Breaking: Lori Lightfoot is officially out as Mayor of Chicago. As Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson advance to a runoff. (Berwyn: magnet schools, vs.)

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by Kmanshouse

Im in my early 50s. This is a telling map.

My precinct was roughly 60/40 for Johnson

https://interactive.wbez.org/chicago...nct-map/#mayor

It was like 80/20 Johnson in most of Logan Square, LOL!! Man did he miss the boat with the younger hip voters. Trump himself might have done as well or a little better.

[Cool Arrow]

Originally Posted by BRU67

Great read on what happened here...

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-b...b001e12d72dd5c

Most simply, Vallas came across as an old curmudgeon who was going to flood the streets with cops and act Republican, while Johnson was young, fresh, hip, and equitable. He even got the musicians, appearing at the city's hip (north side of course) venues! Vallas' older voter base, on the other hand, stayed home, whether because they were intimidated or demoralized. The black voters also rallied around Johnson, though really, it was the progressive vote which got him here. I don't know how old you are or if you have younger friends, but it's surprising how many white upper middle class Millennials and Gen Zers really dislike the police and the current power structure.

The problem is that if Johnson doesn't to some measure get tough on crime (whatever form that may take), he's going to see high homicide and shooting totals this summer. That'll undermine his administration and make things difficult going forward. Very curious to see how he balances this!

As to taxes, we can only hope he gets (or keeps) competent people on his economic development team and then listens to them. Poverty is usually solved through job opportunities and economic growth (to fund social services). But you don't get those with high taxes. So Johnson's messaging sounded very contradictory to me.

Violent crime has been trending downward. I think the trend will continue. I grew up with gangbangers on the south and west side so I have some insight into the thug mentality. I think a lot of the crime in downtown was a result of the riots in 2020. This was the first time a lot of thugs ever went to downtown so they assumed it was always like that. Slowly but surely as they get arrested they're realizing that it was an anomaly and just go back to crime in the hood. The emptying out of the south and west side will also probably contribute to lower crime rates as many who are leaving for the burbs or out of state are poorer.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by Cool Arrow

Violent crime has been trending downward. I think the trend will continue. I grew up with gangbangers on the south and west side so I have some insight into the thug mentality. I think a lot of the crime in downtown was a result of the riots in 2020. This was the first time a lot of thugs ever went to downtown so they assumed it was always like that. Slowly but surely as they get arrested they're realizing that it was an anomaly and just go back to crime in the hood. The emptying out of the south and west side will also probably contribute to lower crime rates as many who are leaving for the burbs or out of state are poorer.

2021 was a record homicide year and 2022 was disturbing too - 695 v 500 in 2019. Overall crime was up 41% between 2021 and 2022. Motor vehicle theft, which includes carjackings, were double what they were in 2018 last year.

I am not sure we're ready to declare a downward trend just yet. Still a very long way to go. I just don't think that crime will go down much if Johnson doesn't have a good crime fighting strategy from the start.

[Bitey]

It's amusing watching some of you folks hope against all common sense Johnson will find some accommodation with the police.

Meanwhile, the Johnson-approved interim police superintendent, whom the rumor mill indicates is likely to be the permanent replacement, just rescinded the CPD's recommendation to suspend Eric Stillman for 5 days and replaced it with a recommendation to fire him.

When these people tell you who they are, BELIEVE THEM. They rely on your incredulity to keep doing what they're gonna do.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by Bitey

It's amusing watching some of you folks hope against all common sense Johnson will find some accommodation with the police.

Meanwhile, the Johnson-approved interim police superintendent, whom the rumor mill indicates is likely to be the permanent replacement, just rescinded the CPD's recommendation to suspend Eric Stillman for 5 days and replaced it with a recommendation to fire him.

When these people tell you who they are, BELIEVE THEM. They rely on your incredulity to keep doing what they're gonna do.

I'm not at all surprised the rumour mill is saying this. But there's a whole process to select the next Superintendent. So let's see what happens.

I mean, what are we supposed to do? I'm not going to Florida, and it's not my fault the Vallas campaign dropped the ball, and/or some voters were too frightened, demoralized, or simply did not care enough to vote. So now we've Johnson. And he'll be here for 4 years, at least. So there is hope that he will do a better job than I (and several others here) think he will.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by BRU67

2021 was a record homicide year and 2022 was disturbing too - 695 v 500 in 2019. Overall crime was up 41% between 2021 and 2022. Motor vehicle theft, which includes carjackings, were double what they were in 2018 last year.

I am not sure we're ready to declare a downward trend just yet. Still a very long way to go. I just don't think that crime will go down much if Johnson doesn't have a good crime fighting strategy from the start.

Yep, 41% crime increase in 2022 from 2021. And that's just reported crime. I'm sure if we give hugs to criminals everything will get better.

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

Yep, 41% crime increase in 2022 from 2021. And that's just reported crime. I'm sure if we give hugs to criminals everything will get better.

Yes, it was pretty alarming! And for how long do we blame the Pandemic? Obviously, the last administration dropped the ball.

[Bitey]

Originally Posted by quigboto

They're not supposed to chase on foot? I didn't know that. CPD may not be adhering to that so well. I actually had a foot chase occur through my backyard a couple of weeks ago. (My back gate got damaged in the process) My office window looks out into my yard so I saw it unfold with a bit of disbelief tempered with a bit of "Meh, I've seen pretty much everything"

I do truly hope that Johnson improves relations with the CPD. I wish he was pushing an agenda of hiring more cops rather than shuffling resources. It seems to me that CPD resources are already spread pretty thin, and they need support from the community and City Hall to be able to do their jobs effectively.

The Foot Pursuit policy is 11 pages worth of frequently vague mumbo-jumbo presented as though they were clear directives. So when a suspect takes off, a beat cop has about one second to evaluate the situational fact pattern against 11 pages of conditional gobbledygook theoretically stored in his head before deciding whether to give chase. If he does, he then has to keep evaluating the changing dynamics of a spontaneously unfolding chase against that same 11 pages worth of vague directives to decide whether to continue or break off said pursuit. All of which will then be Monday-Morning-Quarterbacked by a supervisor after the fact.

Care to guess how often that officer's desire to keep job and his pension will influence the outcome of those calculations?

[SonySegaTendo617]

Originally Posted by quigboto

They're not supposed to chase on foot? I didn't know that. CPD may not be adhering to that so well. I actually had a foot chase occur through my backyard a couple of weeks ago. (My back gate got damaged in the process) My office window looks out into my yard so I saw it unfold with a bit of disbelief tempered with a bit of "Meh, I've seen pretty much everything"

I do truly hope that Johnson improves relations with the CPD. I wish he was pushing an agenda of hiring more cops rather than shuffling resources. It seems to me that CPD resources are already spread pretty thin, and they need support from the community and City Hall to be able to do their jobs effectively.

My memory is that there were enough lawsuits against CPD from chase incidents during particularly the Rahm era, that led to Lori instituting the rule greatly discouraging chases.

[Robert9]

Lori just cannot stop making a fool out of herself.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7Gse2lpnY8