By: Diane Benjamin
Downtown Champaign can’t get much cuter. It has lots of restaurants, bars, arts, and small businesses.
It is also a dangerous place. Gangs are waging war against each other. Friday afternoon a 17 year old was killed and 4 wounded in a parking lot as mourners gathered after the funeral of another gun violence victim: https://shorturl.gg/P1CiL
Police estimate over 100 shots were fired, of course no one at the scene is cooperating with the police investigation.
FYI: My daughter lives in downtown Champaign but she is moving out. It’s too dangerous to take her dog for a walk, now not just at night. She also owns two businesses downtown.
On June 8th I emailed the entire Champaign City Council on her behalf. She is afraid of retribution for speaking up herself. I told them the violence is forcing people to leave downtown. I reminded them that public safety is their job.
No surprise, I did not receive a response from anyone on the council, including the mayor. The email address I used could not be connected to BlnNews, I emailed as a mom.
July 3rd I emailed them again and included a copy of my original email. I thanked them for not responding to the first email and informed them my daughter is moving out of downtown Champaign because the police and the Council are too afraid to do what is necessary to end the violence.
This time I did received one response from:
Good afternoon Diane,
I appreciate your email and letting us know your concerns. I can assure you everyone at the City of Champaign is doing everything they can to address the violence in our community. Those efforts include hiring additional services specifically to help monitor the downtown area. These services consist of additional cameras, outside security contracts, and support from county patrol officers. I am certain that our police department is currently very well-funded, but just as so many other industries during this time, we are struggling to find applicants for the job pool.
If you or your daughter have ideas on what we can do to best support our community, please consider meeting with me to have that discussion!
Thank you and happy 4th!
Michael
Champaign is a liberal utopia where everybody just wants to love everybody else. The people in my daughter’s circle blame the Council and the police for not being willing to stand up to the gangs. I thanked Michael for responding then told him there is only one way to stop the violence – get these people off the streets permanently.
Of course jailing criminals isn’t popular anymore. Downtown Champaign is paying the price for liberal logic. They are turning into a mini Chicago.
Go there at your own risk.
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This highlights the importance of what you are doing here Diane.
If there is no voice that checks the leftist “look at me, do gooders”, the ones who try to solve EVERY problem by being the compassionate caregivers, we are doomed to become a Chicago, Champaign, Los Angeles or Portland.
There are other things to consider when you try to solve social problems. If you don’t you destroy trust between citizens and when we can’t trust our neighbors we resort to fight or flight.
Part of it stems from lazy community leaders. Solving problems by throwing money at it or relaxing laws or forgetting about the harmed, is an easy fix that always ends up with “well we tried!”
Also in line for the mini-Chicago is Bloomington & Normal. Once nice mid-westet towns turning to shit.
That’s been a concern I’ve also had for a couple years, given the political direction Bloomington seems to be headed. Sad
113 shell casings were recovered. God knows how many more weren’t.
It is the pervasive problem of single moms having babies and living on welfare thanks to piss poor decision-making. And the appealof the feral hip hop lifestyle among young people without good role models.
Then they vote for hard left Democrats who promise them more “benefits” to keep them on the plantation.
The only thing these ghetto thugs (the top of the social order among the hip hop culture) have is the prestige of violence. And inflicting violence surely beats the role of “consuming” violence.
So yeah, the shootings will continue until the violent criminal predators get culled. One way or another.
Problem is, Diane, is that productive, decent people like you, me and your daughter end up as backstops for the thugs’ errant rounds.
Well stated. Spot on.
Think it is bad now, just wait another five to ten years. Central Illinois, let alone the entire state, is no longer salvageable. Liberals have purposely invited and encouraged the criminal element, illegal aliens, the sexually confused, and the dregs of society to “come on in” and they have. In just a few years they have destroyed not only BN but several other Illinois communities all for a few votes and the promotion of social justice. Nothing changes because the majority still living their have not demanded change. The only thing “leaders” understand is the “will of the mob”. Until what’s left of the conservative faction in BN and Illinois take to the streets the deterioration will continue. It is not long before every city and town suffers the same fates. Illinois is dead. Downstate is dead. BN is dead. Move to a conservative state and reclaim your freedom.
Beer tax in Indiana is .12 a gallon – Illinois is .23. Drink beer?
Thanks for the info. Maybe I’ll make a beer run to Indiana (like we do for fireworks). Anyone want to place an order? 😄 😂
Ah yes, Champaign/Urbana another “Woke Utopia” quickly sliding down the already greased skids into utter chaos. I have a couple U of I connected friends over there, woke as can be, good decent people in a lot of ways but hopelessly lost partly from living in the academic bubble their entire adult lives. It has gotten so I kind of avoid them both more and more but I know for a fact that at least one of them is currently wringing her hands (well sanitized of course) and hyperventilating, though her still constant mask, even though she is all vaxxed up, about this “sudden” lol lol increase in violence her wonderful city is currently experiencing. I’m sure she is also grasping for some reason to blame Trump and/or Conservatives in general, since all people on the left are as loving and caring as future saints and gentle as lambs. As usual though, the problem is, some of the people like her may decide they need to move too and they will bring along all of their “wokeness” with them to poison some nice sedate small community within a reasonable commute to their campus utopia.
That’s very sad! Camera’s don’t stop crimes and murders it does help to “hopefully” apprehend the perps but with hoodies up good luck! Then even if they are arrested the leftist leaning Court are so sympathetic to these Demons thanks to the Obama style of so called Social Justice (total injustice) that they are back out on the streets in no time at all!!!