Read on Twitter
Mayor Lori Lightfoot will have a press conference at 3:30 p.m. I'll live tweet.
Follow for updates and let me know if you have questions.
From City Council today: https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/07/22/city-council-extends-demolition-ban-along-the-606-for-6-more-months/
Follow for updates and let me know if you have questions.
From City Council today: https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/07/22/city-council-extends-demolition-ban-along-the-606-for-6-more-months/
Lightfoot: She was handing out food in Englewood when someone went by and told her, "Hey, mayor, I love you. I got my car back, I got my license back and I got a job." He took advantage of the reforms of fines and fees.
Lightfoot: We will be ending impoundment for non-driving-related expenses and instead providing a pathway for residents to pay their debt.
Lightfoot: "No city should be able to horde and profit from the personal property of their residents just because they can't afford to pay. And no city should be taking away its residents' ability to get back and forth to work or school."
Lightfoot: Displacing Chicagoans without a fair amount of notice is not acceptable, right or fair. "Just imagine trying to move in 30 days — find a place and move in 30 days, and without a vehicle to move your belongings." The reforms are "interconnected."
Lightfoot on Trump's "surge": "What we saw the president and the attorney general do in Portland is a travesty, an unconstitutional intrusion and trampling of the rights of individuals who were unlawfully detained and arrested, sometimes overnight. And, rightfully, the mayor ...
"of Portland, the police chief and the residents of Portland stood up in opposition. that's not democracy that we saw unfolding on the streets of Portland ... that's what we call tyranny and dictatorship. And we're not having it in Chicago."
Lightfoot: "We don't need federal troops. We don't need unnamed, secret federal agents roaming around the streets of Chicago, taking residents without cause and violating their basic constitutional rights. I'm glad to see that the president got the message."
Lightfoot: "Now, that doesn't mean he's not gonna try it here in Chicago, and we have to remain diligent." If you see something that doesn't look right, report it to 911, 311. "We are gonna remain diligent. And if we see any steps out of line, particularly with DHS or ...
"Border Patrol, we are not gonna hesitate to take the president to court and stop any unconstitutional actions."
"As a former federal prosecutor, federal agents who are here in Chicago have been here for decades: FBI, DEA and ATF. We routinely work in partnership with them."
"As a former federal prosecutor, federal agents who are here in Chicago have been here for decades: FBI, DEA and ATF. We routinely work in partnership with them."
Lightfoot: "Here, our U.S. attorney, John Lausch, who I've known for 20+ years ... he will be at the helm supervising these new resources that will be coming in to our city. So, they're not federal troops; they're FBI, DEA, ATF. And they'll be plugged in to the existing ...
"infrastructure of those agencies and ... managed by U.S. Attorney john Lausch. That is a big, important difference."
Lightfoot: "It's too soon to be able to say if this is a value-add or not."
Lightfoot: Feds have previously told Chicago to abandon its Sanctuary City status to get funds for fighting crime. "We will never, ever, ever retreat from the fact that we are a welcoming sanctuary city and we stand with our immigrant and refugee communities. That is who we ...
"are. That is part of our values. And we're not gonna have somebody dangle money in front of us and retreat and compromise our values."
"The president has been on a campaign now for some time against Democratic mayors across the country ... ."
"The president has been on a campaign now for some time against Democratic mayors across the country ... ."
Lightfoot: "The president is trying to divert attention from his failed leadership on COVID-19. He has failed. He has failed. He has failed."
Lightfoot: "Why are we engaged in such violence? Because there's too many damn guns on our streets. And why is that so? Because the Republican leadership for way too long, including this president, refuses to have a conversation" on common sense gun reform.
Lightfoot: "The president doesn't actually want to face the tough calls and be a real leader on things that could actually make our communities safe. ... What happened here today in Washington, D.C, with those poor families was a political stunt."
Lightfoot: "If he cared about cities, if he cared about Chicago, there are meaningful ways that the president could actually help. Instead it's denigrate" and disparage.
Lightfoot on shooting: It shows cowardliness of people who shot. "There is an ongoing gang conflict in the areas between districts 6 and 7. The commanders are very well aware of it. They have deployments to address those issues."
Lightfoot: People picking up guns to shoot recklessly into crowds "have lost their humanity, do not value the sanctity of life. We need to pray for them, but we need to find them and bring them to justice."
Lightfoot: CPD was given "information" on possible violence at funeral.
Lightfoot: "We already have some promising leads because people in the community are fed up."
Lightfoot: "I feel confident that we will bring these killers to justice."
Lightfoot on witness protection: "Protection of witnesses, protection of victims, has been a priority in this country, this city, for years. That doesn't change. What we need to do is make sure we give no shelter, no shelter, to the people who are killers."
Important related reading from @thewayoftheid: https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/06/26/if-chicago-police-wants-witnesses-to-step-up-they-have-to-protect-them-activists-say/
Lightfoot: "They're not secret files. Recall that approximately two weeks ago we won a victory in the Illinois Supreme Court to maintain all those records ... going back to 1967 in opposition to the FOP, which wanted them destroyed."
Lightfoot: "... We have been producing all files from 2011 to 2015. Next, as a result of our agreement and the consent decree, we have an obligation, which we will meet, to produce all new contemporaneous CR files."
Lightfoot on FOP President John Catanzara: "In the middle of everything that's going on, in a craven political move, this man waved his hand to President Trump and invited him to bring federal troops into our city. Federal troops into our city, a la Portland. How is that ...
"responsible? How does that make sense? What he should be doing is focusing on the things that are actually important to his members. We have tried to engage him in a constructive way; he refuses to do so because he's more interested in trying to make himself a political ...
"figure rather than to be a leader. I don't take back one word that I say. I absolutely wrote those words with the understanding he would probably make them public. My characterization of him" is accurate and he proves it daily.
Lightfoot on Douglas Park: "I can't account for what happened years before, but this is an important step. It's an important step that the Park District Board is taking, and it's part of a larger initiative that we will be announcing soon to address our racial history and ...
"past, to take account and inventory of what exists in the city and sister agencies to memorialize our past but also account for what's missing. I'll reveal more in the coming days, but I do think this is an important step." We need to "give honor and homage" to the young ...
people who lobbied for this, and she urged the board to meet this week to make this step. "This is now headed in the right direction."
Press conference over.
