(Chicago Tribune) — From her second-story porch, Marissa Baker had a clear view of the dilapidated liquor store on a corner of Madison Street and Francisco Avenue. In the two years she and her husband have lived in their East Garfield Park row house, the couple witnessed dice games, drug deals and public urination in the littered vacant lots that flank the store at 2901 W. Madison, she said. On Tuesday, Baker and her neighbors joined community organizers to celebrate their successful efforts to shutter the store, which they said attracted prostitution and a constant crowd of loiterers. ”Since it closed, the difference is night and day,” Baker said.
