We hail from Chicago so in a very real way this piece resonates here. The irony here is that for the first 21 years of our editor’s life he knew only one mayor, one Richard J Daley, Democrat, who reigned supreme from his election in 1955 to his death IN OFFICE in 1976.
In that time the moniker “THE CITY THAT WORKS” became our mantra as Daley oversaw a “MACHINE” that allegedly was tapped (1st Ward votes?) to put JFK in the White House in 1960 in one of the closest elections ever.
In that time crime was mostly sequestered to the same areas they always were in certain segregated areas. Chicago at that time was the most segregated city in America. Our editor travelled freely in the city proper as a young man always aware of the certain areas to avoid, something he refuses to do today as the crime is now ubiquitous.
Being bred on the South Side of Chicago (7628 S. Paulina) and living there thru the tumultuous sixties till his family thankfully moved out of there in 1970 he was exposed first hand to the racial tensions that have morphed today into a warped sense of justice under the black progressive DEMOCRATIC political leadership here seeking to right the lopsided sentencing wrongs of the past. One of our lawyers had always pontificated on how unfair drug sentencing laws were to the minorities, especially for pot possession. and we agree.
The sad part is the progressive DEMOCRATIC DAs in most of our major cities have gone too far in the other direction in attempting to compensate for these past sentencing wrongs and coupled with the pummeling of police morale and defunding of the forces in the major urban centers all across the country, those cities have evolved in dangerous places to live and to do business.
In Chicago, the criminals are brazen, knowing the system will be forgiving , even with repeat offenders. This is especially true in Crook County. We hail from West suburban DuPage and crime here still sporadically exists but criminals know our State’s Attorney Robert Berlin does not play around and many a punk has found out the hard way with multi decade prison sentences for violent offenses being more the norm than the exception here.
So we read this about New York City and realize political positions in power DO dictate policy because a change decades ago DID create dramatic results in regards to law and order and the change back eradicated that progress. PAY ATTENTION people. Remember here in Chicago the people VOTED for these miscreants destroying the social fabric of a once great city so they have NO ONE to blame but themselves . NO ONE.