00:01Hi, Mayor. Council is set to resume discussion today on the curfew proposal.
00:06Can you tell us, has your view changed? Where do you stand on that right now?
00:09Well, one of the things that, I mean, I think the people of Chicago will appreciate about me,
00:14as much as I believe that we have to constantly involve in our thinking,
00:18we cannot succumb to elements of practices that just don't prove to be effective.
00:23So my position around curfew is it's the position that 12 rigorous studies have gone through
00:29that there is no empirical evidence that lowering the curfew is going to reduce
00:34or eliminate those type of incidents.
00:36What we have to do is continue to come together as a city to have conversations around
00:41how do we hold people accountable, how do we create opportunities, and how we continue to collaborate.
00:46I spent Friday afternoon spending the most part of my day in the Second Ward
00:51talking to folks in River North and Streeterville and the like to having these substantive conversations.
00:57And you know what they all agree on? That we have to invest in our young people.
01:01Everybody agrees that, agrees with that.
01:03And so we're going to continue to make sure that we have these collaborative conversations.
01:08That's my responsibility to continue to bring people together so that we can come up with effective solutions.
01:13Now, here's the thing.
01:14These incidences have gone down.
01:17One is one too many.
01:18Just like violent crime continues to go down in the city of Chicago,
01:22it's not just because of one entity, it's because of the collective work.
01:25Making sure we're investing in housing, that's how we build safer communities.
01:30Investing in our small businesses, that's why I put forth the $1.25 billion investment for housing and economic development.
01:38Those two components together is how we build better together, and that's what we're going to continue to do.
01:43We're going to stay focused on what works.
01:45We're going to continue to come together and remain firm to ensure that a better, stronger, safer Chicago becomes a reality.
01:51And just as a follow-up to that, one of the big concerns that I've heard about the curfew trend as a state is that, you know,
01:58if someone were to be arrested underneath it, it could, you know, come back with lawsuits and legal battles against the city.
02:04Have you talked to legal staff within the city about whether it would pass the constitutional lawsuit?
02:09Well, look, I've made that very clear from the very beginning.
02:12I mean, I'm not entirely sure of the constitutionality of a measure that would be solely concentrated in one particular area.
02:18Now, since I brought folks together, there is a broader conversation.
02:22But here's the thing that's most important.
02:24We want to prevent these type of occurrences from happening.
02:28And everything that we do to invest in the front end, we don't have to scramble on the back end.
02:32Let me just tell you this.
02:33Being a father, raising three children, if you don't prepare the night before, I'm just saying, right?
02:40So we have to do a better job at preparing, and our police superintendent is doing that.
02:44But it has to be a holistic approach.
02:46There's a reason why violent crime is going down in Chicago, is because we're showing up on the front end.
02:52For too long, we've had a very puerile, lazy approach towards governance.
02:57And so we're taking a mature approach.
02:59We're doing the things that work.
03:01And I know that there's a level of trepidation and fear and anxiety that exists.
03:05I get that.
03:05I'm raising my family in a very beautiful community.
03:08It's the Austin neighborhood.
03:10We love it.
03:11And I'm the first mayor in the history of Chicago to wake up in one of the most violent neighborhoods in the entire city.
03:16You know, a couple of years ago, my son started at Kenwood first week in school.
03:20A kid goes out for lunch and gets murdered, right?
03:22These are things that I think about every single day.
03:24I don't want children harmed.
03:25And that's why I've invested millions and millions of dollars into youth employment.
03:31We're going to hire 29,000 young people working with small businesses around the city to hire these young people, also with government agencies.
03:39As a city, we will do what works.
03:42And even in the midst of some level of fear and trepidation and some anxiety, we have to hold firm to our values.
03:49And our values are accountable, making people accountable, keeping people accountable, making sure we're creating opportunities, making these investments, and working together.
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