Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » Please, don’t screw this up
SUBSCRIBE to Capitol Fax      Advertise Here      About     Exclusive Subscriber Content     Updated Posts    Contact Rich Miller
CapitolFax.com
To subscribe to Capitol Fax, click here.
Please, don’t screw this up

Tuesday, May 31, 2022 - Posted by Rich Miller

* My weekly syndicated newspaper column

The long Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of summer and is perhaps best known in Chicago as the beginning of its long, hot season of gun violence. The morning-after news coverage typically notes the holiday “was the most violent weekend of the year so far,” or some such thing.

You’ve probably seen the polling that shows crime isn’t the super-hot political issue it’s often portrayed to be. But don’t kid yourself. It’s still high enough on voters’ lists to make a difference, usually coming in second behind economic issues.

That’s one reason why Gov. J.B. Pritzker sent out a press release last week touting his violence reduction efforts, including “surging” $18 million in new state funding for a thousand summer jobs in Chicago for kids in “high-risk” situations. He claimed in the release that $10 million has already been released to groups ahead of the summer.

The governor’s office told me the Illinois Department of Human Services has sent $83 million “out the door” this fiscal year to community providers for anti-violence efforts. It also says $27.2 million is “heading out in the next month, before the end of the fiscal year on June 30.

That spending, the Pritzker administration says, is up from the $60 million spent by IDHS in all of last fiscal year. In addition, the administration points to $113 million in grants available to groups through the department’s notice of funding opportunity process.

Considering that the city of Chicago alone is directly spending $1.7 billion this fiscal year on law enforcement, these are relatively modest programs. But the state money is still a decent pile of cash.

And because the state largesse is being spent by individual grant recipients, there’s always the danger it could be misused or misdirected.

Just ask former Gov. Pat Quinn, who took an enormous amount of political heat for the way some of his $54 million anti-violence Neighborhood Funding Initiative Program money was spent in 2010, leading up to the election.

Quinn was slammed for various silly attempts to keep kids off the street, up to and including paying kids to march in a parade with the governor. Nothing much ever came of the various probes into the program, but, even if there was no criminal intent, its execution was a complete mess and ill-conceived. The last thing Pritzker needs is a re-run.

Some Democratic state legislators have been pushing news media outlets to write stories about how their favored anti-violence groups haven’t received more funding, but the governor’s office has resisted in certain instances where the groups would likely draw unfavorable attention from those very same media outlets.

The Pritzker people have taken a different approach than Quinn, and hopefully (for the governor’s own sake and for the state’s) they won’t be making the same sort of mistakes as the last Democratic governor.

Even so, it’s likely that somebody will screw up somewhere and wind up on the front page of a newspaper or the leading item during a TV newscast. Violence interruption and prevention programs rarely get the benefit of the doubt from the news media. From the coverage, it would be easy to conclude that Quinn’s program had far more downsides than upsides. Because of that, it took years and years before the state legislature was willing to give the concept another chance.

On the other hand, if there’s too much caution, then not enough grant money arrives in time for the summer, which would be a PR disaster. It’s also worth noting that it often takes a month or more for groups to complete the paperwork and navigate the various processes to actually receive grant monies after the cash has been awarded by the state.

So, even though the state can claim the money is “out the door,” the funds may not yet be available to spend.

But this should be more than just about the fact the state is spending money. It’s crucial these programs actually show some real, tangible results.

Chicago and most smaller cities in this state have been gut-punched by violent crime. Police officers and replacement recruits are in short supply here and throughout the country. Violence interruption and prevention needs to show tangible results, not only for the present, but for the future. Convincing the General Assembly to support more programs down the road could turn out to be nearly impossible if this fails.

So, please, everybody, don’t screw it up.

       

17 Comments
  1. - hmmmm - Tuesday, May 31, 22 @ 8:54 am:

    ==You’ve probably seen the polling that shows crime isn’t the super-hot political issue it’s often portrayed to be.==

    Respectfully: No, no I have not.


  2. - NotRich - Tuesday, May 31, 22 @ 9:02 am:

    Violent Memorial Day weekend.. shootings all over the City. Nuf said


  3. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, May 31, 22 @ 9:03 am:

    ===Respectfully: No, no I have not. ===

    Then you’re new here.


  4. - It's all Good - Tuesday, May 31, 22 @ 9:06 am:

    CRIME
    10 people killed, 42 wounded by gunfire over Memorial Day weekend in Chicago, the most violent in five years


  5. - Ron Burgundy - Tuesday, May 31, 22 @ 9:08 am:

    -Just ask former Gov. Pat Quinn, who took an enormous amount of political heat for the way some of his $54 million anti-violence Neighborhood Funding Initiative Program money was spent in 2010, leading up to the election.

    Quinn was slammed for various silly attempts to keep kids off the street…-

    Remember this now that he is testing the waters again.


  6. - duck duck goose - Tuesday, May 31, 22 @ 9:14 am:

    There are likely two drivers of this problem: (i) demographics (crime correlates to the percent of the population between 15 and 25); and (ii) the surfeit of guns. There’s not much a state or city government can do about either of these things. Anything they do will be nibbling around the edges of the problem.


  7. - Huh - Tuesday, May 31, 22 @ 9:27 am:

    The media’s irrational microscope on non-police violence prevention is a big story here that you allude to, but you also just leave it as a political reality rather than something that needs to change. It’s wild to me that police are rewarded with more funding when crime rates go up, but community violence interruption programs get dismantled for the same reasons when they’ve barely had enough time to draw any conclusions from their work. Policing and carceral “solutions”, on the other hand, have decades of research to support their lack of efficacy in solving problems.


  8. - Donnie Elgin - Tuesday, May 31, 22 @ 9:34 am:

    “There’s not much a state or city government can do”

    Agree - and the likely leading cause of Chicago’s violence is a lack of parental involvement. Here are the Mayor’s comments …

    “But it starts in the home. And it starts with responsibility — of the parents, the guardians and the caring adults — to make sure that they’re doing what all of our parents did: Which is to set firm, clear rules on conduct. … Parents, you’ve got to instill that message and drive it home to your children.”


  9. - RNUG - Tuesday, May 31, 22 @ 11:20 am:

    Crime waves are at least partly generational.

    The various intervention / mitigation programs need to be looked at and measured that way … over generations, and the funding needs to be mostly consistent over generations.

    When you are in the middle of such a crime wave, citizens just want it to stop. About all you can do short term is active policing aka broken window style, and prosecution and punishment of the miscreants, something a lot of people on the left are opposed to. It may not deter the crime wave, but if the repeat participants are off the street, you will have a lower level of crime. All of that also requires money and determination to stay the course of active intervention and prosecution.

    So the solution is money, lots and lots of money, on all the above.

    Public safety may poll #2. Personally I think crime will be the #1 issue on voters minds because they can’t do much about national and international economic issues, but they can influence policing and prosecution through their votes.

    Remember, all politics are local.


  10. - Amalia - Tuesday, May 31, 22 @ 11:25 am:

    somewhere somebody has a map which has all the not for profits on it. that way we can see who is doing what and where. from experience there is lots of duplication. there is no excuse for lack of results. get it done.


  11. - Huh? - Tuesday, May 31, 22 @ 11:44 am:

    The doppelganger is back. 9:27am isn’t me. I just started to look at capfax during lunch.


  12. - froganon - Tuesday, May 31, 22 @ 11:48 am:

    Churches and pulpits are a part of the solution to both information and preaching against violence. The lead pastor at my large, suburban mega church called the violence at Uvalde and Buffalo “unimaginable”. I dropped him a note saying the unimaginable part was a week without a mass shooting and violence. I asked him to use the power of his pulpit to call out the moral bankruptcy of our thoughts and prayers as we continue to look away from the carnage of having too many guns too easily available. The U.S. of A leads the world, by far, in both gun availability and gun violence. When the majority of Americans put more value on our lives and those of our children than on gun availability we can stop the violence. We have that opportunity at every election.


  13. - Huh? - Tuesday, May 31, 22 @ 1:07 pm:

    “the power of his pulpit to call out the moral bankruptcy”

    I wish religious people would call out moral bankruptcy of many issues. Unfortunately, from experience, religious leaders are similar to elected officials, more interested in maintaining their power and influence.


  14. - Just a guy - Tuesday, May 31, 22 @ 3:33 pm:

    Until we collectively find a way to address the fact that there are, what, approximately 150,000 gang members living in the Chicago area, this isn’t going away. As It’s All Good noted, this is the worst it’s been Memorial Day weekend in five years. Because five years ago it was worse. I saw the video footage of the shootout in broad daylight on Cambridge and Chicago in Cabrini Green (please note, it’s not the “former Cabrini Green” area as I’ve seen some try to paint it). Three blocks from where Lori’s new casino is going in. Right across the street from The Montgomery and The Hudson, developments that exemplify where all these new residents in Chicago are flocking to. We’ve had a gangs and guns problem in Chicago for decades. We didn’t have body cams and video cameras (i.e. cellphones) in everyone’s hands 10-15 years ago. The gang and violence issue is very deep-seeded. In some cases its generational. And it certainly isn’t going away any time soon. I would love to have an answer, and would happily volunteer time to try and work on it - but in a situation like this, where do you even start?


  15. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, May 31, 22 @ 3:48 pm:

    ===I saw the video footage of the shootout in broad daylight===

    Yep. Just standing in the middle of a downtown street, cars going by, shooting and getting shot at without a care in the world. No easy answer for that.


  16. - Back to the Future - Tuesday, May 31, 22 @ 4:18 pm:

    Article covered violence interruption programs in an intelligent way.
    First you have to give the Governor credit for giving these kinds of programs a chance.
    Second we are going to see mistakes made and some degree of corruption, but on balance we just have to expect as well as hope some good things come out of these programs.


  17. - Scott Cross for President - Tuesday, May 31, 22 @ 5:53 pm:

    Back to the Future @ 4:18pm

    == we are going to see mistakes made and some degree of corruption ==

    Agreed. If we’re going to treat gun violence as an disease, then our treatments may be experimental. They may be inefficient, ineffective, they may fail. But that doesn’t mean we quit trying. Corruption is unacceptable, but the fear of a negative report later from an auditor general, tough questions at a committee hearing or other heat from trying to do the right thing shouldn’t mean we quit doing everything and anything we can to stop the body count and trauma.


Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.


* Afternoon roundup
* Since my name was used in the debate...
* Question of the day
* Rockford’s new permanent casino posts big numbers
* Today's quotable
* End of an era
* Astonishing results from Illinois Supreme Court commision study on lawyer bullying
* The Importance Of Energy Storage
* Open thread
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today's edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)
* Live coverage
* Selected press releases (Live updates)
* Yesterday's stories

Support CapitolFax.com
Visit our advertisers...

...............

...............

...............

...............

...............

...............


Loading


Main Menu
Home
Illinois
YouTube
Pundit rankings
Obama
Subscriber Content
Durbin
Burris
Blagojevich Trial
Advertising
Updated Posts
Polls

Archives
October 2024
September 2024
August 2024
July 2024
June 2024
May 2024
April 2024
March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004

Blog*Spot Archives
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005

Syndication

RSS Feed 2.0
Comments RSS 2.0




Hosted by MCS SUBSCRIBE to Capitol Fax Advertise Here Mobile Version Contact Rich Miller