Aldermen move to create senior and nursing home ‘ safety zones’
Chicago has already created protective bubbles around schools, parks, playgrounds, safe passage routes and mass transit with enhanced penalties for gun offenses and other serious crimes.
Soon, the same security blanket will protect seniors from being, as one aldermen put it, “terrorized in their own communities.”
On Tuesday, the City Council’s Committee on Public Safety approved the ordinance championed by West Side Ald. Chris Taliaferro ( 29th), a former Chicago Police officer.
Taliaferro decided to create “senior and nursing home safety zones” after touring senior buildings in his ward last spring and being disgusted by how those elderly residents were forced to live.
“We happened to be … sitting outside enjoying the day when we noticed … young men selling drugs in front of the senior residence. That was … a common thing they had to put up with. … One of the youngmen— you could clearly see he had a gun on him,” Taliaferro said.
Taliaferro calmly called police and “invited” the seniors to leave the porch and retreat to safety inside. But he came away determined to prevent it from happening again.
“They should not have to deal with this on a daily basis,” he said.
The ordinance approved Tuesday would create a protective bubble within 500 feet of nursing homes and residential buildings “owned or rented for the purpose of providing care for three or more adults” age 55 or older.
Within those boundaries, fines and jail time for possession of an assault weapon, high- capacity magazines, laser sights, silencers and an array of other gun- related offenses and other crimes would be greatly enhanced.
“We’ve enjoyed the benefits from creation of school safety zones. We’ve enjoyed the decreased crime in those areas,” Taliaferro said. “Creating a safety zone in front of our senior residences so they may enjoy a good quality of life where they live would be very important.” Ald. Walter Burnett ( 27th) couldn’t agree more. “Our seniors are terrorized in their own communities. I know some seniors who had to call their neighbor [ and say] ‘ Can you watch me as I get out of the car and take my groceries to the house?’ ” Burnett said.