Store owners were still sweeping up glass from sidewalks along the Magnificent Mile Monday morning after a night of looting that turned the nation’s eyes to Chicago when Mayor Lori Lightfoot and police Superintendent David Brown went on the offensive.
Not just against the hundreds of people who swept through downtown, ransacking stores and attacking police, but against the prosecutors and judges they said enabled such criminality by not taking a tougher stand against looting during the civil unrest that erupted after George Floyd’s death.
While the lasting images of the chaotic night will be looters stepping through shattered windows of Louis Vuitton and Nordstrom with armloads of clothes, the political fallout from yet another high-profile debacle could linger. Recent spikes in city violence coupled with unchecked looting could provoke criticism that Lightfoot has lost control of the city.
Ald. Brian Hopkins, 2nd, who represents parts of downtown, said he was on Michigan Avenue from midnight to about 4 a.m., and saw police with very little apparent plan get overwhelmed by the crowds of looters.
Hopkins criticized Lightfoot for not being prepared after the earlier looting in May and June that followed George Floyd’s death, which sparked nationwide civil unrest.
“The real question today is, where was the strategy? What was the decision making at the highest levels?” Hopkins said. “That means the police superintendent and the mayor, who’s a very hands-on mayor when it comes to these kinds of decisions.”
Hopkins painted a bleak picture for the city if Lightfoot can’t get such criminal activity in and around downtown under control.
“Literally, the future of Chicago hangs in the balance, I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say that,” he said. “If this continues, how can Chicago survive? What will be left downtown after Water Tower Place gets boarded up and the for-sale signs go up on all the condos near Michigan Avenue? People who live around there have had their sense of safety badly shaken. This is our tax base, by the way. We count on tax revenue from this area of the city to fund all number of other programs we count on.”
For her part, Lightfoot brushed off criticism that her administration was unprepared. and she ripped the alderman.
“Ald. Hopkins has a penchant for letting his mouth run before he actually gets the facts,” Lightfoot said. “I don’t think there’s any reason for me to say anything further.”
“What we need now is not Monday morning quarterbacks and sideline critics. What we need is to come together as a city and have a united strategy and focus,” Lightfoot added. “We’re focused, we’re not going to let the noise of people that like to chatter before they know what the facts are get in the way and that’s all I’ll say about that.”
Following the looting, Lightfoot also faced pressure from Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin, of Western Springs, who released a statement calling for the National Guard, while Illinois Senate Republican Leader Bill Brady, of Bloomington, in a tweet on Monday said “the looting, wanton destruction of property and disregard for public safety we witnessed in Chicago overnight is unacceptable.”
“I implore our leaders at the city, state and federal levels to do everything they can to ensure those who perpetrated these crimes are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and that all measures are taken to ensure our residents and businesses remain safe,” Brady said.
Downstate Republican U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood also called for help from the National Guard.
“Criminals continue to loot & destroy property in Chicago with little consequence. The Governor, Mayor & Cook Co. State’s Attorney are failing to protect IL citizens & businesses. Utilize the National Guard. Accept federal support. Prosecute criminals. Restore the rule of law,” LaHood tweeted.
Lightfoot rejected calls for the National Guard to patrol Chicago, however, and said she and Gov. J.B. Pritzker don’t believe it’s needed at this time. The city has been working with the state police, she said.
Lightfoot also preemptively criticized President Donald Trump, who has previously threatened to send in federal agents to intervene in Chicago street crime. He recently sent agents to the city as part of Operation Legend, which Lightfoot said she supports as long as it’s operating through U.S. Attorney John Lausch.
“Again, no, we do not need federal troops in Chicago, period, full stop,” Lightfoot said. “I’m sure the president will have his way with this incident but I’m calling upon him to do the things that we do need,” such as making changes to the nation’s gun laws.
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Still, Lightfoot and her administration had defenders following the looting. Ald. Pat Dowell, 3rd, whose ward stretches from the South Loop through Bronzeville into Washington Park, said Chicago police seemed to be as ready as they could be for the unrest, given that the crowd seemed to quickly organize on social media before descending on downtown.
“The number I heard was 400 police detailed to the downtown area, which seems appropriate,” Dowell said. “I’m more concerned with the fact that certain elements appeared to use the situation in Englewood as a pretext to engage in criminality, targeting certain retailers. When I hear that people had U-Haul trucks, sledgehammers and precision glass cutters, that doesn’t sound to me like it was a spontaneous situation.”
