Mayor Lori Lightfoot and other city officials rolled out summer safety plans Friday, trying to emphasize the joy that comes with the start of summer in Chicago even as crime concerns downtown and across city neighborhoods continue.
At a press conference Friday morning, Lightfoot defended the need for a curfew for young people. And she said the city is prepared for any violence.
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All of the city’s beaches and lakefront will reopen, the mayor said, and Chicago has a series of events planned throughout the weekend and summer. But, she said, the government can’t maintain safety alone and residents must also keep track of their children to make sure teenagers aren’t misbehaving.
Addressing controversy over her policy mandating unaccompanied teenagers be banned from visiting Millennium Park in the evening, a measure Lightfoot enacted after large groups of mostly Black and brown teenagers caused a scene downtown culminating in a teenager being shot by The Bean sculpture, Lightfoot said the city wants to be welcoming to the city’s children no matter their race.
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“Our children are welcome everywhere (and) anywhere they wanna be. This is their city, too. And we shouldn’t be afraid of Black and Brown kids coming Downtown,” Lightfoot said. “We don’t act that way when white kids come Downtown en masse. We just don’t. The issue is not that they come Downtown, not that they’re coming in big groups, the issue is if the behavior is one that recognizes and respects people, property and spaces.”
The situation presents a thorny problem for Lightfoot, who has made equity for Black and brown residents a top priority but who has also implemented policies like the Millennium Park rule that some say marginalize people of color.
Lightfoot also promoted an app, My CHI. My Future, that she said lists events for young people who want to enjoy the summer safely.
There was some good news offered on gun violence so far this year, with the number of those killed and injured by firearms down through May 24, according to police.
Chicago police Superintendent David Brown announced that homicides are down 11% and shootings are down 16% so far this year compared to 2021.
Yet, the start of summer comes after a difficult two weeks in which the teenager was shot and killed at Millennium Park, one of the city’s premier downtown spots, and a mass shooting at a McDonald’s near the Magnificent Mile that left two dead.
