The downtown apartment occupancy rate is down to 89.2 percent in the second quarter, its lowest level since 2002

Some tenants are fed up with the violence and mayhem that has resulted in boarded-up storefronts and made them uneasy. Others who now work from home due to the coronavirus pandemic are no longer willing to pay sky-high rents to live near an office that’s closed or in a once-vibrant central business district that’s suddenly sleepy.

“The Loop’s like a ghost town.” Suburban landlords, meanwhile, are faring surprisingly well.

A parent posted a copy of her son’s fourth grade schedule on Facebook with this comment: “I seriously want to cry. … There is NO WAY he can be online all day like this. It isn’t possible.” A teacher responded: “Believe me, teachers are crying too.”

Instead of a property tax increase, Lightfoot called for a new casino in Chicago. That’s not the most sensible solution: as the Times reported, “[i]n Detroit, one-fifth of the municipal budget typically comes from casino revenue. And casinos have just reopened, at reduced capacity.”

Alicia Hurtado, a third-year student at the University of Chicago and an organizer with Care Not Cops, said, “Care Not Cops and UC United is committed to making sure our administration knows no peace until there is justice.”

The initiatives stem from 15 demands lodged in June by several student groups, led by the Black Cultural Center and supported by the school’s student government, and called “In Support of Black Students.”

Barbershop owner Danny Joe Sorge went through a rigorous application process. A Los Angeles based organization provided the financial backing for him and 29 other social equity applicants to get in the pot game. “Zero applications that we submitted qualified for the lottery that’s taking place now.”

Several Northwestern law alumni said they would no longer donate to their alma mater.

“When I was at Northwestern Law they actually helped me learn how to think,” said one, who specializes in First Amendment issues, said. “Now it appears they teach students how to stop thinking.”

“If they loot again, there’s no way I want to put another $40,000 to $50,000 into a business I’ve been in since 1984, starting over as if I opened yesterday,” an Englewood salon owner said. “I put some aside for a rainy day, but this is a storm. This is like Hurricane Katrina.”

“The mayor’s reluctance to reduce her workforce makes her both late and an outlier when compared to her peers. According to a Pew study, local governments cut their education workforces by 9.4% between March and May. They trimmed the rest of their workforces by 7.9% on average, Pew found.”