Actually, make that lots and lots of bangs. Typically violence spikes in Chicago over Memorial Day weekend, but the recent one was a killer, with gunshots reflecting the city’s famous voting patterns: early and often.
The butcher’s bill may vary according to who is reporting the stats. The Chicago Sun-Times claimed that 11 were killed and 46 wounded. However, the website Hey Jackass!, which does the best deep dive into homicide statistics, reported the final tally to be 12 dead and 49 wounded.
Screenshot: @ChicagoContra1
Whatever. The Sun-Times called the recent Memorial Day weekend “the deadliest in eight years:”
The death toll was the highest since 2015, when 12 people were killed.
But …
The total number shot, however, was still far below the 71 people wounded by gunfire over the 2016 holiday weekend.
And that’s supposed to make Chicagoans feel safer?
It didn’t take long before the guns came out last weekend.
— Emjay Phan (@heyFATabbot) May 27, 2023
And gang bangers were robbing people at gunpoint who were just sitting on their porches:
Never fear.
Once peacekeepers are deployed throughout the City of Chicago, hey presto, crime will vanish.
Video: @ChicagoCritter. pic.twitter.com/eFVP8No1vv
— Chicago Contrarian (@ChicagoContrar1) May 29, 2023
As Hey Jackass! quipped:
At least he’s not holding it [the gun] sideways like an idiot.
Gotta appreciate proper muzzle discipline, right?
Prior to the Memorial Day weekend, IL Gov. JB Pritzker launched a new “Citywide Crisis Prevention and Response Unit,” which would deploy 30+ “Peacekeepers” to the city’s streets. The governor’s office said they would provide “essential assistance in de-escalation, conflict resolution, and crisis support.” Pritzker’s office added in their statement:
The most important work we do is keeping our communities safe, and this is another important step towards addressing violence and conflict through research-based, community-focused approaches.
Always with the “community-focused approaches.” Never with what really helps to keep crime down: supporting police and keeping criminals in prison.
However, Chicago had one less Peacekeeper in its little band of quasi-social workers. That’s because one of them, wearing the official neon vest, beat up and robbed a man in a Hispanic section of the city. When police arrived at the scene, the suspect, Oscar Montes, was walking away and trying to remove his vest. As for the victim — he was beaten so badly that he required hospitalization and was unable to sign a complaint.
But that’s not all. Montes had spent time in prison for aggravated battery and had been released on parole last May. Prosecutors originally charged him with attempted murder, but Montes was able to score a plea deal.
Yet it was fine for him to be a Peacekeeper. Only in Chicago. You can’t make this stuff up.
So how well did the Peacekeepers work out? The statistics tell the story, don’t they?
Real estate pros in big cities have a not-so-secret tip: the safest (and most trendy) neighborhoods are in gay communities. As Benjamin Blair writes in Chicago Contrarian:
If a buyer remains unsure as to the quality of a neighborhood, ask where the gays live. If the gay community has arrived, the neighborhood probably qualifies as safe, if not up and coming.
In Chicago, the gay neighborhoods of East Lakeview and Boystown (yes, it’s called Boystown) have thrived for decades. But recent economic and real estate data have shown that gays are leaving the city — and they’re taking their wealth with them.
Part of the issue are the property taxes that are at historic highs. But then there’s also the crime. Comments on the “Next Door” app from Boystown residents include the following:
Four nights, three shootings in Lake View. Summer hasn’t even started, and we are starting to see crime occur at an unprecedented rate in unprecedented areas.
Between crime and cost of living, I have no reason to stay in Chicago. So sad to see the city, even safe neighborhoods, succumb to the crime. I decided to move away after being physically assaulted in broad daylight (7:00 AM) last week on Clark and Roscoe.
Talked to Neighbors. 4 of 5 had burglaries in 2.5 weeks. They did not report.
Not only that, but property values are decreasing in these trendy areas. One owner reported losing over 50% of the one million dollars he invested in restoration of his property. But despite the financial hit, he said:
I love this neighborhood. I love my neighbors. But Boystown and East Lakeview are not only a bad financial investment. It is simply not safe anymore day or night whether you are home or not …
My advice to my friends – make the hard decision and take the financial loss now if you can afford it.
You can always come back for Market Days and Pride without risking your life and losing your retirement as your house or condo value crashes.
Last year, prior to the Memorial Day weekend, then-mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a speech announcing youth programs:
And folks just wait until Memorial Day and our summer. It will be the summer of joy in Chicago.
It wasn’t a summer of joy last year. It doesn’t look like it’s going to be joyful this summer either. Instead it’s going to be a long, hot, and bloody season for Chicago residents.
Featured image: Kids playing in Crowne Fountain, Millennium Park, Chicago, 2008. Kymberly Janisch/flickr/cropped/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Scott says: Don’t care. They voted for it. Let em live with it, if they can…. Only problem is that many of them will leave the city, and take their stupidity and voting habits with them to their new homes. Anyone that voted for this crap should have to stay there until the next election when they have a chance to vote differently and redeem themselves. Until they do so, they should be forced to live with their piss poor choices…
Cameron says: So is this Indiana’s fault yet? Asking for a friend.
Ming O.Mongo says: These “community engagement” approaches have been known to have minimal beneficial effect. The NYC Police Athletic League was founded early in the last century, by my weak math, 110 years ago, to give yutes something constructive to do. By 1950, community “get-togethers” were already the subject of satire in “Westside Story”. (But it did have some blazin’ dance moves).
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