Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for being here.
Today, City Council confirmed Francisco Velez as Executive Director of Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications.
We also confirmed Mr. Michael McMurray as the Commissioner for the Chicago Department of Aviation.
I'm proud to congratulate them and thank them for stepping into these respective roles.
Frank Velez is a long-time public servant and an experienced leader in the community safety sector.
He understands what it takes to keep the people of Chicago safe.
Executive Director Velez will be a critical partner in the continued work to build safer communities.
As he oversees and protects our city's large-scale events,
he will further Chicago's place as a premier destination for hosting safe events.
Mr. Michael McMurray will also contribute to Chicago's position as a world-class destination for residents and visitors in his role as CDA Commissioner.
He has many years of experience in the fields of transportation and infrastructure from both the private and public sectors.
From procurement to construction and law, Commissioner McMurray has a deep understanding of the airport business.
I'm confident that he will lead Midway and O'Hare through their transformations and continued success.
I look forward to working with both Executive Director Velez and Commissioner McMurray
to serve the people of Chicago and, of course, to continue to strengthen our city.
Also in council today, we honor Jewish American Heritage Month and AAPI Heritage Month,
reaffirming Chicago as a place that values its diverse communities.
We also honored Mr. James Montgomery, Sr., Chicago's first black corporation counsel for Mayor Harold Washington,
and a civil rights attorney who brought justice to countless Chicagoans and families.
As corporation counsel, he brought his commitment to justice and equity to City Hall and fought for a fair Chicago.
As an attorney, he rightfully held our systems accountable and shined a light on all of the injustices.
His success as a trial lawyer became landmark achievements in the fight for civil rights and that work that he helped build ultimately the Chicago that we are enjoying today.
Mr. Montgomery undoubtedly paved the way for generations of black lawyers who have been inspired by his work and his enduring commitment.
The existence of the first black woman corporate counsel is in large part because of Mr. James Montgomery.
I'm proud to honor his work and legacy, as we did today in city council,
as well as honoring him by making sure that the sixth floor, the foyer, is named in his honor.
Let his story continue to inspire Chicagoans as we work to reach justice for all.
Thank you all, and now I'm happy to take your questions.
Hello, everyone.
Reminder, we have time for one question today.
Thank you.
Hello, Mr. Mayor.
Hello.
You're further and further away from me.
I know, it does feel a little odd here.
You've had concerns about the constitutionality of the curfew ordinance.
I want to know if you can talk about that and what suggestions you might have,
not that changes can be made, but what alternative you might want to see,
if you want to see anything about curfews emerge.
Well, thank you for that question.
There's no evidence that curfews actually prevent or reduce the type of violence that, unfortunately, we've had to deal with as a city.
Now the good news, violence is down in Chicago, well over, are we at 24%?
Violence is down 24%, homicides are down, shootings are down, robberies are down,
and we continue to see the downward trend in violence.
So it's clear that the work that we're doing, there's evidence of it being effective.
What I've said repeatedly is that ultimately we need to work to prevent these gatherings from happening.
And our Deputy Mayor Gatewood, along with Superintendent Snelling and a whole host of many other partners, have worked tirelessly to do just that.
The vast majority of these gatherings we prevent.
And so what I've repeatedly said is that we should be working actively to ensure that we are finding safe spaces for our young people to participate in and enjoy this beautiful city.
Now, again, the initial proposal to have a concentrated area or region where a curfew would apply singularly, that clearly was problematic.
There are a number of alders who clearly have some doubt and consternation about its configuration.
I hope that there will be a continued conversation around ultimately how we work to prevent these gatherings from happening,
because clearly the tools that we have been using have overwhelmingly prevented these gatherings from happening,
and we will continue to work collaboratively to ensure that we're creating safe spaces for everyone in the city of Chicago,
which is my top priority.
Hi, Mayor.
Hi.
The version of the curfew ordinance that was originally considered by the Public Safety Committee
would have required Superintendent Snelling to consult with Deputy Mayor Gatewood
before declaring a so-called snap curfew.
The version that is before the city council right now would give Superintendent Snelling
unilateral power to declare that snap curfew after consulting with the deputy mayor.
Should that ordinance require both the deputy mayor and Superintendent Snelling to sign on?
And if it doesn't, will you veto this ordinance?
Well, the first thing is to give unilateral authority to one entity, I don't see that as an effective democratic tool, right?
So there are real concerns about how public safety is administered because it's not just policing.
It's policing and affordable homes.
It's policing and youth employment, policing and behavioral mental health support services, right?
And so that particular configuration or version of the ordinance was incredibly short-sighted.
What we have now as a tool is that the superintendent and the deputy mayor work collaboratively already
to prevent most of these gatherings from happening.
And this is the result of my administration's approach where we are bringing in CVI,
the Chicago Police Department, community-based organizations, the philanthropic community, business community.
What I've said from the very beginning, in order for us to build the safest, most affordable big city in America,
we have to, one, invest in people, and, two, we have to ensure that we're all working collaboratively.
This ordinance actually is the antithesis to what we've built over these last couple of years,
and what we don't want is a situation where all of the efforts that Superintendent Snellian has put forth
to renew and build trust within communities, that we don't lose that.
And so they're going to continue to work together.
They're already doing it.
And, again, our ultimate goal is to prevent these large gatherings from happening,
and so far there's been a stronger effort to do just that.
Hello, Mr. Mayor.
Hello.
Does your administration have any set plans to meet with Hopkins and the ACLU
because Hopkins just confirmed after the meeting he has still not met with the ACLU?
He still has not met with the ACLU.
Well, look, I don't keep his schedule.
And, you know, look, we have met with Alderman Hopkins on multiple occasions.
The deputy mayor can speak to this.
We've had tabletops where we've brought together all facets of society.
Alderman Hopkins has participated in those tabletops.
I've spent an entire, essentially a day in his ward,
meeting with different residents of the respective communities in his ward.
And so there's clearly an approach that I'm taking where I'm bringing all stakeholders together
to continue to make sure that we drive violence down in the city of Chicago, of which we're doing that.
A lot of work that's in front of us, but we are clearly headed in the right direction.
So I think it's imperative, though, that we make sure that we're meeting with all stakeholders,
particularly those who want to make sure that our constitutional liberties are protected,
especially at a time now where you're seeing the overreach of the executive branch of government right now at the federal level
has shown a great deal of animus and disdain towards democracy.
we don't want to fall into that proclivity that's happening at the federal level.
You know, look, we're going to meet with everyone, and I trust that Alderman Hopkins, he has done this in good faith,
in meeting with my administration and some of the other key leaders, that he will continue to extend and broaden his approach,
because I actually believe it makes for a stronger society when we're all listening together and speaking in some uniformity.
Hi, Mayor.
Hi.
So it was revealed yesterday in Public Safety Committee that the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability
and the city's law department have not reviewed the proposal that Alderman Hopkins is pushing forward.
Do you, of your knowledge, is that accurate and has corporate counsel reviewed?
Which proposal?
The curfew ordinance.
We've been at the table multiple times.
The law department, mayor's office, community safety, I've been at the table.
Alders have been at the table.
All of us have gone over many different iterations of this proposal.
Here's what's most important.
is to build safe communities, and we're doing that.
In order for us to continue to drive violence down in the city of Chicago,
it's going to take all of us.
And so that's the approach that I have had,
and that's the one that I will continue to lead.
Hi, Mayor. Thanks again.
I believe this is probably more of a question for your corporation council,
but on the settlement for John Velez,
why did the cost of that settlement go up by $600,000 over the last year?
Alderman Beal had claimed that the cost behind that was lawyers that were outsourced.
Can you please clarify that?
You can speak to that.
Thank you.
Sure.
Sorry.
Hi, Mary Richardson, Lawyer Corporation Counsel.
When the case that you referenced was brought before city council, a settlement sum was presented.
When city council rejected that settlement sum, we had to go back and renegotiate.
And that is the renegotiated price, if you will, the cost for this settlement.
There will be some fees factored in there, but ultimately the analysis that we engage in,
we also talked to outside counsel as well as opposing counsel.
And they came back at an increased number because we thought this particular case was more appropriate to settle than to try.
So that's the basis for the differential.
So it's a negotiation thing, and it's not because of outsourcing at all?
It is part and parcel for the negotiation.
When we presented it the first time, we believed the facts supported us, and we know today that they do.
There are additional facts that we presented to the committee for those aldermen that were in attendance,
and the vast majority of them agreed with the additional facts that had to be taken into consideration,
and as a consequence, the matter is now settled.
Good afternoon, Mayor.
Yes, it is.
Alderman Yancey introduced his Just Cause for Eviction ordinance today.
It went to rules, of course, but if it does go forward, is that something that you support?
Well, you know, as I've made it very clear that in order for us to, you know,
have a society that works for working people, we have to actually have to show up for working people.
Alderman Yancey has worked incredibly hard, along with members of my administration,
to find pathways to not just home ownership but affordability.
So here's another measure that I believe is worthwhile exploring and digging into,
and as the details become far more apparent, we'll be able to make some clarity around our position.
But in terms of how we build affordability in this city to protect workers but to protect working people,
So I'm always going to be on the side and the effort of doing just that.
Hello, Mayor.
Hey, what's going on?
Outside of policing as it pertains to the teen trends, can you just talk about some of the success that your administration is seeing in terms of more resources to young people?
I know a couple of months back there was a massive event at Navy Pier.
More than 1,000 young people, I believe, were there.
Can you just talk about that as Memorial Day is here, the summer is approaching, the internship.
What are some of the positives that we're seeing in terms of Chicago youth getting involved?
Well, thank you for that question.
You know, after those couple of large gatherings, we haven't seen any since then,
and it has a lot to do with just the collaborative approach that we're taking.
Alders are involved, community-based organizations, the philanthropic community, the business community, our CVI.
These individuals are incredible workers who are on the ground communicating.
My administration is in constant communication with the multiplicity of all of the collective efforts that are necessary.
The 29,000 summer youth jobs that we have available, the advisory council that we have for young people,
these are all paid opportunities, and the youth activations that are being led by young people,
creating safe spaces for young people to participate in.
There's also an ongoing education campaign where we're working with Chicago Public Schools
to continue to educate our young people where there are opportunities to effectively gather in a safe space
and not get pulled into some of these other advertisements, if you will,
that have not yielded the positive results.
But, Gary, if you want to speak a little bit more to some of the other work that we're doing
to keep young people safe but also to build confidence and trust in our work.
Absolutely.
Thank you, Mayor.
You know, the mayor pointed out our tabletop exercises.
Now, typically when we have tabletop exercises,
those are internal for city partners and city agencies.
We do them around large events like Lollapalooza.
We did something for the DNC.
But for the first time, we actually opened up our tabletop exercises to community members,
alders, so we could build out what a response would be to not only youth and teen trends,
but large gatherings overall.
Because I think there is this misnomer that people believe these large gatherings are only teen trends.
It's not a teen trend when it happens in the 11th district or in the 5th district or the 6th district.
So now it's a matter of how do we respond and make sure we have the adequate resources there.
Those resources don't only include the Chicago Police Department.
It includes our partners in street outreach.
It includes our community-based organizations.
People really showing up after coming to those tabletop exercises and literally going out.
Like we went out to 31st Street Beach just last week where you had the commissioner, the superintendent of parks there as well.
So it's really all of us coming together to build out a response that makes it clear that, yes, you are welcome here, but we also want you to be safe.
I'll give you another example because the mayor talked about hiring young folks.
Last year, working along with the Fourth Ward, hired a young person who was responsible for putting on a lot of those teen trends.
The young man got hired in the Fourth Ward office and ended up working with us and other partners to put on Peace Palooza,
where they had thousands of young folks come together for a peaceful event.
We tell that story because it's important that people understand and know that you can do two things.
You can provide an opportunity, and you can have accountability.
And that's what the mayor has been talking about from the very beginning, opportunity and accountability.
So opening up opportunity for young folks and people in general, and also holding folks accountable who may cause harm.
So that's what we've been doing.
That's what we'll continue to do.
And you'll hear more about all of that work tomorrow at the Summer Safety Press Conference.
Thank you for that.
Stay tuned.
I didn't want to give you all the business because I want to make sure you all show up tomorrow.
Hi, Mayor.
Hi.
This month, President Trump announced big budget cuts to AmeriCorps,
which has a big impact on local Chicago organizations that provide summer programs,
after-school care for kids.
Wondering what your reaction is to those cuts and if any city of Chicago summer programs are in jeopardy
because of federal funding cuts or if they're all covered by the city budget.
The Trump administration's cuts are a detriment to all of Chicago, right?
And there are spaces where it will have a deeper impact.
On average, what the Trump administration has put forward, it's costing everyday Chicagoans on average about $4,000, right?
So whether it's what you're referring to or child care, behavior or mental health care, support services or education,
All of it is detrimental.
I'm going to pass it to my budget director so you can talk a little bit more explicitly about what this means for the city.
But it is certainly frustrating of his attack against working people.
And we're doing our very best to make do with what we have, especially because results are stronger as investments continue to go up and violence continues to go down.
You know, we cannot afford a setback.
Annette?
Annette Guzman, Budget Director, thank you for your question.
So as the mayor mentioned, the cuts that we're seeing on the federal level will impact our communities throughout the city of Chicago.
As it relates specifically to AmeriCorps, we have a few interns that we get through AmeriCorps for programming.
But by and large, our youth programming, our violence intervention programming comes through funding from the city of Chicago, the state of Illinois, and grants that we've already received from the federal government.
We obviously have to continue to watch the budget process that's happening at the federal level to see how that will impact future funding to the city, as well as continue to defend with the amazing fortitude of our Corporation Council.
funding that we already received from the federal government, but as it relates to that particular
program, it will have smaller impact directly on our city budget because we do support a lot of
that through our funding and through the state. But, you know, as the mayor said, what's happening
at the federal level is of cause and concern for everyone. Everyone should understand how this will
impact their communities. Good afternoon, Mayor. Good afternoon. Earlier this week, the Department
of Justice announced it was launching an investigation into your hiring practices.
And when Axios asked, like, how did those even get on your radar, they said it was an
article they read in the Times of India, then it was distributed on MSN.
Were you surprised that they're so interested in you that they're combing through these
articles about you and then launching DOJ investigations the next day?
And has the Corporation Council had a chance to look at that announcement?
So I'll pass it over to our corporate council in just a second about what we have or have not received.
You know, as far as, you know, the president's animus towards women, people of color, working people, we have always known who he has been.
This is not a surprise.
He's a monster, period.
We have the most diverse administration in the history of Chicago, and he is threatened by that.
you can tell when someone is fearful
it's because they act out
we have a president that is screaming
and having tantrums right now
because we have an administration
that reflects the city of Chicago
but he would much rather have administrations
that reflect the country club
period
he is most comfortable around
people who think and look like him
as a city
because my administration
has shown up for everyone
It's why we have a diverse administration.
34% black, 30% white, 24, almost 25% Latin A.
I believe we're around 7% Asian.
That's a growth.
Here's another number that he probably will be intimidated by.
64% of my administration are women.
Listen, the people of this city elected me to respond to decades-old systems of failure.
And I made a commitment to bring everybody together to do just that.
And so that's why we're investing in our public education system.
That impacts all of us.
That's why I'm investing in the critical services like mental and behavioral health support,
where our care program is now citywide.
That impacts all of us.
When crime goes down in the city, when Austin is safer, Streeterville is safer.
That's the approach that we're taking.
So in terms of being surprised by the ugliness of this administration, we're not surprised.
We're going to show up for working people in this city because that's what I was elected to do.
Black, brown, white, Asian.
We're talking about years of immigrants coming to this city to find refuge.
Descendants of slaves coming to this city to find refuge.
That's really the American story.
And so it's unfortunate that this administration is rejecting
and showing so much disdain towards the American story,
the dream that has brought all of us to this state right now.
But as far as the specific notification, I'll pass it over to our corporate council.
Mary Richards, Lawyer Corporation Council.
So, no, we have not received the official notification yet.
We became aware of the overture because it was posted on a social media site.
But we have yet to receive it, and we will respond once we receive it formally and review it accordingly.
Hi, Mary.
Hey.
The first two aldermen that deferred and published, the first two named aldermen,
and Alderman Ervin and Alderman Vasquez, they both told us that they believe you should veto this measure if it gets approved next month.
Will you do that?
Well, I think it's, you know, too early to make that determination.
You know, here's what I'm going to allow to happen is the regular course of the democratic process.
I think it would be irresponsible if I were to speak in advance of the entire democratic process that's before us.
the city council deserves the right to be able to have their particular responsibility respected
and you know to the alders that have made it
very clear that they don't see this as a tool that will be effective.
They will have the ongoing responsibility and task to continue to work through that disagreement with their colleagues.
I will be in position to be able to respond once that process unfolds.
Hey, Mayor.
Hey.
Alderman Hopkins said that Superintendent Snelling supports his new version of the ordinance.
What have you heard from the superintendent?
And also, would you be more open to the previous version, which split that power between the superintendent and the deputy mayor?
Well, you know, again, as we have worked to ensure that there is real community trust with our Chicago Police Department,
we want to continue to build off of that.
Our clearance rate continues to go up.
Our work towards the consent decree continues to move with a pace that was faster than when I – a pace that's faster than prior to my arrival.
Look, we work well together.
Mayor's Office of Community Safety, my deputy mayor, Gary Gatewood, with Superintendent Snelling.
Superintendent Snelling and I are in regular conversations.
I know the deputy mayor speaks with him on a day-to-day basis, sometimes multiple times.
We're not getting the results of violent crime going down the city of Chicago if we're not working together.
There's evidence of that.
And so we want to continue to build off of that.
You know, what the superintendent and I are most concerned with is ensuring that our neighborhoods are safe, all of our communities, right?
and preventing these large gatherings will continue to drive us towards the direction
in which I know the entire city wants us to continue to go in.
You know, as far as the version of the superintendent and the mayor's office of community safety
being a part of this ordinance, again, that's a debate that will continue to happen amongst city council,
but I can tell you this, we're already doing it.
We're already doing it.
I'm not saying that everything is perfect, but we are moving towards perfection.
That's what's most important.
People are counting on us to continue to come together, and that's what we're doing.
business, the philanthropic community, because look, I've said this multiple times. It's not
just policing. That's what I just want to just get through the paradigm in this moment is that
it's not just policing. It's policing and housing. It's why we're building more homes. It's policing
and mental and behavioral health support services. That's why we're expanding those services. It's
mental. It's policing and youth employment and workforce development. It's the full force of
government that i continue to repeat over and over and over again because this is about our
commitment this is about our commitment to ensuring that every single resident in this city
can live in an affordable big city you know so that conversation will continue to happen but i'm
grateful that we don't clearly we're not waiting on this tool for us to do our job right we're
going to continue to do our jobs make sure we keep people safe and we're grateful that we're
seeing unprecedented levels of decline in violence in the city of chicago good afternoon mayor it
It really is.
This question is actually for the Corporation Council.
You heard several aldermen today criticize your department's proposed settlements.
They said that they clear the way for attorneys to frivolously sue the city and cost taxpayers millions.
What do you think of that criticism?
So as our corporate council comes forward, I just want to say that there were comments that were made on the floor that were reprehensible,
and quite frankly, they were violent.
The type of accusations that have been placed against this corporate counsel and this woman are absolutely reprehensible and there should be no place where that type of meanness should be allowed.
And I just want to make sure that people know that we can have discourse and discord.
Respect people. That's all we're asked. Respect people.
Mary.
Mary Richardson, Corporation Council.
Settlements are a difficult subject for the alders, and we get that.
Our obligation is presented to them nonetheless,
and for those aldermen that attend the Committee on Finance
and actually hear the facts,
the vast majority of them support a settlement outcome.
The vast majority of what we do, however, is not settlement.
So there is a misnomer.
Let me correct it.
The vast majority of our matters do get tried,
but there are categories of cases that are in the interests of the city to settle.
There are cases that were not allowed to be heard during the COVID period
because, as each of you knows, during that period, the court systems were shut down.
Those cases are coming due.
So I want all the Alder Corps and the general public to get ready
because we're going to have more settlements.
responsible thing to do. We will have more trials. When it's appropriate, that will be the
responsible thing to do. Our job, once we have facts and circumstances that we think lend
themselves to a settlement, we will present it to the legislative body, talk them through,
from our perspective, the content of the settlement, the basis for the settlement,
and they as the legislators are obligated then to make decisions accordingly. As you saw from the
vote, the vast majority of them support our perspective.
We are not looking for 100% support.
We are looking for 100% participation in the briefing process so each of them are as well
informed as they can be as they move towards making a decision relative to the settlements.
But they are difficult subjects.
There is no denying that.
but we expect their full participation, and we will continue to present as appropriate
those matters we think are appropriate for settlement.
Hi, Mayor.
Hi.
To what do you attribute the notable drop in violence and homicides,
given we're seeing similar trends in other cities,
and given that summer unofficially starts this weekend, it's focused on downtown,
what is the city doing ahead of this unofficial launch of summer
to prevent that kind of violence from returning?
Yeah, well, first of all, Summertime Shy is an institution, right?
We saw last year an uptick in hotel occupancy, tourism.
We're talking about billions of dollars of tourism investment through Chicago.
Ridership is up, 300 million riders.
More folks are coming downtown, so we're clearly moving in the right direction.
Is it moving at a pace that I would like?
I want it to go faster, but it is a real good sign that the city of Chicago is being repopulated because I said from the very beginning that's my goal, is to repopulate the city of Chicago, make it a place for working people who can afford to live in and feel safe.
You know, as far as the, you know, how we are calculating the results, you know, again, it's about the full force of government.
I'll give you an example. When we talk about policing and youth employment, the 15th Police District, that's where I live, on the west side of Chicago and Austin.
The largest number of youth in a single community that received summer employment, it was the Austin community, almost 1,700 positions.
We also saw a precipitous decline in violence there.
I believe there's a direct correlation between youth involvement and youth employment and not being subject to the wind, if you will, right?
But it's also mental and behavioral health support services.
The fact that law enforcement, as I ran on this, 40% of the 911 calls that were coming through were mental health crises.
Now that we've expanded our mental health crises outreach, now you have paid professionals who are trained in behavioral mental health showing up to these crises.
and then it frees up law enforcement to respond to other areas of public safety concern.
We're also solving violent crime in Chicago.
I promised to bring in 200 more detectives.
We've done that, three new helicopters.
I brought all of the stakeholders together to have a substantive conversation
around how do we strategize around reducing robberies.
So, again, it's those investments, but it's also the leadership that I'm bringing
to make sure that the resident experts are having conversations.
And so now that we have a 56% increase in terms of our clearance rates,
we're applying the new technology within our detective division of not just solving homicides,
but also solving shootings.
We don't want to just catch folks who are causing the ultimate harm, someone's life.
If you shoot in this city, we're going to hold you accountable.
Because if we can reduce those shootings, which we have,
that's how we actually continue to reduce homicides. As far as our preparation for the
summer, I mean, you know, look, there's something just to be said, not just about downtown, right?
Because that's one area of the city. But there's going to be a presence of law enforcement in all
of our neighborhoods. We're not going to subject the 76 neighborhoods to less support. We're going
to ensure that there's an equitable distribution of law enforcement. But again, it's policing and
affordable housing. It's policing and youth employment. It's policing and mental health
behavior support services. It's policing and ensuring that our community colleges continue to
see an uptick in enrollment. I'll give you an example. So our chancellor typically holds a couple
of sessions at the end of the year to talk to seniors who have not made a decision of which
if they're going to go to college or not.
Well, we've just expanded that
where we're going to have six different sessions.
Is it six or seven?
You know, at least six sessions where we're going to work with seniors all over the city of Chicago.
If they have not made a decision, we're going to make community colleges, you know, give them a real pitch.
And we've seen students select community colleges of Chicago when they're actually recruited.
So, in other words, what my administration is working to do, we have to be committed to showing up for the people of Chicago in a radically different way.
And the way we do that is showing up with investments and real love.
That's where my heart is, is to bring all of us together as a city so we can respond to these collective challenges together.
Annette Guzman, we had our first meeting on Saturday with a working group around how we attack and address the financial burdens that we've had for a very long time.
We're not kicking the can down the road.
We're trying to address these issues as of yesterday.
It's that type of collective work that I believe is going to help us build, again, the safest, most affordable big city in America.
Thank you all very much.
Enjoy the rest of your day.