Faced with an $18.6 billion shortfall in the city’s government pension program last year, Mayor Rahm Emanuel did what a mayor is supposed to do.
He pulled City Hall together and figured out how to fix it.
Police and firefighters were on his back. And teachers were again threatening to strike.
There was no question that bringing Chicago’s finances under control was at the top of the mayor’s agenda. The city’s economic future depended on it. The mayor’s political future did, too.
That’s how things get done when you make them a priority.
With nearly 100 homicides on the books in Chicago, this year is starting out just as violent as last year — one of the deadliest in Chicago in two decades. That follows last year’s disturbing totals — more than 760 homicides and 4,300 shootings.
There’s no question that our city has a murder crisis on its hands. It has to be addressed with the same urgency as the city’s budget crisis was.
Five months ago, the mayor laid out his blueprint for combating violence. In his televised speech, Emanuel said gun violence is "pulling us apart at the very moment that our city needs to come together."
Chicago’s top cop shows frustration, then anger over slow-moving gun legislation Jeremy Gorner
Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, continuing the drumbeat for tougher laws for repeat gun offenders, grew frustrated and then angry Friday as he lamented the slow-moving legislation in the works.
“Listen, they promised me they would have something done in January,” he said while responding…
Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, continuing the drumbeat for tougher laws for repeat gun offenders, grew frustrated and then angry Friday as he lamented the slow-moving legislation in the works.
“Listen, they promised me they would have something done in January,” he said while responding…
(Jeremy Gorner)
And he declared, "Ending this string of tragedies is our top priority as a city."
We wanted to believe him, but many of us were skeptical.
Emanuel’s plan to hire more police officers, create jobs in economically depressed neighborhoods and provide mentoring for young men who are at risk didn’t seem like enough, and it would take too long. In the meantime, young people would keep shooting and dying in our streets.
Clearly, city officials don’t really know how to end the violence. It’s time they listened to the people.
Residents who live in the neighborhoods hardest hit by violence likely have a pretty good idea about what needs to be done in the short-term. Chicagoans who don’t live with the daily killings at their front door might have something to offer, too.
Chicagoans need a forum in which their voices can be heard.
If the mayor and aldermen really want to know what to do about the violence, they need to hold community forums in all 50 wards. Constituents need to be able to look their elected officials in eye and tell them what they need. And in return, the mayor and aldermen will have to look the residents in the eye and promise to deliver.
Third child dies from a shooting in Chicago in just two days Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas, Jason Meisner and Gregory Pratt
Kanari Gentry-Bowers’ family was determined not to let her go.
As the 12-year-old lay unconscious for days in a hospital bed, a bullet wound to her spine, they read to her: notes from friends, a homemade Valentine’s Day card from a boy Kanari liked, a school banner her principal brought over that…
Kanari Gentry-Bowers’ family was determined not to let her go.
As the 12-year-old lay unconscious for days in a hospital bed, a bullet wound to her spine, they read to her: notes from friends, a homemade Valentine’s Day card from a boy Kanari liked, a school banner her principal brought over that…
(Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas, Jason Meisner and Gregory Pratt)
There are so many people in Chicago who are willing to do whatever they can to help solve this problem. What they need desperately, though, is leadership.
Just like curbing the city’s violence, the financial mess wasn’t an easy fix either. But that didn’t stop the mayor from doing whatever he had to do, even making some very unpopular moves to address the problem.
To balance the city budget this year, plastic bags that used to be free now cost us 7 cents when we go to the grocery store. Chicago Cubs fans have to dole out an extra $2 if they use metered parking near Wrigley Field. Commercial delivery trucks are being charged $14 an hour in downtown loading zones. And typical homeowners are paying about $400 more a year in taxes to cover the pension shortfall.
Nobody likes shelling out more money to the government, but Chicagoans understood that it had to be done.
We were able to accept it because it was spread out among all of us. The financial burden doesn’t lie with just one community. Everybody, one way or the other, is contributing.
That’s exactly how we should approach the violence problem. Everybody has ideas, no matter where they live in the city. Everybody has something to offer. Everybody deserves a chance to be heard.
The mayor recently reminded us that five years ago, Chicago was on the financial brink. Today, he says, Chicago is back on solid ground.
Five years from now, we want to hear our mayor declare the same about violence.
But it won’t happen unless we put our heads together and come up with solutions. Otherwise, we’ll continue to see year after year of dreadful bloodshed.
dglanton@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @dahleeng
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