Chicago Alderman says businesses leaving Magnificent Mile
Chicago’s famous Magnificent Mile, a major shopping district in the city’s downtown, may be losing some of its longtime tenants. Chicago Alderman Raymond Lopez said the situation in Chicago is pretty sad at this point.
“We’re seeing a lot of the same mistakes from the end of May being re-performed again following this past weekend’s looting,” Lopez said.
Lopez says that downtown Chicago has always been a major hub for business and a frequent place to visit by tourists. Now he fears that might no longer be the case.
“The fear is spreading, the anxiety is spreading and we’re seeing individuals who used to see the downtown areas, like the crown jewel of our city, now wanting to leave, people who live there wanting to re-evaluate their choice in housing options and stores who were just starting to get past the main riots and looting thinking that they may not stay on the Magnificent Mile anymore,” he said.
Chicago has been front and center during the nationwide protests and riots. President Donald Trump has been a vocal critic of the city’s leadership for failing to control crime. On Sunday, downtown Chicago was overrun by looters with many high-end retailers being vandalized.
Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown held a press conference earlier this week to address the situation.
“Criminals took to the streets with a confidence that there would be no consequences for their actions and I, for one, refuse to allow these cowardly acts to hold our city hostage,” Brown said. “CPD will not stand by as our beautiful downtown becomes someplace that people fear.”
Lopez says that a number of elected officials want repercussions and accountability but they are outnumbered by leaders like Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
“The problem is that our law enforcement, our mayor, and our state’s attorney have not been on the same page when it comes to the adjudication of justice in Chicago,” Lopez said. “The fact that State’s Attorney Kim Foxx is delusional in thinking that criminals who see no repercussions will be stopped simply because an activity is illegal shows how out of touch she is.”
Even the Ronald McDonald House wasn’t safe from the looters on Sunday.
“SAD & UNACCEPTABLE: The Ronald McDonald House in Chicago was vandalized during looting early Monday morning while families & their sick children huddled inside. The liberal mayor must control her streets,” tweeted White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany.
The president this week addressed the continued violence in Chicago and other major U.S. cities. He again called on local leaders to step up enforcement.
“The mayors and governors of these states and cities have an absolute duty to use all resources necessary to end the violence and all of the injury and death,” said Trump.
PHOTO: Scott Olson/Getty Images
Scroll down to comment!
“Chicago Alderman says businesses leaving Magnificent Mile” LOL! No kidding! Being burned-out and looted by rioting race terrorists can certainly result in loss of businesses! DUH. Especially when the kooks in the local government facilitate the carnage and chaos and anarchy instead of trying to fight it or end it.
The responsible Leaders still in Chicago and Illinois must consult and remove those Leaders who have abandoned their oath of office and t the people.and are in deed in league with the Terrorist organizations and criminals.
My liberal niece lives there and says I have to stop watching Fox News, everything is fine in Chicagostan. How does Kimmy Fox get re-elected after being exposed by the Jussie Smollet scam? Especially when it came out she is a Soros product. I don’t want any of these libtards relocating and wrecking other cities with their bs. They have proven they just keep voting in the same trash, election after election. You are what you vote for so enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Self-proclaimed “protesters” have said that these businesses ‘have insurance’ and that ‘insurance will reimburse them’ and so on and so forth. But, even if that’s true, why would a business stay in a community that disrespects and wrecks their store? Then, there’s the problem of insurance rates going up. There’s the problem of lost business while stolen inventory is being restocked and the store premises are being repaired. There’s the issue of people not wanting to shop for nice things in a dangerous area where there’s looting, because of the fear of being held up and robbed in the streets. There’s the problem of people not feeling safe working in a store that’s been violently trashed and looted. There’s the problem of people not wanting to even live in that area because of how dangerous it’s become (thus no people to work in the store or shop there). There are probably many other points, but these are serious and being left unconsidered.
These people claim to be activists, they claim to have a noble cause, but whose lives have they actually made better? And, how many lives have they ruined?
People can claim to be anything that they want. Americans are good-natured people, by far and large, and tend to believe people act in good faith. But, it’s time to take a good hard look at these activist groups. They claim to be working for a noble cause, but are they? Or are their actions doing more harm than good? How is tearing down statues of Black historical figures, abolitionists, etc., going to help anyone? How is that going to make our country a better place? How is painting something on the pavement going to affect change? How is looting and rioting going to make long-term progress for under-served communities? How is indiscriminate violence and destruction going to repair issues that exist in the police force, such as it becoming militarized? And, if these self-proclaimed activists aren’t working towards the end they claim to be working for, should we really be considering them activists anymore? What then would they be? It’s worth asking.
The problem in Chicago, Minneapolis, New York City, Seattle, Portland and Los Angeles is that the political leaders do not know how to control the violence in their streets. The Police forces do but the politicians in these and other cities (run by Democrats) and out-of-touch (with reality) city councils have learned nothing from history. To think that they can replace a police force with social programs means they learned nothing from the Johnson administration’s “Great Society,” which has been a failure. A failure plain and simple with a waste of billions of dollars promoting a social system solution to a problem not understood by even so-called social scientists. Also, the modern day politicians in these and other cities (again run by Democrat administrations think that socialism, Marxism and Communism will work when it has failed in every other situation where it has been tried, think Cuba and Venezuela. What a disaster! My message to such politicians is: why do you have to be so stupid?
I steered a vacation away from Chicago to Florida precisely because Chicago is run by the Democrat Party of Crime.
Eliminate crime by eliminating Democrats. Their self-entitlement, immorality and disrespect of other’s rights is the core of all criminals.
It is about time the governors and mayors of these states or cities either step up and do their jobs properly or step down and let somebody else step up and do the right thing. or are these elected officials getting a kickback from the looters and rioters?