Jan 5, 2009 10:18 pm US/Central
Obamas' Neighborhood Quiets Down After Departure
Hyde Park Residents Note Less Visible Police Presense, But Home Still Blocked Off
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Hyde Park still has a heightened police presence, but things are quieting down a little after the Obamas left for Washington D.C. Jan. 5, 2009.
CBS
Despite all the worldly tasks he's responsible for, Barack Obama has an even more important job than president. He also answers to the title of "Dad" to two young daughters.
CBS 2's Pamela Jones reports Obama helped daughters Malia and Sasha get ready for their first day of classes at their new school in Washington.
Back home in Hyde Park kids had some advice for the soon-to-be first daughters.
"Stick to whatever you had to do to get through your school," one girl said. "And do your work."
Some things in the neighborhood haven't changed. Leftover holiday lights still flicker, and police still block the Obamas' block.
But residents say there is a sense that living here is returning to a pre-Obama-fervor feel, with fewer marked police cars.
"I just went on vacation and when I got back, they were gone so, I was like, what happened?" neighbor Shula Bien said.
She runs in the area and remembers road blocks like the one at Woodlawn and Hyde Park Boulevard. It was up Friday, but Monday night, it's gone.
"Before, I don't know there were just cops everywhere," Bien said. "I live at 53rd and Greenwood and I couldn't, I had to go all the way around."
"We're now able to drive down the boulevard, which is great," neighbor Kathryn Gray said. "And hopefully, we'll be able to park out on Hyde Park Boulevard again because we're parking two blocks away and that was getting to be a little much, especially with the weather."
As far as parking, CBS 2 tried to park a news truck along Hyde Park Boulevard. But police were on the case. They wouldn't let us anywhere within a block of the Obama home. Residents say they haven't been told when or if that will change.
And people who ride the bus in the area say that's getting easier because many of them don't have long detours anymore.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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