about taking care of it.

[@anthonyblake7524]

I spent almost everyday of my youth as far back as I can remember, at clyborn and Division I was raised from 2nd grade until I left for college in Carol Stream IL & father, graduate from Moody bible institutes ministry was Clyborn Gospel Church and he serviced the community there. I spent many a new years eve in his church ringing in the new year with bullets bouncing off the front door and the outside brick wall of the facia of the church, watching his year in review of the parishiners experiences caught throuhout the year by him with his movie camera. chronicling the whole year each year. Everyday he drove from our suburban home to the city for his day job. With ECFA in the city. He would roll from the inner city out to carol stream every night to pick up me and my siblings to take us back to the church each evening for what ever event he had scheduled purposed in serving his congregation which quite a large populus were residents of pagrini green, this video brought a flood of memories. associated with that time. HE would often have troubled youth in large groups out to our nice home and some would stay for months, to complete education or to traverse some family or tragedy. I often think of those people and how their lives were affected by his dedication.

[@Terinije]

Daley's big plan for the final closure of C-G was to basically just put a bunch of residents on buses and send them downstate to various towns.

[@maryreilly5092]

And that's what he did. But the residents were not just sent "downstate." They were sent all over to quiet towns and small cities in No IL as well.

[@SupernovaBetty]

My town has a fair number of them. The college here lost enrollment and the slumlords needed tenants for their neglected shitholes so the took the section 8 money and how we have section of town with nightly gunshots and bi-monthly shootings. 2 murders recently too. It’s no good to hole poor people all up together in shitholes.

[@BellaCroyda]

I live in NYC. The same thing here. The projects were state-of-the-art newly constructed buildings. I grew up in the Jacob Riis Houses in the late 40s and 50s. It was beautiful. By time the 70s came about the projects was half welfare full of criminals, etc. Welfare was not allowed to move in but in the 60s liberal politics and communists forced the city to allow welfare in. The rest is history.

[@petermacdonald3061]

Fascinating history, I think the same applies to low cost housing all over the world. I do not know the answer or attempt to suggest a way to remedy this issue but thank-you for illuminating a social issue that many turn their back on. Great effort and work. best regards, Peter in Penang, Malaysia.

[@Petey5]

There have been successful examples of public housing but I think most of them suffer from two problems: The first being not enough funds allocated to maintenance and upkeep after construction (high-rises exacerbate this problem tremendously. They are not cost-efficient). The second being that since poverty leads to crime, putting a bunch of poverty-stricken people in a small area will create a high crime area. I think mixed-income public housing with plenty of maintenance funds may fix this. The government agency can operate the higher income units at a profit to help subsidize the lower income units too. The channel donoteat01 has two great videos on public housing.

[@petermacdonald3061]

@@Petey5 Thank-you for your reply I will have a look at the video you mentioned. I agree with what you say, the other thing is education. People with an education in basic living skills and consideration of others tend to have more pride in keeping their space clean and comfortable, I have witnessed this in many third world countries, it does not take much or more than a generation or two to make substantial change as long as there is governmental stability.

[@oskar6747]

@@Petey5 I think the solution is that the city just buys some percentage of new flats on every new building and leases them out.

[@raconteur5195]

It was dangerous slums before the government took it over in 1940 and it became even more dangerous slums again soon after. No improvement, more expense, and now it's a constitutional "right" to housing.

[@ca44444]

@@Petey5 Mixed income housing does help to solve this issue. I lived in Montgomery Village for a couple of years when I was a kid, and it was one of the safest neighborhoods in Maryland.

[@UnknownProductions0]

Definitely remember the day the last building came down. It’s crazy how different the area is now and how the crime just was spread to other areas. The row houses are still there too. It’s a interesting place to explore

[@DJScrapDirty]

Right that's why it's so much going on out south

[@NikateeN]

Can you imagine all of the residual energy left behind on those grounds? All the decades of anger, hurt, death, fear… crazy. It has to resonate through those new condos and stores that now reside there.

[@timhinchcliffe5372]

I find it amusing that claiming that the issues were due to "poor planning" ultimately implies that the residents can't help themselves as if they are uncivilized animals. This _"hate crime"_ will probably be the next lawsuit.

[@Kim-J312]

I lived 5 blocks from Cabrini green X 10yrs. For most of those residents it is a way of life , public housing section 8 coupons, food stamps and Medicade, for life. Rarely do they leave this lifestyle, they know how to abuse the system of government programs. This takes aways money & resources from those desperately need it , like elderly, vets , chronic ill people. They also get free mobile phones, computer s, and internet. Often they refuse to work bc they make more collecting statw benefits. I know other states don't offer as much , Illinois basically a welfare state. I do know plenty of fine folks that left that lifestyle, got education, job, and joined society. Success stories do happen ✌️ ☮️

[@Three_Random_Words]

@@Kim-J312 LBJ was a disaster. Who'd a thunk that giving unwed mothers money for food and other expenses would lead to an explosion of even more babies from lotharios cruising the meat buffet, malt beer in hand. Just another Dem scheme to 'grow the vote', but only a tiny fraction can be bothered to get an ID, get registered and then actually vote. More successful would be the PoC in the vast gov bureaucracy work force, they do vote, and overwhelmingly Democrat, of course that true's of all races in the gov work force.

[@bufordmaddogtannen5164]

The violence moved out with them mostly to Englewood it was never the planning. It's always been the people

[@DoubleDogDare54]

Let's be honest - they are uncivilized animals. Would YOU want them as your neighbors? I sure wouldn't.

[@beatrixbrennan1545]

Yeah I was wondering how Chicago building a whole bunch of housing for poor folks was somehow Chicago's fault when ghetto people came in and ruined it. I guess you just can't win with those types of people. They want you to hold their hand and be their daddy too.

[@adamdelarozza1985]

Without Cabrini-Green public housing, we would never have Kid-Dyno-Mite! 😛

[@CharlesCoderre-yv1cu]

that freak?

[@citizenstranger]

this is where my father first lived in chicago when he came from sicily in the mid50s.

[@herkylove1303]

My dad was an investigator in Chicago in the 1970s. He was told to never go near Cabrini Green. Once “Candyman” was filmed…I was so intrigued but never brave enough to go near it.

[@mikeysix3]

At least the crime was consolidated and made it easier to control now crime is spread out and out of control

[@TheSaikou96]

It wasn’t though crime is down from its peak of 1989-1994 that was the peak crime time for Chicago. Crime up until 2019 was low, 2020 and 2021 were blips 2022 seems to be going down slowly

[@SouthsideCardsBr]

I was born and raised in Cabrini Green. I grew up in the 1980's when the crime was at its peak in Cabrini Green. Lots of crazy stuff went on there. Especially at night.

[@jackwalls7170]

I'm 65 years old. My cousin's lived there in the 1960s, it was exciting visiting them there. Growing up in that environment didn’t seem dangerous or threatening, at all.

[@rogerpenske2411]

Because when you give people something for nothing, you get entitled and ungrateful recipients.

[@alansimmons7455]

Yep right on, but ypu forgot to mention that the city after a few years stopped caring about the projects and they fell.into disrepair and when even the city doesn't care about your area, that leads to a crime zone because there's no opportunity there

[@FerdarPleaseSubscribe]

Do houses need to be 300,000?

[@adambahe9309]

Ehhhh it’s not all luxury condos. It’s a mixed income development. Whether or not it’s successful or not is debatable. But they didn’t just knock everything down for millionaires. Source: yeah I live nearby. Biking in that area you can see it still has rowhomes. But every street where Cabrini buildings still stand? Each end of the street is capped off with police cars. They have officers watching the area 24/7. The area is still iffy but not enough to stop me from biking through.

[@jdwilmoth]

They need to do away with all public housing because it's obvious if you don't pay for it you don't give a damn how you treat it and the taxpayers are damned tired of footing the bill for people that's too damn lazy to work

[@annabellesnightmares]

Just because you are poor doesn't mean you can act like wild animals.

[@jdwilmoth]

@@annabellesnightmares animals act better than they do

[@annabellesnightmares]

@@jdwilmoth You are correct, I would like to apologize to all the animals that I may have hurt with that comment.

[@jdwilmoth]

@@annabellesnightmares I agree that's an insult to animals

[@zacharyscott2250]

Doing away with all public housing is a terrible idea. That would displace hundreds of thousands of people nationwide, city and rural, into homelessness, many of whom are elderly and unable to work. Public housing is all they can afford on a fixed income. Creating more homeless camps is not what this country needs. Better management of existing housing developments and increased incentives to build more affordable private housing is what is needed.

[@ntatenarin]

17:30 LOL, your comment made me think of my cousin who said he was so scared of that area, that he would never stop at a red light and just pass them so he can get out of there quickly. I'm glad changes are being made there and I'm hoping for the best in that neighborhood.

[@randomvideosn0where]

I've been in places like that. Figure at least if I get pulled over there is a juicier target than me!

[@knighttuttruptuttrup8518]

We drove from the northern suburbs to go to a concert and got off at division. We were immediately pulled over by the Chicago PD. After checking our ID's, we were told to get the xxxx out of the area immediately. Yup, sketchy, we drove back along the lake shore, Sheridan road then Green Bay road to the safety of the burbs.

[@faultypremise]

I grew up on the Near North Side in the 70s and 80s, and I remember the Green vividly. Of course my experience was as a child, but I don't remember ever being frightened to be anywhere near or in Cabrini. It was the adults around us kids that put the fear of it into us.

[@peachkopp1352]

Did crime decrease or just migrate with the inhabitants?

[@bufordmaddogtannen5164]

Migrate. I live here new gang wars started when different gangs moved in. It's spilling into the suburbs now.

[@swannoir7949]

Daley put the leaders in jail so there's no leadership. It's Lord of the Flies.

[@digitalporch2062]

We both know the answer to that.

[@gregoryhelton2408]

They all migrated to Rockford !!!

[@LABoyko]

Low-income housing in Los Angeles -- and perhaps other major urban areas as well -- is created through a process called "Section 8." Apartment developers are required to designate 10 percent of the units for the economically challenged. The municipality avoids the responsibility connected with the housing business, while providing housing options for low-income residents. Proliferate small numbers of low-income residents across the entire city rather than concentrate them in all in one monolithic development while costing the city nothing. The plan works great on paper, but real-world results have been mixed.

[@ranchan1111]

Section 8 exists all around the country. It can be okay when done well. There are different regulations in different places and most cities don't require the 10% low income, but they provide incentives for developers who do include low income housing

[@joeshoe6184]

I wrote a poem about my time in Section 8 housing, it's called 'Cigarette Butts and Dogshit'

[@tammygouletschrader8785]

Thanks for posting this video. I now live in what used to be known as Cabrini Green and I wish I could have met Marion Stamps. I heard she was an amazing lady. I heard the police officers that were killed were killed at Seward Park around the basketball area. The most heartbreaking story to me was that of Dantrall Davis who was shot and killed on his way to school with his mother. I love this area and let's remember that alot of great families came out of these buildings.

[@Feelthefx]

Surprised you didn’t share the detail on how gang members would cut holes in the walls at Cabrini Green, so when police would respond to one unit criminals would escape to others in their tunnel net work, giving it the nickname ‘the rats nest’

[@lisarodriguez194]

I would be very interested in seeing the video footage of your time there. That place has fascinated me since I saw Candyman. Thanks for a very interesting video! 😊

[@mattmonaghan5502]

Back in 1988 I worked in Addison IL. at a factory. Worked with this guy Leroy from Cabrini Green. One day at lunch in the break room, about 20 guys eating, Leroy says I don't live in the projects. I live in a condominium. I piped up and responded, "condominium? Leroy you thought you lived in a condominium until someone told you the sign says condemned." Food flew out everyone's mouth. Even Leroy laughed. Miss that dude.

[@danreder8985]

Love your channel, I live in the northwest suburbs of Chicago and the people that lived there and the other projects of chicago got moved out to places in the suburbs that took vouchers for free tax breaks for allowing the residents to move in and accepting the housing vouchers. Schaumburg, carpentersville, elgin all the way to rockford up 90. Unfortunately as some of the cities got more affluent they stopped accepting the housing vouchers for section 8 and the families were forced to move again.

[@ryankenyon5010]

My sister had a social worker roommate in the 90s who had clients there. The place terrified him and he was a hockey player.

[@adammetz135]

Grew up and lived in Chicago for 30 years. Drove through Cabrini many nights in the 90’s after parties or pub crawls. Was kind of fascinating. Never encountered any incidents, but there was this creepy air to that part of town. Would be interesting to check it out again and see how it looks now (once the shootings and thuggery are reigned in).

[@peaceandfreedomeconomics8984]

That creepy air is called evil

[@jellybiscuit]

Enabling multiple generations of failure.

[@FinneasJedidiah]

Yeah making people live on the streets instead is definitely the way to make them be successful 🙄

[@jellybiscuit]

@@FinneasJedidiah nobody is making them do anything.

[@FinneasJedidiah]

@@jellybiscuit if you remove affordable housing, then you are making them live on the streets. This isn't a complicated concept. If they can't live in a house or apartment, they'll be living on the streets. Don't bother replying until you find your brain 👍

[@jellybiscuit]

@@FinneasJedidiah Nobody is making people fail to support themselves. That is their own decision. I make an exception for people who legitimately cannot support themselves. Those people should be covered by other programs already.

[@FinneasJedidiah]

@@jellybiscuit so the top 10% have been hoarding wealth- stealing it from the bottom 90% through exploitation and consolidating it at the top- but you think it's the fault of the people who are being taken advantage of?

[@ginb981]

When I first moved here to Chicago, I lived on Division close to rush st and state street. Cabrini green was very close by only a few blocks I think. I remember when I had just gotten here and moved in, a search light came barreling past the window and I turned on the news to watch the search helicopter that just passed by my window looking for the people that were shooting at officers from inside their caged porches to the streets below. And then these years later, I remember the last of the buildings being torn down, making the city look better, and definitely safer too. The thing is, is that I clearly remember Cabrini green was very dangerous, but while it stood those years ago, at that same time the area all around it was and still is extremely safe and beautiful ❤️ I hope to the people that lived there that wanted bigger and better things, I'm hoping they worked hard to find it. And to the dangerous people that lived there and made part of that community a danger, good riddance !!! I've LOVED Chicago for as long as I've lived here, gorgeous city, and good friendly people that look out for each other every day!

[@TheGreta2400]

Well said I totally agree.

[@bogdanpanek3481]

they provided housing for project dwellers in places like rockford. they brought propensity for crime with them. rockford used to be nice.

[@JB_Lucid]

Same with Waukegan and Zion, they pushed them out the city to disperse the crime and gentrify the area but basically pushed the problems into the suburbs

[@andyandreson3989]

Daley pushed out many from the projects and sent them all over IL. Rockford, Waukegan, Aurora, Dekalb. And then they developed a lot of those areas. It worked for awhile for him. Unfortunately some of those people pushed out brought their lifestyle with them.

[@TheGreta2400]

@@andyandreson3989 ...and Bolingbrook. The Bolingbrook mayor literally called Daley and told him to stop sending public housing tenants. They came in masses sadly it did greatly affect the area.

[@autoworker12345]

It even stretch to Milwaukee or even most cities who had fallen to crime. I bet Indiana was effected by it as well for Evansville, Indianapolis, and Terre Haute.

[@bogdanpanek3481]

@@autoworker12345 no doubt

[@davidwelch4841]

Activists will say it's the governments fault, but truth be told it's the residents fault. I grew up on public housing in NYC, at that time they were decent because you had mostly working people living their. When NYC decided to start housing the homeless, the buildings rapidly deteriorated. It's not the buildings, it's the people and the values they live by.

[@t.7746]

It’s crazy how US public housing can fail so badly but in countries like Singapore that have the vast majority of their housing owned by the government everything seems to function smoothly without the same mass crime and poverty that US projects have.

[@Norm475]

Fine up to $2,000 or imprisonment up to 3 years, and 3 to 8 strokes of the cane for vandalism. Hell, we don't give that kind of punishment for murder in the US. I agree with Singapore's justice system.

[@james-p]

Well, in Singapore they enforce laws. Here in the US - at least in big cities - we don't.

[@janetperisa1599]

While this was very sad to watch, you sir, are a wonderful historian. Thank you for the upload.

[@neyedol]

Used to go to parties there. You knew the party was over whenever someone started shooting. There was a weird freedom that doesn't exist as much these days -almost like you knew that it (life) could end so it made you go harder -drink more -do dumber things, but have more fun..idk how to explain it

[@neyedol]

@@kurtlamprecht93 Ahhhh, yes! And being so poor and hungry - realizing that no matter what I did to be a child (fun) - I would be labeled a delinquent (youthful divergence). Thanks for helping me remember!

[@neyedol]

@@kurtlamprecht93 Sorry. My delinquency left me the inability to create complete sentence structure on KZbin comments. I'll forego eating tonight and take some classes.

[@MikeSteen-k6z]

I was born at Loyola University Hospital in Chicago, IL in 1971. Went to elementary school in Chicago before we moved to Oklahoma City for my middle school years but most of my relatives stayed in Chicago and the suburbs. Cabrini-Green was where you could get ANYTHING…. especially KILLED if you weren’t careful. The true beginning of “Chiraq” was right here. My Uncle Greg was Chicago PD Narcotics, Gang Task, then SWAT and he said they’d stop a couple blocks outside The Green and wait for some of the gunfighters to kill each other before rolling in during viscous gun battles in that hood.

[@keishawinn2153]

You forgot to say Cooley high, that movie was made here , it was actually filmed inside the buildings, and apartments, not just showing our buildings but filming somewhere else

[@entertainingsportshighligh7525]

@ 6:36 ......... I just know that little PRETTY BOY had all them Little Girls crushing on him back in those days, lol

[@AresWing314]

"Location does not make a place a Ghetto, the People do". ~ Malcolm Gladwell, perhaps.

[@Dan.Solo.Chicago]

I’m from the northwest side of Chicago, and in the mid 90’s when I was in high school I used to hang out at a skate shop in the Gold Coast on Dearborn and Oak. Blocks away from the Greens. That part of the city was so different back then. The Gold Coast is such an affluent neighborhood just blocks from some of the worst projects in the city. It was strange. I hung out at the skate shop with my best friend who was from my neighborhood and had the same background as me, but we met kids who were actually from that neighborhood, and their lives were so different from ours. They were fascinating. Latch key kids who lived in high rise apartment buildings with workaholic yuppie single parents who were never around. Their lives were so different from ours. They had a degree of freedom we couldn’t even imagine, and it made them far more mature than us. They were a year younger, and still in grade school, 8th grade, when we meet them. We all became great friends. Their school was down the street from the skate shop, Ogden Elementary, across from the Newberry Library. We would hang out and skate at Washington Square park, aka Bughouse Square, right across the street from the school. The catholic schools my friend went to started summer break a couple weeks before public schools did, so we would be skating at the park while they were still in school. They actually had open campus lunch, which was unimaginable to me. They could leave the school building for lunch. That was crazy, coming from a neighborhood catholic school with nuns and all that, where we had no freedom whatsoever. They would do stuff like steal a case of beer off a beer truck while the driver was making the deliveries, and go have a ditch party at someone’s apartment because their parent won’t be home until 7 or 8pm. Our lives at that time was like a tame version of the Larry Clark movie Kids. Until we saw that movie and stepped things up a notch, basically trying to live out that movie as best we could. As we progressed through high school our circle of friends kept growing bigger and more diverse. Rich kids, middle class kids, and even kids from the Greens. The building on Orleans, next to the firehouse. I remember the buildings back door, leading to the parking lot, next to the door was a life size mural painting of one of the major gang leaders. It probably Larry Hoover, or David Barksdale. One of those guys. It was still there since the 80’s. No one would dare paint over it, except for the face. The face just was blank, it had no features, just brown. Sometimes we would go to the 714 building on the corner of Division and Halsted to buy weed. Back then there were tons of homeless, crackheads, and crazies all over that are, because of its proximity to Cabrini Green. We would get them to buy beer for us at times. We even got to know some of them, the ones that were around often while we skated at Washington Square Park. They could be pretty entertaining, especially the crazy ones. They were the best ones to ask to buy beer for you. They don’t even think to rip you off. They’ll bring back the change then go right back to their ranting and raving. I’ll always remember this one guy. It was a Friday, after school, and we invited a bunch of girls because one of our rich kid friend’s parents were out of town. His mom was a producer and writer for the soap opera The Young And The Restless. His parents were rich, but he was definitely not your type rich kid. He was just normal like the rest of us. His parents have money but he doesn’t. He’s just a regular kid, a good dude. He lives in a penthouse though, in a high rise behind Water Tower Place and the John Hancock Center. The place was amazing. So my friend Chris and I were usually the ones on beer duty. We asked a guy and he turned out to be pretty nuts. He’s kind of rambling as we walk to the store. Then at one point he looks right at us and goes, “Yeah man. Fvck that sh!t. I don’t fvck around no more. When I fvck the cats and dogs, I don’t do that sh!t, I put the tails up.” It took a moment for that to sink in, and even then, how do you respond to something like that? We just let be. At the store we had a big list. It was the 90’s, we were skaters, what do you think we bought? 40 Oz’s of course, and St. Ides Special Brew for the ladies. He got every last thing, and gave us the change. We gave him some money, but when we gave him a 40oz, he just lit up. He was so happy, and so grateful, we felt like we actually did something good during this over all act of teenage debauchery. One more story then I’ll wrap it up. There was one dude we would see around the neighborhood for years, Darin. Darin was cool, from the Greens, but homeless. Probably an addict, but whatever. We would chat and he usually had some funny stories. This story was actually the last time we ever saw him. We don’t know where or what, but we just never saw him again after the day he told us this story. Darin had gone into a place on State st called Frenchies. Frenchies in an adult book stored, but it’s more than that. Frenchies has a back room type of area with coin operated booths where you can watch some of, what I’m sure is some of the classiest of all the adult film industry has to offer, in relative privacy

[@TomTobin67]

I lived in Rockwell Gardens for 3 years. It was a hellhole. Constant gun fire day and night, trash everywhere and liquor stores everywhere.

[@covercalls88]

I worked in some of the low income housing and I felt sorry for many living there, the filth, bullet holes, etc. I was there during the day when things were quieter, but at night it was like hell.

[@pewpewTN]

I hear gunfire where I live, but it's totally different in this culture. It just means a family down the road is out target shooting together.

[@wilkamania]

Born and raised Chicagoan, I've seen this area transform over the years. Back in the late 90s/early 2000s, my HS job was a telemarketing company in the area. Parking was hard, so I'd have to park right in Cabrini Green. I drove a shitbox 1985 toyota Camry so no one ever broke into my car. From 2009 - 2018, I worked in the Montgomery Ward building (Groupon for 8.5 years, Tempus for 2). I watched the area transform from something ghetto to something that looked suburban. They finally knocked down the high rises, and left the area grassy. In other parts they built a Target. By the end of my tenure there it was boogie and extremely expensive. The Row Houses are still there, and it's odd because they're fenced off, but it seems like people still live there.

[@derekblue5681]

They’ve always portrayed as national failures but at the end of the day they were low income houses and that’s it. It’s up to the people living there to form a community, keep them hospitable and be secure. Of course poverty was consolidated. It was an apartment for poor people. That I’m itself does not direct the destiny. It’s not the housing projects fault for if they were not there it would be the same issues just with a bunch of homeless or shanty towns. You can be poor and not terrorize your community or raise your children .

[@mrb152]

Eh there are design techniques that reduce crime. Wealthy suburbs use them: good lighting, no areas to hide.

[@swannoir7949]

You have no idea of how good old Chicago Irish politics played a part in all of this. You can't treat ppl like animals, and then not expect them to act like it.

[@joez3706]

@@swannoir7949 you can't expect to treat animals like people either

[@cdd4248]

You make an excellent point

[@carlysmarlyson]

@@swannoir7949 best comment ❤

[@atheistsince1210]

Just finished a book about the failed Pruitt Igoe St Louis housing projects demolished thankfully in 1972. Lee Rainwater was a sociologist who performed field research on Igoe residents from 1966-1970. Teenage pregnancies at 13 years old from countless “families “ whoever the fathers were they would have sex in the stairwells and laundry rooms easy come easy go attitude the Johnson administration naively back then unleashed a “war on poverty “ with stolen tax dollars from wealthier middle classes and affluent Americans . Want to STOP POVERTY get an abortion and stop destroying your lives and futures having children so young everyone in that generational collapse is doomed to failure and misery same in 1970 as it is fifty three years later in 2023 . 🤡🤡🤡

[@terrancepitts8001]

hardball was filmed at the abla projects in Chicago, not Cabrini

[@dennisduran8500]

Yah right. Blame it on public housing.

[@CharlesCoderre-yv1cu]

those places are where crime breeds due to the no-accounts that are there

[@FerdarPleaseSubscribe]

​@@CharlesCoderre-yv1cuis poverty the reason for this behaviour?