Fun fact: The number of gang members in Chicago (>117,000)[1] exceeds our peak troop deployment to Afghanistan (110,000)[2]
1. https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/chicagos-top-cop-break...
2. https://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/afghanistan-war
I feel like it’s relevant to link to some stats here.
https://home.chicagopolice.org/wp-content/uploads/CompStat-P...
And, for more easily visually parseable statistics on homicides, let’s link to…
…though the commentary there is, let’s just say, less than neutral.
I grew up and went to school in downstate Illinois. Having lived in Chicago for 7 years, and having lived in large cities now for 10 years, I do feel there’s been a shift in perception both in the city and outside. I definitely get nastier vibes from family, and the city does “feel” a bit less safe living here now. (Bit spooky seeing someone drive by at 2am and saw a catalytic convertor right off a car on the street…)
I wish I really knew what this vibe shift (ugh, sorry) meant for the future of the city. I love it here—wouldn’t live anywhere else in the USA. The architecture, the transit, the arts and entertainment, the beautiful lake front…there’s just so much going for it. But perception becomes reality when it comes to things like this. If Chicago becomes truly notorious for crime, there is less investment, and thus less development, and everything comes tumbling down.
(And seriously, I would not move. I live in Uptown, which is, oh, not the safest of neighborhoods. I’ve seen some gnarly crimes and scenes here, but the benefits just so outweigh the potential costs in crime. I am quite willing to gamble a bit of safety so as to not succumb to suburban ennui.)
I believe he is sincere, but he also definitely wants to eliminate headlines like "9 shot, 2 fatally, in 'outrageous act of violence' outside Chicago McDonald's" (https://abcnews.go.com/US/shot-fatally-outrageous-act-violen...) and "6-year-old boy sexually abused in River North McDonald's bathroom, police say" (https://abc7chicago.com/chicago-crime-boy-sexually-abused-in...).
I find it incredible how many people's responses in crime topics (like this one or SF) immediately turn to blame-shifting, blaming the messenger, claiming the messenger must have some ulterior motive, trying to redirect conversation to other crimes like wage theft, etc.
2,606 people (that we know of) were shot so far in Chicago this year. That's over 10 per day. That's insane. And it's even crazier that it's so hard for anyone to discuss it without the carnival of canards that get bandied about every time. It seems like some people are practically trained to divert away from the actual subject.
Citadel are moving their HQ from Chicago to Miami, explicitly stating violent crime as one of the reasons[1].
One thing that’s affecting peoples perception of safety is an increase in violent crime in previously safe neighbourhoods such as River North. Folks who felt safe because they could avoid the more violent areas of town are reading about (and witnessing) shootings and car-jackings occurring near where they work and go out to eat at restaurants. That changes calculations away from feeling some semblance of control over the situation towards feeling like violence might randomly happen to me or my family, which increases fear disproportionately compared to the raw statistics.
[1] https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/billionaire-hedge-fund...
The more than half of all homicide by gun in America is committed by five cities. Chicago holds the record for number one.
Clearly there is a problem, but how the hell do we fix it?! Stop and frisk? All the authoritarian shit New York did in the 70s and 80s? That's not politically feasible AND it's unconditional.
If the bullets don't kill you, McDonald's will ;)
In all seriousness I think unlike other local (ex) CEOs, he's committed to staying and seems to be trying to talk about it productively. The others seemed to hide behind crime rates to cover up their hiring issues and ran away.
Still, part of the problem is that they're going to have trouble recruiting because of the perception of crime / safety based on how its reported and he never seems to acknowledge it in any statistically meaningful way; I don't think the areas the HQ is in for example are as bad as some of the other neighborhoods further south or west.
Bit of a shame because it sort of reinforces the bad perception others have, when he could be combating it and trying to address the issues simultaneously.
It's the YouTube algorithm.
Or so says Channel5 youtube channel with an interesting take on one of the drivers of the increased murder rates[0]
TLDW: Drill rap is a very aggressive style from the projects, the same ones Michelle Obama grew up in. A few of it's rappers got really famous and rich because a bunch people seemed to really like it and the atmosphere behind it. This atmosphere is known as Chiraq (pronounced 'Chai-rack', for CHIcago and iRAQ, and the dangerous nature of area). There are many people documenting the Chiraq scene. As many of the Drill rappers produced music to YouTube, the algorithm caught hold. Viewers seemed to watch the more aggressive videos, commentary, and dis-tracks. Rappers saw this and produced even more aggressive and violent content. Quickly, content about murder and the like became top hits. Rappers found that hyper-violence got big views and therefore money and fame. YouTube, in a small way, incentivized the murder rate to rise, or so is alluded to in Channel5's video.
After that they go to a White Sox game and talk about flat-earth and condoms.
> McDonald’s on Wednesday announced plans to open a new innovation facility at its Chicago headquarters, relocating employees from its current innovation center in Romeoville, Illinois.
This seems like the wrong action to take if they actually want to put any pressure on the government to address this.
That's what you get when you under finance public schools,public healthcare, etc. They wanted people to be just clever enough to consume but without complaining about real problems. So now people are "a lot" less educated, so they live with a low/bad/wrong idea about the world, economics and society. For years rich people thought that every man for himself was the better aproach but don't having into account that they also live into society. ThatĹ› what you get, a place where you need private police, a place where you are scare to go anywhere.
As someone who lives in Chicago, it’s odd how obsessed other people are with my city and it’s crime, politics, etc. Don’t see the same interest in other cities.
So it is already time to engange Eliot Ness' successor?
Nobody in this thread is making any international comparisons. Being tough on crime has worked to a measurable extent in other nations, what about Chicago makes those policies that work elsewhere around the world, suddenly stop working when deployed in Chicago? Can Chicago be more like Singapore? Why not?
I take with a grain of salt mega-corps complaining about "crime", when usually it's just used to deflect from other plans that they already have in place that just aren't as appealing to the public.
https://qz.com/2077384/why-is-walgreens-really-closing-its-s...
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It is highly problematic for a corporation that is ostensibly commited to social justice to weaponize disinformation like this. Almost all grassroots wealth redistribution actions end without violence. Physical harm is usually caused by those "fighting back" against giving up even a modicum of the fruits of their unearned privilege.
mcdonald's hamburgers are the worst. they are worse than burger king. a big mac has 26 grams of fat, a quarter pounder has 28 grams of fat.
They've been feeding people crap food for decades. It is easy to google research into how diet is interlinked with things like crime [1]. Shutting down these places is likely a net positive.
[1] https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/diet-cri...
Crime in most of Chicagoland is somewhat higher than in recent previous years, and lower than it was when I moved back here in 2005.
That's certainly the case for McDonalds Corporate, which has its headquarters in the heavily-patrolled, maximally gentrified West Loop. Nobody who works in McDonalds HQ is worried about crime near their building.
Where crime in Chicago is a real problem is in the south and west sides of the city, where white people don't live. Those areas are playing out a slow motion mechanistic tragedy set in motion a century ago when they were redlined, sliced in half by the Dan Ryan, evacuated by white people, and disinvested. A map of Chicago violent crime is, roughly, a map of redlining.
The city can make no excuses for this. It's an ongoing human tragedy running at a scale that is hard to get your head around. At the same time, it's hard to take the CEO of McDonalds seriously, because the crime problem in Chicago is mostly segregated away from him and people like him (and me).