* It’s about time more cams went up…

The Illinois State Police (ISP), working with the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) and the Chicago Department of Transportation, is currently installing 56 additional Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) on Chicago expressways. In addition to the 99 ISP ALPRs already covering the Dan Ryan Expressway (I-94), the additional ALPRs are being installed on I-90, I-290, I-55, and I-57. ” […]

In February of 2021, ISP received a $12.5 million grant to cover the costs of engineering, permitting, and labor associated with the purchase and installation of readers, controllers, servers/software, electrical power, and communications equipment required to install ALPR systems. In the first phase, ALPRs were installed on the Dan Ryan expressway during the summer and fall of 2021. For the second phase, ALPRs are currently being installed and have an estimated completion date of mid-May 2022 pending weather or other unforeseen delays. For the final phase, ISP is currently working on permits with the target of a total of 300 ALPRs installed for all three phases by the end of June 2022.

The funding and installation of ALPRs stem from the Tamara Clayton Expressway Camera Act (Expressway Camera Act), which was signed into law on July 12, 2019 and became effective on January 1, 2020. [Emphasis added.]

It’s totally understandable why people get so upset at the pace of government. But, hey, at least they’re finally going up.

* Speaking of the pace of government, let’s revisit this WBEZ piece I posted yesterday and look at another angle…

Pritzker’s administration set aside more than $50 million from the COVID stimulus funds for violence prevention in the budget that passed last year. The funding, to be administered through the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, offered a unique opportunity to flood resources into neighborhoods impacted by violence. But with the fiscal year almost over, the state has spent only $56,764, one-tenth of 1% of the money, as Illinois experiences its worst gun violence in decades.

“Normally the argument would be, we just don’t have the money. Now we have the money, and we’re sitting on the money,” said Illinois State Rep. LaShawn Ford (D-Chicago), co-chair of the Public Safety and Violence Prevention Task Force. “Right now, the city of Chicago is on fire with violence, and we have to respond to that … There shouldn’t be a delay … people are dying.” […]

“They claim to be working for the community and the people … yet our government doesn’t see the urgency in getting funding to us so that we can have boots on the ground … to stop the shootings,” said Tyrone Muhammad, executive director of the anti-violence group Ex-Cons for Community and Social Change.

The budget included $500,000 in funding specifically allocated to Muhammad’s organization, but they still haven’t gotten a dime. He said they were planning to spend the ARPA dollars expanding their street intervention teams so they can mediate gang conflicts in more parts of the city.

“How is it possible for [lawmakers] to allocate funding in a line item last year, and we still haven’t received it this year?” Muhammad asked incredulously.

* You may remember this gentleman from last month…

A rally to draw attention to the deaths of two Black transgender Chicago women turned into a chaotic shouting match when another small group of anti-violence advocates crashed the event at Federal Plaza on Monday evening.

As transgender activist Zahara Bassett was pleading for justice for the two women, several members of Ex-Cons for Community and Social Change, including founder Tyrone Muhammad, interrupted the event with bullhorns.

There was no mention of that disruption in WBEZ’s story.

* The ECCSC is fairly visible at the Statehouse partly because they sometimes park one of their special cars between the Capitol and the Stratton Building while they try to speak with legislators…

And they make no bones about their approach to things…

Advocating for social change is at the forefront of our approach, as we view the current political system and allocation of resources as corrupt, unhelpful for improvement and unaware of what needs to be done to fix blighted communities.

Rep. Ford, by the way, requested that ECCSC’s line-item be included in the appropriations bill. So, of course he’s pushing hard to get that money released.

* And while there are good reasons for the government to take its time with these grants, another member pointed out to me yesterday there’s no way that anti-violence groups, particularly the small groups, can spend the state money right away. This isn’t just about installing cams on the expressways, after all. It will take a while to stand up new programs or to expand existing programs. By then, the summer could be over. Not cool. We don’t want any big mistakes, but people have the right to expect that stuff gets done.

However, the money mentioned in the WBEZ piece is not the only game in town. From Jordan Abudayyeh at the governor’s office…

The state of Illinois has already sent more than $75 million in violence prevent dollars out the door with another $45 million in various stages of the award process and additional NOFOs ready to go out in the coming days. We have also funded $26 million for a summer expansion initiative to fuel existing providers that are already up and running and doing the work in communities. The bucket of federal funding at ICJIA is just one small part of our comprehensive funding, and that federal funding comes with strict rules and reporting requirements, so it’s taken some time to get organizations up to speed and able to utilize federal dollars.

[Headline explained here.]