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Tag: Mayor Lori Lightfoot

Chicago is a long dark dangerous alley

Published by pvbella on September 3, 2021
Rush Steet alley at night Image: PV Bella

Would you walk or drive down a dark Chicago alley? Chicago is turning into a proverbial dark alley. The well-lit streets are as dangerous and fearsome as nighttime alleys.

“We deeply understand how important it is for our residents to feel safe within our neighborhoods across the city,” said Brown said in a statement. “We are retooling our crime-fighting strategies to stop the spike in crimes that we are seeing so we can bring a greater sense of safety to our communities.” (Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown/WGN)

Retooling? is that the new word for another plan? When all else fails, change the vocabulary. He had plans. Now, he is retooling. His retooling will fail too. Brown does not get it. The violence in Chicago is wanton and has nothing to do with the supposed root causes of crime or gangs, guns, and drugs. The violence is caused by people just because they can do it. There is a sub-culture of violence all across the city. Blacks, Hispanics, and Whites are fueling violent crimes, depending on the neighborhood.

This cultural violence cannot be curbed. The people committing violent crimes believe this is what they should be doing. They are like the Taliban. Instead of violence on behalf of Allah, these terrorists are committing violence on behalf of themselves. They know there will be few if any, repercussions.

We are heading into a three-day, four-night holiday weekend. If the 4th of July was an indication, this will be another bloody, violent, and deadly weekend in Chicago. Some are projecting that by year’s end, over 1000 people will be killed by gunfire.

I talk to many people. They all say they used to feel safe in the city. They no longer feel safe. They lost confidence in the police department to keep them safe. Many blame Mayor Lightfoot, Brown, Kim Foxx, Toni Preckwinkle, and the court system. Their blame is well-founded.

The street cops are confused, overworked, understaffed, and distraught. They no longer know what is allowed, and they will not risk their jobs or lives because of the confusion. They do not trust that the Chicago Office of Police Accountability performs fair, balanced, accurate, and legal investigations. They do not trust that Brown has their best interests in mind. He is an outsider mercenary.

Some of the alderpersons are fed up. They see what is happening in their wards, yet, the mayor controls the police. They have no power. Since the City Council is fractured into various caucuses, there is no large block of alderpersons to demand the mayor hold Brown accountable or send him back to Texas.

The question is, when will enough be enough for the citizens? When will we demand better from the mayor and Superintendent of Police? She is accountable, and there is no accountability. There is no transparency. There is only talk, and talk is cheap.

The criminal element has no fear. They are taking every opportunity to prove who has the power in Chicago. They do. They are wielding their power and exploiting the leadership vacuum. Vacuums create chaos. Chicago is a city in chaos. Havoc rules.

We deserve better. We need to demand better. The reformers, activists, and news media lied to us. They claimed criminal justice reforms would not impact public safety, even though they knew better. Instead of public safety, we have criminal safety. The criminals are safe from arrest, prosecution, and punishment. The citizens are not safe from murder, mayhem, or violent death.

This violence is a pandemic, now worse than COVID-19. Masks, social distancing, and lockdowns will not curb it. There is no vaccination. If anything is taking away our freedoms, it is the criminal element in this city. They rule with impunity. We live in fear, and if you do not, there is something wrong with you. Anyone, no matter where they live, can be a violent crime victim in Chicago.

Chicago is nothing more than one long dark dangerous alley, too dangerous to walk or drive down.

Another Fine Mess Lori

Published by pvbella on August 27, 2021
Image: City of Chicago

Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced the City of Chicago would be mandating COVID vaccinations for all city employees. There will be religious and health exemptions on a case-by-case basis. The deadline for vaccinations is October 15th. She said she is in negotiations with municipal employee unions over the implementation. It is not clear how the city will handle unvaccinated employees.

The police unions threaten legal action if the mandates go into while negotiating with City Hall. Other unions issued statements encouraging vaccinations and their concerns about the execution of the mandate. Their concerns are with the consequences. Will the city place employees into no pay status if they refuse vaccinations? They are willing to negotiate the issue.

The city of Chicago has over thirty thousand employees. Like the police, fire, EMTs, and people working in various city agencies, many are in close contact with the public. They are also in close contact with each other. From public safety and public health standpoints, it makes sense to mandate employees be vaccinated.

Contrary to freedumb lovers, vaccinations are safe and effective. If there is a breakthrough infection, the symptoms are not as life-threatening in most cases. It is extremely rare for vaccines to cause serious side effects in healthy people.

Very few religions in America are against vaccinations. Most recognize the vaccines are necessary or do not contain forbidden substances. The ones against vaccinations are freedumb death cults, trying to get as many people to “eternal life” as fast as possible. God-fearing preachers do not lead them. Scam artist heretics do. Even the cherished bible they thump has a passage mandating face covering and distancing to avoid people from spreading disease. (Leviticus 13:45-46)

Keeping people safe and healthy is plain common sense. Most legal experts agree that taking the city to court over the mandate will be futile. The exception may be the consequences of the mandate. The city should be clear about what the ramifications will be for the willingly unvaccinated.  Will they be forced to use vacation time, put on unpaid status, suspended, or fired? This is the issue of concern with most public employee unions.

Once again, Mayor Lightfoot created a mess she cannot get out of. Her administration is a train wreck. She did fine with the mask and distancing mandates, getting vaccinations for us, and keeping the citizens informed about COVID. Her actions drove the numbers down. The current rise is due to irresponsible people.

She let the rest of the city go to hell in a handbasket. Now, she dug herself a deeper hole with the public employee unions. Add to that her failure to curb the violence in Chicago, and she is staring down a single term.

It is a pity, a candidate who carried 49 out of 50 wards is losing the voters’ confidence. She lost the news media and many of the aldermen. She has few friends or even frenemies in politics. Politics is supposed to be the art o making friends, frenemies, and influencing people.

So much potential was wasted because it is more important for Lightfoot to be right than be clear on her objectives.

Stop Talking and Do Something

Published by pvbella on August 25, 2021
Image: PV Bella

When I was a young boy, we played cops and robbers. We chased each other through the neighborhood, shooting toy guns, sometimes cap guns. I still remember the smell of the smoke from paper caps.

Today, in Chicago, people play with real guns. They run around neighborhoods spraying bullets. The violence in Chicago is out of control. Every neighborhood is affected by it. Nowhere is safe.

Chicago is like the mythical wild west. You could be run down by a fleeing felon or randomly shot and killed. It does not matter where you live. Supposed quiet neighborhoods like mine are turning into shooting galleries.

Giddings Plaza is a pleasant place to hang out, sit, think, and work. You occasionally meet interesting people. The plaza has park benches and chairs that one of the regulars found and brought there. People sit with laptops or dine out at the two restaurants on each side. Some bring food from other places to eat. Parents bring their small children to run around, climb the decorative German light pole, or draw with sidewalk chalk. Musicians and other entertainers put on shows.

I usually go there daily, weather permitting. It is my outdoor office. As I walked there yesterday, I heard a news report about traffic being backed up just north of the plaza due to police activity. 

I arrived at the plaza and saw yellow and red crime scene tape. Red tape is used for serious incidents, especially crimes of violence. There was a car that crashed into the corner of a building at the crime scene.

I initially found out that the car was used in a shooting, and two alleged offenders fled. One ran through a restaurant where several police officers were eating. They chased him down the street, capturing him. The other alleged offender ran in a different direction and got away.

I later found out that the shooting was about a half-mile away. The car, a Porsche SUV, was involved. They were fleeing, lost control of the car, and crashed. A vehicle matching that description was involved in several recent shots fired calls in the area.

Guns and drugs were found in the vehicle, and charges are pending against the one arrestee. The details of the incident were not clear. Two versions were and still are being given. One, a FedEx driver, was shot and wounded. The other, a motorist, was shot and wounded in the arm. The victim went to a local hospital for treatment.

This could have turned into a tragedy. Small children play in the plaza as well as people like me, who hang out there. The driver of that car could have struck any of us when he lost control. Like many other places in Chicago this summer, it could have turned into a mass shooting.

I watched things play out, as I did for almost thirty years on the Chicago Police Department. The detectives showed up, canvassing the area. Forensics processed the car. After a while, things returned to normal. Except, in this summer of rampant citywide violence, there is no normal.

There is no safe place in Chicago. Not even a pleasant plaza in what is described as a quiet neighborhood. Anyone can be a victim. There were several recent calls of shots fired in the general area over the past week or so. Three people were shot in the area this year.

The mayor claims the violence is a public health issue, a term local and national politicians use when they have no answers. Others claim the root causes of crime, poverty, gangs, drugs, and guns are the issue. No more. The weasel words must stop. This is a political and tactical problem. The problem lands squarely on Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s and Superintendent David Brown’s desk. They must stop talking and do something.

It was fortunate the alleged offender did not hit or run over people in the plaza. It was pure luck he was not some wild-eyed shooter, spraying bullets as he tried to run away. How long can fortune and luck hold out in this summer of violence, bloodshed, and death?

We Are A Family

Published by pvbella on August 19, 2021
Image: PV Bella

Here I am, Lord
Is it I, Lord?
I have heard You calling in the night
I will go, Lord
If You lead me
I will hold Your people in my heart (Dan Shulte)

I watched my “granddaughter” laid to rest today. Officer Ella French was not my biological granddaughter. The Chicago Police Department is a family. Their members are our brothers and sisters from other mothers. The retirees are the parents and grandparents. I am old enough to be slain Officer Ella French’s grandfather.

I watched the clergy walk to the altar and police officers solemnly fill the chapel at St. Rita Cascia High School. The ritual played out, as it tragically has in the past.

There will be more rituals in the weeks and months to come. Officer French’s star will be retired and placed in the memorial case at Chicago Police Headquarters. Her name will be enshrined on the Chicago Police Memorial Wall.

Later today and tomorrow, the family of the Chicago Police Department will return to the streets. They will do the job no one else wants to do, see things no one else wants to see, and experience things no one else wants to experience. They will do their jobs, serving and protecting the citizens of Chicago. It is a thankless job. They never ask for gratitude.

Like their brethren on the Chicago Fire Department, they will risk life and limb to protect the people of this city and each other. When they leave their homes, families will worry until they walk back in the door. This plays out 24/7/365. Families pray they never receive the phone call and doorbell ring, with somber-faced bosses and a police chaplain telling them their loved one was injured, or worse, killed, enrolling them in a club no one wants to join.

Carlos Yanez, Officer French’s partner, is lying in a hospital bed with catastrophic injuries from being shot with her on that fateful day. His road to recovery will be long and hard. He, too, will not be forgotten. We take care of our people. That is what families do.

Officer Joshua Blas, the third officer working with French and Yanez, is rarely mentioned. He also was a hero that fateful night. He will have emotional wounds. Those may heal over time. But he will never forget.

It is the familial bonds that hold police and fire personnel together. Cops, firefighters, and paramedics only have each other to rely on. We would walk through the fiery gates of hell wearing the proverbial gasoline-soaked coats to help each other.

“We never forget.” We will remember Officer Ella French. We remember the over 500 police officers whose lives were taken. We remember the over 570 firefighters and paramedics killed in the line of duty.

We grieve and mourn, but life goes on. Our police and fire families go on. There is “the job” to do. They will do it. We will be there for them, our brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, parents, and grandchildren. They are our family, if not by blood, by bonds. Those bonds hold us together and make us face realities no one else wants to face.

Who Speaks for the Dead

Published by pvbella on August 16, 2021

Image: PV Bella

“We speak for the dead,” was a saying among homicide detectives and Forensic Services personnel on the Chicago Police Department. No one else speaks for the dead in Murder City.

The saying means they would move heaven and earth to get justice for murder victims. The mayors and alderpersons do not speak for the dead. The State’s Attorney’s Office does not speak for the dead. The courts do not speak for the dead. The local news media does not speak for the dead.

We are in the middle of August. As of yesterday, 270 victims were shot, 44 were killed. From Friday through Sunday, 47 victims were shot and 5 were killed, including two purported mass shootings. 

On Sunday a 7-year-old child was murdered, in the Belmont Central neighborhood while sitting in a parked car. Her 6-year-old sister is fighting for her life. The death toll of children, down to toddlers and infants is heartbreaking.

Every single murder victim was a son, daughter, father, mother, brother, sister, niece, nephew, cousin, or grandparent. The families of the dead mourn, grieve and suffer the loss of a loved one. No matter their past or present transgressions, no one deserves to be murdered. Too many are innocent bystanders. 

The dead and their families cry out for justice. Justice is denied. Detectives, forensic investigators, and street cops are stretched thin. They are overwhelmed. There are not enough of them to investigate, close cases, make arrests, and take them to trial.

Our elected officials sit on the sidelines offering nothing. There is no plan. There is failure after failure.

Communities live in fear of retaliation if they cooperate with the police. No one is safe. No neighborhood is safe. Good people want to help, but not at the expense of their lives or the lives of their loved ones. 

How many more people must be killed before someone says enough is enough? 

Forget about the root causes of crime, the systemic this or that, faulting parents, and other phony issues ginned up by alleged experts with no expertise or whack jobs on social media.

It is past time to change the conversation. It is past time for aldermen, especially aldermen whose wards are most affected by the violence to step up. They are as responsible as the mayor for public safety.

We need more people to speak for the dead. The Chicago Police Department needs more detectives and forensic specialists. We need a prosecutor who is willing to prosecute crimes instead of nit-picking detectives to provide more and more and more evidence.

We need the courts to stop releasing dangerous people out on low or recognizance bonds. Electronic monitoring is failing.

Chicago elected officials are losing credibility every day in this Summer of Violence. Talk is cheap. Phony raw emotions will not abate the murder and mayhem. We need people to speak for the dead, in the communities, in City Hall, in the State’s Attorney’s office, and in the courts.

Either be part of the solution or get the hell out of the way.

Chicago Retail Politics

Published by pvbella on August 15, 2021

Image: PV Bella

Today is Sunday. At 8:30 this morning, my mail carrier delivered the mail. It got me thinking about retail politics. Retail politics is the political religion in Chicago. Mayor Richard J. Daley was responsible for creating the Church of Retail Politics, hence the phrase, “Chicago is the city that works.” He and his successors spoiled the citizens. We not only expect city services, we demand them, especially when there are blips.

The worst thing a city employee can tell citizens is there is nothing they can do. They find a way to resolve the issue fast.

Citizens want, demand, and expect 24/7/365:

  • Police, fire, and EMS to show up yesterday when called
  • The streetlights on at night
  • Uninterrupted utilities
  • Public health and sanitation
  • Safe and efficient public transportation
  • Scheduled garbage pick-up
  • Clean streets
  • Good schools
  • Good and safe parks
  • Potholes fixed
  • Snow plowed in the winter
  • Flood control
  • Consumer protection
  • Safe buildings
  • Safe roads
  • Tree trimming
  • Mail delivery
  • Quick removal of debris after major storms
  • Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and glitter spewing unicorns

Alderpersons and the mayor will not survive if the basic city and other services are interrupted too long or too often. People in charge of agencies, utilities, and even the Chicago Postmaster General shudder when the phone rings, and it’s an alderperson or the mayor on the other end.

Thanks to improving communications technology, service interruptions are mitigated fast and efficiently. Toward the end of my police career, it was not unusual to see a commissioner, department head, alderperson, or other executive show up for some major issue in the wee morning hours. During major emergencies, the who’s who of politics and utility executives showed up on the scene.

I used to work out with one of former Mayor, Richard M. Daley’s bodyguards. He regularly told me if they were driving through the city and Daley saw something amiss, he got on the phone and made sure the problem was resolved ASAP, sometimes yelling and swearing.

No one cares about the political ideology of the mayor or alderpersons when it comes to services. Rightwing, leftwing, progressive, socialist, whatever. They may get elected spewing weasel words drafted by weasels. If they fail to resolve, implement, or create city services, Chicago’s retail bread, and butter, they will not get re-elected.

Some alderpersons do not get this. It is more critical for them to wax ideologically, attend protests, be in solidarity, and down with whatever cause of the day or hour is. Some of these alderpersons represent distressed wards where things are deteriorating every day. They are blind to the needs of the people in their quest to be right on their petty ideological issues versus serving the public.

The mayor is the CEO of the Chicago Retail Store. The alderpersons are the regional managers. Most do a good to fair job. Others are so far in the weeds they cannot see a two-story building. These are wards suffering from decades of economic and social neglect. Nothing changes except, sometimes, the alderperson.

Chicago is suffering from a long hot summer of rampant violent criminality. The mayor is just about the only one discussing it. We hear crickets from too many alderpersons. The mayor may be the one responsible. In Chicagoese, she wears the hat. But the alderpersons are just as responsible. They are supposed to work with the police commanders in their wards to ensure people are safe. Many would rather spout nonsense instead of common sense. Some would not be caught dead, seen with a member of the police department.

My former alderperson was AWOL for six of his eight terms in office. His successor is hands-on. He is also feet on as he walks through the ward. When he sees something, he says something. He gets on the phone to resolve the issue. I may disagree with his political views, but he is doing what the people of this ward want, ensuring city services are ongoing.

Never listen to the political horse manure alderpersons spout. Look at what they do. Weasel words are meaningless. Action is the only thing that counts. We have a responsibility to hold alderpersons’ feet under the fire. If they get complacent or talk, we need to demand, loudly, more from them. If not, no matter how “beloved” they are, we organize and raise money to vote them out. That is the Chicago Way.