Housing projects are a place where you can find the friendliest and most generous, but poorest people in the country, being terrorized by a relatively tiny percentage of criminals.
Karen good post, I was a cop in the projects throughout the 1970s and 1980s in NYC and most of the tenants were honest folks just trying to get by. Of course there were the criminals but that is in every community rich or poor.
I appreciate how you make it a point to say not all people in these places are bad. I grew up in the Marbel Hill projects in the Bronx. I feel extremely lucky because my projects was pretty low key. It was dirty. But there was no gang. Never seen anyone get robbed. Never seen a fight or heard a gun shot. My cousin grew up in Castle Hill in the Bronx, one of the worst projects out there. We turned out completely different. My neighborhood the guys were just worried about playing video games. His neighborhood was like a war zone.
I grew up in Webster projects 169th st. The only difference growing up between me and my family and friends was that I chose to get out and do what was necessary. Do I blame the white man for building the projects or holding us down no we do it to ourselves.
it would go up three floors, then you'd have to take another elevator to go up another three floors. it's not as if you had to walk the last 8 stories. maybe the theory was to break up any kind of assault by making them short trips. like he said, that didn't work.
Cabrini-Green The reason why it took so long for the last building to come down in 2011 is because my grandma didn't want to leave her home. So they moved her in 1 of the new buildings they built over there.
The “temporary “ housing remind me of portable classrooms in many public schools. They’re supposedly temporary solutions that eventually became permanent t structures even though they shouldn’t.
@@darkpaw1522 Part of the reason why my elementary school district started using some temporary buildings was to accommodate an influx of refugees from Saigon in 1975. It's why I could speak some Vietnamese when I was a little kid.
Not necessarily. There’s one of those “modular” classroom buildings in what used to be a parking lot outside a small school building in my neighborhood that is now used only for kindergarten classes. It has been there for more than 30 years, just because the building is so small, not because it is underfunded.
I was born and raised in Cabrini Green from 1965 to 1969. I was blessed our family moved into a house on Chicago's west side in 1969. It was 12 of us. I only remember riding my tricycle one day and my brother yelling, "get in the house, they're shooting again". I think I was 2 or 3 years old when that happened. It was sad for most of my family because they remembered more bad stuff than me. I was second to the youngest and barely remembered anything that happened there. We all turned out to be very fortunate during our years in Chicago. We all had healthy lives and didn't struggle much after that. I always give God the glory for all that has happened to all of my family. We never lost any family from violence in the streets. God bless y'all 😊.
Fun facts, the Jordan Downs housing projects is where the 1993 film Menace II Society was filmed. The Robert Taylor housing projects is where Mr. T and Kirby Puckett grew up and lastly the Cabrini Green housing projects is where the sitcom Good Times takes place.
Yea and any guesses on whom was behind the crack epidemic in the USA ...!!!! I’ll give anyone that what to think about it as much time as they want to reply back to me ...!!!!!! Good luck ..!!!!
I feel for the old people, and poor people who are kept hostage by the gangs in public housing. Wild goons outside of your door all hours of the day, and night, standing outside all afternoon, blasting car stereos, and being disrespectful. Imagine sending your teenaged daughter out into that madness.
I have 2 Robert Taylor Home stories. I worked for a private ambulance service in suburban Chicago. We did a lot of non-emergency transports and ambulance back-up coverage for some Chicago FD houses. I got dispatched for a wheelchair transfer from hospital to home. The patient was probably 6'6" or 6'8", at least 250 lbs of muscle, with a cast from knee to toes on the left leg. We take him home to Robert Taylor homes. He tells us 14th Floor. We wheel up to the elevator - which were always slow because of kids playing with them, and someone says the elevators have been broken all day. My partner, myself, and the patient didn't want to hump up 14 stories of stairs. We were about to call for assistance when the elevator door opens, and 3 repair guys are inside and see us standing there. They said "QUICK - GET IN" so we did. Then they asked us which floor. They held it at the floor while we delivered the patient. He was really nice and extremely cool. His mamma wanted my partner and I to stay for cake, but we had to leave. She insisted we take a piece with us and for the elevator guys too. I don't want to think about what could have happened if not for the elevator guys. 2nd Story: Came in one morning and there's a note next to the timeclock. "Effective immediately no [company] employee is required to enter any CHA (Chicago Housing Authority) facility without police escort " I asked the dispatcher why the new policy and he says to go look at the ambulance parked out back. I counted 7 bullet holes on the side of the rig. There were more on top. The ambulance pulled into one of the Roert Talor buildings and someone with a rifle opened fire from above on the ambulance.
Back around 1970 somebody pulled the fire alarm at Altgeld Gardens projects in Chicago just so the fire department would show up. When they did, they were caught in a crossfire waiting for them.
I was born in 1993 lived in The Chicago project housing until 2009 it was a horrible upbringing but it was beautiful sometimes never forget where I come from so I can understand where I’m trying to go
Yes! I grew up in the Bronx. We lived in a five floor walk up that still stands today..dirt poor..but those streets were our playground..we used to count rats that would float on big chunks of ice down the Harlem River! Never had a car or air conditioning. Just one meal a day sometimes none. I feel like a millionaire now! I don't forget where I came from! I help the poor whenever I can!
Queensbridge Projects aka QB home of Nas, Mobb Deep, Ron Artest and many other rappers, athletes and celebrities. So much talent came out of those Projects.
I lived in Cabrini when I was a kid in the late 70's for a couple of years. I still have yet to see anyone who can adequately put into words exactly how horrible that place was.
Mike Evans (the real guy, not the character) lived in Cabrini-Greene and based that show as well as the movie "Cooley High" on his experience out there.
@@Blackman19498 sorry brother taylor but good times was not based off of the mighty Robert Taylor Holmes ; although i could see why you would think that, see the brother and sister with the prior comments are correct and this is why. When good times comes on , you will notice they show the red buildings and when the kid goes by on the bike they show 911 sedgwick ,929 and 939 hudson and then they show kids in the back of jenner school and 500 and 502 oak street. Then they show those white buildings. Brother Mike Evans used both Cabrini and Raisin in the Sun to create the show. And then he left the network and had help creating the movie Cooley High. If you check out both projects of his you will see cabrini is the only housing projects they use. Just a little something to add to yall good knowledge. Yall be safe out here.
I grew up in East Oakland. 1961, my parents bought a house on 66th Avenue. The original owners were moving to the suburbs (Walnut Creek) with government aid because a housing project was being constructed across the main road. My school Lockwood Elementary was divided. The main building that got all the sunlight, faced the lawn out front and had access to the library, media room, etc. I spent from K-6 grades in that building. The other two-story building was set in-field, away from everything. These students had different start times, lunch, recess. I asked a teacher when I was in the 4th grade what classes were in that building. She said it was for the kids who lived in the projects. The portables behind that building were for special ed classes. In the cafeteria, children who received free lunch had to stand in a different line and give their name to the lunch-lady who pretended not to hear anything forcing them to shout. Then would say out loud "Don't be shy because your momma doesn't have any money. Come and get this free food." There is a societal problem with people who spent their lives being discriminated against, begin to do this to others.
@@avacox9006 No. We were city kids. Inner city is code phrasing for ghetto and we didn't live in a ghetto. I never heard or saw these buses. It was no big deal to go to Crown Beach or Crab Cove in Alameda. As a family we spent July 4th at Santa Cruz and loved Ocean Beach in SF.
Oakland schools had two separate lines for the free lunch kids and it was so embarrassing. They did this for decades. Then the schools became charter schools with a mostly poor Latino population.
THIS! Just for another example which i think makes me feel the same way! I have food stamps I shop at Walmart and I use a card to pay for no food items for my household. The cashiers ALWAyS announce to everyone what my remaining balance is which basically says I couldn’t pay the full amount with my first payment so now I use food stamps. I am not ashamed but I do like to have my transactions personal no matter how I pay
The whole entire school system is a joke ! School bullies no religion or pledge of allegiance inequality and teachers don’t want to be there because they have bad kids and don’t get paid enough. I never liked school as a kid but college and trade school was ok as an adult. The teachers were mean to me in elementary and one nice teacher the only lady of color the entire time was the best to me
Watching this is so sad. I’m from the hood and definitely still wasn’t the projects but I saw so many of my friends murdered as teenagers and So many with long prison sentences. The ghetto is no joke and I feel so bad for any kids who have no choice in where they grow up
TraRob-EastSide hidden valley in Charlotte I was born in orchard trace lol bitch. The ghetto is disgusting and ratchet why would i claim something so gross for no reason
I grew up in Queens bridge and I experienced the most diverse and wonderful childhood in the 50’s and 60’s. There were all races and nationalities that lived in peace. I think this is why I can relate to anyone today. Wouldn’t trade it for anything. But times have changed, although you can say that about most things.
We were number 8! I absolutely loved growing up in Queensbridge, especially as a kid in the 80s. Wouldn't trade it for the world. Despite all the crack and gun violence, we had tons of resources, and those rappers and NBA players are my friends. :-)
QB '50s-late '60s 41 Side of 12th Good childhood memories. PS 111 Day Camp Silvercup Bread Queens Plaza The [Jacob Riis] Center The 1/2 Moon Ride Tuck The Pizza Truck .15 then to .25 per slice The Mr. Softee icecream truck Twin Pops were for easy sharing The River Park The Side Park The Baby Park The Queensborough/59th St. Bridge Learning how QB had changed, was saddening.😔💔
When I was in college in New Orleans I had my car stolen. It was found like 10 months later on a side street next to the Magnolia projects. The city of streets contacted my dad about the "abandoned car". It took like $600 to get it back into working condition. One good thing about it was that I was forced to walk 3 miles to school everyday along St Charles street, a very beautiful street will old style mansions. I have fond memories of those walks.
I'm assuming you went to Tulane or Loyola (I go to Tulane now 😄). I lived in the Magnolia for a few years as a kid in the late '90s, which, by that point, it was light years less violent then just a few years prior. Then we got a nice house by Audubon park when my mom got a better job. Other than getting great cardio, why didn't you just catch the St. Charles streetcar? Also, which year exactly was this when your car got stolen? I'm always interested in people's experience in NOLA, especially pre-Katrina.
The Cabrini-Green projects was also the unofficial home of the Evans family in 'Good Times'. They never said it's name on the air, but the building was featured in the opening credits, the insinuation being that the Evans lived there. But from what I've seen in this video ,things were hardly 'dyn-o-mite' there!
I lived in the 'Nolia back in '00. Great times but some not so great times as well. Very violent place at times but most of the people were good people having hard times.
Yes, they were supposed to be the Cabrini-Green projects on the show. The producers did a good job of making the Evans' apartment resemble the actual Cabrini-Green units with the cinder block interiors and red bricks in the hallways.
@@robins.2749 I live in belleville too, in villa hills. Living up the bluff from centreville and bond avenue my whole life has its pros and cons. I also grew up the hill from edgemont on west main. Always sum fun happening lolol
Cabrini Green was nothing compared to the Robert Taylor homes and the Stateway Gardens projects in the south side of Chicago. I worked in all of these projscts for a total of 18 years as a Paramedic and a Firefighter. from the late 80's to the early 2000's
@@rokylaruex504 get yo shit right and know yo history it is based on the cabrini-green projects the original part of the projects was't torn down until they finished filming the last one in 2019 it still stood for a few years because they where having filming and production problems with the movie because that movie was supose to comme out in 2013...........
Whew, I thought growing up in Piedmont Courts (Charlotte, NC) was rough. Police stopped patrolling for fear of being ambushed by criminals. I made it out and never looked back - not sorry. 🙄
Lived in the south Bronx! Lived in the projects on the 15th floor. When the two elevators were broken! Had to do 15 flights with asthma! The summer was brutal!!
Yea I used to do roofing in miami n worked with a guy who lived there n he used to make me drop him off out front of the pjs cuz he said if I went in there I could get killed or would immediately be pulled over leaving becuz I m white lol. He used to be forced to carry gun to do a simple task such as walk to the store for juice
@beadsbydez com no, it used to be that bad, way back in the day...the surrounding areas be worse. I used to stay off 61st and 7th, you would always hear about killings but not so many in the beans edit: still a place where you need to keep a strap on at all times in my honest opinion, but the city changed a lot...hardly recognizable now from what it once was even from like 5 years ago
When I was 6 years old in 1990, I lived in “Greenbriar Apartments” aka “Uzi Alley” to the city of Columbus, Ohio. That place is ingrained in me for life.
I was not surprised to see Cabrini Green at the top of the list. I visited there in 1994 particularly the Elementary School there because I was studying education in impoverished city locations. I remember being shocked to hear the principal excited that recess had just recently started again because they finally stopped the sniper who had been shooting at people from the top of one of the buildings. I remember thinking wow in all my years of public school that is one thing we never worried about. Was not surprised to hear they started tearing them down given that most of the young children that I spoke with always said if I grow up not when I grow up. Thanks for the video.
Imagine living in a project where they hold tours that’s so humiliating like why Revise: I’ve also read a comment saying the money gives back to the project housing so that’s good I guess but still😩
Poverty porn. Some countries hate Americans for going to other countries to stare at/ take pics of impoverished people, yet we are doing in our own country too. Horrible.
I was 13 in Jr.High in Marine Park and a kid in my class asked me if I was down with taking a car to Brownsville to get it chopped. Man I grew up better than a few kids I went to school with.
I used to live on hegeman in between the pink houses and cypress house. The gangs used to meet up on linden behind my house, east new york was definitely on a different level than bedstuy.
Marcy Projects area is mad gentrified nowadays. A lot of white people play in the basketball courts in the PJs on Marcy and Flushing. You can even get vegan coffee right across the street and apartments across the street are expensive.
I have never been more Intrigued as I am with with the Cabrini Green. I have even bought many books of first hand statements from former tenents. Just wow. I get chills at some of the true stories...
I went to college in Chicago in the mid 80's. We were all warned, especially by the students who came from the projects to steer clear of them. You could see Cabrini Green from the Ravenswood elevated train. I always wondered where the residents went shopping because there were almost no businesses near the buildings except a few liquor stores.
Projects got bad when the generations upon generations became grandfathered into the same apartment for decades creating no hope or incentive for upward mobility , and then having a requirement for no father / men coupled with lack of housing funds recipe for disaster
@J Smith I don't know about other cities, but the story in NYC is pretty interesting. The man responsible for a lot of housing projects was Robert Moses, known today as a virulent racist who planned his projects by flying in a plane over the city rather than visiting the streets. The legislature (democrats, republicans, etc) have NO say in these developments. So we can't blame democrats or any party for this. The power was concentrated in the hands of one man who never had to be elected. This is one of the problems with centralized planning. One of his most outspoken critics was Jane Jacobs. Her first major victory against him in the 50s was when he wanted to build a highway through Washington Square Park but she raised community voices against it. After that, she led several more crusades against super-block developments and slum clearance projects. Eventually, the city reorganized the toll collection system, which took away Moses' revenue stream (he paid for the projects by building bridges and highways and using the toll money). Eventually, his power was chipped away and by the 60s he resigned. Read "The Power Broker" by Robert Caro, a really good book about what he did to the South Bronx and how he got so much power in the first place. It's not a red vs. blue issue, but rather a "how are decisions made" issue. Modern day planners don't have the kind of power Robert Moses did.
@@leanen6424 Sure but I work in a public housing community and those buildings are 80 years old some of them and they were just cheaply built. Yeah you can get someone for poor housekeeping but a lot of it IS the structure.
I lived in project housing in East Tennessee for about 10 years after I moved out of my parents’ house. The first 9 years were great! Everyone was so friendly and wanted to help each other. It was beautiful too. I loved it there. However, that last year was a nightmare. Someone moved in and brought bed bugs. Those nasty little things spread all over the building and even outside to the separate units next door. I had to move and throw everything away and I mean everything! The only things I kept were a few nice outfits and some important paperwork. It’s really sad that people who don’t have a lot of income have to live in conditions like those. Most people there were disabled or like I was, just making a small amount of money each month. I was fortunate that I had family to help me move on and find a better home. Most of those people just had to stay and live with the bugs. Sad😔
Right. The buildings always served the same purpose, but people continue to take advantage of them. Innocent people either fall victim to or become influenced by the negative aspects.
@Ben Dover MLK wasn't a republican. Ben Carson hasn't did shit for Black people nor has Donald Trump. Even if you wanted to add Trump, you see how far you had to reach for the others? Both Republicans and Democrats are the reason African Americans ended up crowded in places like this.
I’ve read that when public housing projects began their were standards to live there. If you or your family didn’t meet behavior standards you were evicted. Then lawyers got involved... And maintaining standards was illegal. So 90% of residents became at the mercy of the 10% who were criminals.
No. The building standards were garbage. Egress and ingress was given no thought whatsoever so there is an alleyway effect-- you were essentially trapped inside the building once you went in. If a someone chased you up, you were not coming out. You could sell drugs or run a brothel and cops wouldn't be able to catch you because you could duck into any one of the fifty or so apartments that were empty. Why were they empty? Because living in these apartments was absolutely fucking miserable. They were just not designed well from the ground up. They were improperly ventilated, so cooking smells and just general people smells would build up unless you keep your windows open... which is fine I guess so long as you could get away with not heating or cooling your apartment (surprise surprise, you can't do this in most of the country). They were small. They were ugly. They were never good and should not be compared with modern, air conditioned, secured, well designed, multifamily housing projects EVER. These old projects were boxes meant to store wage slaves off the streets until the depression was over and they were useful again. And they were built below the minimum standards.
@@Idahoguy10157 I lived in a nice USMC base housing for a few years. Sucked in So-Cal because they had no A/C. However, because of discipline rules the place was not bad at all. The base closed, the property sold to developers who promptly bulldozed the 8-10 year old apartments for brand new super expensive ones.
@@CeaseProduction nonsense, no different from many other apartment buildings. Its not the buildings it the people in them. They have sold some of them that end up becoming decent condo buildings. I lived in projects for 25 years before moving on.
Jimo idk why you people believe there are actually no adult men in the homes. Just because they don’t tell government officials men are around does not mean the men aren’t there 😂. It’s unfortunate that ppl feel the need to lie to get by but that’s what’s really happening.
I painted the interior of the Cabrini Greene apartments with a rich church group out of Lake Forest. The stories the residents told were unbelievable. But in early 200’s, I lived down the street in Roscoe Village. I was told the reason it took so long for the buildings to be removed was because of the rat infestation. The city was worried all the rats would run into the new homes
I have a friend that lives in the Queensbridge projects. A few weeks back, the tenants in the apartment below his were murdered, and the apartment was torched. He had to go to the hospital for smoke inhalation. The evidence gathered point to a drug deal gone bad.
I lived in some Miami projects during my childhood years; it was an experience that made me wiser far too early and naturally suspicious of people and their intentions. Even thou I’ve been (thankfully) living a middle class life for my adult life- I still lock/bolt my door immediately upon entry and always make sure to have keys in hand when I exit a building. It’s too ingrained in me.
I immigrated to the U.S. when I was a year old. Being dirt-poor we lived in some of NYC’s most infamous projects and neighborhoods of the 70s and 80s- Kelly St in the Bronx, Brownsville East NY, Bed-Stuy…. I was lucky to have escaped and like you have lived a comfortable middle class life in the suburbs for over 30 years now. Like you I suffer a mild form of PTSD from the experience. Wary of strangers, door gets locked immediately, avoid going out after dark. Is there a support group for this? LOL!
The pink houses in East New York Brooklyn are even worse than Marcy. The Bronx also has some of the worst projects in New York such as the Bronx River and edenwald houses
@@latayiahicks2924 I used to live around the Far Rockaway projects. Red Fern I believe was the name. Area was rough. I was pulled over almost every day
Could have been used as detention homes or prisons, just add perimeter fencing, Barbed Wire, of course! It was in some plans to do just that during the Civil Rights era of riots and assassinations of Vocal black men.
**trigger warning**violence against children*** I grew up in Chicago and I remember the story about the 5 yo boy who was killed by 2 other kids at Cabrini green. They threw him out the window of an empty apartment. Everyone was so shocked and sad. It was really a horrible crime. The kids who did it were really young 2, like 10 or 11.
Maybe u right, but ik for a fact da same exact story happened further south, lowend off 39th in Darrow Homes. The boys jus recently got out not to long ago i think. Evn had a movie called ‘Our America’ based on it and it may still b on UA-cam.
@@Munkeishia1nOnly No, back in that period they were sent to jail, and as they grew older they would graduate to age and crime-appropriate facilities. And it effectively caused the youngsters to re-commit and be recharged and spent lots of years imprisoned. Should be out now if they survived.
My dad told me that when my grandmother divorced my grandfather (back in the 1960s), she had no choice but to move into the Seattle projects. From the way my dad told it, the Seattle projects were segregated at the time.
YALL dramatic AF. I've been in this neighborhood all my life. I'm in my 40's now. HELL YEAH...The 80' and 90's WAS bad, but it has calmed down alot in comparison and you can actually walk in Magic Johnsons park or go to the liquor store on Central and 120th without fear of getting shot. If anything is getting bad now, starting to see Meth heads are popping up now, replacing the crackheads walking around the 80s.. and at least the crackheads wouldnt steal our trash cans 😭 Not even alot of homeless in comparison to going down Avalon and Main street pass Rosecrans tho one encampment tried to spring up behind the church on Stanford and 118th. Theres always been those by the freeway entrance on Central, but they mostly harmless and Just be out collecting plastic and cans. Matter of fact, San Bernardino is probably worse than South Central right now
The mention of Techwood Homes in Atlanta was a somewhat troublesome area. After all, it was the first housing of its type built in the United States to help those who were having a hard time with their families. Over the years problems did occur when the prior ones found better housing and there were others who moved into apartments that became run down because the city didn't keep them up as they should. There were a few other projects that were closed and leveled due to the 1996 Olympics coming to town and that was a means to beautify the city. Even when some of the buildings in the Techwood area were torn down, a nice dormitory where most of the Olympian Athletes were housed. At least two others were torn down and most of the residents were pushed to the front of the line to get the first chance at housing outside the city's boundaries to help it look much better. One of which I serviced on a beer route was Perry Homes. It was known as one of the top dangerous projects in the area. It had a grocery store and a package store just across the street from the front of the project. On delivery days the acholic beverage companies had their delivery men meet at one of the stores in the early morning and service it. A policeman would be there to watch over us and our trucks while we were servicing the store. We would stay together and move as a group to the other location so we would have police protection. Several times when a beer delivery man was there making a delivery alone he was pulling the order off one side of his truck while beer was being taken off the other. A guy came up to me and said to stay still, "was my life worth more than a few cases of beer being taken of the other side"?...... And yes, the vast majority of the project's residents were nice people. That was the only place they had to live. The sad thing is people learn to fear the unknown and with any above average crime report, people don't want to take a chance.
If Cabrini-Green is not on this list it’s not accurate! To be able to see it was insanity! I grew up in the Chicago area and in the 80’s Cabrini-Green was on the news every night, I used to have nightmares about it as a kid.
I lived in three housing projects in Chicago. I had to watch this video to see if the Robert Taylor Homes or Cabrini-Greens made the list. I wondered if there could be ten housing projects in the United States that could be considered worse. I was not disappointed.
I experienced living at the Dearborn Homes 27th State Street. Stateway Garden 39th Federal Street, Robert Taylor Homes 22nd Street and Ida B. Wells Homes 36th East of King Drive..... The experiences was horrific but that was my experiences at that time (1990-1995.) None of the buildings exist today and I reside at a $275K condo today however we all still struggle on some level or another. I'm soo grateful that lifestyle is a far in distance memory of my past.
I had friends who lived and all those projects and I visited with other friends who had relatives there. It was not as bad in the seventies, but Chicago was not as bad in the seventies. Good that you were able to get out. Chicago has changed drastically since the loss of industry jobs and unskilled labor jobs and the crack epidemic.
I stayed in the projects in Chicago called Harold Icke's home for 20 yrs. Although I've been a Legal Secretary and Admin Asst for 30+ yrs. and a trained and certified Boy Scouts cubmaster of the Chicago area council. I had no choice as a divorcee with 4 children and a ward of the state of Kentucky had no family support. So I decided to assist as many youth with instilling work ethics from my own professional experiences for an example.
Our family, headed by my single working mom, moved into a housing project around 1970. I graduated college in 1980. My younger brother graduated in 1990. He was the last college graduate from my housing project. Project is still there, 31 years later. A measure of success is not your education level, but whether you are still living on public assistance. Some of my neighbors have made it out and are successful in life. Others have formed a third or fourth generation still on government assistance. No major violence to speak of, but property crimes and drug use are still rampant there.
Loved your comment and story; keyword is assistance. I had section 8, took me 7 years to go back to school while working full-time and raising two kids but once section 8 only paid $12 of my rent and my portion was $1200; I knew it had served its purpose and I gave it up. I grew up very poor, didn't even have a bedroom slept in the living room. I wanted my kids to have better. See better and do better.
@@pa1060 I agree. But ultimately the way to survive is to get out, which we finally managed after 10 years. I feel for the kids nowadays, opportunities are fewer and far between.
@@redrust3 I respect your opinion. But kids have it better than we ever did and I am a 80's baby. My kids have never had it so good. So good I think we fucked them up. Nothing like me or there dad.
I was born & raised in Chicago. When I first started driving, my parents would warn me that one intersection that we never stop at was the intersection of Division & Halsted. (Cabrini Green)
I was born & raised in Chicago too, loved my home town! Cabrini Green had such a bad reputation - it was said that even the cops were scared to go there. It's always fascinated me though, wish I had gotten a chance to go there before it got torn down.
I live in Queens bridge 🌉 houses today, been here since 2003, when I first moved in I was very upset coming here, but throughout the years thank God it has gotten better and better each year , today 2022 I must say a big change for the better. Ever since they started renovations on Queens Borough Plaza, it trickled down to the Projects. Major improvements to Queens Bridge 🌆🌉🌆 Houses, more police presence, and Drug dealers evicted out of there. It's not the best by any means but it's not bad living here either.
@CHICANO’S WITH DANKno, actually I meant the 1970's television sitcom named "Good Times". It was about a black family who lived in Chicago's housing projects, and was one of Norman Lear's spinoff shows originating from the "All in the Family". Although I suspect you knew that and were just attempting to be clever.
The problem isn't the buildings. It's the occupants. The building isn't mugging a resident on their way home. If you put the same residents in the most expensive development in Manhattan, you'd still get the same outcome.
The people who live in the projects are some of the nicest people with the biggest hearts in the world. My grandpa used to tell me that there was a time long ago before money existed, there was no rich or poor. We were judged by our character not by our bank account. I had a boyfriend long ago who was embarrassed to tell me where he lived but eventually he told me. It was some projects in LA county, people there were great, even the ones who looked a little rough around the edges.
This story from my brother. There was a convenience store in Dallas right across the street from a project. After an armed robbery, the owner told the police "Hurry! They ran straight across the street into the apartment building. If you go there now you might catch them." The senior police officer there looked at the convenience store's owner like he was insane, and exclaimed: "I'm not going in THERE!"
@@crusaderkiller5816 Long story, my mom stole my college money and forced me to drop out. Then she took 75% of my work money for "bills", though I barely could hold a job because we moved literally every year. Ended up in a section 8 building with her, now stuck in the projects. No job, no education, you know the stereotype; and worst is, it wasn't my fault. My mom was even doing everything in her power to discourage me from joining the military. She was trying to keep me stuck like her. In the end I finally escaped her and joined the Marine Corp. I made enough money to repay my college debts and graduate college. I also since cut my mom completely from my life. Sorry if it's a bit off topic. Reason why the projects in particular was so bad because it felt like my mom was trying to stear my life into being like...hers. Living in bad neighborhoods and such, stuck in poverty, etc. And I done everything in my power to avoid it. Seeing my inevitable fate to be stuck in poverty staring me down everyday was a nightmare. Bloods on the stoop outside the entrace, the building full of addicts, it was too much. I didn't want THIS to be my future. Honestly, if the military thing didn't work out I planned to kill myself.
It was designed to keep us in poverty for generations!!!! Separating families keeping our men detached from their kids ( mainly for blk single mother families). Its sad how this gov targets blk families until the women feel they dont need a man for shit!!! Uncle sam gone give me housing, stamps etc what do i need my kids fathers for? Then their daughters go up wit that same fucked up mentality....it never stops!!! Devaluing blk men in a whole.
I live in a town in the outskirts of Barcelona, in Barcelona’s Iron Belt, and there have been several housing projects like this through history. Now, those once depressed neighbourhoods are thriving communities full of everyday life and small and local commerces. I personally think that, if well managed, this kind of public housing projects are not a bad thing for cities (its layout even encourages walking around). The problem comes when this is a solution only taken to house the poorest of the poorest; this developments should be incorporated to the city network.
In Toronto there is a large housing project close to the city center. Several years ago they started taking them down and replacing them with high rise condos. There was supposed to be incentives for the project occupants and various income levels in the new buildings. I have been told that there are very few of the previous tenants living in those new buildings but I haven't seen them for myself.
The fact that there are “walking tours” of Queensbridge is a testament to how much safer Queensbridge has become. Also, some the greatest views of the Manhattan skyline are just a block away. I lived in that neighborhood back in the late 90s-early 00s, it’s mellowed out quite a bit.
I’m originally from the Bronx and other than the Chicago ones the other ones made me laugh so hard. You could’ve stayed in New York for all 10 of these lol Love your videos and thanks for sharing.
I'm from Illinois and know people from Cabrini and Taylor Homes. You could probably pick a top 10 just with Chicago projects. But Pruitt Igoe belongs on here too.
@nathj4818 She was called Girl X, and it was roach spray down her throat, and she didn't pass at the time. She may still be here my best friend was in Schawb rehabilitation when she was .
@@MiamiCocaine I only heard of it from watching the First 48 at least 6 or 7 killings. I have a sister-in-law who lives in the Knickerson Gardens in Watts I hated visiting her
So you're telling me that someone out there is getting paid to take people on tours through the projects? 😅 Imagine, instead of taking your family on a nice trip to the zoo. You decide to spend your day roaming the projects.
History tells us and gives us insight into how some of our kinfolks endured American Apartheid, segregation, and inequities pervasive to America. The rebel flags and statues will be going into museums for preservation while the written word, books, and laws are being swept under the rugs of white institutions, to be like raised buildings of yesteryear, out of sight, out of mind. It is being scuttled into oblivion by erasing its existence in the face of CRT misinformation. South Africa did the same thing relating to restoring black Africans land stolen by colonists at gunpoint in the Africans own nations. Migration from the south was as historic as any social reform there has ever been. Some don't want us to vote, to work for livable wages, to own shops, and businesses, to be competitive. Some want us on the streets homeless, dragging our knuckles on the ground. Racist people live in America in very large numbers doing tours through projects and olde plantations now changed but still in existence. In America.
As a Chicagoan who grew up on the north side even though I was born during the demolishing of Cabrini greens I grew up hearing about the horror stories of the projects
I work in Chicago and the east coast at least once a year. Being from California I didn’t understand the size of the projects in Chicago and the east coast. In California, projects are mostly two-story apartment complexes. Seeing row after row of 10-plus story projects really gave me some perspective. I’ve spent time in St Louis and East St Louis too and its a totally different vibe there.
I once had to fly to Chicago for work with my boss in his private plane to hit the Food Show at McCormick Place. We flew into the infamous Meg’s Field airport. I didn’t know how dangerous this airport was at the time of my flight, all the locals know what about… As we flew into Chicago, I noticed these high rises and it looked familiar to me right away. I remember when I saw the high rises, it hit me like a brick… It was the movie location for “Candy Man”… I remembered them to be these huge high rises with some windows missing and they had plywood covering up the missing windows. I thought they were abandoned till I saw people on the walkways of the buildings and at the base of the buildings… They looked exactly like they did in the movie Candy Man. This is one time that the Hollywood folks didn’t have to create a scary set, this place was a shit hole… I’m not sure how many buildings there were but I recall there being what looked like a 8’ chain link fence around the property as if to keep the people in… Super creepy…
hey briggs, I received my first laptop, a gateway laptop, in 2008 when Cabrini Greens debuted on the show, gangland. Even though i'm from chicago, I do not condone the violence or the intentional building of projects with little jobs around. those are always a recipe for disasters.
People need to mine their business living in public housing. Be great full for your apartment and STOP peeing and spiting in the elevator. NYCHA clean the elevators with Clorax everyday. Do the cameras work in the elevators? 😢😮
EXACTLY New Orleans has none now which is good but at the same time now everything is for tourist and no one can afford rent to even stay off the street.
I mean you grew up in the trenches so you’re used to the dangers of the projects. Now if step outside and see how most americans live(big ass house, big drive way, nice and clean neighborhood) living in the projects is not how an american should be living but what can we do ?
Here's a problem When they closed the public housing projects down in Chicago you know you have to relocate the people somewhere. Hey hard to believe but many where relocated just down the Adams tollway to Rockford, IL. Rockford went from a peacefully nice place to live to one of the most dangerous cities in America.
The same thing is happening in DeKalb too. University village is supposedly now the largest housing project in Illinois after the Robert Taylor homes and Cabrini Greene were torn down. DeKalb in general but the NIU campus area specifically has gone from maybe a hand full of violent crimes per year too at least one per week and it seems to be getting worse at an exponential pace.
@james harm when they tore down the chicago projects the people that lived there looked for cheap rent like Rockford, Cal City, Markham, and wherever else, gangs and violence was chopped.
I used to live outside of and work in Rockford. Real shame they allowed all the aholes in from Chicago. Please, just drown them in Lake Michigan and never let them leave Shitcago. IL BUILD A WALL AROUND CHICAGO NOW!!!! Let them elect their own corrupt politicians and leave the rest of IL alone.
That’s what Joe Biden wants to do to the suburbs by placing section 8 and low income high rises in those areas. It’s what Obama wanted to do with HUD in late 2015. Check out what they did to Rochester NY for example. If Biden wins the suburbs will be destroyed
I'm from the south suburbs of Chicago. I remember the first time I went to the Robert Taylor homes to visit my aunt and cousins. I thought it was so cool with the big buildings. I honestly thought rich people lived there. I was 5 years old 😂
I'm from Chicago. I've never lived in any of those projects but I have friends who did. I watched both of them among the others be demolished. My grandmother lived right across the expressway from Robert Taylor and violence was a way of life and people were immune to what happened there. I stayed away as much as possible. If you had a car, you didn't even want to drop residents of over there really. Now most of them are either complete grass or gentrified apartments. On part of Robert Taylor they have opened a tennis complex... I'm sure residents would've never imagined that. Lol
I am life long Chicago resident. I believe that the South Side will be gentrafied. Too much new construstion down that way. The Powers to be displaced a lot of people to the suburbs. To Clear the books. I know Police officers who will not get involved in the Ghetto crimes simply, They do not want charges brought against them and thierin thier Job and Pensions lost. My uncle was a officer in the Shakesspear districk. I quote, The worst thing the city did was take shotguns away from the police. When you cock a shotgun everyone from any where realizes opps I f#*ed up freeze. Yes there are tennis courts. If we as a city can not educate these young people where will they learn to play tennis? The spillover is in Indiana rents were low there and realitivaty quiet. Now Insane! This Black on Black racism. Divide and conquer. The South And West sides of Chicago will be gentrafied a body at a time. Terribly Sad. I am white and had a wonderful day on Father's day in a friends back yard Barbqueing in Englewood. Peaceful. My frind said Kev it's getting dark. When the sun goes down the guns come up. As a Chicagoan this really burns me up. God Bless anyone who gets out of poverty!
I lived in the Robert Taylor projects in the 80's. Back then I remember them being scary, smelly, and dirty. My mom decided to move our family to Colorado Springs after a man's brains were blown out in front of our building. We eventually moved back to Chicago and ended up getting a house but I continued to hang out in the same projects as a teen. Again, it was scary, and dirty but it was fun because there was always parties going on and everyone was so close with one another. There were still a lot of scary moments and I had nightmares for years about getting randomly shot while hanging out there from the gang wars with rivals from other buildings.
I used to live in Cabrini! We were there for 2 years until we moved to the south side 82nd and Troop. It was some tough times back then. I’m glad we made it out. I wonder about some of my old friends. I know a few died gang banging but most ended up lifers in prison. I always stay humble due to my upbringing as a kid. I will always love Chicago! ❤️🙏🏾
Housing projects are a place where you can find the friendliest and most generous, but poorest people in the country, being terrorized by a relatively tiny percentage of criminals.
I’ve seen around the world poverty breeds desperation crime violence gangs.
Facts
Facts
Pareto principle I wouldn't be shocked if 80% of crimes are committed by 20% of the people
In NYC housing projects are home to over 400,000 people. They are home to thousands of low wage workers, elderly and disabled.
I grew up in the Projects in the 60's & 70's we had no roaches the garbage was being burnt & we had housing cops & folks cared , A true village.
Where did you live?
Think crack really was a huge turning point. From what I've worked out.
Karen good post, I was a cop in the projects throughout the 1970s and 1980s in NYC and most of the tenants were honest folks just trying to get by. Of course there were the criminals but that is in every community rich or poor.
Karen, it's sad now and days that you can't trust the people in the village anymore...
Mr Watto
Heroin and crime was still bad in the 70’s
The Marcy projects is where they hold the World Series of Dice.
Chappelle’s Show reference, nice 👌🏽
Ashy Larry, yo - ASHY LARRY!
😂😂😂😂
Ahhh you beat me to it!
“What you need is some chapstick and a set of trousers”
Leonard Washington still holds the crown
I appreciate how you make it a point to say not all people in these places are bad. I grew up in the Marbel Hill projects in the Bronx. I feel extremely lucky because my projects was pretty low key. It was dirty. But there was no gang. Never seen anyone get robbed. Never seen a fight or heard a gun shot. My cousin grew up in Castle Hill in the Bronx, one of the worst projects out there. We turned out completely different. My neighborhood the guys were just worried about playing video games. His neighborhood was like a war zone.
I lived in Castle Hill and it was a war zone
Lived in the So BX near Yankee Stadium...always something popping💯
I grew up in Webster projects 169th st. The only difference growing up between me and my family and friends was that I chose to get out and do what was necessary. Do I blame the white man for building the projects or holding us down no we do it to ourselves.
80% are horrible.
Buildings with 11 floors that have elevators that only go up 3 floors--say no more.
it would go up three floors, then you'd have to take another elevator to go up another three floors. it's not as if you had to walk the last 8 stories. maybe the theory was to break up any kind of assault by making them short trips. like he said, that didn't work.
Typical government decision making
South Bronx tennements...7-10 floor walk up in the old days. I wish i'd explored the ones still standing in '93, but no...
The element of people need the exercise knowing they have nothing better to do
I feel like that's a cruel metaphor for life!
Cabrini-Green
The reason why it took so long for the last building to come down in 2011 is because my grandma didn't want to leave her home. So they moved her in 1 of the new buildings they built over there.
Wow.. the history
The “temporary “ housing remind me of portable classrooms in many public schools. They’re supposedly temporary solutions that eventually became permanent t structures even though they shouldn’t.
Good rule of thumb: If it's set up because something is impoverished or underfunded, it won't be temporary.
@@darkpaw1522
Part of the reason why my elementary school district started using some temporary buildings was to accommodate an influx of refugees from Saigon in 1975. It's why I could speak some Vietnamese when I was a little kid.
Honestly thought they WERE permanent lol
facts ... I remember I moved to Virginia like what is this lol
Not necessarily. There’s one of those “modular” classroom buildings in what used to be a parking lot outside a small school building in my neighborhood that is now used only for kindergarten classes. It has been there for more than 30 years, just because the building is so small, not because it is underfunded.
I was born and raised in Cabrini Green from 1965 to 1969. I was blessed our family moved into a house on Chicago's west side in 1969. It was 12 of us. I only remember riding my tricycle one day and my brother yelling, "get in the house, they're shooting again". I think I was 2 or 3 years old when that happened. It was sad for most of my family because they remembered more bad stuff than me. I was second to the youngest and barely remembered anything that happened there. We all turned out to be very fortunate during our years in Chicago. We all had healthy lives and didn't struggle much after that. I always give God the glory for all that has happened to all of my family. We never lost any family from violence in the streets. God bless y'all 😊.
Fun facts, the Jordan Downs housing projects is where the 1993 film Menace II Society was filmed. The Robert Taylor housing projects is where Mr. T and Kirby Puckett grew up and lastly the Cabrini Green housing projects is where the sitcom Good Times takes place.
i knew those facts and im happy you do too
good times ,oh my god ,if this was your lot who would have kids .
@@lawrencefox563 Many do... and continue to do unfortunately!!! smh
I heard you lookin fa Candyman, bitch.
Everythang Texas Also Losing Isaiah
I grew up in Cabrini it wasn't that bad there until crack cocaine came out
Yea and any guesses on whom was behind the crack epidemic in the USA ...!!!! I’ll give anyone that what to think about it as much time as they want to reply back to me ...!!!!!! Good luck ..!!!!
@@legacyturbo8485 : Was it Candyman?
@@legacyturbo8485 BLM?
@@legacyturbo8485 same people that started WAR ON DRUGS?
Legacy Turbo cia
I feel for the old people, and poor people who are kept hostage by the gangs in public housing. Wild goons outside of your door all hours of the day, and night, standing outside all afternoon, blasting car stereos, and being disrespectful. Imagine sending your teenaged daughter out into that madness.
Happens everyday. They be the same ones that protect her.
Ok
There is LAW in every ghetto....just not the one ran by the city or state....justice is swift and not spoken
Amen. I never had no issues. But a bitch would fight if I had too.
There’s nothing wrong with a blasting music😂😂😂
I have 2 Robert Taylor Home stories. I worked for a private ambulance service in suburban Chicago. We did a lot of non-emergency transports and ambulance back-up coverage for some Chicago FD houses. I got dispatched for a wheelchair transfer from hospital to home. The patient was probably 6'6" or 6'8", at least 250 lbs of muscle, with a cast from knee to toes on the left leg. We take him home to Robert Taylor homes. He tells us 14th Floor. We wheel up to the elevator - which were always slow because of kids playing with them, and someone says the elevators have been broken all day. My partner, myself, and the patient didn't want to hump up 14 stories of stairs. We were about to call for assistance when the elevator door opens, and 3 repair guys are inside and see us standing there. They said "QUICK - GET IN" so we did. Then they asked us which floor. They held it at the floor while we delivered the patient. He was really nice and extremely cool. His mamma wanted my partner and I to stay for cake, but we had to leave. She insisted we take a piece with us and for the elevator guys too. I don't want to think about what could have happened if not for the elevator guys.
2nd Story: Came in one morning and there's a note next to the timeclock. "Effective immediately no [company] employee is required to enter any CHA (Chicago Housing Authority) facility without police escort " I asked the dispatcher why the new policy and he says to go look at the ambulance parked out back. I counted 7 bullet holes on the side of the rig. There were more on top. The ambulance pulled into one of the Roert Talor buildings and someone with a rifle opened fire from above on the ambulance.
That 2nd story😬
Back around 1970 somebody pulled the fire alarm at Altgeld Gardens projects in Chicago just so the fire department would show up. When they did, they were caught in a crossfire waiting for them.
As an Illinoisan watching this video, I kept waiting for him to say Cabrini-Green cuz I knew damn well it was gonna be on here somewhere.
Me too but I knew my project (Robert Taylor Homes) would also make the cut 🤦🏽♀️
I was born in 1993 lived in The Chicago project housing until 2009 it was a horrible upbringing but it was beautiful sometimes never forget where I come from so I can understand where I’m trying to go
I've lived in the projects for 10 year now I own my own home I will never look down on nobody in the projects
Soooo... where are u now?
doing just fine 🙏🏿
💯
Yes! I grew up in the Bronx. We lived in a five floor walk up that still stands today..dirt poor..but those streets were our playground..we used to count rats that would float on big chunks of ice down the Harlem River! Never had a car or air conditioning. Just one meal a day sometimes none. I feel like a millionaire now! I don't forget where I came from! I help the poor whenever I can!
Queensbridge Projects aka QB home of Nas, Mobb Deep, Ron Artest and many other rappers, athletes and celebrities. So much talent came out of those Projects.
The need to get out will produce such things
For every one exception there are a thousand who just lived and died in poverty
The rest will die in the projects.
@kj a bunch of those too, but Naturally because they're not famous entertainers would not be mentioned
@kj they didn’t really have the educational resources to become lawyers doctors or nurses
I lived in Cabrini when I was a kid in the late 70's for a couple of years. I still have yet to see anyone who can adequately put into words exactly how horrible that place was.
Cabrini Green Projects was also where the 70’s show “Good Times” was filmed
Eddie Murphy punchline to a joke was "I like good times" from his comedy film raw made me laugh.
Love that show..Good times
Mike Evans (the real guy, not the character) lived in Cabrini-Greene and based that show as well as the movie "Cooley High" on his experience out there.
No it was the Robert Taylor projects, that good times is base on
@@Blackman19498 sorry brother taylor but good times was not based off of the mighty Robert Taylor Holmes ; although i could see why you would think that, see the brother and sister with the prior comments are correct and this is why. When good times comes on , you will notice they show the red buildings and when the kid goes by on the bike they show 911 sedgwick ,929 and 939 hudson and then they show kids in the back of jenner school and 500 and 502 oak street. Then they show those white buildings.
Brother Mike Evans used both Cabrini and Raisin in the Sun to create the show. And then he left the network and had help creating the movie Cooley High.
If you check out both projects of his you will see cabrini is the only housing projects they use. Just a little something to add to yall good knowledge. Yall be safe out here.
I grew up in East Oakland. 1961, my parents bought a house on 66th Avenue. The original owners were moving to the suburbs (Walnut Creek) with government aid because a housing project was being constructed across the main road. My school Lockwood Elementary was divided. The main building that got all the sunlight, faced the lawn out front and had access to the library, media room, etc. I spent from K-6 grades in that building. The other two-story building was set in-field, away from everything. These students had different start times, lunch, recess. I asked a teacher when I was in the 4th grade what classes were in that building. She said it was for the kids who lived in the projects. The portables behind that building were for special ed classes. In the cafeteria, children who received free lunch had to stand in a different line and give their name to the lunch-lady who pretended not to hear anything forcing them to shout. Then would say out loud "Don't be shy because your momma doesn't have any money. Come and get this free food." There is a societal problem with people who spent their lives being discriminated against, begin to do this to others.
Hi Fourthgirl…..Did you by any chance ride the submarine decorated buses that took the inner city kids to the beach in the summer of 1974?
@@avacox9006 No. We were city kids. Inner city is code phrasing for ghetto and we didn't live in a ghetto. I never heard or saw these buses. It was no big deal to go to Crown Beach or Crab Cove in Alameda. As a family we spent July 4th at Santa Cruz and loved Ocean Beach in SF.
Oakland schools had two separate lines for the free lunch kids and it was so embarrassing. They did this for decades. Then the schools became charter schools with a mostly poor Latino population.
THIS! Just for another example which i think makes me feel the same way! I have food stamps I shop at Walmart and I use a card to pay for no food items for my household. The cashiers ALWAyS announce to everyone what my remaining balance is which basically says I couldn’t pay the full amount with my first payment so now I use food stamps. I am not ashamed but I do like to have my transactions personal no matter how I pay
The whole entire school system is a joke ! School bullies no religion or pledge of allegiance inequality and teachers don’t want to be there because they have bad kids and don’t get paid enough. I never liked school as a kid but college and trade school was ok as an adult. The teachers were mean to me in elementary and one nice teacher the only lady of color the entire time was the best to me
Watching this is so sad. I’m from the hood and definitely still wasn’t the projects but I saw so many of my friends murdered as teenagers and So many with long prison sentences. The ghetto is no joke and I feel so bad for any kids who have no choice in where they grow up
Which "ghetto" 🤣😂
Ok white girl we believe you 😂😂😂
laylow bitch I’m Chinese
TraRob-EastSide hidden valley in Charlotte I was born in orchard trace lol bitch. The ghetto is disgusting and ratchet why would i claim something so gross for no reason
@@easelminch6887 attention which you are recieving with your incredulous story... im from compton but u dont see me pumping my chest
I grew up in the projects, earned my GED, Associates and Bachelors degrees and have a business today.
Some of these housing project look like a prison without any guard
It was
That was by design
Built just like prisons.
@@joshuawiggan2457 it's called conditioning bro
That's what they are. I'd live in a tent before I ever moved back to the projects
I grew up in Queens bridge and I experienced the most diverse and wonderful childhood in the 50’s and 60’s. There were all races and nationalities that lived in peace.
I think this is why I can relate to anyone today. Wouldn’t trade it for anything. But times have changed, although you can say that about most things.
Then
Yeah listen to this idiot narrator
Sounds horrible compared to small town heartland America..
We were number 8! I absolutely loved growing up in Queensbridge, especially as a kid in the 80s. Wouldn't trade it for the world. Despite all the crack and gun violence, we had tons of resources, and those rappers and NBA players are my friends. :-)
QB '50s-late '60s
41 Side of 12th
Good childhood memories.
PS 111 Day Camp
Silvercup Bread
Queens Plaza
The [Jacob Riis] Center
The 1/2 Moon Ride Tuck
The Pizza Truck .15 then to .25 per slice
The Mr. Softee icecream truck
Twin Pops were for easy sharing
The River Park
The Side Park
The Baby Park
The Queensborough/59th St. Bridge
Learning how QB had changed, was saddening.😔💔
When I was in college in New Orleans I had my car stolen. It was found like 10 months later on a side street next to the Magnolia projects. The city of streets contacted my dad about the "abandoned car". It took like $600 to get it back into working condition. One good thing about it was that I was forced to walk 3 miles to school everyday along St Charles street, a very beautiful street will old style mansions. I have fond memories of those walks.
And you got some good exercise in too.
@SNICKERS Fixed.
Yeap some one who stole it lived there
NEW ORLEANS IS MY HOME YEAH ITS VERY CHOPPY I GREW UP BY THE DESIRE PROJECT IN THE 9TH WARD 😁😁
I'm assuming you went to Tulane or Loyola (I go to Tulane now 😄). I lived in the Magnolia for a few years as a kid in the late '90s, which, by that point, it was light years less violent then just a few years prior. Then we got a nice house by Audubon park when my mom got a better job.
Other than getting great cardio, why didn't you just catch the St. Charles streetcar? Also, which year exactly was this when your car got stolen? I'm always interested in people's experience in NOLA, especially pre-Katrina.
The Cabrini-Green projects was also the unofficial home of the Evans family in 'Good Times'. They never said it's name on the air, but the building was featured in the opening credits, the insinuation being that the Evans lived there. But from what I've seen in this video ,things were hardly 'dyn-o-mite' there!
I grew up there. It was bad but it was home🤷🏾♂️
I lived in the 'Nolia back in '00. Great times but some not so great times as well. Very violent place at times but most of the people were good people having hard times.
@@BIGGHANK269 yup. Different projects same way of living.. good ppl going through the day by day struggle
Ain’t Candyman from there too?
Yes, they were supposed to be the Cabrini-Green projects on the show. The producers did a good job of making the Evans' apartment resemble the actual Cabrini-Green units with the cinder block interiors and red bricks in the hallways.
I lost my marbles when he mentioned the one that has the U turn on the freeway exit 🤣😂🤣
That's East St Louis for ya.
Downtown ESL a tree grows out of the marquis of an abandoned movie theater
I live in Belleville (down the road a piece) and have hit this turn-around before...it's no joke
@@robins.2749 I live in belleville too, in villa hills. Living up the bluff from centreville and bond avenue my whole life has its pros and cons. I also grew up the hill from edgemont on west main. Always sum fun happening lolol
$10000 a week in "pharmaceutical" sales. Awesome euphemism Briggs!
Benny the butcher our of Buffalo claimed 25k a day... Buffalo supposedly has high crime rates
I mean, DXM & codeine are hot on the black market...
I’m sure it was more money than that per week!!
You can check people there most have nice nails, hair, and furniture!
10k a week is KAKA..
Briggs needs to do one on the most dangerous Trailer parks
Money is the root of all evil people will kill for a $1
Cabrini Green was nothing compared to the Robert Taylor homes and the Stateway Gardens projects in the south side of Chicago. I worked in all of these projscts for a total of 18 years as a Paramedic and a Firefighter. from the late 80's to the early 2000's
@Willy RockBags Cabrini Greene residents make it appear Cabrini was the worst out of all of them.
I always knew about Cabrini-Green because of Candy Man
🤣🤣🤣
Everybody forget about "Good Times" was based on the evans family living there.
@@albertpope57 omg never knew that
😂 candyman movies is based and from new Orleans my guy and he lived in the magnolia projects uptown
@@rokylaruex504 get yo shit right and know yo history it is based on the cabrini-green projects the original part of the projects was't torn down until they finished filming the last one in 2019 it still stood for a few years because they where having filming and production problems with the movie because that movie was supose to comme out in 2013...........
Whew, I thought growing up in Piedmont Courts (Charlotte, NC) was rough. Police stopped patrolling for fear of being ambushed by criminals. I made it out and never looked back - not sorry. 🙄
Piedmont Court was definitely on 🔥. It's completely renovated there now.
@@mcleanicstechnology2857 Yes, I’ve heard there’s been a complete change in the area. Long time coming in my opinion.
North east charlotte on old concord rd?
Shut up
Arlington Courts in Dayton OH...lot of fun as a kid it's a field now
Lived in the south Bronx! Lived in the projects on the 15th floor. When the two elevators were broken! Had to do 15 flights with asthma! The summer was brutal!!
No joke. My sister lived in the projects on E156 & Jackson Ave! I've walked them scary ass steps numerous times
I'm sorry
!!!
You absolutely nailed it with Cabrini-Green, it was a horror show, by far more terrifying than the Hollywood film.
“Wanna know why they call a project a project? Because it’s a “project.” - Jay-Z
@Kate Katz Shut your fookin mouth
@Kate Katz exactly! Lazy criminals who made excuses to not make it.
“That’s why it’s called the projects cause it’s exactly that “
You could always get a job and pay rent like everyone else, but easier to blame mean old racists that your free place isn't to your liking.
Yeah, people's environments don't affect them, after all.
The (Pork n Beans Projects) in Miami Should be On This List Trust Me!!!
Word I drove past it..I was like wtf
I was literally looking for this comment! FR! But they're "changing it" into the "NEW Liberty Square"
Yea I used to do roofing in miami n worked with a guy who lived there n he used to make me drop him off out front of the pjs cuz he said if I went in there I could get killed or would immediately be pulled over leaving becuz I m white lol. He used to be forced to carry gun to do a simple task such as walk to the store for juice
@beadsbydez com no, it used to be that bad, way back in the day...the surrounding areas be worse. I used to stay off 61st and 7th, you would always hear about killings but not so many in the beans
edit: still a place where you need to keep a strap on at all times in my honest opinion, but the city changed a lot...hardly recognizable now from what it once was even from like 5 years ago
@beadsbydez com man heck yeah that bad...lol
When I was 6 years old in 1990, I lived in “Greenbriar Apartments” aka “Uzi Alley” to the city of Columbus, Ohio. That place is ingrained in me for life.
@Master Chief Hey Master Chief! Thank you very much for your kindness! I love your name, definitely one of my fav games out there! 🙂
@@kinglistosas5010 Hey there!
And now it's just grass...
Ahh good ol' Uzi alley. Made places like Lincoln park and Rich street look like New Albany lol.
Sorry to hear that
I was not surprised to see Cabrini Green at the top of the list. I visited there in 1994 particularly the Elementary School there because I was studying education in impoverished city locations. I remember being shocked to hear the principal excited that recess had just recently started again because they finally stopped the sniper who had been shooting at people from the top of one of the buildings. I remember thinking wow in all my years of public school that is one thing we never worried about. Was not surprised to hear they started tearing them down given that most of the young children that I spoke with always said if I grow up not when I grow up. Thanks for the video.
Imagine living in a project where they hold tours that’s so humiliating like why
Revise: I’ve also read a comment saying the money gives back to the project housing so that’s good I guess but still😩
Frrrr
They hold tours because it’s historical
It’s a way to bring awareness and generate money to put back into the projects. Nothing wrong with it.
@@fivefiveqt214 LoL what ..
Poverty porn. Some countries hate Americans for going to other countries to stare at/ take pics of impoverished people, yet we are doing in our own country too. Horrible.
Brownsville Projects in Bklyn should've been the worst one!! I grew up there my entire childhood!! The most brutal 💀
Yep..Far worse than Marcy and QB..Shit, Pink Houses too.
I was 13 in Jr.High in Marine Park and a kid in my class asked me if I was down with taking a car to Brownsville to get it chopped. Man I grew up better than a few kids I went to school with.
Pink houses hands dwn is tho
I used to live on hegeman in between the pink houses and cypress house. The gangs used to meet up on linden behind my house, east new york was definitely on a different level than bedstuy.
Marcy Projects area is mad gentrified nowadays. A lot of white people play in the basketball courts in the PJs on Marcy and Flushing. You can even get vegan coffee right across the street and apartments across the street are expensive.
I have never been more Intrigued as I am with with the Cabrini Green. I have even bought many books of first hand statements from former tenents. Just wow. I get chills at some of the true stories...
I went to college in Chicago in the mid 80's. We were all warned, especially by the students who came from the projects to steer clear of them. You could see Cabrini Green from the Ravenswood elevated train. I always wondered where the residents went shopping because there were almost no businesses near the buildings except a few liquor stores.
@ Dave gah dayummm you old 😂😂 (I’m joking)
The only shop that does well and flourish on any projects seems to be the infamous liquor store.
I'm from Cabrini Green. We went shopping where everyone else went shopping.
@@trailersandteasers3421 there are no gun stores in the city
So sad.
Projects got bad when the generations upon generations became grandfathered into the same apartment for decades creating no hope or incentive for upward mobility , and then having a requirement for no father / men coupled with lack of housing funds recipe for disaster
I wonder if anyone was ever held accountable for building these failed projects that were torn down and so many lives affected and money wasted.
It's the people, not the buildings
@J Smith I don't know about other cities, but the story in NYC is pretty interesting. The man responsible for a lot of housing projects was Robert Moses, known today as a virulent racist who planned his projects by flying in a plane over the city rather than visiting the streets. The legislature (democrats, republicans, etc) have NO say in these developments. So we can't blame democrats or any party for this. The power was concentrated in the hands of one man who never had to be elected. This is one of the problems with centralized planning. One of his most outspoken critics was Jane Jacobs. Her first major victory against him in the 50s was when he wanted to build a highway through Washington Square Park but she raised community voices against it. After that, she led several more crusades against super-block developments and slum clearance projects. Eventually, the city reorganized the toll collection system, which took away Moses' revenue stream (he paid for the projects by building bridges and highways and using the toll money). Eventually, his power was chipped away and by the 60s he resigned. Read "The Power Broker" by Robert Caro, a really good book about what he did to the South Bronx and how he got so much power in the first place. It's not a red vs. blue issue, but rather a "how are decisions made" issue. Modern day planners don't have the kind of power Robert Moses did.
@@leanen6424 Sure but I work in a public housing community and those buildings are 80 years old some of them and they were just cheaply built. Yeah you can get someone for poor housekeeping but a lot of it IS the structure.
Nope thanks Democrats
@@leanen6424 absolutely right about that
I lived in project housing in East Tennessee for about 10 years after I moved out of my parents’ house. The first 9 years were great! Everyone was so friendly and wanted to help each other. It was beautiful too. I loved it there. However, that last year was a nightmare. Someone moved in and brought bed bugs. Those nasty little things spread all over the building and even outside to the separate units next door.
I had to move and throw everything away and I mean everything! The only things I kept were a few nice outfits and some important paperwork.
It’s really sad that people who don’t have a lot of income have to live in conditions like those. Most people there were disabled or like I was, just making a small amount of money each month. I was fortunate that I had family to help me move on and find a better home. Most of those people just had to stay and live with the bugs. Sad😔
🙏
My cheap ass motel is like that too. Full of bedbugs.
it only takes one person to ruin things for everyone
Well done video. Makes me feel sorry for the decent people who have to live in places like these.
Outback Igloo some of us didn’t have any choice due to institutional racism of this country.
Right. The buildings always served the same purpose, but people continue to take advantage of them. Innocent people either fall victim to or become influenced by the negative aspects.
Don’t feel bad we alright 😁😁😁Cabrini 4 life💯💯💯
@Ben Dover no they won't. Name one Republican that hasn't helped destroy the Black community.
@Ben Dover MLK wasn't a republican. Ben Carson hasn't did shit for Black people nor has Donald Trump. Even if you wanted to add Trump, you see how far you had to reach for the others? Both Republicans and Democrats are the reason African Americans ended up crowded in places like this.
Cabrini-Green is where the Evens family of "Good Times" (think J.J. Walker) lived...the beginning of each episode even had a shot of these projects...
That’s DYNO-MITE!!!!!
Hola Chika,😂😂😂😅
I’ve read that when public housing projects began their were standards to live there. If you or your family didn’t meet behavior standards you were evicted. Then lawyers got involved... And maintaining standards was illegal. So 90% of residents became at the mercy of the 10% who were criminals.
No. The building standards were garbage. Egress and ingress was given no thought whatsoever so there is an alleyway effect-- you were essentially trapped inside the building once you went in. If a someone chased you up, you were not coming out. You could sell drugs or run a brothel and cops wouldn't be able to catch you because you could duck into any one of the fifty or so apartments that were empty.
Why were they empty? Because living in these apartments was absolutely fucking miserable. They were just not designed well from the ground up. They were improperly ventilated, so cooking smells and just general people smells would build up unless you keep your windows open... which is fine I guess so long as you could get away with not heating or cooling your apartment (surprise surprise, you can't do this in most of the country). They were small. They were ugly.
They were never good and should not be compared with modern, air conditioned, secured, well designed, multifamily housing projects EVER. These old projects were boxes meant to store wage slaves off the streets until the depression was over and they were useful again. And they were built below the minimum standards.
(c ' 3')~♪♬ ♪ ♫ ♬ ..... I’ve lived in military single and family housing. Leaves a lot to be desired. But you and your family had to behave or else
@@Idahoguy10157 I lived in a nice USMC base housing for a few years. Sucked in So-Cal because they had no A/C. However, because of discipline rules the place was not bad at all. The base closed, the property sold to developers who promptly bulldozed the 8-10 year old apartments for brand new super expensive ones.
@@CeaseProduction nonsense, no different from many other apartment buildings. Its not the buildings it the people in them. They have sold some of them that end up becoming decent condo buildings. I lived in projects for 25 years before moving on.
Jimo idk why you people believe there are actually no adult men in the homes. Just because they don’t tell government officials men are around does not mean the men aren’t there 😂. It’s unfortunate that ppl feel the need to lie to get by but that’s what’s really happening.
I painted the interior of the Cabrini Greene apartments with a rich church group out of Lake Forest. The stories the residents told were unbelievable. But in early 200’s, I lived down the street in Roscoe Village. I was told the reason it took so long for the buildings to be removed was because of the rat infestation. The city was worried all the rats would run into the new homes
@muzikmichael6130they loose their limbs to rat traps?
By rats you mean black people right?
Yeah the city started releasing cats from the animal shelters to stop the rat problem.
I have a friend that lives in the Queensbridge projects. A few weeks back, the tenants in the apartment below his were murdered, and the apartment was torched. He had to go to the hospital for smoke inhalation. The evidence gathered point to a drug deal gone bad.
Wow I didn’t hear about that 😢😢😢
That's horrible 😔
Sounds like a great place to live. 😶
Why I quit being a visiting nurse. They’d be eyeing my bag like I had narcs in it.
Must have been black people
I lived in some Miami projects during my childhood years; it was an experience that made me wiser far too early and naturally suspicious of people and their intentions. Even thou I’ve been (thankfully) living a middle class life for my adult life- I still lock/bolt my door immediately upon entry and always make sure to have keys in hand when I exit a building. It’s too ingrained in me.
👀
Sorry to hear that. If I ever lived in projects I'd need therapy and a shotgun
Write a book
Idk why he didn’t do Miami! Pork n beans
I immigrated to the U.S. when I was a year old. Being dirt-poor we lived in some of NYC’s most infamous projects and neighborhoods of the 70s and 80s- Kelly St in the Bronx, Brownsville East NY, Bed-Stuy….
I was lucky to have escaped and like you have lived a comfortable middle class life in the suburbs for over 30 years now.
Like you I suffer a mild form of PTSD from the experience. Wary of strangers, door gets locked immediately, avoid going out after dark. Is there a support group for this? LOL!
The pink houses in East New York Brooklyn are even worse than Marcy. The Bronx also has some of the worst projects in New York such as the Bronx River and edenwald houses
Hell far rock away too
Highbridge projects in the Bronx the most dangerous place in the city after dark
put Starett city in Brownsville on the list too. Real crime ridden shitholes!
Timothy Elbing Starett City is East New York but you could put the whole Brownsville up there tbh 😂 Starett City isn’t that bad
@@latayiahicks2924 I used to live around the Far Rockaway projects. Red Fern I believe was the name. Area was rough. I was pulled over almost every day
I feel so bad for the babies and the young innocent kids that are subjected to this trauma on a daily basis.
"The good news is ... just kidding, there is no good news about this place" LMAO.
you probably don't even know what its like to live in the projects
@@citiesskylinelover801 I can imagine: scared all the time, bolt the door, shotgun with you at all times, it's run down.
Fun fact about Cabrini Green, they had to implode it because the wrecking ball couldn't knock it down.
That is a terrifying thought !
Could have been used as detention homes or prisons, just add perimeter fencing, Barbed Wire, of course! It was in some plans to do just that during the Civil Rights era of riots and assassinations of Vocal black men.
**trigger warning**violence against children***
I grew up in Chicago and I remember the story about the 5 yo boy who was killed by 2 other kids at Cabrini green. They threw him out the window of an empty apartment. Everyone was so shocked and sad. It was really a horrible crime. The kids who did it were really young 2, like 10 or 11.
That's horrible. Did they get life? Tried as adults?
Maybe u right, but ik for a fact da same exact story happened further south, lowend off 39th in Darrow Homes. The boys jus recently got out not to long ago i think. Evn had a movie called ‘Our America’ based on it and it may still b on UA-cam.
@@Munkeishia1nOnly No, they became members of Congress.....
@@williammorse8330 🙄😒 ... oh yea?? Representative of your House?
@@Munkeishia1nOnly No, back in that period they were sent to jail, and as they grew older they would graduate to age and crime-appropriate facilities. And it effectively caused the youngsters to re-commit and be recharged and spent lots of years imprisoned. Should be out now if they survived.
Cabrini-Green in Chicago was also the setting for the TV sitcom GOOD TIMES!
My dad told me that when my grandmother divorced my grandfather (back in the 1960s), she had no choice but to move into the Seattle projects. From the way my dad told it, the Seattle projects were segregated at the time.
Yestler terrace?
I grew up in the Nickerson Gardens and the 90s was no joke. All of south LA and Compton was war zone and still is. I now live in Texas.
hi terry did the Williams tennis sisters come from tr is d gt Tiger Woods fron part L. A.? Brian ireland Tk Care
Yup! My people still there and its getting bad again.. I had to move. im in Arizona now trying to get my mom here..
@@loretta5330 I’m praying for your success with getting your mom that’s beautiful!!
And ?
YALL dramatic AF. I've been in this neighborhood all my life. I'm in my 40's now. HELL YEAH...The 80' and 90's WAS bad, but it has calmed down alot in comparison and you can actually walk in Magic Johnsons park or go to the liquor store on Central and 120th without fear of getting shot. If anything is getting bad now, starting to see Meth heads are popping up now, replacing the crackheads walking around the 80s.. and at least the crackheads wouldnt steal our trash cans 😭 Not even alot of homeless in comparison to going down Avalon and Main street pass Rosecrans tho one encampment tried to spring up behind the church on Stanford and 118th. Theres always been those by the freeway entrance on Central, but they mostly harmless and Just be out collecting plastic and cans.
Matter of fact, San Bernardino is probably worse than South Central right now
I’m surprised Brownsville Brooklyn isn’t up here
Or E. NY, Brkln...
The BrownsvilleComplex (Brownsville, Tilden, Van Dyke, & Langston Hughes) is BY FAR the worst in NYC.
@@BB-uc3mv that whole area. Seth Low, Howard, Marcus Garvey Village all that shit is bad
Pink houses
4 corners of death. Only the real Brooklynites know about this
The mention of Techwood Homes in Atlanta was a somewhat troublesome area. After all, it was the first housing of its type built in the United States to help those who were having a hard time with their families. Over the years problems did occur when the prior ones found better housing and there were others who moved into apartments that became run down because the city didn't keep them up as they should. There were a few other projects that were closed and leveled due to the 1996 Olympics coming to town and that was a means to beautify the city. Even when some of the buildings in the Techwood area were torn down, a nice dormitory where most of the Olympian Athletes were housed. At least two others were torn down and most of the residents were pushed to the front of the line to get the first chance at housing outside the city's boundaries to help it look much better. One of which I serviced on a beer route was Perry Homes. It was known as one of the top dangerous projects in the area. It had a grocery store and a package store just across the street from the front of the project. On delivery days the acholic beverage companies had their delivery men meet at one of the stores in the early morning and service it. A policeman would be there to watch over us and our trucks while we were servicing the store. We would stay together and move as a group to the other location so we would have police protection. Several times when a beer delivery man was there making a delivery alone he was pulling the order off one side of his truck while beer was being taken off the other. A guy came up to me and said to stay still, "was my life worth more than a few cases of beer being taken of the other side"?...... And yes, the vast majority of the project's residents were nice people. That was the only place they had to live. The sad thing is people learn to fear the unknown and with any above average crime report, people don't want to take a chance.
If Cabrini-Green is not on this list it’s not accurate! To be able to see it was insanity! I grew up in the Chicago area and in the 80’s Cabrini-Green was on the news every night, I used to have nightmares about it as a kid.
Ding ding ding
I still get chills just hearing the name
Also a reminder that Cabrini Green was the backdrop for "Good Times"
My wife grew up in Cabrini Green. Shame what happened to it.
@@theonlykog agreed. sad but shit happens when there's a high level of poor and crime
@@0fficialdregs totally me when the level of poor drops
Candyman is what got me interested in researching Cabrini green. Very sad what these city officials allow to happen. Good ppl get screwed every time.
@@loc8203 agreed and even now, good people are getting screwed. closing schools only make the problem worse
I lived in three housing projects in Chicago. I had to watch this video to see if the Robert Taylor Homes or Cabrini-Greens made the list. I wondered if there could be ten housing projects in the United States that could be considered worse. I was not disappointed.
I experienced living at the Dearborn Homes 27th State Street. Stateway Garden 39th Federal Street, Robert Taylor Homes 22nd Street and Ida B. Wells Homes 36th East of King Drive..... The experiences was horrific but that was my experiences at that time (1990-1995.) None of the buildings exist today and I reside at a $275K condo today however we all still struggle on some level or another. I'm soo grateful that lifestyle is a far in distance memory of my past.
I had friends who lived and all those projects and I visited with other friends who had relatives there. It was not as bad in the seventies, but Chicago was not as bad in the seventies. Good that you were able to get out. Chicago has changed drastically since the loss of industry jobs and unskilled labor jobs and the crack epidemic.
I stayed in the projects in Chicago called Harold Icke's home for 20 yrs. Although I've been a Legal Secretary and Admin Asst for 30+ yrs. and a trained and certified Boy Scouts cubmaster of the Chicago area council. I had no choice as a divorcee with 4 children and a ward of the state of Kentucky had no family support. So I decided to assist as many youth with instilling work ethics from my own professional experiences for an example.
My dude Lavelle came from there. He shows me wild videos all the time
Bless you for your accomplishments, fellow Kentuckian. You are the essence of the Unbridled Spirit.
God gave you purpose. Blessings.
Cermack and State
I almost called them "Chinatown Projects" lol when i was little
Our family, headed by my single working mom, moved into a housing project around 1970. I graduated college in 1980. My younger brother graduated in 1990. He was the last college graduate from my housing project. Project is still there, 31 years later. A measure of success is not your education level, but whether you are still living on public assistance. Some of my neighbors have made it out and are successful in life. Others have formed a third or fourth generation still on government assistance. No major violence to speak of, but property crimes and drug use are still rampant there.
Loved your comment and story; keyword is assistance. I had section 8, took me 7 years to go back to school while working full-time and raising two kids but once section 8 only paid $12 of my rent and my portion was $1200; I knew it had served its purpose and I gave it up. I grew up very poor, didn't even have a bedroom slept in the living room. I wanted my kids to have better. See better and do better.
Ok story, but the subject is not about getting out, more so about trying to survive while staying there.
@@pa1060 I agree. But ultimately the way to survive is to get out, which we finally managed after 10 years. I feel for the kids nowadays, opportunities are fewer and far between.
@@redrust3 I respect your opinion. But kids have it better than we ever did and I am a 80's baby. My kids have never had it so good. So good I think we fucked them up. Nothing like me or there dad.
@@redrust3 Bail reform
I was born & raised in Chicago. When I first started driving, my parents would warn me that one intersection that we never stop at was the intersection of Division & Halsted. (Cabrini Green)
I was born & raised in Chicago too, loved my home town! Cabrini Green had such a bad reputation - it was said that even the cops were scared to go there. It's always fascinated me though, wish I had gotten a chance to go there before it got torn down.
NOT TO MENTION ROBERT TAYLOR PROJECTS ALONGTHE DAN RYAN I KNOW THIS AND I AM NOT FROM OR EVER LIVED IN CHICAGO.
TO COME UP TO DATE, THE ROBERT TAYLOR PROJECTS HAVE BEEN TORN DOWN.
@@cjreynolds3013 been there and scariest neighborhood I've ever seen
The only projects left that they changed up as far as residents is the hillans and the state way gardens and the Dearborn’s !
I live in Queens bridge 🌉 houses today, been here since 2003, when I first moved in I was very upset coming here, but throughout the years thank God it has gotten better and better each year , today 2022 I must say a big change for the better. Ever since they started renovations on Queens Borough Plaza, it trickled down to the Projects. Major improvements to Queens Bridge 🌆🌉🌆 Houses, more police presence, and Drug dealers evicted out of there. It's not the best by any means but it's not bad living here either.
I believe Cabrini Green was where "Good Times" was supposed to be set.
Yes
Exactly!
@CHICANO’S WITH DANK HaHaHa!
@CHICANO’S WITH DANKno, actually I meant the 1970's television sitcom named "Good Times". It was about a black family who lived in Chicago's housing projects, and was one of Norman Lear's spinoff shows originating from the "All in the Family". Although I suspect you knew that and were just attempting to be clever.
I felt bad for that family, they were nice but they lived in a horrible rat infested building
The problem isn't the buildings. It's the occupants.
The building isn't mugging a resident on their way home.
If you put the same residents in the most expensive development in Manhattan, you'd still get the same outcome.
Yup
Exactly!
Some of them probably don’t have money to eat that’s why they live there
The people who live in the projects are some of the nicest people with the biggest hearts in the world. My grandpa used to tell me that there was a time long ago before money existed, there was no rich or poor. We were judged by our character not by our bank account.
I had a boyfriend long ago who was embarrassed to tell me where he lived but eventually he told me. It was some projects in LA county, people there were great, even the ones who looked a little rough around the edges.
I grew up in a wealthy family, and believe it or not, everyone I know also judges people on their character, not their bank account.
This story from my brother. There was a convenience store in Dallas right across the street from a project. After an armed robbery, the owner told the police "Hurry! They ran straight across the street into the apartment building. If you go there now you might catch them." The senior police officer there looked at the convenience store's owner like he was insane, and exclaimed: "I'm not going in THERE!"
You had me at "Homicide Olympics".
That cracked me up too😂
I lived in the projects before joining the military. Never looked back. Worst time of my life.
Why tell me about it.. I'm curious
@@crusaderkiller5816 Long story, my mom stole my college money and forced me to drop out. Then she took 75% of my work money for "bills", though I barely could hold a job because we moved literally every year. Ended up in a section 8 building with her, now stuck in the projects. No job, no education, you know the stereotype; and worst is, it wasn't my fault. My mom was even doing everything in her power to discourage me from joining the military. She was trying to keep me stuck like her.
In the end I finally escaped her and joined the Marine Corp. I made enough money to repay my college debts and graduate college. I also since cut my mom completely from my life.
Sorry if it's a bit off topic. Reason why the projects in particular was so bad because it felt like my mom was trying to stear my life into being like...hers. Living in bad neighborhoods and such, stuck in poverty, etc. And I done everything in my power to avoid it. Seeing my inevitable fate to be stuck in poverty staring me down everyday was a nightmare. Bloods on the stoop outside the entrace, the building full of addicts, it was too much. I didn't want THIS to be my future. Honestly, if the military thing didn't work out I planned to kill myself.
So you mean to tell me they didn’t know if they put a bunch of struggling people together it would be a nightmare.😂
It was designed to keep us in poverty for generations!!!! Separating families keeping our men detached from their kids ( mainly for blk single mother families). Its sad how this gov targets blk families until the women feel they dont need a man for shit!!! Uncle sam gone give me housing, stamps etc what do i need my kids fathers for? Then their daughters go up wit that same fucked up mentality....it never stops!!! Devaluing blk men in a whole.
Right 👍
@@MidWestNikki1 keep voting democrat
@Wiltrina Johnson Oh I will. 100% DEMONrats are the most racist group in existence.
I knew Cabrini green was finished when Candyman showed up. 👀🤨😄
I live in a town in the outskirts of Barcelona, in Barcelona’s Iron Belt, and there have been several housing projects like this through history. Now, those once depressed neighbourhoods are thriving communities full of everyday life and small and local commerces. I personally think that, if well managed, this kind of public housing projects are not a bad thing for cities (its layout even encourages walking around). The problem comes when this is a solution only taken to house the poorest of the poorest; this developments should be incorporated to the city network.
In Toronto there is a large housing project close to the city center. Several years ago they started taking them down and replacing them with high rise condos. There was supposed to be incentives for the project occupants and various income levels in the new buildings. I have been told that there are very few of the previous tenants living in those new buildings but I haven't seen them for myself.
@@peggypeggy4137 Torontos land is worth so much that there’s no way the previous tenants are able to afford living in those new condos.
The fact that there are “walking tours” of Queensbridge is a testament to how much safer Queensbridge has become. Also, some the greatest views of the Manhattan skyline are just a block away. I lived in that neighborhood back in the late 90s-early 00s, it’s mellowed out quite a bit.
Some of the greatest rappers ever came out of Queens Bridge 💯
NAS. Capone n Noreaga. Craig G. Marley Marl. MC Shan.
That neighborhood is so different now. Was there a couple years ago.
I stopped watching when he said Marcy was on the list they’re not even in the top 10 worse pjs in NYC lol respectfully
Ik...Not when you have Pink Houses,Tilden,Garvey,Etc..
I was waiting for Brownsville or cypress something !
@NYC/lyricists Bkborn facts
You right.. Fort Greene worse than Marcy Tompkins Sumner and Roosevelt
@@elliot2177 agree Marcy isn't as bad... Pink houses are worse
I’m originally from the Bronx and other than the Chicago ones the other ones made me laugh so hard. You could’ve stayed in New York for all 10 of these lol Love your videos and thanks for sharing.
I'm from Illinois and know people from Cabrini and Taylor Homes. You could probably pick a top 10 just with Chicago projects. But Pruitt Igoe belongs on here too.
The one in the Cabrini Green project about a 9 year old girl being abducted in 1981 and never heard from again was particularly upsetting. 😢
So sad 😭 I’m sorry for your loss
I heard one of a poor little girl around the same age that was raped murdered then spray painted on and left in one of the elevators there
@nathj4818 She was called Girl X, and it was roach spray down her throat, and she didn't pass at the time. She may still be here my best friend was in Schawb rehabilitation when she was .
Should add the Liberty Square (pork n beans projects) in Miami
Yea it’s always on the First 48 Hours A&E
@@LLJR I grew up a few blocks from it
@@MiamiCocaine I only heard of it from watching the First 48 at least 6 or 7 killings. I have a sister-in-law who lives in the Knickerson Gardens in Watts I hated visiting her
So you're telling me that someone out there is getting paid to take people on tours through the projects? 😅 Imagine, instead of taking your family on a nice trip to the zoo. You decide to spend your day roaming the projects.
History tells us and gives us insight into how some of our kinfolks endured American Apartheid, segregation, and inequities pervasive to America. The rebel flags and statues will be going into museums for preservation while the written word, books, and laws are being swept under the rugs of white institutions, to be like raised buildings of yesteryear, out of sight, out of mind. It is being scuttled into oblivion by erasing its existence in the face of CRT misinformation. South Africa did the same thing relating to restoring black Africans land stolen by colonists at gunpoint in the Africans own nations. Migration from the south was as historic as any social reform there has ever been. Some don't want us to vote, to work for livable wages, to own shops, and businesses, to be competitive. Some want us on the streets homeless, dragging our knuckles on the ground. Racist people live in America in very large numbers doing tours through projects and olde plantations now changed but still in existence. In America.
Way more education than the zoo
It’s amazing that it took almost 30 years to tear down the Cabrini-Green projects, probably because even the demo crews were afraid to enter!
some of it is even still up
Lol 😂 lmao
@@garrettgrishaber The initial row houses are still there. The high-rises have all been demolished though.
As a Chicagoan who grew up on the north side even though I was born during the demolishing of Cabrini greens I grew up hearing about the horror stories of the projects
I wonder if one of those Chicago high rises they show ed was the one that " Good Times " was produced at ?
I work in Chicago and the east coast at least once a year. Being from California I didn’t understand the size of the projects in Chicago and the east coast. In California, projects are mostly two-story apartment complexes. Seeing row after row of 10-plus story projects really gave me some perspective. I’ve spent time in St Louis and East St Louis too and its a totally different vibe there.
U should see nyc projects they be 14 row building 21 floors in the bronx
I once had to fly to Chicago for work with my boss in his private plane to hit the Food Show at McCormick Place. We flew into the infamous Meg’s Field airport. I didn’t know how dangerous this airport was at the time of my flight, all the locals know what about… As we flew into Chicago, I noticed these high rises and it looked familiar to me right away. I remember when I saw the high rises, it hit me like a brick… It was the movie location for “Candy Man”… I remembered them to be these huge high rises with some windows missing and they had plywood covering up the missing windows. I thought they were abandoned till I saw people on the walkways of the buildings and at the base of the buildings… They looked exactly like they did in the movie Candy Man. This is one time that the Hollywood folks didn’t have to create a scary set, this place was a shit hole… I’m not sure how many buildings there were but I recall there being what looked like a 8’ chain link fence around the property as if to keep the people in… Super creepy…
Candy man was based off of Cabrini Green which is in Chicago so that’s probably what you saw
Chile bye
hey briggs,
I received my first laptop, a gateway laptop, in 2008 when Cabrini Greens debuted on the show, gangland.
Even though i'm from chicago, I do not condone the violence or the intentional building of projects with little jobs around. those are always a recipe for disasters.
People need to mine their business living in public housing. Be great full for your apartment and STOP peeing and spiting in the elevator. NYCHA clean the elevators with Clorax everyday. Do the cameras work in the elevators? 😢😮
Mostly gentrification now most of the roughest projects have been torn down across USA.
Calvin Peters Lol I hope that’s sarcasm. If not it doesn’t matter where they go it’s gonna be a violent sheet hole
Good "name" ya gots! Yes, it is Capitalism vs. Everybody. I just love it!
@Calvin Peters There is not much gentrification in Africa. Try living there for a year even as a black person and see how you get treated.
@Calvin Peters Agree!
EXACTLY New Orleans has none now which is good but at the same time now everything is for tourist and no one can afford rent to even stay off the street.
Born and raised in Marcy projects and my grandma lived there for three decades 🔥 😭and I can definitely tell you it’s not as bad as everyone thinks 😭😭
Tilden need to be on there forget Marcy. And Brownsville. That whole side but the people that care aren’t bad people.
My parents and I lived there too for 17 years and I’ve seen worse else where! 😂
It was definitely worse late 80's early 90's
that's actually true. I lived in Red Hook projects
I mean you grew up in the trenches so you’re used to the dangers of the projects. Now if step outside and see how most americans live(big ass house, big drive way, nice and clean neighborhood) living in the projects is not how an american should be living but what can we do ?
I had to come here to see if Cabrini Green made the list. Chicago representing!
You must be proud.
Candyman, candyman, candyman ;)
Lol number uno
Aww you beat me to it.
I grew up there in the 70's & 80's
Maybe people who freely admit that they have zero desire to live within the law, maintain a job and give up crime should be kept in prison
Here's a problem When they closed the public housing projects down in Chicago you know you have to relocate the people somewhere. Hey hard to believe but many where relocated just down the Adams tollway to Rockford, IL. Rockford went from a peacefully nice place to live to one of the most dangerous cities in America.
The same thing is happening in DeKalb too. University village is supposedly now the largest housing project in Illinois after the Robert Taylor homes and Cabrini Greene were torn down. DeKalb in general but the NIU campus area specifically has gone from maybe a hand full of violent crimes per year too at least one per week and it seems to be getting worse at an exponential pace.
@james harm when they tore down the chicago projects the people that lived there looked for cheap rent like Rockford, Cal City, Markham, and wherever else, gangs and violence was chopped.
I used to live outside of and work in Rockford. Real shame they allowed all the aholes in from Chicago. Please, just drown them in Lake Michigan and never let them leave Shitcago. IL BUILD A WALL AROUND CHICAGO NOW!!!! Let them elect their own corrupt politicians and leave the rest of IL alone.
That’s what Joe Biden wants to do to the suburbs by placing section 8 and low income high rises in those areas. It’s what Obama wanted to do with HUD in late 2015. Check out what they did to Rochester NY for example. If Biden wins the suburbs will be destroyed
They relocated many to Danville Illinois too
I'm from the south suburbs of Chicago. I remember the first time I went to the Robert Taylor homes to visit my aunt and cousins. I thought it was so cool with the big buildings. I honestly thought rich people lived there. I was 5 years old 😂
I grew up in Queensbridge Projects. I'm 74 years old.
🧢
Lies
@@NickyNicest I'm 74 years old and I grew up in Queensbridge. True.
You grew up by queens Blvd?
@@ty1279 21st Street and 40th Avenue. 40-08 12th Street. A short distance from Queens Plaza which is where Queens Boulevard starts.
I'm from Chicago. I've never lived in any of those projects but I have friends who did.
I watched both of them among the others be demolished. My grandmother lived right across the expressway from Robert Taylor and violence was a way of life and people were immune to what happened there. I stayed away as much as possible.
If you had a car, you didn't even want to drop residents of over there really. Now most of them are either complete grass or gentrified apartments.
On part of Robert Taylor they have opened a tennis complex... I'm sure residents would've never imagined that. Lol
I am life long Chicago resident. I believe that the South Side will be gentrafied. Too much new construstion down that way. The Powers to be displaced a lot of people to the suburbs. To Clear the books. I know Police officers who will not get involved in the Ghetto crimes simply, They do not want charges brought against them and thierin thier Job and Pensions lost. My uncle was a officer in the Shakesspear districk. I quote, The worst thing the city did was take shotguns away from the police. When you cock a shotgun everyone from any where realizes opps I f#*ed up freeze. Yes there are tennis courts. If we as a city can not educate these young people where will they learn to play tennis? The spillover is in Indiana rents were low there and realitivaty quiet. Now Insane! This Black on Black racism. Divide and conquer. The South And West sides of Chicago will be gentrafied a body at a time. Terribly Sad. I am white and had a wonderful day on Father's day in a friends back yard Barbqueing in Englewood. Peaceful. My frind said Kev it's getting dark. When the sun goes down the guns come up. As a Chicagoan this really burns me up. God Bless anyone who gets out of poverty!
Cabrini green ouch..!!!!! All I can think about was the eerie music from the candy man movie ....!!!!!!!!!
✋😂
I lived in the Robert Taylor projects in the 80's. Back then I remember them being scary, smelly, and dirty. My mom decided to move our family to Colorado Springs after a man's brains were blown out in front of our building. We eventually moved back to Chicago and ended up getting a house but I continued to hang out in the same projects as a teen. Again, it was scary, and dirty but it was fun because there was always parties going on and everyone was so close with one another. There were still a lot of scary moments and I had nightmares for years about getting randomly shot while hanging out there from the gang wars with rivals from other buildings.
@Rebekah T the funny thing is I lived in the Robert Taylor as a kid and my OG moved us to Colorado Springs as well lol
I wasn't far from u....I was in Washington park homes....4447 s Evans st.....it's an empty lot now
"the homicide Olympics"
why you doing us like that haha
I used to live in Cabrini! We were there for 2 years until we moved to the south side 82nd and Troop. It was some tough times back then. I’m glad we made it out. I wonder about some of my old friends. I know a few died gang banging but most ended up lifers in prison. I always stay humble due to my upbringing as a kid. I will always love Chicago! ❤️🙏🏾