Daley's New Anti-Violence Plan: More Police Patrols, CTA Stops, Parking Meter Money Diverted

CHICAGO — Chicago Mayor Richard Daley says he's proposing several plans to curb youth violence, including adding more police officers at schools during dismissal times and increasing funding for after-school programs.

Daley's proposals comes a day after U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Education Secretary Arne Duncan visited Chicago to discuss teen violence following the beating death of a 16-year-old student.

During a news conference at a youth art center, Daley called for more communication between police and schools. He says he plans to use $1 million from the city's parking meter revenue for an after-school jobs program.

Earlier Thursday, the Rev. Jesse Jackson suggested the city train parents as patrols to make sure students get to school safely.

Comments

[uknowhowicm]

11:32 PM on 10/13/2009

Just $1M. And how much did he raise for the Olympics? for the Bean?

Now that's priceless.

[kugler]

04:59 PM on 10/12/2009

Bloody days increase in Chicago's general high schools. The spike in violence at Harlan, Fenger, Kennedy, Hyde Park and other South Side high schools resulted from the closing of Calumet.

No this not the headlines from today but December 2006, three years ago the Chicago Public School were put on notice of the increasing violence in and around schools. They were and are negligent in their duty to protect children form harm. The worst part of this whole situation is that the school district is not only negligent in protecting the children who attend its schools but the reason children are subjected to violence on a daily basis in and around schools.

Bloody days increase in Chicago's general high schools (Dec 2006)
www.substancenews.net/assets/pdfs/issues/2006_12.pdf

[joieDaV]

11:45 AM on 10/12/2009

Has anyone asked the students involved what they need and want? Because in the end they have to deal with it and deal with it they did. The students in the video have spoken with their actions. They have told us, adults, that whatever we think they need is not working. And so far it seems that once again they are being ignored. What more is it going to take? We, Chicago as a whole, have been publicly embarrassed and called out and put on notice. But what do we do? The same thing.

Come on People wake up and listen to what our children are telling us.

[kugler]

04:55 PM on 10/11/2009

remember shoot to kill. looks like same problem solving skills at work here. On Friday afternoon, horse-mounted police officers monitored the dismissal of students from Hyde Park High School in Woodlawn.

http://www.catalyst-chicago.org/assets/notebook/SSPX0062.jpg

http://www.catalyst-chicago.org/notebook/index.php/entry/405/#1547

for a refresher in Chicago history of police used to fix social issues here is a quick read

Rights in Conflict (1968)

A report submitted to the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/1553/ricsumm.html

Police violence was a fact of convention week. There has been no public condemnation of these violators of sound police procedures and common decency by either their commanding officers or city officials. If no action is taken against them, the effect can only be to discourage the majority of policemen who acted responsibly, and further weaken the bond between police and community.

Although the crowds were finally dispelled on the nights of violence in Chicago, the problems they represent have not been. Surely this is not the last time that a violent dissenting group will clash head-on with those whose duty it is to enforce the law. And the next time the whole world will still be watching.

Movie on the subject
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/chicago10/chicago10.html

[spikeykitten]

04:06 PM on 10/11/2009

The small steps begin next week:

Daley Will Sign Abortion Protest Buffer Zone Law.

Make abortions easier to get and favorable treatment for groups like planned parenthood, will reduce future crime.

[FreeEve]

03:58 PM on 10/10/2009

Will any funds be targeted to grass roots organizations addressing gang problems? Will communication between schools and police help youth, their parents and others in the community feel safe and decrease youth violence? After school programs are not targeted to out-of-school youth, but to in-school youth. Therefore, what is the correlation between after school programs and youth violence (usually instigated by out-of-school youth) in communities? Will the powers that be ever learn that the problem should be addressed at the root? It appears that the necessary insight and capacity to address and annihilate the gang problem in Chicago and many suburban communities, does not exist. Tossing funds at inappropriate programs related to police and education will not alleviate the problem of youth violence, but rather is a waste of funds. When will funds go to those organizations addressing gang problems at the street level? It is those few, tiny organizations that have achieved some modicum of success in decreasing youth violence.

[spikeykitten]

04:08 PM on 10/11/2009

"the root"

Is called family, Mom and Dad.

[EllaMae]

06:52 PM on 10/13/2009

A lot of gang members are h.s. dropouts - school and after school programs won't reach them. And yes, the root is the family but kids are the responsiblily of ALL of us, not just one or two. Where are the mentoring programs they mentioned? And is CPS working with Cease Fire and other groups or just on their own?

[thespecialone]

06:41 PM on 10/09/2009

I had hoped that the powers that be would have learned by now that throwing money at the situation will NOT work. There are too many OTHER major reasons why there are kids like the ones that took Derrion's life on the street. Those kids will not be the ones in attendance at the after school jobs program(s). Besides, the people in power are just pretending like they care any way. In a few months when all the furor has died down, they'll go back to NOT caring. They're just feeling the heat from the cameras, Obama administration, and shocked citizens. These kinds of thing have happened--and will continue to happen--as long as people do not have access to valued goods and resources.

[Lakeview Greg]

03:18 PM on 10/09/2009

If only I had any faith left in anything Richie does. Seems to be far too little. Just a cheesy paint job.

[Chicago48]

06:43 AM on 10/09/2009

Grata2ude -- I believe that cop was from Hammond, Indiana.

[grata2ude]

01:03 PM on 10/09/2009

No both were from Chicago

A south suburban Chicago police officer was caught on a security camera beating up a high school special education student,

And the video provided was also in Chicago.

[Lakeview Greg]

03:15 PM on 10/09/2009

The officer is a city of Dolton cop, not Chicago. There is even an article about it right here on this very site! Suburban means a suburb, not the City of Chicago. Dolton is a town. It is not a Chicago neighborhood.

[Chicago48]

06:42 AM on 10/09/2009

Do we have an account how much money the parking meters are yielding? Because when I walk down the neighborhood street I don't see anybody paying at those meters. They park, jump out, and do their business and then drive off w/o paying.

As for the CTA stops -- this is long overdue and it should have been done for working folks.

[grata2ude]

01:24 AM on 10/09/2009

How can the youth of Chicago be expected to be less violent when their own police force is violent. Just look at the video of the cop beating a special ed student because his shirt was untucked. And who could forget this

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=576_1174529756

Mayor Daley needs to crack down on violence period.

[Solja]

08:48 AM on 10/09/2009

They showed that on MSNBC yesterday and said the cop was fired immediately upon viewing that video. The kid got a broken nose and his parents are considering a law suit. If it were my child, there would be no "considering". It would have been filed in less time it took for that cop to pack up his locker and leave the building.

There are a LOT of cops on the streets all across this country that do stuff like that what's seen in that video. This is why kids don't respect the police. When this is how they approach kids, no wonder they don't talk to them or respect them as authoritative figures. Some cops just don't need to have that authority in our society.

[EllaMae]

03:47 PM on 10/09/2009

Absolutely. Youth cannot respect the police when they are not treated fairly. It just feeds into their mistrust & anger. The kids learn more about DISrespecting authority because of police violence -- as well as violence perpetuated by parents and other adults.