By Bill Cameron, WLS-AM News
(CHICAGO) At City Hall this afternoon, a four-hour-long city council hearing on banning horse-drawn carriages degenerated into an emotional clash about Chicago street violence between chairperson Ald Emma Mitts and downtown Ald Brendan Reilly.
Tempers flared when Alderman Mitts refused to take a vote on Ald Reilly’s horse-drawn carriage ban, “You’re dealing with horses. I’m dealing with lives! I just had two people shot over the weekend! Don’t get me started on where I’m at here! To make me vote on a decision on horses when we’re talkin’ about people lives right now! Lord, help me with these famillies! Help me bury some of these kids while their parents are crying! I’m gonna cry! “
Reilly: “No one’s trying to take away from the severe importance of public safety in the city. But here we sit in the License Committee not the Public Safety Committee. I think there’s another forum to talk about violence and what’s needing to happen in our struggling neighborhood. This isn’t that venue.”
But Mitts held her ground and adjourned the committee without a vote.
@ 2018 WLS-AM News
