Counter Argument, "Good luck with that"

This is an email I received from a very
involved and community minded North Side
resident in response to my column "Good
luck with that." She makes a very articulate
and passionate defense of the North Side.

Oh, yeah, the picture above is of the
kitchen at 2631 Penn Ave. N., mentioned
in the column.
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[Name deleted] here.  This excerpt from the story is far from accurate: "A
4-year-old child killed and stuffed in a garbage bag, the first murder of 2008.
A taxi driver attacked with a hatchet. A 70-year-old woman stabbed to death,
apparently for her credit cards, the suspects hardly old enough to shave. That
pretty much covers the past few weeks on the north side."

It does NOT pretty much cover the past few weeks on the Northside -- not even
close! It only sums up what the MEDIA deemed important enough to profile. 
During this time, the Northside also welcomed the opening of a new deli & Gelato
at Papa's on 42nd & Thomas. The Northside Arts Collective hosted  TWO events to
help our members spur some creativity and prepare their work for our new Arts &
Culture Resource Catalog. The Workhouse Theater is playing Steve Martin's "The
Underpants" to sold out crowds (this will be the last weekend so get your
tickets now!) Debbie Duncan and the Wolverine Jazz Trio played to a near sold
out crowd at the Capri Theater just this last Saturday. The GLBT Northsiders
kicked off the year with a social at the new Rix on 44th & Penn and .... that's
what I can think of off the top of my head. But there's a lot more good stuff
happening here -- and don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

I like that John is looking for a home here to help better the community .. but
like Alan said, there are plenty of people working EVERY SINGLE DAY to help make
this a better community. We just haven't made it on the radar of the local
media. And I'm ticked off that one of our public servants on the police force
would try to discourage someone from buying here! Makes me wish the City could
require our police to live in the city limits. 

And what does this mean? "And, I might add, the frank observations of one
columnist in a college paper can hardly hurt the reputation of the north side as
well as the north side manages to create a bad rep all on its own." Only a few
bad apples have had anything to do with the bad rep here. The majority of us are
hardworking, loyal and committed residents who volunteer our brains out to help
make this a decent place to live, work and play. And we wade through these bad
apples every day to show them we aren't going to let them win!

I hope that John finds a nice place to live, the pickings are certain good for
that! And if you want to know about the rest of the great stuff going on, write
to me at nacarts@earthlink.net and I'll get you on
our email list for the twice-monthly arts newsletter chock full of more of these
kinds of great things that make our community the place we've all chosen to call
home.