Zero Tolerance Experiment?

Seems like last week there was a minor effort to crack down on Compliance Violations downtown:

• New videos show street vendors being escorted away from their carts in the Loop—facing fines, citations, and possible arrest.

  Experts say this is something that's happening more and more recently and is renewing conversations about the legality of vending in the city's most popular areas.

  Typically, around Michigan Avenue, vendors line that part of Millennium Park, but as of Monday, the majority of those vendors were missing. Those who were there shared videos showing their fellow vendors being whisked away by Chicago police.

And they're complaining that the law hasn't been enforced for years, decades even, so it's unfair to enforce it now:

• "One ticket is maybe alright, but like the police are strict now—every week, every Saturday and Sunday they come," he says.

  Marlen Romero is also a street vendor selling fruit.

  "Because we have needs, we have to support a family, I have four children here," she said.

  Her husband had to run and rotate locations to avoid being seen by the police.

  "Meantime, we're looking to sell. I know there are laws here, I know is prohibited, but we're not hurting anyone, and sometimes they treat us like thieves," she said. 

Um, you're hurting actual established businesses who pay rent, property taxes, business licenses, etc. And you're selling in locations prohibited to be at. Not to mention you have no running water, no health inspections, no refrigeration for perishable items etc. Oh, and your tracking of Sales Tax Revenue leaves a lot to be desired. 

That $100 peddlers license (valid for two years) doesn't offset the downside of creating a Third World atmosphere.

Another Conehead Corpse

They just keep piling up:

• Police found a gunshot victim lying dead in a vacant lot in South Chicago on Saturday morning, apparently hours after he was killed. Exactly when the murder occurred is not known because nobody called 911 to report the gunfire, and Mayor Brandon Johnson disconnected the city’s ShotSpotter network in September 2024.

  Police responded to a report of a person down in the 8000 block of South Marquette Avenue at about 11:47 a.m. Saturday. Officers found a male who appeared to be in his late teens lying face down in a vacant lot with gunshot wounds to his chest and flank, according to Chicago police.

No one called 9-1-1 and the body laid there for around ten hours....half of it during daylight. 

We get the feeling it's going to be an entertaining summer of bodies.

An Un-collectible Judgement

We doubt the family will ever see a dime:

• A man who was allegedly intoxicated and drag racing at 102 mph when he slammed into another vehicle, killing its driver in June 2023, has been ordered to pay $21 million to the victim’s survivors, according to court records.

  Marvin Bonilla, 28, had a blood alcohol content of .13 as he raced his Ford Mustang around 4:45 a.m. on June 23, 2023, according to a Chicago police crash report. At the intersection of 59th Street and Pulaski Road, he allegedly plowed into a Toyota RAV4 driven by 51-year-old Alberto Onofre.

  [...] He is currently awaiting trial on reckless homicide and other charges.

  Six months after the crash, and more than a year before criminal charges were filed, Onofre’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Bonilla. Cook County Judge Michael Otto later entered a judgment ordering Bonilla to pay a total of $21 million to Onofre’s wife and three children. The award includes $10 million for Onofre’s wife and approximately $3.67 million for each of his children, court records show.

But in the event he ever happens to win the lottery, the family is in line to collect first.

So....why couldn't this be standard practice for Officers attacked and injured by individuals who are never held accountable by the criminal "justice" system? That way if they ever won the lottery or (more likely) got some sort of settlement from the City over some other nonsense, Officers would be in line to collect before the criminal ever saw a dime.