Pullman Residents Hope Monument Status will Keep Neighborhood Safe

An informal March survey shows residents the Pullman neighborhood on Chicago’s far South Side feel safe and major crime is not one of their concerns.

Pullman, which was in the national spotlight last month when it was designated a national monument, drawing a visit from President Barack Obama, experienced only five violent crimes — battery and assault — and 19 property crimes, between Feb. 6 and March 8, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Resident Sakenna Jones, who moved to Pullman last July, after being pressured by her mother and daughter, says she feels safe in her neighborhood.

“In the summertime it’s wonderful,” Jones said. You can leave your screen door open.” Jones added that her neighbors even leave their bikes unattended.

Jones said other perks of living in Pullman are reasonable rental rates and her landlord does not discriminate against racial minorities.

Jones was one of the several Pullman residents interviewed in the March 10 survey, which showed residents feel safe because the neighborhood is very quiet and most of the people who live there are retired.

Pullman stands in stark contrast to the nearby Roseland neighborhood, which, according to the Chicago Tribune, had 52 violent crimes, including three homicides and a sexual assault, and 94 property crimes, over the same February — March time period.

Some Pullman residents pointed to Roseland and said they often see that area’s problems on the news and are concerned the crime will spread to their neighborhood.

James Trotter, who doesn’t live in Pullman but works in the neighborhood at his business — Pullman Motor Stables, said crime “is significantly going up,” and houses have been broken into.

But residents are hopeful that the national monument designation will create jobs and increase property values, keeping their neighborhood safe.

Quincy Dyer, operations manager at Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy in Pullman, said he does not live in the area and has not witnessed crime but said the school would benefit from being near the national monument.

Trotter said more young people should take the time to learn more about Pullman’s rich and diverse history, which includes being the site of a major labor strike in 1894 that left six people dead but only two years later being named “The World’s most Perfect Town,” at the International Hygienic and Pharmaceutical Exposition, held in Prague

“There’s a generation gap,” Trotter said. “[Youths] don’t know anything about my generation.”

Trotter said his grandchildren once asked him if he had been a slave.

“No,” Trotter responded, “but I work like one.”