“The woman’s experience with Chicago police is neither unique nor unusual. Local patrol districts frequently have more requests for help than they can handle…CPD districts entered backlogs 11,721 times last year, according to information Wirepoints obtained via a Freedom of Information request. That was nearly as many times as 2019 and 2020 combined, according to the data.”

However, Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s proposal to use $242 million from the city’s surprise surplus to pay down the city’s massive pension debt generated no controversy after the top finance officials defended it as a prudent measure and it was blessed by a Wall Street ratings agency.

The prices of some aging office towers in places such as New York and Chicago have already fallen by about a quarter as potential buyers struggle to land financing with interest rates rising fast, brokers and lenders say. Defaults are starting to move up from low levels. As with bonds or any other income producing investment, real estate values fall when interest rates go up.

“This is where we are today. Orwellian language perverts society’s thinking about crime. Jailing violent criminals is mass incarceration and slavery. The problem is not crime but the police response to it. Prosecutors who see their job as not putting criminals in jail but putting them back out on the streets to menace law-abiding citizens. Madness.”

“Officials say the revamp would allow the district to proactively address teacher shortages and to rethink the school day and week, with students attending, say, three days in person and two virtually…But for many educators, simultaneously teaching in-person and remote students was among the most challenging aspects of pandemic schooling. And online learning did not work well for many students — especially younger learners and those living in poverty.”

Critics have argued that the city’s housing patterns have perpetuated racial segregation and that additional dwelling units can help. Others contend that building more housing is practical for some neighborhoods but not all.

According to police data, there have also been 1,409 vehicular hijackings recorded in 2022, which marks a 2% drop compared with 2021, while the number of carjacking-related arrests is up 18% year-to-date.

“And the outcome of all that is that the person who is eventually selected isn’t just the person who had the most votes in the first round. Maybe they had 30% of the vote in a five-way race but the other 70% of the community hates them. Instead, the person elected is somebody who a majority of the community feels most comfortable with,” Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss said.

“I understand there’s a court decision. But we’re being asked to cut in half fines that protect peoples’ lives. Not the least of which are police officers,” Ald. Brendan Reilly said.

Community Commission for Police Safety and Accountability President Anthony Driver Jr. said, “We are deeply concerned that the communities that are suffering the most are still subject to slow response times and inadequate staffing at the times crime and violence occur the most.”

Evanston’s unfunded accrued liability in the police fund grew from $4 million to a high of $132.2 million in 2020, as the city made minimum payments, Schoolmaster said.

Sean Morrison, the sole incumbent Republican running for reelection and head of the county’s GOP, said the board needs fiscal hawks to hold the line on spending. “I’ve always said one party rule is not good for anyone,” he said. “Toni shouldn’t be able to do whatever Toni wants to do arbitrarily. Let’s just have good governance.”