Save Cabrini Green
To the Editor:
I am a sophomore at Lincoln Park High School, and I have lived in Cabrini Green all my life. I have written to many people before about the Cabrini community being ripped apart. However, I feel like I need to strengthen my cry for help. I don't think that the people who are trying to push us out of Cabrini (such as the Housing and Urban Development department, Mayor Daley, and the Chicago Housing Authority) really care about the citizens of Cabrini. If nobody wants to move into Cabrini then why are there over 50,000 people on the waiting list to live here? Recently, the list has been closed, so it won't take so long to push everyone out of Cabrini.
I don't get it — if you want to help us, like you say you do, then why would you try to kick us out of our homes and make us move into death traps? Why do you want to relocate us? We are doing just fine here in Cabrini. Everybody doesn't make a lot of money and can't afford to move into new houses. Although the residents are given a little money for rent, they will have to struggle to pay the utility bills and other expenses. This sets them up for failure.
I shouldn't be forced to move into a new neighborhood, because that could cause a lot of problems. It's tough to live in an unfamiliar place. Horrible things can happen to you when you don't know your way around your community. I could be on my way to school or outside playing basketball and get jumped on by people just because they don't know me. I feel safe in Cabrini Green because everyone knows one another and we help each other out.
I believe that CHA has been sabotaging the Cabrini community for the past two years. Before the new management took over, the buildings were clean from top to bottom, the elevators were working, and the buildings smelled good. Any time there was a problem, my uncle Marvin's team of workers volunteered to fix it because they cared about the environment. Now, most of the maintenance staff doesn't live in Cabrini and they don't care about what happens to the projects. The new staff does everything half-way: they take breaks when they're not supposed to, clean only certain floors, push stuff into the corners of the ramps...and the heat and the elevators are broken most of the time. When they came in to take over they were supposed to make it better, but all they did was make it worse. I think that CHA knew exactly what they were doing when they hired the new workers. They wanted conditions to get so bad that people would just leave.
I have been living in Cabrini all my life and I can't see myself living anywhere else. The thought of the projects getting knocked down for no reason makes me sick. All we ask is, give our community back to us — all of our buildings. To us residents, Cabrini is our past, present, and future. To some people it is all they've got and all that they will ever have and we refuse to leave our homes. This is why I will try to do all I can to save Cabrini. I am organizing a march called "The Crying Drum," with the Jesse White Drum Corps, which will happen in May. We will march around the entire Cabrini community so everybody can hear our drums cry out for help. Together, we will do whatever it takes to keep Cabrini alive. Please help us if you can.
Maurice T. Edwards, Jr.
