Mayor Lori Lightfoot will have a press conference at noon "to announce new measures to protect Chicago’s commercial corridors and neighborhoods."

I'll live tweet. Follow for updates and let me know if you have questions. https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/08/13/downtown-to-be-shut-down-nightly-through-weekend/

Lightfoot will be joined by" law enforcement and prosecutorial partners as well as business and community leaders," per her office.

You'll be able to watch here: https://twitter.com/chicagosmayor/status/1294320495106523137

Lightfoot: "... Earlier this summer, our city experienced looting and destruction at a level we haven't seen in, really, half a century, going back to the 1960s." It cost millions and "undermined" the city's recovery from coronavirus.

Lightfoot: All of it was "totally unacceptable. In the days and weeks that followed, those same residents and businesses have been working together, diligently and courageously, to build, to reopen and get back on their feet."

Lightfoot: There was destruction and looting again this week, "once again destroying property, undermining our economy and undermining residents' and businesses' sense of safety" about their future.

Lightfoot: Small, locally-owned businesses were affected, not just big ones.

Lightfoot: "... There can never be any place in Chicago where businesses are afraid to open, where residents and visitors are afraid to travel and shop or where employees are afraid to go to work."

Lightfoot: "Let me take head-on this narrative that if we protect the Downtown we ignore the neighborhood. That is a completely false narrative for many reasons. First of all, we never take our eye off any area of our city that is in trouble or distress. And our Downtown is ...

"more than just a collection of office buildings or retail stores." Gold Coast, Streeterville are residential neighborhoods. They deserve peace and safety.

Lightfoot: "It eats me up when I hear from residents anywhere that they are afraid: afraid to leave their homes, afraid in their homes, afraid to go to to work, to go out for necessities or just to enjoy the beauty of this city."

Lightfoot: Despite precautions put in place, "what happened Sunday night and then into Monday morning should never have happened. We, our city government with our law enforcement partners, simply must do better. And we will do better. This challenge that we face goes beyond ...

"just broken windows and stolen property. What was damaged was the faith and confidence of our residents and businesses in their city's ability to ensure basic protection.
"The effort to restore that confidence has already begun. And for me, personally, it started with ...

"listening. Listening to the fears, concerns and frustrations of many people, who have communicated with me directly either because they reached out to me directly or I to them."

Lightfoot: "It should be obvious, but let me say this loud and clear: No matter what an individual's life circumstances may be, it is never justifiable to take that which is not yours. We take that basic, basic tenant of our democracy to our children, and any thinking, any ...

"speech, any action that suggests that somehow taking and looting is justifiable is simply wrong and I reject it in the strongest words possible."

Lightfoot: "This is a plan for every part of our city, with emphasis on our commercial corridors, Downtown and in our neighborhoods."

Lightfoot: "This plan is built on five core strategies, compromising 10 specific tactics ... ."

Lightfoot: "We must be better at preventing these crimes from happening in the first place." Social media has been used to organize large groups of people "to engage in illegal activity."

Lightfoot: CPD has created Social Media Task Force, a specialized, 20-person unit within Crime Prevention & Information Center, "focused on around-the-clock review of open-source social media activity — all open source, publicly available, that might indicate plans for looting."

Lightfoot: They'll get 500 more body cameras. "This is important to ensure complete transparency in the event of a police-involved shooting or other incident."

Lightfoot: Should we learn of any planned looting, CPD officers will be deployed immediately, along with members of the PD's Critical Response Team and another team.

Lightfoot: CPD will actively partner with city agencies "to deploy new and enhanced tactics to shut down targeted areas." That includes blocking/disabling vehicles, creating new things like bollards to limit movement.

Lightfoot: Sign up for the Chi Business alerts. More than 8,000 have done so, so far. "We need everyone in every business across the city to step up and sign up for these alerts so we can keep you in the loop when anything is happening in your area."

Lightfoot: "... We will be creating stronger community partnerships." CPD will partner with community leaders "who can use their voice to speak out against looting" and engage in proactive conversations with businesses and communities.

Lightfoot: We need to lean into community leaders and street outreach/intervention workers.

Lightfoot: They'll enhance coordination with business communities. There will be weekly intelligence sharing meetings with business associations/owners.

Lightfoot: The plan will include "robust legal action." The city is considering new laws that will give CPD greater flexibility in prosecuting cases.

Lightfoot: They'll strengthen relationships with the State's Attorney Office, state police and Cook County Sheriff's Office.

Lightfoot: The state police will be deployed to shut down access to targeted areas of Chicago, while sheriffs will go to neighborhoods to assist with violence reduction efforts.

Lightfoot: The Detective Task Force on Looting will be created with the FBI. "This special task force will ensure special handling of looting cases to ensure those who engage in it are held accountable. No one should ever feel they can break into our businesses, destroy and ...

"steal property and get away with it."
The task force "has already been hard at work this week" looking at video footage and IDing people and developing "strong cases" against them. It's resulted in 40+ felony charges.

Lightfoot: "We cannot allow the short-term setback that occurred this week to distract us from our broader mission of delivering the resources and investment across our communities that are desperately needed."

Lightfoot: "What we experienced this week is simply not who we are as a city, and we will never allow anyone to destroy the fabric of our city and our pride that we rightfully have as Chicagoans."

Lightfoot: She wants people who were afraid after this week "to know that I hear you loud and clear. You deserve to feel safe. And I am working night and day to make that a reality for your and residents all across our city."

Supt. David Brown: "The message for this weekend is simple: Chicago does not — I repeat, does not — belong to looters and thieves. Chicago belongs to the good people who work hard every day to earn an honest living."

Brown: If you're in a car caravan that's looting, "We will do everything we can to stop you, and we will arrest you. If you get away from us, we will work with our state and federal partners to find you, and we will arrest you."

Brown: Foxx has committed to working with detectives to prosecute anyone caught looting or committing violent acts "to the fullest extent of the law." All parts of the criminal justice system must collaborate and work together to restore a sense of security in our city.

Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx: She's a child of this city. She has lived in the areas impacted by events like this weekend. Her brother lives in Englewood. She has family directly impacted by the inability to get groceries when stories are closed from looting.

Foxx: "... We do not allow for any excuse for the criminality that we saw this past weekend. And our office will continue the strong work we've done in partnership with the Chicago Police Department, our federal partners and others to bring those to account."

Foxx: CPD presented them with 44 cases for pressing of felony charges. "An arrest is made by law enforcement. Under Illinois statute, felony charges must get the approval of the State's Attorney's Office to be filed." 44 charges were brought to them this week; 43 approved.

Foxx: Of those, 28 were what they'd consider burglary/looting. "The work that we've done this week mirrors the work that we've been doing all summer, and particularly in the aftermath of the looting and violence we saw at the end of May and June. There were 325 cases presented...

"to the Cook County State's Attorney's Office by the CPD from the weeks of May 29 to June 16. ... Of the 325 cases that were presented ... for the purpose of felony charges, 300 of those cases were, in fact, approved. It is a 90% approval rate. Those 300 felony cases from ...

"May 29 through June 16 are still pending. None of those 300 cases have been dropped. None of those 300 cases have been stepped down to misdemeanors. Those cases are still pending."

Foxx: "When you go and destroy property, when you go and destroy property for the purpose of taking things that do not belong to you, that is a felony criminal act."

Foxx: "At the same time, we recognize that we cannot take our eye off the ball related to gun violence that has ripped our city in numbers that we have not seen in decades. We continue to work with our partners, both local and federal, to pursue and prosecute gun cases."

Foxx: From Aug. 1 to today, her office has charged 237 aggravated unlawful use of weapons cases. Since the start of Operation Legend on July 22, they've charged 404 gun cases.

Foxx: There were 1,872 people arrested and charged with a gun charge.

Foxx: "... These are extraordinary times. Times unlike anything we have seen in any of our lifetimes. The economic collapse ...; the death and sorrow we've seen as a result of COVID; what feels like unrelenting gun violence that has taken far too many of our residents, some ...

"the most vulnerable, our children; and then the unabashed destruction of property; has made us all know that this isn't our city. That this feels different. And the way out of this is what we've done in the past and will continue to do, which is work collaboratively with all ...

"of our partners, to bring those who commit these acts to justice and to work with our communities to make sure our system is fair and just and equitable for everyone."

Emmerson Buie Jr., head of the FBI in Chicago: "We have to make a choice to do right; we have to make a choice to do wrong. Too often lately we've" chosen wrong.

Buie: "We've been getting tips, but it's not enough."

Richard Gamble, chairman of Magnificent Mile Association: They're home to more than 100,000 residents. The association and members pledged to partner with the city and other agencies to support the efforts announced today.

West Side Forward's Ed Coleman: He looks forward to joining forces with these leaders "to make sure we never fail our" businesses and leaders again.

Rev. Johnson: "I know the decades of the social inequities and injustices that have led to the unfortunate plight faced by so many of us daily. I understand the anger, the disappointment and the frustration experienced by countless persons in our communities. Chicago, we are ...

"better than the world witnessed a few days ago. And Chicagoans, we must do better and become better in our quest to become a safe and peaceful city."

Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29th): "We stand before you united. United in the same purpose of providing safety and security not for what you see ... before you, perhaps one of the most beautiful skylines in the world. But we stand united in providing safety and security for the ...

"residents and business owners" and homeowners throughout Chicago.
"It is undeniable each and every one of us has a great love for the city."

Taliaferro: We've invested more in the neighborhoods in the last year "than we've done in a long time. Through Invest SouthWest and through the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund and other investments, your voices have been heard. Your cry for community disinvestment has been heard."

Taliaferro: "When your reason for looting is all but gone, what will you do? I ask that you sit at the table. I ask that you have a part in the conversation."

Lightfoot: "I don't think it does" — asked about if bridges are dividing Downtown from more residential neighborhoods.

Lightfoot: "About the bridges — the bridges are important for a whole host of reasons, but what we also know is that by having them up, it gives us the opportunity to shrink the footprint and to control the flow of people who are coming in and out of the Central Business ...

"District. And that's important because what we've seen ... car caravans have brought people Downtown to do harm to our residents, to our businesses, to our property. So we are taking every precaution, and we will continue to do that ... ."

Lightfoot: "Macy's, as you know, has been struggling as a company all across the country for quite some time. My understanding is that Macy's notified the properties at Water Town back in February that they probably were not gonna renew their lease."

Lightfoot: "We've known that Macy's has been struggling." Her team has reached out to "offer whatever supports that we can."

Lightfoot: "The consumer preferences in buying has simply changed and has been a struggle for lots of different retailers to be able to adapt to this new economy. The Macy's reporting of leaving Water Tower is something that they decided to" even before COVID.

Gamble: "I would say the mayor's covered all the points ... . I would just say that most businesses are dealing with the impact of COVID. It's not just large companies like Macy's. It's small companies that are in the process of making decisions on their long-term viability."

Gamble: "Sure, if Macy's leaves Water Tower, that will be a significant blow. I'm sure the folks at Water Tower are looking at trying to attract as many other prospective folks to lease their spaces there."

Brown on social media division: "We've had a social media effort in looking at open-source that any person can see to see if there's any intelligence that applies either to violent crime or, as we've seen ..., looting. What we want to do is expand our capacity in this space of...

"looking at intelligence on open source. I really want to emphasize open source, that is available to anyone to see in the public realm, not anything else beyond open source." They want to "increase the capacity" and have a "dedicated group."

Brown: "We will hold officers accountable for misconduct, but another takeaway is we deployed the entire department during that time period, over 13,000 cops."

Brown: "170 is one too many, but over 13,000 cops did the job in a professional, right way."

Brown: "We have OC spray, which is pepper spray; that's been effective and we'll continue using that. ... We used some OC spray over the weekend, yes."

Lightfoot on aldermen saying they weren't part of the plans: "Obviously, we can't invite the entirety of the people we've been in contact with ... . We've reached out to a range of partners throughout the city ... ."

Lightfoot: "I have great concerns about [Dan Ryan protest]. I always have great concerns when we talk about putting people on a busy expressway."

Lightfoot: "I'm also concerned given the fact we have some people within the coalition of people that are proposing to go on the Dan Ryan who have justified the looting. That is the wrong looting and the wrong optic ever, but particularly, I think, challenging in this time."

Lightfoot: Expressways are the domain of the state police. She's talked with governor about this issue.

Lightfoot: "It's a significant drain of police resources. ... We have to be there."

Lightfoot: "We, of course, support peaceful protest and assembly. Always. But, unfortunately, as we've seen way too many times over the course of this summer, peaceful protest has been hijacked by people who have made every effort to provoke our police, injure our police ... ."

Lightfoot on promised reforms since Laquan McDonald was killed: "I firmly and strongly push back on the premise of the question, which is we've sat by for 6 years and done nothing. That's just fundamentally demonstrably false and untrue."

Lightfoot: "Yes, there are some things regarding the consent decree we haven't met, but we've made tremendous progress. We've redone our sue of force order, we've upped our training ..., we have reformed a vital and important collective bargaining agreement without supervisors...

"just 3 weeks ago. We have stopped the destruction of disciplinary records. We have allowed for anonymous complaints."

She says the question is "wrong" and "irresponsible."

The question Block Club sent in: "Protesters say they've been promised police reform since Laquan McDonald was killed six years ago and those changes have not come to pass. What is your timeline for meeting the consent decree deadlines?"

Lightfoot: "We've got to continue to be diligent every single day. I don't want to put any artificial deadline on it. But fundamentally, what we have to do is make sure our residents feel safe because there is a reality of safe."

Lightfoot: "We've got to restore confidence by making sure the measures that we take are proactive ... ."

Lightfoot: "No one takes lightly having officers working 12-hour days, canceling days off." It's a heavy toll on them and their families. "But I also believe based upon what I know of the grit and resolve of the Chicago Police officers ... that they understand the sacrifice ...

"that needs to be made in this moment."

Lightfoot: "This a challenging time for all of us, but it's especially challenging to the men and women out there on the front line."

Lightfoot: "I don't want to put an artificial deadline on when we will see measurable progress."

Press conference over.

STORY: https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/08/14/social-media-surveillance-raised-bridges-cta-shutdowns-city-says-its-going-all-out-to-stop-looting/