Kirk and Rush in Englewood
Deanna Woods, left, wearing a jacket memorializing her neice Siretha White, who was shot and killed in 2006, speaks as Sen. Mark Kirk, center, and Rep. Bobby Rush look on during a press conference today in Englewood. (Terrence Antonio James, Chicago Tribune / August 29, 2013)

Republican Sen. Mark Kirk joined Democratic Rep. Bobby Rush on a tour of crime-ravaged Englewood on Thursday as they vowed to overcome partisan differences to help bring jobs and federal dollars to the troubled South Side neighborhood.
The tour, which was closed to the media, lasted about three hours and included stops at vacant lots and abandoned buildings where crime can flourish, as well as meetings with families whose loved ones had been killed by gun violence, the lawmakers said.
They traveled by bus with a police escort and received a stark example of problems plaguing the area when a 23-year-old man was shot and wounded in the neighborhood shortly before the tour began. The shooting happened about a block away from Bass Elementary School.
"It's not a surprise, it's not a shock," Rush said when asked about the shooting. "This happens whether or not I'm in the neighborhood or Sen. Kirk is in the neighborhood."
Rush offered to take his colleague on the tour after Kirk called for the mass arrest of 18,000 Gangster Disciples gang members. Rush decried the statement as an "upper-middle-class, elitist white-boy solution" to Chicago's crime problems, saying Kirk needed to be educated about economic issues driving the problem.
On Thursday, Kirk said he still supports jailing gang members as a way to dismember the Gangster Disciples. Rush argued that the gang isn't the monolithic organization it once was, saying much of the violence is spurred by fighting factions of young men and women who have nothing better to do than turn to a life of violence.
While they agreed to disagree on that issue, they said they will create an advisory committee of victims and neighborhood groups to help come up with specific solutions. Ideas include a plan pushed by Kirk that would provide businesses that invest in abandoned property with a decade of federal tax breaks.
"This community has potential, and if we remove the scourge of gang violence from it, we will unlock its potential," Kirk said, adding that officials should not "succumb to the tyranny of low expectations and just give up."
While Rush promised the visit wouldn't be a one-time "cameo appearance," victims' families say they will reserve judgment until they see results. They noted that many politicians have visited over the years, making big promises that led to little change.
"I've talked and talked and talked until I couldn't talk no more, but nothing was done. As soon as the cameras were off, they were gone," said Deanna Woods, whose 10-year-old niece Siretha White was killed by a stray bullet in 2006. "We need someone who is going to be here next week, to see what's really going on."
mcgarcia@tribune.com