{"id":195265,"date":"2025-09-02T22:54:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T22:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/195265\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T22:54:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T22:54:12","slug":"chicago-doesnt-need-a-federal-invasion-we-need-investment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/195265\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago doesn\u2019t need a federal invasion; we need investment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s what Chicago needs: Safe, consistent, high-speed public transportation that darts around the city like a flock of spirited birds. Truly cross-neighborhood travel, where you don\u2019t have to go downtown to transfer for every route, and buses and trains run 24 hours a day, seven days a week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what else Chicago needs: free, anonymous (if you need it to be), unbiased, and trauma-informed mental health care available on demand to community members. Every empty building can serve as a health clinic, free store, temporary housing, social work office, food pantry, art space, music venue, and information hub.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s another thing: Chicago needs continued investment from the global business community, but not at the expense of our southeast side\u2019s environmental and community health footprint. Keep an eye on those data centers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And another: Let\u2019s get a reprieve on that whole parking meter thing. I know a private corp owns the meters until 2083, but is there anything preventing the city or the county from forcing a new land rental agreement for each machine? We have a lot of other stuff we need to pay for.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And of course: We need more Chicago media outlets, newspapers<\/a>, podcasts, broadcast and cable TV news programs, terrestrial and streaming radio shows, zines, journals, blogs, independent newsrooms, and all the information. All the information! We do not need to distill our journalists into one or two spaces. Access to information means more power for the people.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what Chicago doesn\u2019t need: gun violence, federal troops invading our streets, blowhards masking as concerned citizens, racist, homophobic, biphobic, transphobic, sexist jagoffs, and ICE.<\/p>\n

\"ReaderCredit: Reader staff<\/p>\n

These are just some of the Chicago things I think about on a regular basis. For the last six and a half years (two and a half in this chair, as editor in chief), I\u2019ve had the privilege of being able to think my Chicago thoughts and share my Chicago worries on the Reader website and in our print pages. And for now, this is my last issue as a staff member.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t an easy decision, but I took a buyout along with several other staff members, including senior writers Deanna Isaacs and Ben Joravsky, and multimedia content producer Shawnee Day. I started negotiating this over the summer, when the Reader\u2019s fate was still uncertain. And now with Noisy Creek in place, I\u2019m happy to report that the Reader feels like it\u2019s headed toward stability again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For the rest of the year, I\u2019ll be working on family projects (still gotta sell my dad\u2019s store, in case you read my note about taxes<\/a> a while back), and finishing up a book that I started working on an embarrassing amount of time ago. And then, we\u2019ll see! I\u2019m hopeful you\u2019ll read me here at the Reader now and again, when our excellent section editors allow. The new management has already started a search for the new EIC, and I\u2019ve been promised that they\u2019ll pick someone with deep Chicago ties.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I wrote this to our staff last week, but because people who are constantly working don\u2019t get enough accolades: \u201cThank you to Reader staffers, past and present. Thank you all for your humor, intelligence, grace, kindness, energy, and commitment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a rare thing to work somewhere where everyone cares so deeply about the health of the organization. It\u2019s even more rare to walk away and like everybody. Someday, I might be back in a different role, or work on a project with y\u2019all. But my staff time here was a very special thing, and I\u2019ll cherish what I\u2019ve learned from all of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks, readers, for making this work both worthwhile and possible. It\u2019s been a slice putting this thing together. And please continue to tell our writers, editors, and other staff your own Chicago worries and thoughts. There is no Chicago Reader without Chicago.<\/p>\n

More in COLUMNS & OPINION<\/p>\n

Thoughtful takes from the readers and the writers.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\tAgreements between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local police are eroding public safety and trust in law enforcement.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tAugust 27, 2025August 27, 2025\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"The\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tA report on the state of our uncomfortable union\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tJuly 24, 2025July 24, 2025\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Editor\u2019s\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tA meeting of AAN publishers\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tJuly 16, 2025July 16, 2025\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Editor\u2019s\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tEditor\u2019s note for the Reader\u2019s June 26, 2025 issue\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tJune 26, 2025June 26, 2025\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Arts\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tEditor\u2019s note for our Summer Theater and Arts Issue\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tJune 11, 2025June 11, 2025\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Time\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tFor decades, Chicago has underinvested in transit, while global cities have moved aggressively toward safer, cleaner, and more efficient transportation systems.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tJune 2, 2025June 2, 2025\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s what Chicago needs: Safe, consistent, high-speed public transportation that darts around the city like a flock of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":195266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,56383,5386,1818,108735,6831,70530,277,108736],"class_list":{"0":"post-195265","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-editors-note","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-illinois","12":"tag-noisy-creek","13":"tag-staff","14":"tag-transitions","15":"tag-trump","16":"tag-vol-54-no-48"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}