Shaken, not stirred…for now
Our 44th Ward Alderman finally hosted a townhall. It was advertised in his weekly newsletter less than two weeks and then a week out. There was no RSVP link or any other details besides a vague description. This is a notable development since as far as anyone could tell, he hasn’t hosted a single public event since taking office in 2023.
From 44th Ward Newsletter: July 16, 2026
“My office will be hosting a Public Safety Town Hall in coordination with the Cook County State's Attorney's Office on Wednesday, July 22 at 6pm in the Olson Auditorium at Advocate Illinois Masonic (836 Wellington). In response to recent public safety concerns in our community, this discussion will provide residents with a better understanding of how our public safety system operates and the role each agency plays. The presentation will provide an overview of the entire process—from what happens when you call 911, to how calls are dispatched and officers respond, to what occurs after an arrest and the role of the Cook County State's Attorney's Office. Residents will also have an opportunity to ask questions and hear directly from representatives of each agency.”
Notably, the townhall notification was under this little tidbit. We have so many questions!
How much are we paying for CPD to provide security at a private event at a restaurant that is an active donor, as well as a recipient of funds from our alderman’s campaign and the 44th democratic org that he leads? Why is our alderman surrounding himself with the police? What is going on? And how much are we paying for it?
Between the post Pride policing mayhem, a squad car in front of a private event, and a cartoonishly large number of police officers at his first and potentially last ‘Public Safety’ townhall, our alderman is starting to look like a meme of Doechii yelling at her staff to cover her boring outfit at the 2025 Met Gala.
Back to the much anticipate townhall. It didn’t clarify much, but did generate more questions:
Why there were so many police officers standing outside of the auditorium at the hospital?
Why was the NBC5 cameraman asked to leave before the meeting started?
Why did Officer Mercado from the 19 Police District never mention CARE when explaining that 911 calls include mental health response?
Why was a representative from the non-profit Thresholds present, but no one was there to speak about our publicly funded CARE program that provides mental health response services?
Q&A didn’t provide much clarity on any of the questions that we were able to ask:
The most dangerous agency for our people right now is ICE, and what is being done to prosecute their crimes or end CPD collaboration with them? Feathers were visibly ruffled after that question.
Why are we not highlighting and advocating for CARE?
Why does CPD continue to run over budget? Why is there no urgency around implementing non-police response programs, such as CARE, low risk parking enforcement calls, and re-assigning duties to civilians based on the workforce study results?
Which brings us once again to post Pride. Who was planning it, how many officers were deployed, how much did we pay for it?
Why is our Alderman’s office resisting all efforts to involve the community in improving the post Pride experience, especially for children?
Why is our Alderman not showing up for 19 Police District Council meetings to collaborate with residents on these issues?
We didn’t get any clear answers on any of these questions. The alderman talked in circles about challenges with hiring at CPD, stated that CPD alone determined the post Pride plan, and his response to the invitation to come to the 19 Police District Council meeting was “It is not my meeting”. We’d like to pause here to remind everyone that our alderman held an entire presser to tell people that many different stakeholders worked together to ensure post Pride safety; now it turns out it was just CPD. Side-eye to our alderman.
Something useful did come out this meeting after all. We met Amber, the lady behind the other petition that was lumped together with our Alderman’s office so-called ‘court advocacy’. After all her advocacy to find solutions for the two unhoused neighbors in Lakeview, no one told her about Treatment Not Trauma or CARE or CCPSA or Police District Councils and what they do. And that was our biggest takeaway. This entire charade of a town hall was supposed to distract us with the “police who investigate the crime and district attorneys who prosecute the offenders”, while obfuscating the full picture of public safety.
In his next newsletter after this event, our Alderman once again thanked the CPD, the Cook County State's Attorney's Office, and Thresholds for sharing their expertise and answering residents’ questions (they didn’t answer ANY questions). And, the newsletter included contact information for Thresholds and NAMI (non-profits), as well as additional resources from the Cook County State's Attorney's Office. There was another change in the newsletter, the language around mental health response to direct people to call the aforementioned non-profits was added, and still no mention of CARE. Here is what it said instead:“This can be done instead of, or in conjunction with calling 911. If calling 911, you can ask for a CIT officer to be dispatched as they have additional mental health response training.”
19th Police District Council send out their regular newsletter on 7/24, and the contrast couldn’t be greater from our alderman’s approach. Instead of the endless platitudes to the law enforcement without offering any solutions, it outlines several non-police response strategies like CARE and Ald. Martin’s proposed Parking Alternative Response Team (PART) ordinance to improve public safety, reduce unnecessary police involvement, and allow CPD to focus on their policing work; AND they invite people to join them in a community dialogue. Imagine!
While our district council is offering a more holistic picture of public safety, it appears that none of the efforts to build public safety in Chicago and in Lakeview are being taken seriously by our alderman and his corporate caucus colleagues. Here is how we know:
They keep voting against progressive revenue sources that would fund the public safety ecosystem that was shattered by the last three mayoral administrations.
They are enabling the overspending by CPD, while pushing the blame around, and not working with the local Police District Councils, CCPSA and communities to improve public safety.
They are participating in fear-mongering and ignoring public safety efforts that are starting to show results.
They are allowing wasteful use of police force, like the post Pride occupation of Lakeview, and are not asking CPD to provide accounting as to how much it cost us, while CPD continues to use overtime and run over their budget year after year.
For all the talk of fiscal responsibility and ‘common sense’ measures, it seems that there is no interest in reigning in the wasteful spending by the largest part of our city government, CPD.
In other words, this lack of focus on the actual safety is a FEATURE, not a BUG.
The good news is, we can do something about it. We shouldn’t wait until another tragedy strikes. We can show up to strengthen public safety in our neighborhood together:
Join next week’s Treatment Not Trauma North East Townhall to learn more about the public mental health ecosystem (7/28)
Join the next monthly 19 Police District Council meeting (7/29)
Join the next CCPSA meeting later this month and bring your friends (7/30)
If we only pack these meetings after something awful happens, we leave our power on the table and walk away.
When we fight, we win!