Oakland sees more jobs as one answer

More jobs to keep people off street corners and bettercommunication with police would help prevent incidents like the mobbeating that killed two men in the Oakland neighborhood last week,according to speakers at a town hall meeting not far from where themen died.

About 50 residents listened to and questioned a panel thatincluded local ministers, Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th) and a policerepresentative.

The event, held at the Northeastern Illinois University Center forInner City Studies, was broadcast Friday afternoon on WYLL (1160 AM).

Police representative Phillip Hampton said community policingreceives its greatest support from the African-American community,"but at the same time people constantly talk about this issue ofbeing uncomfortable communicating with police."

He said people always feel more comfortable dealing with peoplethey know, and that community police beat meetings are the idealforum to forge that relationship.

Preckwinkle said more than 20 calls came in to police immediatelyafter the mob beat the two men. They had been driving a van thatplowed into a stoop and injured three women, one of whom later died.

"While there was some hesitation on the part of some members ofthe community, any number of people did cooperate in a way thatresulted in bringing the perpetrators to justice," she said.

Ameshia Hardison, resident manager of the Chicago HousingAuthority's nearby Lake Parc Place, touted economic development as acure, saying her goal is to create 200 jobs in the community thisyear.

"We need to make it more exciting to drive to a job than to driveto a corner to sell drugs," she said.

But the Rev. Bamani Obadele placed some of the blame on what hecalled the positive portrayals of "thug culture" in music and movies."Just as the states went after the tobacco companies for causingcancer, I say we have to deal with the music industry for what it isdoing to our young people."

Meanwhile, a lawyer for James Ousley, the seventh suspect chargedin the beating deaths, asked a Cook County judge Friday to hold ahearing on why police held Ousley for five days before charging him.

Ousley, 31, was arrested by Chicago police on July 30, andprosecutors filed charges against him on Aug. 3, attorney Sam AdamJr. said.