Feds Called in to Curb Eastside St. Louis Crime

[Mendoza Line]

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (KMOX) - The public housing complexes on the east side of the river might just be the deadliest places in the country, but efforts are underway to secure the area.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) is bringing in federal law enforcement to help state and local authorities crack down on crime. Figures show that East St. Louis is nearly twice as dangerous as even the worst streets in Chicago.

“You will find that the crime rate here is the worst in the nation,” Durbin says. “The club scene in East St. Louis is a crime scene.”

Durbin says that although the public housing complexes are managed federally, their problems come from local sources.

“You cannot have this club scene turn out to be the wild west, where innocent people are victimized by it, no matter what the revenue is to the city of East St. Louis,” he says. “And you can’t open liquor stores on every corner near housing developments and expect good things to come if you’re open all night.”

Durbin says the responsibility is on city leaders’ shoulders to change the public housing situation.

Sister Julia Huiaskamp has tutored many kids in the area, and she says opportunities are few.

“We have many, many children who have been cheated by the public schools system here, who do not have the skills they need to get a job, even if there were any jobs to find,” Huiaskamp says.

She also says the problem extends beyond just kids.

“We have so many parents of the children that we work with who have no cash income – their only income is food stamps,” Huiaskamp says.

Durbin says poverty is a longer-term issue, and for now efforts will focus on reducing crime by tracking down and prosecuting criminals.

Copyright KMOX Radio.

[Mendoza Line]

BTW, my dad was born in East St. Louis back in the 1930's. Apparently used to be a nice middle-class, typical US city.

Look at it now:

Population in July 2009: 28,753. Population change since 2000: -8.8%

Males: 12,913 (44.9%)
Females: 15,840 (55.1%)

Estimated median household income in 2009:

East St. Louis: $21,070 (it was $21,324 in 2000)
Illinois: $53,966

Races in East St. Louis
Black alone - 27,934 (96.2%)
White alone - 677 (2.3%)
Hispanic - 213 (0.7%)
Two or more races - 178 (0.6%)
American alone - 24 (0.08%)
Asian alone - 20 (0.07%)

Education for population 25 years and over in East St. Louis:
High school or higher: 66.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher: 9.1%
Graduate or professional degree: 2.8%
Unemployed: 17.0%

East St. Louis on our top lists:
#2 on the list of "Top 101 cities with the largest city-data.com crime index per police officer in 2005-2006"
#4 on the list of "Top 101 cities with the highest number of robberies in 2006 per 10,000 residents, excludes tourist destinations and others with a lot of outsiders visiting based on city industries data"
#5 on the list of "Top 101 cities with the highest number of assaults in 2006 per 10,000 residents, excludes tourist destinations and others with a lot of outsiders visiting based on city industries data"
#6 on the list of "Top 101 cities with the highest 2006 city-data.com crime index per resident, excludes tourist destinations and others with a lot of outsiders visiting based on city industries data"
#8 on the list of "Top 100 least-safe cities (highest city-data.com crime index)"
#10 on the list of "Top 101 cities with the highest number of murders in 2006 per 10,000 residents, excludes tourist destinations and others with a lot of outsiders visiting based on city industries data"

[grzftbl]

Whites def minority there. Should be snatching up all the jobs.

[sportsreport]

Feds can try and do something there but on the border they can't do anything!!! Wtf!!!

[cook county capper]

Here are some good pictures of ESL.

East St. Louis, Illinois Photo Gallery by Jayson at pbase.com


Too many liquor stores and clubs.
Too many public housing projects.



We have too many cities like this in Illinois.
Ford Heights.
Robbins.
East St Louis.
Harvey.
Rockford.

Most of them are near me.

You want to drink your life away, collect Illinois Link food stamp money, and piss the rest of your life away, move here.

Wonder why are state is broke? Pretty easy to see.
Where the hell does all that sales tax revenue on alcohol go?

[Mendoza Line]

Good pics, CCC. That place is about the worst of the worst. Has been for a long time.

I've always used it when people elsewhere ask me what New Orleans is like. I usually say, "It's like a combination of Paris, France and East St. Louis, Illinois."