It started with a middle-aged man in a Chicago Cubs jersey and green cap.
Gradually, neighbors trickled in until six men, seven women, two girls and three dogs gathered at a South Evanston street corner to protest crime.
“We’re not threatening anybody, we’re just saying, ‘We’re here and we’re peaceful and we want you to be peaceful too,’ ” said Michelle Oxman, 54. “People stealing and selling drugs, they need to know it’s really not OK with us.”
The 15 south Evanston and Chicago residents gathered at 7:30 p.m. Sunday on the corner of Howard Street and Custer Avenue for a “positive presence” walk against youth delinquency. The group included members of Evanston’s Brummel Park Neighbors and Chicago’s Network 2424 Neighborhood Watch groups, but also citizens unaffiliated with the groups. For Oxman, a one-year resident, the walk around problem areas near the Evanston-Chicago border was her first.
The group was followed by several Chicago Police Department squad cars who came to show their support for the gathering, which had been planned in response to a disturbance in the neighborhood Saturday night.
“There had to be about 50 teens … on either side of Custer screaming at each other,” wrote Bernard Garbo, the leader of the Chicago neighborhood group, on its message board Saturday night. “They’re basically into screaming at the top of their lungs and strutting around like they own the block.”
The neighborhood groups make their presence known after major incidents, and they go on frequent walks during the spring and summer.
The Howard Street area is one of the worst in the city in terms of crime, the residents said.
Resident Kate Lindsay, who attended the walk, has seen her share of crime. The Northwestern graduate student said she was the eyewitness to a double homicide when she first moved to the area.
“I’m tired of this behavior,” she said. “I’m tired of not being able to sleep because there are fights going on, I’m tired of hearing gunshots. I want to think there’s something that can be done on a community level.”
The neighborhood groups have made strong community presence a priority this year. Evanston burglaries increased 12 percent in 2007 from 2006, Evanston Police Chief Richard Eddington told The Daily in January. In response, a meeting was called the first week of the year to discuss crime and what the community can do to prevent it.
In late January, a group of Evanston residents attended a preliminary court hearing for Jose Clark, who was accused of breaking into two laundry rooms and stealing coins from the machines. Many of the same neighbors were at the walk Sunday.
“It shows some type of neighborhood unity,” said Otis Norman, 31, who wasn’t able to attend the hearing in January. “If more things like this happen, it would show more of a positive interest in what’s going on in the community.”
As the residents gathered, a group of six teenagers sitting on the corner got up and left the area, Norman said.
Public presence has been shown to reduce crime, he said.
“Police can’t do it all,” he said. “If we don’t control what’s going on, nobody will.”
No incidents were reported as the residents walked around the area.
The walk was a start to a community fight against crime, Lindsay said.
“So many neighbors are guilty of not going outside,” she said. “We’re not just sitting inside afraid. We’re letting (the criminals) know, ‘Hey, this is our neighborhood too.’ “
