Above is Lori Lightfoot, Chicago mayor. She’s making a last-minute pitch to the city before they vote on her re-election. It doesn’t look good. The news is not looking good for John Kass, Chicago’s beloved columnist. He has just returned from open heart surgery and turned his website over to Steve the Pilot, his fishing buddy. Steve was raised in Chicago and spent almost his entire life there. He no longer lives in Chicago. Excerpts:
Our family was able to travel together after the kids graduated from college. I also mentioned that I had missed one election previously. I was absent from the municipal election for 2019, as I was deployed to Desert Storm at the time. I did not return until several days later. I voted in the runoff, and I happily voted for Lori Lightfoot hoping for change… and boy did it happen.
He claims that Covid, George Floyd Riots, Crime and Budgets have changed everything. More:
Many of my high school friends were on the job. According to my memory, Lightfoot was contacted by the CPD leadership with a plan to defend us as riots broke out in every city. She said that we aren’t doing that plan and all of the men I know have retired. The morning after the first riots, I rode my bicycle to the river near Wolf Point. Pictures of looted shops, smashed windows and an iconic photograph of the bridges are some of the images I have. I regret not having the chance to capture them. I was devastated.
The second set of looting occurred much closer to home during the so-called “Summer of Love”. Friends with places of business not far from downtown were seen on their rooftops, along with their stores, armed and ready to go, as the police would not or should have told them otherwise. The looting continued the next morning. I was going to the airport in my uniform, and I began to cry as I watched the news on the terminal’s TV. Although I thought I was able to hide it, I still wept for my hometown. It was my dream to live in Chicago, but it was over. I knew that we would be moving. Lightfoot had decimated our city in less than two years.
And:
They began to set fire to Michigan Avenue. There are many boarded-up storefronts, and no one is there after dark. My family was afraid of being robbed or worse and didn’t want me to go into the city to see them. It is a dying engine and I don’t think it will run smoothly for very long. The car won’t start without a strong engine. It’s quite simple.
I was there when Chicago fell, and I grew up in the chaos. Even if Chicago does turn around, it will take a long time and I won’t be able to enjoy the journey.
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Although there is much more to the column that I have quoted here, you can get the gist.
What about you? Are you a victim of corruption, crime, or Covid? If so, please tell me about it. Was there a tipping point? Are you still regretting it? What if you didn’t decide to move? You can comment here but you cannot comment on it. Please e-mail your story to rod at — amconmag
