Mayor Lori Lightfoot has two issues to deal with simultaneously and urgently when it comes to what transpired over the lousy past weekend downtown in Millennium Park, where a 16-year-old boy was fatally shot near the sculpture colloquially known as The Bean.
One issue is the aching reality of the loss of life of a 16-year-old Chicagoan and the moral obligation to prevent further killings of young people. The other is the growing perception of violence in downtown Chicago and its impact on how people feel about their downtown and how willing they are to spend time and money there.
Reality and perception are not always the same thing. But they are related. Even if the perception of danger doesn’t match the data, as some like to point out, the rolling tides of perception empty the streets of law-abiding citizens in the evenings, making downtown feel less safe and increasing the opportunity for crime. That cascading chain is like a giant snowball rolling down a hill, getting bigger and bigger as it gains energy.
