CITY POISED FOR COMEBACK
Top mayoral advisers insist downtown security a top issue for Lightfoot
Chicago is poised for a comeback from the pandemic because of spending growth it has already seen after carefully managing its reopening, top mayoral advisers said Monday, even as they confronted the elephant in the room: downtown security.
Deputy mayor for economic and neighborhood development Samir Mayekar and former White House chief of staff Sam Skinner were prime movers behind the roadmap to economic recovery released by Mayor Lori Lightfoot in early July.
But, since that time, downtown Chicago, River North and Lincoln Park were hit by a second wave of looting more devastating than the first that, once again, spread to commercial corridors on the South and West Sides.
It shook people’s confidence in Chicago to the core and left downtown businesses and residents feeling unsafe.
During a virtual appearance before the City Club of Chicago, Skinner didn’t wait to be asked about the second round of looting and the damage it did to Chicago’s ability to reverse population losses and attract second corporate headquarters.
He anticipated the question and confronted it head-on.
“I want to take another crack at a question I think will probably be coming. That’s safety and the violence that occurred. I want [you all] to know that the mayor addresses it as her No. 1 issue right now. To make sure that she is doing everything she can. Chicago Police Department, federal agents, local law enforcement throughout the region all working together,” Skinner said.
“Some of this was very organized. It was organized criminal activity that took advantage of demonstrators and they’re gonna be dealt with. It is a top priority of the mayor right now. She’s on top of it. She’s bringing in the very best people that she can. Getting all the help she can from other places that have been through this. We recognize that’s an issue that’s on everybody’s mind.”
Lightfoot’s $750 million Invest South/West plan to rebuild 10 impoverished inner-city neighborhoods will not come at the expense of downtown, Skinner insisted.
“We’re committed to all of Chicago. There’s no one area that can get more attention than the other. Resources are limited.
We’re spreading them as best we can,” Skinner said.
Mayekar went further.
“We’ve been tremendously focused on making sure that we keep downtown, that our commercial corridors are vibrant. But we have been just as focused on making sure that our neighborhood commercial corridors are safe. That they’re vibrant, that we’re promoting equity in how we distribute city resources,” he said.
“We fundamentally reject that there’s a trade-off between downtown and the neighborhoods because we are absolutely in this together. The resource allocation and the focus of this administration, which is based on equity, recognizes that Invest South/West can be successful as can a plan to really ensure that downtown comes back from COVID even stronger.”
The downtown workforce has been slow to return. Many businesses are allowing employees to work remotely until January. Others plan to wait until there’s a safe, widely distributed vaccine.
Asked about the future of downtown offices, Mayekar acknowledged companies “may not want to extend a lease” during this “time of crisis.” But they’re in no mood to cancel their leases, either. They’re in wait-and-see mode.
“Many companies are looking to expand space. There was this trend [of] kind of cramming more people into an open office concept. You might see some trends away from that, given the challenges of the pandemic. But there’s this kind of acceptance of remote work and tele-work, which could lead to slightly more percentages of [people] working remotely,” he said.
“But what we’ve heard is people do want to get back to the office. There’s an intangible benefit of being in-person. … The doom story of cities has been told many times over the course of the past few centuries. And cities have always been resilient. … We know those intangibles of being together and the importance of social interaction will be back one day.”
Skinner served as U.S. transportation secretary under former President George H.W. Bush.
He made no attempt to belittle the monumental challenge facing Chicago-based United Airlines, American Airlines and the other commercial carriers.
That’s even though Mayekar said Lightfoot remains fully committed to the $8.7 billion O’Hare Airport expansion project she inherited from Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
“The airlines are facing the biggest challenge in their history really. Bigger than they faced after 9/11, as big as that was,” Skinner said.
“People aren’t traveling. They’re reluctant to travel. And capacity is at 10-to-15 or 20% of what it was.”
“IT IS A TOP PRIORITY OF THE MAYOR RIGHT NOW. SHE’S ON TOP OF IT. SHE’S BRINGING IN THE VERY BEST PEOPLE THAT SHE CAN. GETTING ALL THE HELP SHE CAN FROM OTHER PLACES THAT HAVE BEEN THROUGH THIS. WE RECOGNIZE THAT’S AN ISSUE THAT’S ON EVERYBODY’S MIND.”
SAM SKINNER, adviser, on Lightfoot addressing security concerns downtown
A bear was found eating the remains of an Elgin man Friday near a campsite in Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina.
The remains were of Patrick Madura, 43, although it’s unclear if he was mauled to death by the bear or died by other means, according to National Park Service spokeswoman Jamie Sanders.
Backpackers found Madura’s remains along Hazel Creek Trail near an unoccupied tent at campsite 82, Sanders said in a statement.
They saw a nearby bear “scavenging” the area and left to get a cellular signal and call authorities, she said.
Rangers responding to the call euthanized a bear that was “actively scavenging on the remains,” Sanders said.
In an interview, Sanders said the bear was euthanized because bears that have scavenged on humans may pose a serious risk of doing it again.
“We never want bears to associate people with food,” she said.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Madura was camping by himself, Sanders said.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park encompasses about 800 square miles of the southern Appalachian Mountains, according to the park’s website.
A portion of Hazel Creek Trail near the incident will remain closed until further notice, Sanders said.
The FBI is investigating allegations that celebrity cheerleader Jerry Harris solicited sexually explicit photos and sex from minors, multiple sources told USA Today. Agents executed a search warrant Monday afternoon at a home in west suburban Naperville as part of that investigation.
“The FBI is conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity in the area,” Siobhan Johnson, FBI special agent and public affairs officer, told USA Today. She declined further comment.
Harris, 21, a Chicago-area native who gained national prominence when he was featured in Netflix’s “Cheer” docuseries, has not been criminally charged. He did not respond to a request for comment.
The criminal investigation is based on allegations that were reported separately to police by Varsity Brands, a private company that dominates the cheerleading industry and handles everything from uniform sales to major competitions. In Aug. 1 letters to police in Florida and Texas, Varsity’s chief legal officer, Burton Brillhart, said the company learned of “inappropriate sexual conduct” allegations against Harris and reported the information to authorities as required by law.
“As a result of the recent allegation, we have barred this person from having any affiliation with Varsity Brands or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates, now and in the future,” he wrote.
Brillhart included two screenshots in his communication with law enforcement. In one — a Snapchat message — a picture of the upper part of what appears to be Harris’ face is labeled with the message, “Would you ever want to **** ”. The other screenshot — which is a series of text messages — indicates an exchange that began on May 3, 2019, when an individual named “jerry harris” wrote, “Hey btw I found a place for us to do stuff it’s actually pretty good haha.”
Brillhart’s letters describe Harris as a former employee who was not working for Varsity at the time of the incidents.
The Netflix docuseries follows Texas’ Navarro College cheerleaders in their quest for a national title. “Cheer,” which received six Emmy nominations, was an instant success when it was released in January. Harris became its breakout star, drawing fans for his positive attitude.