By: Matt Rosenberg
With assaults, batteries, robberies, and knife fights more and more evident, Chicago’s workhorse heavy rail transit route called the Red Line has turned into a high-risk proposition for riders. Other Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) train and bus lines are similarly suffering. Without a “no tolerance” message backed by robust deterrence, we will get more of the same. It is time to arrest, prosecute, and sentence in a way that makes criminals on Chicago’s transit lifeline think twice before committing predatory acts.
CBS-TV2 reported last month that violent crime on the CTA through the first week of June had reached a seven-year high. Consider some of the recent troubles which bring the headlines to life. Robberies of passengers. Aggravated assaults with weapons. Beatings of passengers. Passengers using knives for self-defense. Mad Max is playing daily on the CTA.
It starts with the small stuff
CTA rider Ed McDevitt of River Forest recently wrote in a local paper about a scofflaw environment on CTA Green Line trains he rides between Harlem Avenue and downtown Chicago. He says he sees constant smoking, use of injection drugs, and drug peddlers hawking their wares.
“There is constant passing back and forth between cars, with people calling codes indicating drug sales on the Green Line. The line has become an open drug market.” He notes some riders have alternatives to the CTA, but others don‘t. McDevitt says nobody calls the train operator because they’re understandably fearful of the reaction from the criminals.
Yvette Coleman-Pitts of the Oakland neighborhood on Chicago’s near South Side, wrote of similar concerns and said tolerance of small-time rule-breaking is a slippery slope.
Half the time, she says, “there is someone on the train smoking as if they are at home, blatantly disregarding the ‘no smoking’ rule. These individuals just don’t care. Does the CTA really expect us to push the emergency button on the train to report them, at the risk of our own lives? Where are the security guards that are supposed to be patrolling the trains? I ride the CTA every single day, and I have not seen one of these guards. I am fed up. You may think smoking on the trains is just a petty crime, but in light of the uptick in more serious crimes occurring on or near CTA train and bus stations, smoking is just the tip of the iceberg.” Broken windows policing once had purchase here, but no more.
It gets uglier
Inattention to smoking, drug use, and drug sales flashes a bright green light to CTA criminals. So do Cook County courts.
In 2020, a man was charged with 18 felonies after allegedly exposing himself to a woman on Red Line, then following her to another train car where he was alleged by a grand jury and prosecutors to have hit her, robbed her, and forced her to perform a sex act. Yet he was granted a stunning plea deal later in the year. It was approved by a Cook County judge and prosecutors working for Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx. CWB Chicago reported the details. All charges but the robbery were dropped, and he got mental health counseling plus probation. No prison sentence.
He got the message, alright. Six months later, as CWB notes in its report, the same man was charged with another alleged sexual attack after following a woman from the CTA’s Belmont Red Line station to the street. In the end he got 12 years, plus three more for the earlier robbery charge. Too bad his earlier alleged crime on the CTA – including an indictment for a violent sexual attack – didn’t result in hard time to begin with. Another woman might well have been spared a harrowing sexual assault by a man who stalked her off a CTA train.
This sort of toxic leniency for a bad actor on the CTA was no isolated example.
A man who prosecutors said had 18 prior felony convictions was charged in late May of this year with first-degree murder on the CTA after stabbing to death a companion who reached into his pocket.
But the charged murder suspect had been released on bond by Cook County courts for a misdemeanor theft charge. You might have thought that the 18 felony priors would have prompted the judge to hold him without bail before trial. You would have been wrong.
In July of this year, another bad actor was let off on attempted murder charges after trying to push a woman from a train station platform onto CTA tracks in 2020. The attempted murder charge was dropped in a plea deal by Cook County prosecutors, and the man was sentenced to probation for aggravated battery against a transit passenger, CWB Chicago reported.
The role of the courts in encouraging free-ranging crime in the city and on its transit system, is significant and deleterious. One result is that it’s open season for predators on the CTA. And across the city.
Now this summer, we may be reaching a crescendo. After 65 people were wounded and five killed in shootings citywide this past weekend, early Monday morning a CTA passenger fought off seven robbers including one with a gun, and knifed to death one of the alleged perps, a 15-year-old boy.
This was a familiar motif. Because last Friday night on the CTA a passenger suffered serious knife wounds while fighting off six robbers.
They attacked him first on a train and then on a platform after debarking. He used his own knife to defend himself, and did it fairly well. He and three of the alleged perpetrators ended up in the hospital.
Five of the perps were charged. But don’t bet on criminal justice quite yet. Not in Cook County courts.
Is the real take-away to never board the CTA without a weapon? It’s starting to look that way.
More security?
The CTA has continued to talk up its gradual roll-out of more security guards on trains. There are about 250 system-wide to supplement armed cops from the Chicago Police Department’s public transit unit. But there’s been no relief, the head of the transit worker’s union told the Chicago Sun-Times. Amalgamated Transit Union Local 308 head Eric Dixon said, “No one respects these unarmed security guards who are doing nothing….Some members are afraid to come to work. It is bad and is getting out of hand.”
Even the guards themselves agree. Block Club Chicago reported in late April that private security workers for the CTA lament that their own ranks are unarmed, unauthoritative, and ineffective; and Chicago cops patrolling the CTA don’t long deter criminals because they flit from one spot to another.
A month ago after a fatal shooting on a bus followed several other CTA shootings, Keith Hill of ATU Local 241 said, “CTA, the city, the state, need to come up with a modern system for response time not just for the CTA, for everything in the city.”
Institutional failure is ugly, yet rationalized by bureaucrats and politicians. CTA service woes are considerable, but another story entirely. Transit crime in Chicago is chewing the scenery. CTA employees sometimes aren’t showing up for work. Not always because they’re sick, but also because they’re afraid of being the next victim of a gunman, or a mad stabber, or groups of violent thugs who target drivers. Some CTA workers are already packing heat, against the rules. Some would say it’s a reasonable step to take.
If your city’s transit system has turned into a horror show where workers are regularly assaulted and passengers are well-advised to carry their own knives for self-defense, then those in charge need to be replaced. Keith Hill is right: still-better technology and manpower to rapidly apprehend more criminals on the CTA and citywide are necessary.
But without stark disincentives for criminals, the rest will be window dressing.
In this way, the CTA’s crime problem mirrors that of the City of Chicago.
Read more from Wirepoints:
- Gov. Pritzker can’t have it both ways. He can’t claim he’s done a great job at managing Covid and yet still proclaim Illinois a “Disaster Area.”
- DeSantis’s Florida blows away entire country in competition for people and their wealth
- Pritzker Honed His Presidential Stump Speech In Florida – With Hatred And Dishonesty
- Illinois economy, jobs suffer under potential presidential candidate J.B. Pritzker
- Chicago carjackings on pace for a 22-year high – and they’re getting more and more weaponized
Audio and summary 
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
We are witnessing the total disintegration of a civil society. None of this is progressive or sustainable. Yet it’s brought to us by the people who call themselves progressive and blather endlessly about sustainability. Lightfoot, Foxx, Preckwinkle and Evans have failed miserably. Time to bring back Charles Bronson, Clint Eastwood and Sly Stallone. I’ll take their methods and results any time. There’s a reason those movies were made and popular. The crime of the 60’s and 70’s was unsustainable. Movies reflected reality. The public was fed up with crime and criminals. Time for Dirty Harry to make a comeback!
And we need to again revere the right people and legends. What ever happened to King Arthur as an exemplar?
I was assigned to the Citys Public Transportation section for 19 years. I was the Commanding officer of the Undercover unit that patrols the CTA lines. We never had this much crime on the CTA and the reasons are to me glaring-The Chicago Police Transit detail is located at 17th and State street. After roll calls the officers assigned to the Transit detail have to either walk or take a bus to their Transit routes, Which means the Red line, Orange,Blue line Green line Etc is left unpatrolled on both sides of the shifts the officers are assigned to. In… Read more »
Thank you, sir, for your service. It’s good to have citizen input to these discussions, of course, but it’s beyond helpful to hear it from someone who has been in the trenches (or the subway).
I’ve used CTA my entire life. Bob’s solution for better police coverage on the CTA is outstanding & needs to be implemented immediately. No one can figure out a way to get sign in and out moved from 17th & State?? Take it out of Central, period. CTA should be patroled by local precinct patrolmen & women who already know the soft spots & usual suspects. Their supervisors should be in vehicles so they an move quickly
Thank you for this excellent and needful article. My wife and I used to ride the city trains and buses. No more. We quit a few years ago as we began hearing about violence, much of it that appeared racial in nature against white people. Democrats have signaled that this is OK. Because of “400 years of oppression” white people deserve to be robbed, raped, beaten, and killed. And to defend yourself now has become a crime. I fear another – final – round of white flight is coming for Chicago. All who can get out will, as obviously they… Read more »
For years after we were married my wife rode the Red Line and I’m embarrassed. I can only hit my knees in gratitude that she no longer uses it.
There has got to be a way to stop this negligence. And I can’t imagine the response of Foxx’s prosecutors if anyone was smart enough to defend themselves with a firearm. THAT would result in real, time.
This situation is pathetic beyond words.
As is rightly noted, the escalating lawlessness and violence on the CTA, is an indictment of the actions, or more bluntly lack of action by the Cook County States Attorney.
The unfortunate reality is that there will be little change in this situation. Mayor Lightfoot, States Attorney Foxx, and the Judges of the Cook County courts will not be held accountable. That is a political reality.
A simple DAs must prosecute all crimes unless the victim waives the right to prosecute. A DA that has too low of a conviction rate gets replaced. And no parole for repeat offenders.
I have an associate who rode the red line in the early AM and transferred at Jackson. I listen to the police scanner at night and tell her how bad the CTA has gotten at Roosevelt. My coworker laughed and said, “Thats because they put security in at Jackson.
Just shows you unless you tighten up the system the thugs move.
I agree they need to start with, not letting people ride for free, not letting people use phones without earphone and not letting people continually ride buses and trains all day. I see people smoking on platforms for hours. If one train goes by and you don’t get on it, It’s clear you are loitering. Throw them off. If it’s a double platform (both ways) and they don’t get on either train, throw them out. Make them lose their CTA fares. I can’t get on a bus without a loud cellphone blaring and at least one person always gets a… Read more »
There was a time when you might be afraid to travel the busses or subways at night, but now even the rush-hour trains and buses are becoming cesspools of crime. Why is anyone surprised? The Democrats who run the city and the county only care about fethering their nests, and unfortunately the people they hurt the most, residents of the inner city, keep voting for these jokers.
As a former resident of Chicago, I was saddened by Matt Rosenberg’s well-researched indictment of CTA security. Chicago’s a beautiful city…sometimes. Crime has always been a problem, but Matt’s examples of increasing violence frightens me. His call for action resonates. Please, Chicago Politicians, listen and respond!
I worked my way through university on the extra board at CTA back in the late 60’s. There was crime on the EL lines back then but nothing like the violence today. Coupled with the inconsistency in service, I would hate to need the system as my only travel choice.
The law is based on intent, and foreseeable events that can cause serious injury or loss of life to a person must be avoided, reported to the proper authorities or otherwise prevented. Particularly when law enforcement is involved. Prosecutors are designated law enforcement agents. When they release dangerous individuals on low or no bail, and that individual harms or kills again, the prosecutor should be investigated as well, and appropriately charged, if applicable. It really is that clear. Prosecutors not performing their duties in protecting people from harm are responsible for their decisions. Only with true accountability will return to… Read more »
“Prosecutors not performing their duties in protecting people from harm are responsible for their decisions.” You have this backwards. Prosecutors and Kim Foxx ARE protecting people from harm. They protect their VOTERS from harm caused by the criminal justice system! They don’t see their job as protecting you from criminals, that’s funny! Did you vote for Kim Foxx? No, of course not. But most people that get shuffled through the criminal justice system voted for her, or, have family and extended family, neighbors, community members, and they all voted Democrat. Kim Foxx’s support was highest in high crime neighborhoods with… Read more »
Foxx is only 50 years old so she is going to be around for a long time. Plan accordingly.
I’m planning to not vote for Foxx in the upcoming elections nor are any of my friends. And we’re liberal. We’re done with her and Lightfoot. I think both will be voted out.
At some point we must consider that given the weight of evidence that Matt Rosenberg continues to present, three thoughts come to mind; 1). The elected officials are stupid and are deaf, dumb, and blind. 2). They actually want this environment to exist and continue to expand. 3). They genuinely don’t care. In regards to Item 1)., Quite to the contrary, the elected officials aren’t deaf, dumb, and blind. They are acutely aware of what is going on. The great unanswered question is, “Why aren’t they doing anything about it?” Lip service is cheap and dangerous. Item 2)., This is… Read more »
Why do the powers that be want this environment to exist and expand? Because they’re power hungry Bolsheviks who will take and expand their power by any means necessary. They view all the violence as just collateral damage in their quest for absolute power. It doesn’t affect them personally, and they answer to no one. Even though the city’s rapid downward spiral looks illogical to us, to them it’s very logical, proceeding as planned, and has been very successful in achieving their goals. There is nothing that regular Chicagoans can do at this point, nor anytime in the near future,… Read more »
You are correct. The answer is #2. The voters elect communists intent on destruction. Communism is an anti-human death cult. Destruction is the point. That’s why communists love abortion, and gangs, and empty the prisons, and don’t prosecute crime. Today they call it equity, instead of blaming tsarist injustices.
Let’s not forget that they also destroy churches. Remember Lightfoot’s vehemence in shutting done church services during the pandemic and going after any church that defied her?
Glad I do not live in Chicago. I have no reason to ride the CTA and I intend to keep it that way.
Crime and tolerance of crime, even violent crime has been a long time, forever plague on public transit. We are helpless, unprotected, and afraid to climb aboard. Worse, we are discouraged from defending ourselves. Do you remember when Bernie Goetz defended himself with a small handgun on a NYC subway in 1984? He wounded four miserable perps and initially fled. But he was the one who was arrested…for defending himself! Keep in mind that our fearless leaders who ride to work in limos are ceaselessly promoting, even demanding that we ride public transit with the nonsensical goal of saving the… Read more »
Good point about the leaders riding to work in their limos. Remember when Jane Byrne moved into Cabrini Green. How about Lori, Kimm, Tim andToni start riding the CTA.
Lori, Kim, Tim, and Toni would only ride CTA for a PR stunt. I doubt it will happen.
I fear that Chicago is forever doomed. My family and I have red lined the entire city. We used to go in several times each year. No more.
It appears that the voters in Chicago are more interested in having themselves or family members released from custody after any offense with little consequences. That’s on them. The politicians play to it even as they ride their limos.
A once great city is now little more than a rat hole.
“The most terrifying force of death, comes from the hands of Men who wanted to be left Alone. They try, so very hard, to mind their own business and provide for themselves and those they love. They resist every impulse to fight back, knowing the forced and permanent change of life that will come from it. They know, that the moment they fight back, their lives as they have lived them, are over. The moment the Men who wanted to be left alone are forced to fight back, it is a form of suicide. They are literally killing off who… Read more »
https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Defending+the+home%3A+the+plight+of+Wilmette%2C+Illinois%2C+homeowner+Hale…-a0114740361
Excellent write up. “Toxic Leniency” indeed. It’s quite disgusting what Fox, Lori, and Jelly Belly have done to policing and prosecutions. Fir me it’s simple, I do not ride any,ore. Don’t even visit the city. Multiple 20 something’s I know have left their leases in River North and Wrigleyville, moved to Texas and Florida, and taken their high paying remote engineering jobs and their taxes away from Illinois. Vote Republican, it can’t get worse!
Back in the fall of 1979, a bunch of us U. of C. students were waiting on an “el” platform. A guy from New York quipped that he couldn’t wait for the winter break so he could get back to “civilization.” All these years later, his implication that Chicago was uncivilized has come true!
Growing up in Rodgers Park the red line was a pleasure to take during the sixties and seventies
Didn’t get my license till I was out of high school
Now all these years later I would be petrified to even get on the L
Unfortunately, this has become a familiar story. The message to bad actors is from the politicians and judicial system in Illinois and Chicago is that tax payers and law abiding citizens do not matter. Criminals and those who prey on citizens is who matters, and they are treated with kid gloves. Victims ignored. Perpetrators coddled. According to Kim Foxx, punishment cannot be used. Jail time cannot be a part of punishment…did I say “punishment”…or sorry, there is no punishment. This will end badly. It is already bad. It will get worse. And people who can are leaving the state.
Infuriating, but the writing has been on the wall for quite some time in Chicago. These criminal elements continue to threaten, dominate and consume wide swaths of our city, like many American cities.. Like the rising seas, inexorably consuming more territory, more cities and more souls. I don’t relish the world my children will live in, and lament the fact that they’ll never thoroughly enjoy a big city as our generation did. Once upon a time, we’d be advised to ‘stay out of the nasty neighborhoods’. We all knew what that meant, but we had essentially safe boundaries, liberating us… Read more »
CTA is a microcosm of the dystopian future that seems to be Chicago’s inevitable future. New technology is not was is needed; what is needed is a renewed commitment to policing that works, along with a judicial system that punishes those who commit crimes. A commitment to citizen safety is not new or novel – it is what has worked for decades. If Chicago’s leaders need to look for examples, see what Chief Bratton did in New York and Los Angeles. It used to be that the city’s elected officials, law enforcement, and judiciary, were responsive to the negative effects… Read more »
The first role of government is to protect its citizens. Without the protection of the government, the social contract that binds us together, such as that proposed by Thomas Hobbes, is no longer in effect. We are at the point in which people need to protect themselves by joining together in local groups and defending each other. If the courts and prosecutors won’t defend us from criminals, someone else will have to do it.
However, in Cook County there is the distinct possibility that if you defend yourself and are the wrong color, and injure or kill a person of another color, you could get charged by Kim Foxx. Look what happened to the bodega owner in New York.
I formerly had a job adjacent to the hellish Howard Red Line stop on the far North Side. I had so many “close calls” with vagrants that I started carrying pepper spray “just in case”. When I informed my “woke” boss that I was afraid for my safety to and from work, he became enraged, chastising me for “bringing a weapon into the workplace”. I walked, and found a new gig in safer Ravenswood within two weeks, And this was pre – pandemic, in early 2018. And again, last year in 2021 when I returned to work in Ravenswood, I… Read more »
Ataraxis, what the CTA needs is a Bernie Goetz of color!
Not newsworthy to Chicago media, so such a story would quickly disappear. Two examples on CWB this week where two victims fought back with knives. In one of the incidents, the 15 year old offender was killed by the victim.
According to the progressive, “[t]he first role of government is to protect its citizens…” against the fake systemic racism of the state. And if life turns into Grand Theft Auto as few criminals are prosecuted, that’s a small price greater society must pay for equity.
Nationally, transit is only back to 60% of it’s pre – pandemic level. Mayhem and violence on mass transit, as we’ve seen here, in NYC, SFO, LA, Seattle, Portland, etc. does not bode well for any increase in these numbers: “It seems increasingly likely that transit ridership has reached a plateau of about 60 percent of pre-pandemic numbers… commuter bus and commuter rail are still doing poorly, carrying 37.2 percent and 48.7 percent of pre-pandemic numbers… Transit’s inability to capitalize on high fuel prices is particularly foreboding…” https://ti.org/antiplanner/?p=20211 May Transit 59.5% of Pre-Pandemic Levels “Transit ridership remained below 60 percent… Read more »
As recently as three years ago, I took the blue line from Cumberland to Chicago downtown for jury duty at the Daley Center. A few years before that I took the CTA to the criminal courts at 26th and California for jury duty. Even in those days I still would have been leery about traveling past rush hour, but in broad daylight, I didn’t feel threatened. Those days are gone forever I’m afraid. I haven’t been downtown since jury duty three years ago and cannot foresee any circumstance which would make it worth it for me to go there again. I grew up in the… Read more »
We know the city has problems with about 1700 less officers from October 2020. But the problems on CTA trains is terrible. But the biggest part of all this goes with Kim Foxx and the Cook County States Attorney’s office and Chief Judge Timothy Evans for letting violent felons and sexual predators walk. It’s absolutely disgusting!
More soft on crime consequences. The criminals arrogantly know that they can do whatever they want and get a slap on the wrist. It needs to be turned around! Quickly!
Nice writing, Matt👍🏻
Unfortunately this will continue to gather steam simply because of the lack of leadership in our city. It also applies to the current Washington DC administration that continues to increase their pressures on society as a whole. It doesn’t help in Chicago when the AG is lacking in every area of her position. Thank you wire points and you in depth reporting.
When employees and riders are afraid to go to work, it makes grim sense for them to carry weapons. Of course, THEY will probably be prosecuted on weapons charges should they need to pull out a knife or a gun for self defense. Chicago needs a mayor like Guiliani was for NYC. Someone who’s tough on crime and pro-cop. Thanks, Matt, for a great piece.
Thank you for shedding additional light on this problem….
Forty-eight years ago. Charles Bronson. Death Wish with the famous subway scene. Time to get the band back together.
In all seriousness, these thugs maybe don’t need to be shot immediately but a fast track to justice (or incarceration) needs to be implemented. The court system currently is an absolute joke. Start with the Nat’l Guard, and give them some teeth to bare. Set ’em place for a year.
The eternal question is NOT ‘Who is John Galt?’ but is ‘Where is Curtis Sliwa?’
I have not been on a CTA train in over 20 years, and at my age, I will never be on one ever again. This was a well written article, Matt.
Where are the Illinois Attorney General and Governor???
Auditioning for cartoon characters at Disney World, lol…
Perhaps Cook County could take the $2b that they’ve thrown at the McCaskeys and Soldiers Field and build a Level 3 Prison with about 10k beds, somewhere in downstate Illinois. Gun turrets, Isolation Cells and a platoon of ‘kicks ass guards’ to mete out some immediate justice when required.
For republicans?
Pushing their agenda to not punish thugs.
As usual, Matt Rosenberg addresses the problems and catastrophes caused by the policies and programs of the left thoroughly and coherently. The ruling elites want us in the teeming unwashed masses to forgo vehicle ownership in lieu of mass transit in order to “save the planet”, but the policies of the left often celebrate lawlessness and punish victims. The result is a culture of madness, crime and chaos where law abiding citizens often choose to leave the cities and vicious criminals rule with impunity. The crime on the street level is the natural byproduct of the crime and corruption in… Read more »
Here is a good follow – up about how the Liberal World Order views us peasants, focusing on housing. Some excerpts below, read the whole thing: https://amgreatness.com/2022/07/26/the-dehumanizing-tyranny-of-densification/ The Dehumanizing Tyranny of Densification The prevailing vision of environmentalism today caters to a global oligarchy. “The conventional wisdom among America’s liberals, often seconded and rarely challenged by conservatives, is that population growth in the United States should be channeled as much as possible into the footprint of existing cities. Surrounding cities should be “greenbelts,” suburban growth should be rejected as unsustainable “sprawl,” and human settlement in areas defined as the “urban-wildland interface”… Read more »
More evidence from other cities in this column today on the general point that Matt has been making, which is what happens when crime has no swift consequences: https://townhall.com/tipsheet/spencerbrown/2022/07/27/woke-criminal-justice-means-fewer-snitches-and-more-unsolved-murders-n2610831
One has to think this is exactly what they want. They don’t want people on public transportation. They don’t want people to move about freely. And it’s working. Many including myself will no longer venture to the city I once loved. What is the answer? I’m not sure. What is becoming apparent is this needs to stop. I can’t help but think of that twenty two year old who took out a mass mall shooter. Will it come to open carry and people defending themselves? It would appear so. Talk about going back in time to the old west if… Read more »
One “answer” is that people are fleeing dense cities, now that personal safety has increasingly become an issue: https://ti.org/antiplanner/?p=19969 Americans Fleeing Dense Cities & Suburbs By The Antiplanner | April 12, 2022 | Housing, Policy brief, Regional planning “Americans are leaving the cities. Between July 1, 2020 and July 1, 2021, New York City lost 305,000 residents. Los Angeles County lost nearly 160,000. Cook County, home of Chicago, lost nearly 90,000. San Francisco lost nearly 55,000. The counties in which Boston, Dallas, Miami, Philadelphia, San Jose, Seattle, and Washington are located each lost well over 20,000. Collectively, the counties containing… Read more »
Interesting how our politicians are so excited to spend billions on the Red Line extension from 95th to 130th Street in the pursuit of social equity, but are reluctant to act similarly toward safety along this and other rapid transit lines. While reluctant to call names, Lightfoot and Pritzker are hypocrites.
Here ya go, a good read, it’s all about “equity” – and at taxpayer expense”, it is of course a huge grift: “If the $64 billion spent subsidizing transit in 2020 were spent on helping low-income people buy cars, it would have been enough to give every carless low-income family more than $9,000 towards a car. I don’t advocate that, but for a lot less money we could give people low-interest loans to buy a car, thus giving them access to the same economic opportunities that everyone else has…” https://ti.org/antiplanner/?p=20243#more-20243 “Equity” Means Less, Not More Transit Subsidies By The Antiplanner… Read more »
Simply dereliction of duty from city and county leadership. Newsflash: terrible people will be terrible if allowed to be terrible. Jail and prison are paramount. Chicago needs a Rudy Giuliani as mayor. Chicago’s slippery slope is getting more slippery daily.
Chicago has always been corrupt–but never as bad as now. Yet Pritzger thinks he can run for POTUS!?
When I read that the CTA is a Mad Max daily horror show, it occurred to me that even though I had heard about the movie a long time ago, it wasn’t something that was on my radar screen. So having checked out the official trailer, I think Matt is really on to something. The incredible cinematography and ghouls inflicting all manner of obscene criminal acts on everyone in the movie is not that far removed from a Day in the Life of Chicago. The details of many true Windy City crimes are enough to keep regular people (and especially… Read more »
I like the idea of the national guard but there’s a lot of problems with this. First of all, the national guard under this government, and under Pritzker, is not to be trusted. They are more likely to arrest you, the victim, than they are to arrest the criminal. We saw that allthrougout the rioting, it’s not going to be any different now. Secondly, IL national Guard isn’t trained to arrest criminals. They have no idea who to comply with the absurd rules of engagement. They’ll end up shooting too many criminals.
Obviously, the Illinois National Guard is not a panacea, a one-size fits all, turnkey solution. But there is one thing it would do: it would put criminals, not the white collar kind, but the legit smash mouth thugs on notice, and that alone could have a salutary effect.
I can sympathize with the idea, but how long does the National Guard stay? They’d have to stay for a generation or so until this current group of thugs gets too old to terrorize citizens. We’d have a regular standing army.
A few years ago, I attended a lecture given by Hans von Spakovsky, of The Heritage Foundation, and formerly of the DOF that was given in Chicago, and it had to do with organized crime in the Windy City, back in the days of Al Capone. The feds came in and did a thorough job figuring out what the corruption was, who was behind it, and how deep it was. They came to the conclusion that if they were to take out every single one of those who were seriously involved, that the infrastructure of the city of Chicago would… Read more »
The conclusion you reach here is certainly correct. As long as criminal behavior is seen as low risk both in terms of chance of getting caught and probability of serious consequences if caught, then we are going to continue seeing a lot of it.
Include the name of the alma mater for the criminals.
You get more of what you allow. Iron Law. At some point, people have to consider the one explanation we tend to avoid – the results are by design. If you disagree, then what is the explanation? The problem itself isn’t new, nor is its disregard by people in a position to act. This is govt failure at its most basic level. It’s how a Bernard Goetz situation eventually happens. Is that really a goal to aim toward?
Words fail me at the horror show that has engulfed Chicago. How will it end?
I think we all can agree something needs to be done and it needs to be done fast. But the greater question is by this is happening not only in Chicago but across the nation in all the major cities. All these cities have one thing in common and that is one party control. This one party control is constantly pushing for more power. They let the small problems get out of hand so that the voters demand they do Something ! It is then they grab more power and control. Watch carefully it has happened all over the globe… Read more »
Tom – I agree that other cities have similar problems. But Chicago has a large loop/downtown which while capable of drawing in significant revenue also has an ongoing overhead burden. Money and people have to constantly flow in to keep it at a steady state. In this sense crime and mayhem make the downtown/loop area in Chicago somewhat uniquely vulnerable. Once this large infrastructure is diminished as an economic center, it won’t come back. Look at the desolation of Michigan Avenue in just a few short years. And if crime is the elephant in the room, those buildings and ecosystem… Read more »
But leaders can’t prosecute crime because the voters don’t want crime prosecuted. Chicago proper overwhelming re-elected Kim Foxx. Her popularity is highest in the areas with the highest crime. She is the least popular in areas with the lowest crime. So yes, Chicago is getting what they asked for, good and hard. And a progressive paradise looks an awful lot like the Grand Theft Auto video game. And they’ll re-elect Kim Foxx again in 2024 too if she doesn’t decide to move on to higher office.
Debtsor – a couple of years back you cited an estimate from authority that there are 100,000 gang members in Chicago. They have have families and connections so in a sense they are a voting presence beyond their numbers that will not favor law enforcement in any way The dysfunction of so many young men in those communities brings the community to view the police and not criminal conduct as the problem. Throw in the progressive crowd in the well off wards (and they are going to literally get mugged by reality) and one can obtain a view into the… Read more »
I’m honestly confused here. I see polls that say 80% of Black Americans favor more or the same amount of policing in their communities. And yet, as you say, Kim Foxx gets re-elected by a huge margin. What is the disconnect here? Police are wanted, but don’t prosecute the criminals they arrest? How does this make any sense?
Election fraud is the simplest answer.
It would have seemed absurd just a few years ago that a Chicago building owner would just walk away and give the building back to the lender, but it’s already happened multiple times, and will probably become a trend once downtown offices become unleasable. But then, what does a lender do with an empty building that still has high taxes and upkeep? Who do they give the building to? There are many factors contributing to downtown’s downward spiral, but there’s really not much the lefties can do when the finances are no longer available to keep downtown buildings viable. Chicago’s… Read more »
Here ya go, Margaret Thatcher said it best:
“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money…”
― Margaret Thatcher
I’m going to guess that nearly every one of these criminals jumped the turnstile. Maybe if they stop the turnstile jumpers they’ll see a reduction in crime.
Stop them and they’ll shout “systemic racism!”
It’s a no-win proposition.
That’s the reason a New York City cop took 20 punches just the other day after stopping a turnstile jumper. He knew if he fought back or used a weapon he would be accused of racism. Sad, but true.
Mass transit has had its day — last millennium’s failed transportation model needs to be scrapped
Isn’t ridership materially diminished over the past years? More crime with fewer people on the system? The long term economics have to be miserable as well. Giddyap – I don’t know how you have a functioning and viable downtown/loop without a means for people to safely and reliably commute on the CTA or Metra. Maybe the result is that there will no longer be a functioning and viable downtown. Not a pretty future.
Ridership was sharply down from 2019 to 2020 and stayed low in 2021. They say now it is up to 800K/day, or about 50 percent better than last year. That would still be well below 2019 baseline. We asked CTA for actual Jan 1-June 30 2022 ridership total, they have not yet responded.
Correct. Just saw that in Charlotte NC transit ridership is down 65% since 2014. And Charlotte does not have the crime Chicago has. It’s probably cheaper just to reimburse riders for Uber rides at this point.
Thanks for this article it should be plastered all over the MSM. I live in Evanston, and started going back to my Ravenswood office last year. What had been a routine and quick L commute became fraught, and I started carrying pepper spray and an audio alarm. Earlier this year I found a job in Evanston, so no more CTA! Again, I look at this mayhem, and marvel, “WHO enables this!?”… resolving this issue ain’t rocket science…