According to police, the 911 call came from a business phone.
A female officer went to investigate the hotel's complaint.
According to the officer's communication with dispatch, there was one homeless man sitting in the park.
The officer, who decided she was not going to bother the man, said, "Mr. Congress thinks he owns the whole block."
Throughout the night, at least four calls were made from the Congress Plaza Hotel, complaining about homeless people, across the street, in Grant Park.
Chicago News Report called the hotel and asked the front desk clerk if the Hotel owns the property across the street.
CNR was immediately put on hold.
When the clerk returned 3 minutes later, she asked if we'd like to be transferred to the general manager's office.
We declined and asked to speak with the person who was calling the cops on the homeless man across the street.
The clerk, in our opinion, became defensive and snidely stated she was the only employee in the building.
Really? Then who was she talking to while we were on hold?
CNR understands the challenges that homeless people can bring to a business, but does the Congress Plaza Hotel, or their employees, have a right to kick homeless people out of Grant Park?
Photo: Google Maps.
Poor Homeless people - maybe the Hotel doesn't want their guests to have to deal with the Homeless first asking for, then D E M A N D I N G your money (MULTIPLE PERSONAL EXPERIENCES).
ReplyDeleteI don't have A N Y money to give away (I am min. wage), and if you think you can D E M A N D my money - FRACK YOU
Maybe that's part of the reason.
Wait you mean the hotel is not on strike??? I think I believe the story because every time I pass the hotel for the past ten years they are on strike
ReplyDeleteThere are many vagrants that loiter in that park during the day. Public drinking, urination, foul language ect... Kudos to the Congress Park Hotel for trying to get ride of this nasty problem.
ReplyDeleteBut it's a shame the businesses have to handle the problem, and the police won't (or can't). Therein lies the problem with this city.
ReplyDeleteA lot of the businesses in that area have been told, by the police sergeants, that they need to call & report every time they get a complaint from a customer or worker about the homeless harassing them, whether the harassment is on the company property, on the sidewalk in front of it, or just in the immediate vicinity - and across MI Ave in the park would probably fall within that definition.
ReplyDeleteWhile the police probably have their own agenda for encouraging businesses to report this stuff, and the businesses likely have their agenda as well, the bottom line is, those businesses are instructed to make these sorts of calls.
FWIW, I don't own any business on MI Ave facing the park, but have plenty of friends & associates who either own or work at businesses in that area, and a number of them have told me that this is what they're instructed to do, so I tend to believe them.
I've called the police twice and a co-worker once regarding the supposed "homeless". Once a police car actually showed up. This one nice, humble "homeless" person was yelling about "MF White people" in front of our business ON Michigan Ave. That officer could have cared less and nonchalantly stated "they're allowed to say that" and drove off. Call the police - PLEASE!
ReplyDeleteTo Anon at 11:51 - I agree, call the police every time. And not only call the cops, but also call to follow up with the sgt. or whomever is in charge of that office.
ReplyDeleteFinally, you should bombard the alderman's office with complaints, not only about the homeless, but also about the police's reaction to it when (and if) they show up.
Those in power (the police & aldermen) need to know that the honest, hardworking people who fund their lifestyles are sick & tired of putting up with this harassment on a daily basis.
I know that a lot of people will say, "Oh they're harmless," "People are racist against the homeless," "They have a right to free speech," etc., but guess what? Out of control homeless people harassing & threatening residents, business people & tourists ARE actually a threat. There are numerous incidents every month in the loop when a homeless person attacks a normal person on the street.
Just look at NYC- In the 80's & 90's, Manhattan was a dump. The mayors & police became serious about enforcing "quality of life" ordinances in Manhattan, and while there is certainly a lot of vagrants still in the nice parts of that borough, it has been significantly cleaned up & is now business, tourist & family friendly. Times Square circa 1991 was a disgusting hell hole, now it's someplace that you can walk around 24/7 and feel secure.
I meant "call the police - PLEASE" as in PUH-LEEZE. They could care less and do nothing. Both my co-worker and I have weapons and are prepared to defend ourselves. She's Black and one of the offending "homeless" harrassers is Black, that's how bad the fancy Loop is.
ReplyDeleteOh I was serious about calling the police. Obviously, they responding officer can blow if off, but the police are compelled to keep a record of every call, also, if the caller demands an officer respond, the police are compelled to send a response.
ReplyDeleteWhile this may be seen by many as fruitless or a waste of time, if there are enough reports of calls & officers being dispatched, as well as enough complaints to sgts, alderpeople & the mayoral office, we just MAY get lucky & see a response to these quality of life crimes that add a little bit of misery to our days.
The vagrants are a menace to our city. I know some cities offer than one way bus tickets to Southern cities down in Flordia. Perhaps, we could do that?
ReplyDeleteIt's time to recriminalize the many disgusting activities of the "Homeless" and so many so-called "men" who have chosen this lifestyle and not actually have had it thrust upon them can crawl back to their families and be productive citizens again.
ReplyDeleteJust today I was in Chipotle and a guy, fairly well dressed came in and sat down with various parties at tables, trying to scam them. Grinning from ear to ear. Maybe we should be happy to see him?
Thanks for clarifying that Al but I do still believe it's "fruitless" based on my dealings with the CPD, either calling or face-to-face.
ReplyDeleteWhat irks me about the Chicago "vagrants" (proper term above - not "homeless) is that they get upset when you don't respond to them. A no response means - "NO" in other cities. Then they want to argue. I've told some of them aggresively "I am NOT obligated to respond to you". Hell, if I did I'd be late for work because you have so many of them here.
I recall being in a grocery store my first year here. A store clerk offered his help. I remember commenting they used to have that item in a smaller size. He looked on the shelf, discovered they didn't have it and then asked for a $ (yes, grinning from ear-to-ear). You have given these vagrants too much freedom here.
A Dunkin' Donuts worker was schooled when letting one of these people panhandle me right at her counter. Outside maybe, but right at your counter? No. She knew his name.
I don't want those hard lines on my face many residents of Chicago have but I understand why they're there.
Anon @ 1136 - Well, the other option is to yell at them & tell them leave yourself!
ReplyDeletePersonally, i've done that a number of times, just today, I walked out of the backdoor of my building on McClurg at Grand, and some homeless schfartza was urinating at the street corner! A bunch of people were standing by not doing anything, so I started to yell at him. Of course, he did yell back that he was going to cut me with a knife, I doubt it, so I yelled at him to go ahead & try, then right in front of him I called the cops about the black guy with a knife threatening pedestrians.
The point is, if you are aggressive to them, they will be scared of you & not actually do anything.
Whenever you call 911 on a aggressive homeless person, inevitably the dispatcher is black and has an attitude because you are, yet again, reporting a black criminal.
ReplyDeleteHey guess what honey, I call the cops on other races too, just they don't do stuff that often enough for me to call about them!