Lori Lightfoot
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

 

The budget drafted by Lightfoot and approved by the City Council contains $411.6 million to implement “Our City, Our Safety.”

    • $85 million on violence intervention, including victim services, street outreach and other violence reduction programs.
    • $62 million for affordable housing and homeless programs.
    • $80 million for assistance to families and youth jobs.
    • $40 million for health and wellness programs.
    • $114.6 million for community development and parks.
    • $30 million for small business.

The funding reflects the plan’s “holistic approach” to reducing violence by improving communities. Specifically, it targets community areas where poverty, low educational attainment and poor health outcomes, including shorter life expectancy, are concentrated.

These neighborhoods have accounted for 50% of the violence in Chicago over the last three years, according to statistics cited in the plan.

But it has been difficult to gauge whether money spent so far has been going where it’s needed most.

— David Struett in Chicago plans to spend more than $400 million to make neighborhoods safer, as debate continues over what actually works

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80 COMMENTS

  1. Any sentence containing”Lightfoot” and “thrown” in it should also contain ” off of a cliff “.

    • I wonder where the money is coming from? Hoping for some federal program funding money or some bail out money?

      Chicago is already around $37 billion in debt (mostly from pensions), tax payers got hit with about a $94 million property tax increase this year ($47 million of which goes to pension plan shortfalls) and they still have shortfalls in other areas for millions of $$$ they have not even started to address. They are rated F by the accounting industry, and are second in the nation for highest taxes per tax payer (New York is first). They will probably default on pensions next year.

      • “I wonder where the money is coming from?”

        where does the money for the cattle ranch come from? from the cattle.

        • Psst! rant7 I have news for you. The taxpayers are NOT cattle. In spite of what the Leftists think.

    • I have to wonder how much of that money will be wasted on consultants, management fees, fancy office fit outs, corporate logos and mission statements, and marketing focus groups. Would it be more direct and effective to just leave pallets of cash in those violence affected areas? Just ignore the inflationary effect of increasing the money supply without increasing the supply of goods and servicesj for that cash.

  3. This money is funneled to so-called “community non-profits” that use the lion’s share of the money to pay outrageous salaries to the executives of these sham organizations. You might as well just give the money directly to the residents, or pour gas on the pile and light it on fire, ala Joker.

    “Progressive” organizations are nothing but a scam

      • First they have to stop voting for the Communist Democraps. If they don’t do that, the rest really won’t matter. It’s pretty obvious they never will, so nothing is ever going to change for the better.

        • Which is why we should make note of the craziness and concentrate our efforts in the “purple” states. Some areas are lost for the foreseeable future. Sorry to the good folks in Illinois that are controlled by Chicago politics.

    • Most efficient grift in upstate NY. Even politicians are jealous (and/or participate) of how outrageous the payouts for nonprofit salaries get.

    • I’m sure it’s a coincidence that those community non-profits are often highly political organizations.

  4. $62 million for affordable housing …

    Well, if your going to raise criminals and future gang members they need a place to live.

    Our county came along with one of these programs a while back. Built some “affordable housing” right next to our area. Our property values plummeted to less than 40%, gangs whose members were inhabiting the “affordable housing” were formed and our crime rate in the immediate area went from zero to maybe a few % likely to 100% likely within a couple of months. All the residents of the “affordable housing” are black. Our area is a mixture of races but mostly white, average home value before the “affordable housing” was about $300,000.00

    After shooting a few of them as they broke into houses and assaulted people in our area a news crew from a local station showed up one day. The news talent interviewed a few of our area residents on video about the crime and shootings. Then went to the “affordable housing” area and interviewed a few of those residents. The news story ran, it was touted on one for those short news commercial breaks as “Local residents claim they are being targeted by shootings. More on this and other stories on ….”. When the piece ran on the news, the only interview shown was that of one of the criminals who was shot and wounded breaking into a house where he assaulted an older lady outside in the yard first but was now out on bond. He said “They just shot me, I was just walking down the sidewalk and got shot.” The news anchor then comes back and says “Deadly shootings are a way of life in black communities. The mayor has pledged to end the shootings.”

    8 days later later I shot that same guy when he broke into our home.

    • “Affordable housing” is built by shady contractors with connections to Democrat politicians and “progressive” organizations. Such housing is built as cheaply as possible with substandard materials from China and Vietnam to ensure big profits. Building inspectors are paid bribes to sign off on the construction.

      That’s the way it has worked in LA for decades.

      With more and more immigrants, whether resettled Afghanis, or illegals from across the border, the “affordable housing” in cities will turn into slums. LA, NY, Baltimore, SF, Chicago and the rest of the Democrat paradises will soon resemble Sao Paulo, Rio, Mexico City and other third world metropolises. There will be a core of wealthy guarded by their private security, their palatial estates surrounded by favelas.

      If you reside in or near one of these Democrat s*holes, do your children a favor and get the hell out.

      • I hear you about the quality of construction, but building nice facilities seems very wasteful when you realize they will be destroyed in the first 6 months of occupancy by dindunuffin and his bros.

    • I would have trouble believing this, but we had several similar incidents after we passed bail reform almost 2 years ago. If you don’t mind my asking what state/region did this happen to.

  5. Some of those programs might help some people not enter the criminal justice system over time but what does any of it do to reduce current general criminal behavior let alone gang activity where the behavior is already ongoing. About as useful as performing plastic surgery on a limb that requires a tourniquet to stem blood flow.

  6. Build the wall. Nobody in, nobody out. Ever. Might take a few generations but eventually they’ll kill themselves off. Problem solved.

  7. Last I heard, it cost $40k to house a prisoner in Illinois. Four hundred million divided by 40k is 10,000. The Chicago cops once claimed there were about 1,300 individuals at high risk for committing or becoming the victims of violent crimes. Mostly, they were gangbangers. Imagine the impact if Lightfoot’s $400 million were spent putting all of them away for seven or eight years.

    • Oh you mean exactly what happened from the 90’s into 00’s that saw the biggest drop in crime nationwide? Super predator comments aside it was effective if a bit expensive.

    • That fact that it costs $40k to house a prisoner annually is a GIANT problem.

      Housing a prisoner should cost no more than $10k annually. Build a concrete box with bars in front for their cell. That should be a one-time cost of around $10k and last for 100+ years. Food should be nothing more than gruel with minimum life-sustaining protein, carbohydrates, fat, and vitamins. That should cost about same as dog food, on the order of $80 per month or $960 per year. Up to this point, cost is about $1k per year per inmate.

      The largest cost would be guards and a warden. One guard making $72k per year should easily be able to guard 30 inmates who never really ever get out of their cells. (Inmates should eat, shower, and evacuate bodily wastes in their cells.)

      Back to the prison cells, all they need is a hole in the wall where a small stream of water comes out for showing. No fixtures to damage or requiring repair and the prison guard turns the water on and off from a central location for multiple cells at the same time. And no toilet–just a hole in the floor that inmates can squat over. Again, no fixture for an inmate to damage or requiring repair.

      Make prisons incredibly unpleasant like that and budding criminals might actually want to stay out.

      • That would be cruel and inhumane treatment…… unless we are talking about political prisoners in which case have at it.

        • And we know who the “political prisoners’ will be under Progressive ideology.

          In fact most political prisoners will think themselves lucky if they are in overcrowded typhus-ridden huts.

  10. Might be more effective to use that $400mil to arm up the good people of the city and let them take care of the problem. Might be a bit bloody for a year or so due to the target rich environment.

  11. This isn’t that hard. Just lock up the criminals and keep them locked up.

    They just don’t want to do that. They would rather punish everyone else.

    • Prndll,

      In our nation’s urban Hellscapes “punishing everyone” is a minor Ruling Class objective. The major Ruling Class objective is consolidating power and money unto themselves. With that end in mind, the local ruling class maximizes chaos and upheaval because that prompts local voters to beg and plead the local Ruling Class to “fix it”. Of course the local Ruling Class is all too happy to oblige those pleas with “solutions” which … wait for it … consolidate power and money for themselves (the Ruling Class).

      The people of our nation would be wise to stop automatically ascribing noble intentions to the actions of our Ruling Class.

      • How does that happen with such large numbers of people believing without question whatever they are told by people like Pelosi, Schiff, F(ouch)ie, Biden, Clinton and others? They call it insurrection and everyone believes it’s insurrection even when everyone knows it isn’t. That kinda stuff is what helps to make it all so much worse.

        • Prndll,

          “How does that happen with such large numbers of people believing without question whatever they are told by people like …”

          There is fairly simple human psychology which makes that possible. One facet: some people are too gullible/trusting/naive. Another facet: some people “want” that Ruling Class garbage. The last facet: the Ruling Class exploits human nature and deceives/manipulates people to support the Ruling Class.

          Expanding ever so briefly on the notion that some people “want” Ruling Class garbage:

          Some people accept Ruling Class garbage because it is too painful to accept that the Ruling Class would be evil and exploit them. Those people suppress the truth to “protect themselves” similar to the way that a rape victim might suppress memories of their rape to protect their emotional well-being.

          And some people accept Ruling Class garbage because it helps them be selfish and/or irresponsible. For example some people want extended “vacations” (live on entitlement programs where available). Other people prefer indulging their self-interests rather than investing any time in their civic duty to be aware and promote a better society. In that last case those people simply accept whatever narrative the Ruling Class tells them since they cannot be bothered to check themselves.

        • How? The hive mind. They’re programmed to believe it. They’ll attack (cancel) anyone that points out the obvious.

        • We know they are lying,
          They know that we know that they are lying,
          We know that they know that we know they are lying,
          What are you going to do about it (honey pot intensifies)
          Demoralization and setting the stage on one side and check out Strych9’s posts for the group dynamics for those more easily controlled. Not the first time all of this has happened and it goes way back.

      • “Of course the local Ruling Class is all too happy to oblige those pleas with “solutions” which … wait for it … consolidate power and money for themselves (the Ruling Class).”

        Then they brag about instituting the [insert feel good name] program. They’ll campaign for reelection on wasting your money.

  12. How does this fantasy of “affordable housing” work exactly?
    Without devolving into Cabrini-Green.

    • Shire-man,

      For the uninitiated, the supposed “theory” of locating “affordable housing” in successful suburbia is:

      Children in urban Hellscape slums never see the relative affluence and peace of suburbia: thus they see no reason to strive for excellence. Therefore moving those slum children to suburbia is supposed to inspire them to achieve greatness.

      And to a lesser extent, those slum children lack role models and mentors in the slums. Moving those slum children to the suburbs is supposed to somehow result in excellent role models and mentors which inspire those children to apply themselves, work hard, and “succeed”.

      Of course in reality, building “affordable housing” in suburbia is simply a way to send tax dollars to politicians’ “friends”.

      • Exactly the opposite happens to the “theory.” Instead of lifting up the “disadvantaged,” the “disadvantaged” despoil the environment to which the government transplanted them.

      • Oh, and locating “affordable housing” in suburbia is also supposed to place those slum children in the superior suburban schools which is also supposed to contribute to their ability to “succeed”.

      • But the suburbs are full of racist cops and white supremacist red-liners.
        At least that’s what I’ve been berated into agreeing with by the MSM and political class. So wouldn’t it be a “crime against humanity” to put those poor slum children there?

        • Shire-man, That is an outright bold faced lie. The suburbs are not “full of racist cops and white supremacists. You must be one of those city slickers who religiously votes DEMONcRAT.
          Using such and calling it ‘sarcasm’ is misleading to the Lefties who believe that crapola.

    • they build townhouses that sell for real money, and the majority of the units are bought at full pop, complete with neighbors that wheedled in on a stipend.
      rent vouchers fan out across the region and the crime map overlays the section8 map almost perfectly.
      and it’s all good, it does lift many up- as long as any dwellers who commit crime lose their subsidy. seriously: if one member of a household receiving grants commits a violent offense they’re all out.
      or at least that’s what we were told.

  14. As usual, not a peep about addressing the 75% rate of single parent(baby momma) homes.

    Racist Leftists and their low expectations.

    Result….. another 400M$ down the crapper.

  15. Doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result? No, not in this case. The money will be funneled off to Lightfoot supporters. This is how the Democrat inner city plantation model works. The results are reflected in schools that don’t even try to educate and gang warfare over a lucrative drug trade. Don’t expect change anytime soon.

  16. Typical Leftist-Socialist solution to a problem. Throw money at it and think that it will fix itself.

  17. Einstein noted, The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result.” I note, “The definition of Liberalism is spending more money for free shit to keep the Useful Idiot Dwellers on the Government Plantation.”

  19. Spend a fraction of that money by waiting till late at nite ,
    Then torch the whole area.
    #1 – save money
    #2 – gets rid of trash & thugs at the same time
    #3 – makes shovel ready jobs for the unemployed
    #4 – area smells are improved
    #5 – homicide rates go down

    VIOLA HAPPY DAYS…

  20. Street Outreach? $85 Million? Is she paying off the neighborhood thugs? Rest assured when Rats concoct BS buzzwords they never define can only mean the money is buying people off and worse buying votes. Fools in chicago are being played by democRats who belongs in jail.

  22. The outline of the expenditures struck me as yet more “give-away” programs that have no success metrics associated with them. How can you determine if anything works if you don’t establish measurable goals and metrics ahead of time? Hmmmm, politicians shy from this accountability no matter what city or state they hail from. The only pressure that will work is a united voting populace that demands real accountability.

    BTW, nice of them to toss in a tidbit of $30M for small business. If you don’t have businesses in the area to employ people, these districts will keep sucking taxpayer money year after year after year. And if the locality (meaning law enforcement and community working together) doesn’t keep the area safe, no amount of grants are going to keep businesses there to provide steady, regular employment.

    Totally irresponsible spending of such a huge sum of taxpayer money. But the “give-away” recipients will vote her back in next time around.

    • I have a feeling the money allotted for small business will be highly conditional and unequally distributed.

      • Doners or relatives of the majority political party who happen to have businesses that meet the narrow criteria they select by committee?

  23. The dems never met a problem they didn’t want to solve by throwing money at it. As we know, nothing solves problems better than taking hundreds of millions from the productive citizens and “investing” it in the unproductive citizens. Also well known is that more parks always equals less “gun” violence, which begs the question, why didn’t we just build parks in Afghanistan?

    • Not tough. If you reward something, you get more of it. If you punish something, you get less of it. That is almost literally all you need to know to evaluate proposals for “fixes” to places like Chicago.

  24. The costs of jailing someone aren’t because of the HVAC or food or clothing. It is the cost of all the studies(which is how politicians pay back the people that put them into power. The graft and corruption is to major cost. We could easily build Quonset hut camps for the homeless and staff these camps with social workers and advocates to get these people on the programs designed for them. We can afford to feed and house(communally) all. The problem is the drugs. The people make money from the drugs(both legal and illegal) have to be paid, since they put the politicians there. They want these homeless in everyone’s face because we will complain about then rather than something that matters to them.
    Solving these problems would just open the politicians up to inspection. This way, they can claim they are doing something other than just robbing us.

  28. Want to clean up the crime ridden neiborhoods? Start by putting a major police presence and arresting and prosecuting the criminals. Use the RICO laws against the gangsta’s. Crack down on those who are preying upon the majority of the non criminals in the neighborhoods. Do whatever it takes to keep order and demand schools actually teach instead of indoctrinate and babysit. Raise expectations instead of lower them. Stop the flow of government money into the so called non profit community organizers like Saint Barry or the Reverend Al. Make race baiting much less profitable.
    And, allow the citizens of the city to actually use whatever force or weapons they need to, to defend their homes, businesses and lives. Yes, it will be a bloody mess for a short time. But, when the punks and thugs begin to realize being a thug is no longer a profitable lifestyle and will result in an early grave, they will likely find some other place to victimize or find another way of making their living. Either way, they are no longer committing their crimes in your city.

  29. The best way for Chicago to reduce violent crime or any major city. Is to pass laws making it legal to kill thieves, in order to protect the private property of the law abiding.

  30. Like to see a study of how effective her gun violence prevention program worked.

    I can guess the results, but be interesting to see real world numbers and out comes.

  31. It never fails the Windy City of t Democrat Windheads like Lightfoot so darn stupid to tell which way is left

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