Patronage in the 90s. “During the six months he worked for CAPS [Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy] in 1997, [Roderick] Smith said, he was forced to do public relations when he preferred helping residents solve problems,” writes Alysia Tate in the Chicago Reporter (February). “He said he tried to spend his time with block clubs and did help create a video that taught residents how to get rid of rats. Smith said his police supervisors never gave him direction–except when he was told to dress up as McGruff the Crime Dog to appear with Mayor Richard M. Daley at a neighborhood festival that summer.”
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Back to the drawing board. The March issue of Pediatrics reports on a study in which 109 sixth- and eighth-grade girls were given Baby Think It Over (BTIO), a computerized doll that simulates an infant in order to make kids realize that having a baby is a lot of work. Before they cared for the BTIO, 13 of the 109 students wanted to become teen parents. Afterward, 16 did.
I’ve always wanted to meet this person. According to the Chicago Title Insurance Company’s February publication “Who’s Buying Homes in the Chicago Metropolitan Area 1999,” “The average first-time buyer in Chicago is 31.1 years old, makes $60,700 per year, has an average family size of 2.7 and saved 2.3 years for the first down payment on a home. After taking 4.9 months to look at 12.1 homes…”
