By John Dempsey, WLS-AM News
(CHICAGO) As the weather has gotten warmer in Chicago recently, there has been an increasing number of incidents of teenagers attacking people and causing chaos on the Gold Coast and River North areas.
42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly, who represents the downtown area, told “The Big John and Ramblin’ Ray Show” on WLS that this is a disturbing trend that happens every year.
“This is an annual event,” said Reilly. “When it starts to get warm out, kids organize on social media and unfortunately some of them decide to come downtown and create mayhem, steal cell phones and that kind of stuff.”
This past Saturday night, police say a large group of teens was harassing people and causing fights near Water Tower Place. Police say a 16 year old boy was arrested after officers say he threw a liquid substance in an officer’s face. There have been a number of other incidents reported as well.
Reilly told WLS the city cannot allow there to be a perception that downtown is unsafe.
“We cannot afford to lose downtown Chicago for lots of obvious reasons. We’re fighting to try and attract new corporate headquarter re-locations every week. We want to keep residents feeling safe and secure. We want our tourists and visitors to keep coming here in record numbers. These kinds of incidents make that a greater struggle for the city. If the central business district isn’t considered to be safe and secure, that has a major impact on the entire city’s economy, because this ward makes up almost 60 percent of the city’s revenue. I’m not suggesting that downtown deserves more cops than any other neighborhood, but it does need to be a priority for the city.”
Reilly says Chicago Police are down up to 1500 officers because of retirements in the last few years. He says the force needs to be beefed up, especially CTA transit detail, since it appears most of the teens are taking public transit to get to the Gold Coast.
“The Red Line for example is used as a primary escape route for folks who are committing crime in the central business district. That’s how they get out of here. They’re not jumping in a cab. They’re taking the train. I would argue that while we do have a transit detail on the CTA, that’s not big enough.”
@ 2018 WLS-AM News
