Hello Everyone, This is Charles McShan Real Estate Broker with Century 21 Universal. This Blog is entitled ” The Coronavirus effect in my West Ridge Chicago Neighborhood ” My office is located at 7300 N.Western Ave Suite I Chicago Ill 60645. My local areas are the 60645,60659 zipcodes of the city of Chicago. These 2 zip codes compose the West Ridge area. Normally the month of April concludes the Chicago Blackhawk and the Chicago Bull’s season. Baseball would now dominate the Sport’s headlines but the Cubs Wrigley Field and the White Sox Guaranteed Rate Field are silent, empty. The Parks are close, all major activities are restricted. Everything in Chicago and for that matter, the world is shut down Yes, we are still in the grip of the Coronavirus pandemic.
The Corona Virus and It’s Effect on the West Ridge area Of Chicago
Locally when you read/listen to the news lately my neighborhood of West Ridge was making headlines all for the wrong reasons. What was one of the headlines? Check out this news article? >http://loyolaphoenix.com/2020/04/neighborhood-adjacent-to-rogers-park-reports-second-highest-number-of-COVID-19-cases-in-chicago/
Yes even though this headline was over 2 weeks ago the effects still linger The West Ridge area in which the 60645/60659 zip codes are located had led the State of Illinois with the most Coronavirus cases. Today this virus is still active and many of our ones are passing away each and every day. Many of our elderly ones inside nursery homes are fighting for their lives. This is not only a West Ridge area but globally. But locally I see the effects of this virus and the impact it is doing to the residents living in the West Ridge/ Rogers Park area.
In West Ridge, the majority of non-essential businesses are still closed. Everyday life has changed. The people outside move about with a sense of urgency. Devon ave the main east-west thoroughfare through the West Ridge /Rogers Park area has a lighter volume of automobile traffic. The CTA buses are almost empty, taxicabs fleet are parked in their garage, and Uber and Lyft rides are few. Everyone is feeling the effects of the lockdown. Few people are making money and the majority are started to feel the physical and mental effects of not working and being able to go outside and live a normal life. The inhabitants of the West Ridge/Rogers Park populations are diverse and we come from all over the world. Together we are all trying to keep our mental sanity as we go into month 2 of the government-mandated order to stay at home.
Once again this is not a local issue this is global. Now globally there might be only a few people alive today who survived the Spanish Flu of 1918. The majority of mankind living on Earth today have not been in a situation where they can’t go to work, go out to associate with their friends/relatives, visit their sick love ones, or to even come together as a group to bury their dead. This is indeed darkness. But where there is darkness there can also be found light.
How Can We Protect Ourselves From Being Infected!
The coronavirus came out of the darkness and attacked the world swiftly. Just like any virus, it will take time to come up with a vaccination. Forget the quack theories circulating out there. We will be dealing with this virus when the temperatures are in the nineties. There are people out there who say the virus does not like hot weather and the virus will soon die. Obliviously they are not looking at youtube. It is hot in Africa, Iran, and Irag, the Orient, India, and if you monitor youtube these are hot climate areas and the virus is there striving and infecting people in hot weather.
In reality, being up close and personals with friends, relatives, and business associates will not occur too much this summer and maybe not for the rest of the year. To drop our guard down could be deadly. There was an old sung entitled “Hot fun in the summertime” Well this year it will be hot outside but we must keep our cool and maintain our social distance. Do you say you want to party? well after partying, you might bring that virus back to your home. Remember young ones, you must take care of the elderly ones who took care of you and raised you. They sacrificed for you in return can you do it for them. Stay away from the crowds. If you have to associate maintain a distance of 6 feet.
As I write this, 2 people I know have died, I was just told that a young lady in my insurance company has just died a few minutes ago and I know others who are putting up the fight for there life. A lot of us older ones have underlying medical conditions so we must constantly be on guard. How many of us will be alive to welcome in the year 2021 we do not know. This is a virus is causing pain and misery and death everywhere. This virus is no joke please take it seriously especially you young ones.
Rest assured in the future a vaccination is coming but that vaccination will not be able to give us what we have lost. Past tragedies have left their scars on mankind and this will be no exception. When that vaccination occurs we will then move into the new normal. What will that new normal look like? Who knows, when we will get there we will deal with it, and we will live through the moment with the progress and the setbacks that will occur each day.
When you sum it all up, we are trying to survive an invasion from an invisible enemy. This enemy does not respect race, age, creed, color, or religion. the virus is also infecting wild and domestic animals. Coronavirus does not care. You must stay on your guard. Once we get past the curve, we must guard against secondary infections. We in the West Ridge/Rogers Park area are a tough group of people. We battle for ourselves and our families. We all pray that we can make it to the other side and deal with the new normal.
In Conclusion, this post was not about Real Estate but I will say this. Virus or no virus some people out there were planning to move this year and their plans can not be changed. If you are one of those individuals we as Professionals Realtors are here to serve you Now! If you choose to wait we will be here when you are ready. All of my contact information is below. For now, stay safe, enjoy the upcoming warm weather, maintain your social distance. May God be with you and your family. Take care
Charles McShan
312 914 3678
Website https://www.charlesmcshanchicagolandrealtor.com
Facebook business page http://www.facebook.com/charlesmcshanrealtor
Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/cmac2121/
Here is Devon ave.the main east-west street in the West Ridge Rogers- Park area. From Whipple to around Leavitt ave when they rebuilt the sidewalks they added new lamp poles. On these lamp poles, they put on a string of miniature lights. Now you will find these lamp poles with these miniature lights all over the city where they have rebuilt the commercial sidewalks. But only on Devon ave will you find these miniature lights operating in synchronized harmony as they also change colors. People who are familiar with Devon ave see these lights and some may take them for granted but they are soothing to look at and they take your mind off your troubles. They operate every night. I conclude this blog with an invitation for you to watch these lights in action.
