Only "24 Homeless" in Downtown Chicago?

If the City of Chicago can do such a poor job of miscounting the homeless people right outside the doors of City Hall, how are we to trust the recently released Chicago crime rates report?

The Sun-Times got it right when they started the story with this statement:

This may come as a shock to commuters who see panhandlers on every Loop corner, but a city census of people living on the street in the downtown area has produced a surprisingly low number: 24.

Yes, it is a shock. The man seen here (top left) is a homeless man that I photographed last fall at Clark and Division, which is considered to be part of "downtown." And it's a shock that Mayor Daley & Co. believe that you and I are complete ignoramuses. Now, come on, folks. This is simply not believable. Only 24? Is this for the benefit of the Olympics Committee? Or to fool those of us who live in Chicago?

The woman here (left) was sitting on N. Michigan Avenue, across from the John Hancock Center. This is "downtown." She is homeless. Are she and the man above one sixth of all of Mayor Daley's downtown homeless people? Keep in mind that this is still north of the Loop.

The Sun-Times article went on to say that the "downtown count was released on the same day Mayor Daley claimed homelessness across the city was down 12 percent -- from 6,715 in January 2005 to 5,922 at the same time this year -- marking progress in his 10-year Plan to End Homelessness."

So, of the 5,922 homeless folks that Daley admits to being in town now, there are only two dozen are habitues of "downtown?" How is Mayor Daley defining "downtown?" Perhaps he only considers the two-block radius from City Hall as "downtown." None of us do.

But let's suppose, for the sake of discussion, that there really are only 24 homeless people living in "downtown" Chicago. It begs the question: So what? There are still at least 5,922 that Daley admits are here, and it does not change the fact that every neighborhood (even the Gold Coast) has its share of homeless folks.

In the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago, you can walk along Sheridan Road (left) from Devon north to Touhy in Alderman Moore's 49th Ward, and the odds are that you'll see at least two or three homeless people. The homeless man on W. Devon (right) is napping in Alderman Stone's 50th Ward.

Loyola Beach (below left) often looks like a summer camp for homeless people, with at least a dozen hanging around at any point in time during warm weather.
When the Sun-Times called Rogers Park the "Venice Beach of Chicago" a few months ago, they may actually have been more correct than they intended in at least one way: Venice Beach, California has a lot of homeless people. So does Rogers Park. So does all of Chicago. To try two sweep the issue under the rug by callously fudging the numbers is a shameful act by a shameful (yet shameless) Daley Administration.