Now this is just classic. Some residents of a wealthy neighborhood in western Hammond, Indiana want to build a six-inch-high curb — “with no breaks to allow turns onto side streets” — on the grassy median in the middle of State Line Road, which demarcates the border with a less wealthy neighborhood of Calumet City, Illinois.
The Hammondites have “noticed a spike in thefts and too many cars speeding through their oasis of stately homes to avoid lights on busier streets,” so they have sent their curb proposal — which the Chicago Tribune calls the “Great Curb of Hammond” — to their city’s wonderfully named mayor, Michelle Markiewicz Qualkinbush.
The proposal has caused a considerable amount of consternation, and even allegations of class warfare. Money quote:
“Hammond thinks we’re the riffraff over here,” said Calumet City resident Carolyn Bryan, who complained that the barrier would force her to drive several minutes out of her way to get to her daughter’s house in Indiana. “Hammond still has their criminals too,” Bryan said.
LOL!
It seems the Great Curb proposal is turning brother against brother, father against son… or, at the very least, neighbor against neighbor: “Along the divide, neighbors who favor the curb have begun avoiding neighbors who oppose it,” the Tribune reports. Pro-curb Hammond resident Kent Gurley says the barrier “has nothing to do with class warfare and everything to do with the ‘urban terror’ being waged against residents on his side of the state line.” Anti-curb Hammondite Jean Burns responds, “I’ve never experienced urban or suburban terror here,” and adds, “I thought we lived in America, not in Iran.” And then there’s this guy:
“I have to live next door to these people,” one pro-curb resident of Hammond said on condition of anonymity, referring to his neighbors. “I don’t really want them to know I’m for the curb.”
Again… LOL!
Jean Burns is wrong about one thing: this sort of thing would never happen in Iran, or anywhere else. Only in America. God bless America. :)
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Categories: South Bend, Michiana & Indiana
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June 30th, 2005 at 11:14:50 pm
WAW haw haw!
“Mayor Qualkinbush, tear down this Curb!”
June 30th, 2005 at 11:33:12 pm
That’s too funny.
Quite a few years ago Evanston (a wealthy North Shore Chicago suburb) erected a “curb barrier” separating it from Rogers Park (a really crappy area of Chicago) that it bordered. It caused quite a fuss and eventually was taken down.
For the record though, Cal City is pretty much a shithole city. I can’t say I blame the Hammondites.
July 1st, 2005 at 12:05:26 am
Yes well, Only in America is all very Well but without even Mentioning the West Bank “Fence”, which I Won’t :), I could Direct yez to several “Interface Areas” in Belfast that might be Comparable. :/
July 1st, 2005 at 1:31:51 am
Yeah, but those are elaborate ethnic and religious blood-feuds. This is just a bunch of Midwesterners being all uppity and snooty. :)
July 1st, 2005 at 4:14:50 am
WAW haw haw!
<b>”Mayor Qualkinbush, tear down this Curb!”</b>
July 1st, 2005 at 4:33:12 am
That’s too funny.
Quite a few years ago Evanston (a wealthy North Shore Chicago suburb) erected a “curb barrier” separating it from Rogers Park (a really crappy area of Chicago) that it bordered. It caused quite a fuss and eventually was taken down.
For the record though, Cal City is pretty much a shithole city. I can’t say I blame the Hammondites.
July 1st, 2005 at 5:05:26 am
Yes well, Only in America is all very Well but without even Mentioning the West Bank “Fence”, which I Won’t :), I could Direct yez to several “Interface Areas” in Belfast that might be Comparable. :/
July 1st, 2005 at 6:31:51 am
Yeah, but those are elaborate ethnic and religious blood-feuds. This is just a bunch of Midwesterners being all uppity and snooty. :)
July 1st, 2005 at 2:28:24 pm
“Rogers Park (a really crappy area of Chicago)”
Hey now! Mind your manners. ;) It’s actually gotten to be a really cool neighborhood in recent years.
July 1st, 2005 at 7:28:24 pm
“Rogers Park (a really crappy area of Chicago)”
Hey now! Mind your manners. ;) It’s actually gotten to be a really cool neighborhood in recent years.
February 13th, 2007 at 3:43:16 pm
After construction follow up: The curb has been built and a vast majority of residents on BOTH sides of the curb are happy with the much quieter streets. This was a political boondoggle by individuals un-willing to compromise and make mutually beneficial improvements. (Actually CalCity erected their own curbs in the past yet failed to make concessions, and then called a bunch of folks bigots. The CalCity administration has spent much political capital, and now has threatened to put up B-Ball courts in the area… even though they are removing them from their own parks elsewhere due to problems they have.) Looks like Hammond was correct in their assertions and the willingness of Cal City to make improvements.