Check this out! The Mayor of Chicago is not listening!
by Steve Larsen, one of our reporters from Evanston
Random out-of-control teens threaten the homeless and others… the snap curfew is a way for police to announce quickly they are closing down a neighborhood… this prevents the mob from going and sends the kids home…
Police are for it, the Loop and other aldermen are for it, citizens in general are for it, Loop and other barrios’ business people are for it.
The mayor is against it.
Although the City Council has voted 27-22 to approve “snap curfews” for the Loop takeovers and other mob actions, the mayor has said he does not want to criminalize the Brown and Black teens.
What does this mean? Teenagers have a random tradition of meeting in huge numbers in the downtown Chicago core (Loop) and other areas and “taking over” the streets, stores, and sidewalks, menacing shoppers and bystanders. They have been known to jump on cars (that ruins the newer ones) and threaten older couples, beat on citizens, and tie up traffic for hours.
The city council members have made it clear something has to be done. The mayor says this kind of action simply demonizes the teenagers, who have no place to go and nothing to do.
It is all part of a systemic problem, many people argue.
Providing more opportunities for the teens is at the core of the mayor’s philosophy. Arresting them for curfews, vandalism, violence, and assault is not.
Teenagers think hanging out in the Loop with 1000s of their friends is fire.
One of the byproducts of the mobs of 100s or 1000s of teens is that the teens eventually get onto the trains and buses to go home… where the unhoused are trying to dwell, sleep, or simply travel from one area to another.
Teens on a regular basis harass, assault, rob, and beat on the homeless.
Until there is someplace for teens to go, maybe they should NOT be allowed to take over the Loop or other areas. Maybe arresting 100s of them would make their parents aware of what their children are out there doing.
Chat on the problem? The teens in the mobs outnumber the cops by about 100 or 1000….
In the meantime, the homeless are stuck on the trains and buses trying to survive. Their health and safety—and their lives—are threatened by the mobs of teenagers out of control. They have to pray they do not get beaten or killed the night of the random mob.
What is the answer???
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Here are a couple accounts of the recent vote and the plan for the mayor to veto it:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/chicago-city-council-takes-radical-231333557.html
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https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/city-council-snap-curfew-ordinance-vote-mayor-brandon-johnson/
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