Nearly 30,000 crimes were reported in 27th Ward precincts between January and October 2010. More than one-third of these crimes were theft, armed robbery or battery, up 10.2 percent from last year and up 19.1 percent from 2005, according to the Chicago Police Department crime index.

“This bad economy has resulted in terrible job loss,” said Ald. Walter Burnett Jr., whose 27th Ward includes the Near North Side and West Loop neighborhoods. “Without enough jobs, people are turning to more and more petty crimes and burglaries to get by.”

“All I know is, I don’t feel safe walking down the street once the sun goes down,” said Ryan Tomassoni, a 25-year-old sales representative who has lived in the West Loop for two years. “And there’s no way I’m letting my girlfriend walk up and down these streets without me.”

Burnett’s plan to combat crime includes attracting new business to the area and working with local businesses to expand and create more jobs. If the community is mobilized to get involved, Burnett said, people won’t resort to crime when given more attractive alternatives.

“It’s like the dog chasing his tail,” Burnett said of often-repeat offense criminals. “We’re missing the beat by just locking people up all of the time.”

“We need alternatives to just police,” Burnett added. “We need to have programs and jobs for when they get out.”

Greg Walker, a 27th Ward resident and former Cook County prosecutor, isn’t so sure.

“I think we need more of a police presence and people realizing they will be held accountable for their actions,” Walker said. “I know it sounds generic, but it’s common sense.”

Although most people agree criminals should face consequences and jail time for committing crimes, some don’t believe putting more police on the street is the answer.

“You put a million police in the street on any given day, you’ll get a million arrests,” said Howard Ray, a police officer and 11th Precinct CAPS spokesman. “We need to change the laws.”

“These people have records when they get out,” said Ray of the difficulties released criminals face when searching for a job.

Although Ray agrees with Burnett’s plan to create more jobs and any skills-training programs for released convicts, he said it may be a good solution in theory, but in actuality, it falls short.

“They have families to support, and $10-per-hour isn’t going to do it. They just end up stealing or drug-dealing again, sometimes just to pay their lawyer.”

Ray recommends implementing a citywide “special conditional bond” where released convicts are confined to an eight-block radius from home and are subject to nightly curfews. If after two years their behavior and records remained clean, past convictions would not be used against them when applying for higher-paying positions for which they are now qualified after job training.

“The Chicago Police Department does a great job arresting people who get out in four hours,” said Ray. “We need to give the community a chance to get the upper hand to help themselves and the people freshly released from prison.”

“One robbery, one battery, one person selling drugs outside your home is one too much.”

“We need to work with businesses to grow and create jobs,” said Ald. Walter Burnett Jr. of the West Loop and Near-North Side neighborhoods. “But in order for these businesses to do well, we need more access for both employees and potential customers.”

In a recent victory, and part of the Chicago Housing Authority’s ongoing Reconnecting Neighborhoods Program, the Chicago Transit Authority has approved a new stop on the Green Line at Lake and Morgan streets. However, the $38 million stop won’t be open for another two years, and many still see the need for more.

“The area needs transit, transit brings retail, retail brings people,” said Mandy Burrell Booth, assistant communications director at the Metropolitan Planning Council, a nonprofit organization partnered with the CHA whose key recommendation was to build the new Green Line “L” stop. “Communities thrive at transit stops.”

“Lake Street is the lifeline of the 27th Ward,” said Reggie Stewart, infrastructure specialist for Ald. Burnett’s office. “But right now there is no bus or ‘L’ to easily get to businesses there. And what we do have is too few and far between.”

There are an estimated 30,000 employees and 2,000 businesses spanning the Kinzie Industrial Corridor and the Fulton Market area in the 27th Ward.

However, with only one bus stop between the 800 and 1600 West blocks on Lake Street, and the nearest “L” stop over a mile away, access to these areas remains an issue. Public parking is also not a popular option as it is limited and can cost up to $24 per day.

What community leaders want to see are two more “L” stops, one at Damen and Lake, and one at Western and Lake, said Stewart.

The goal is to increase jobs and sales of businesses already in the area as well as attract new business. But economic development will remain stalled without transit feeding into the industrial corridor where jobs and employers currently are, said Stewart.

“The Kinzie Industrial Corridor is a central area to economic development,” said Steve DeBreppo, director of the Industrial Council of Nearwest Chicago, an employee-driven organization that advocates for local business with city and state officials.

DeBreppo said the potential for both businesses and clients to get back and forth to the area could be a huge factor in the community’s economic success.

“We’re close to the Loop,” said DeBreppo of the neighborhood’s ability to attract new business. “Business owners and customers could avoid paying the kind of prices that are just eight to 10 blocks to the east.”

One person who agrees with DeBreppo is Michael Keara, a 40-year-old West Loop resident new to Chicago who is looking to open a new tapas-style restaurant in the area, but is concerned over cost and accessibility.

“I would love to open my business here,” said Keara of the reasonable lease prices, which range from $14 to $20 per square foot in the neighborhood, 80 percent less expensive than those one mile east. “But when I jump on the train at Clark, and when I get off at the next stop at Clybourn, there are no people there, no retail, it concerns me.”

The Industrial Council of Nearwest Chicago and the CTA are currently applying to the federal government for more grants to increase transit stops on the Green Line, but the wait could be a long one.

“It might not happen quick,” said DeBeppo. “But we got one stop in the works, and we’ll keep pushing for more options.”

“Alderman Burnett is the best sponsor I have ever worked with on any project,” said Julie Dworkin, director of policy for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH), one of 12 partners in the Sweet Home Chicago coalition. “He never gives up, no matter how uncomfortable it gets.”

“My stance on the issue is basic,” said Burnett of the ordinance he wrote back in March that is co-sponsored by 26 aldermen. “There’s a problem, there’s a need, and we have these funds that are suppose to help the community, let’s use it.”

If passed before the city council, spending on affordable housing will jump from a current level of 4 percent of annual TIF revenues, about $2 million of the $495 million collected in 2009, to 20 percent, or nearly $100 million. The new funding would be used to build new developments as well as buy and rehab properties left vacant or decaying due to foreclosure.

Neighborhoods with high concentrations of foreclosures, sinking property values and elevated crime rates would receive immediate relief. Ald. Burnett’s 27th Ward, spanning the West Loop and Near North Side of Chicago, is one of these areas.

With an average of 30 to 50 crimes reported on a daily basis in the 27th Ward, one of the highest in the city according to Everyblock.com, and 76 foreclosures, or one in every 216 housing units foreclosed on in just the month of October according to Realty Trac, the 27th Ward needs help.

“There is a tremendous need in this area,” said Louis Padial, community director of the Bickerdike Redevelopment Group, which has built both the Rosa Parks Apartments and the Harold Washington Co-Op affordable housing developments in the ward representing 1,000 units. “We are flooded with applications.”

When the partially TIF funded, $27.2 million Rosa Parks Apartments’ leasing office began to accept applications in West Humboldt Park last year, over 5,000 were received in just one day for 95 available units, said Padial. And the types of people coming were from all backgrounds and neighborhoods, he said.

“We had people from Wicker Park, Logan Square, Bucktown, areas you don’t traditionally think of,” said Padial. “It was an eye-opener.”

Padial said the Bickerdike Redevelopment Group wants to continue pushing for more development in the 27th Ward not just because of the need, but also because of the vast amounts of vacant lots sitting empty.

“The waiting list is huge,” said Padial of the application for current developments in the area. “We can buy this property for little to no cost and build on lots that have been empty for over 30 years; think of how many we could help.”

Michael Schnell, broker with @Properties who leases and sells units in the 18-acre Parkside of Old Town affordable housing development, where Ald. Burnett’s childhood home of Cabrini-Green once stood, agrees.

With an anticipated completion of 780 units by 2014, Schnell said the Parkside of Old Town is leading his office in number of contracts and leases in comparison to other developments all over the city.

“It’s a stellar location,” said Schnell of the project’s success. “And the affordable housing component [which Burnett requires for all development in his ward] doesn’t hurt.”

The ordinance is expected to come before the city council for a full vote on Dec. 8, with Ald. Burnett and the Sweet Home Chicago Coalition committed to seeing it pass.

“We need help,” said Burnett. “We’ve been working on this issue for over 10 years and it’s not going anywhere and only getting worse.”

“Everyone deserves a decent place to live.”

“This excessive regime is boring our kids,” Lewis told Huberman, referencing the 23 required assessment tests administered to students throughout the 170-day school year. “This mind-numbing load on teachers and administrators is sucking the souls out of our schools.”

“A teacher that is not engaged is what sucks the life out of our schools,” replied Huberman. “The testing wouldn’t even add up to two days.”

Lewis said the tests are resulting in a “loss of collaborative spirit” among teachers and students, and that their continued use “only hurt and maim people.”

Huberman replied that the tests are “meant to empower teachers” by providing insight on each child’s strengths and weaknesses. The test results allow teachers to adjust homework assignments accordingly, thereby “improving collaboration,” he said.

After several minutes of argument during which the two interrupted each other mid-sentence, CPS President Mary B. Richardson-Lowry intervened, suggesting that they find a time to discuss possible solutions and bring them back to the board for future discussion.

“I trust the two of you can do that,” she said.

Although Huberman insisted the tests are necessary to ensure a quality education, some experts disagree.

Dr. Donald R. Moore, founder and executive director of Designs for Change, a 33-year-old organization dedicated to researching and developing reforms for urban schools, says there are basic flaws in Chicago’s use of standardized tests.

Moore said the steadily increasing number of required tests in Chicago’s public schools take so much class time to prepare and administer that teachers are pressured to teach what is on the test rather than focus on a curriculum resulting in lasting educational success.

“It limits the flexibility and creativity of teachers,” said Moore. “We found the more they obsess about the test, the less we find long-term achievement among students’ grades.”

Not all teachers agree with Lewis and Moore, however.

Rashida Restaino, a middle-school teacher at Providence Prep in Englewood for the last five years, said incorporating standardized questions into homework assignments has proven successful with her students. It teaches them study habits, critical thinking, reading comprehension and data analysis skills necessary to do well on both the tests and in class, she said.

“It might be more work on you as a teacher taking the time to generate these kinds of assignments,” said Restaino. “But it’s going to benefit the kids in the long run, and if you aren’t in it for the kids, you might as well consider a different career.”

CPS spokesman Frank Shufpan said the follow-up meeting between Huberman and Lewis is pending based on both of their schedules.

“They’re obviously both very busy people,” he said.