If the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq equaled the number of people — including children — cut down by guns on America’s streets, the outcry would resound across the country, Mayor Richard Daley said Thursday.
But Daley questioned why there seems to be little concern for the approximately 30,000 victims of U.S. gun violence each year and so little effort to push for firearms controls.
“If 30,000 people were killed in Iraq, there would be demonstrators downtown,” he said. “There would be people shouting and screaming, ‘End it! End it! End it!’ You wonder where are all these well-educated people in regard to this issue. Why are they silent on the issue?”
Daley turned the focus to gun violence at a South Side news conference where he made his annual plea for a violence-free summer for Chicago youngsters.
The mayor, who annually pushes for a package of gun-control measures in the General Assembly, said that everything possible to curb violence on the streets must be done in Springfield and Washington.
But “no one’s aroused,” he said. “No one’s upset, no one is picketing. No one is putting out [victims’] shoes like some people want to put out the boots of those killed in the line of duty in Iraq. No one puts [them on display] because there are too many, I guess.”
Meanwhile, gun victims who are disabled are “nameless faces,” the mayor said. “We don’t know them. They go unrecognized. They are in wheelchairs. They are in retirement homes at the age of 18 because they can’t move because of a bullet in their spine or in their head.”
The mayor called on parents to be vigilant this summer.
“Adults have responsibility,” he said. “I want parents all over to know where their kids are, where their children are at all times. It isn’t up to Chicago police at 11 o’clock to walk around and look for their kids.”
Police this year already have cited more than 11,000 curfew violators, said First Deputy Police Supt. Dana Starks. For all of 2006, the total was just less than 13,000.
“No child should be out after 10:30 p.m. on weekdays and 11:30 p.m. on weekends,” Starks said. “Last year, 78 percent of all [city] murders occurred outdoors,” and murder victims included seven youngsters between 10 and 16 who were killed after curfew hours, he said.
In all, 783 juveniles in the city were shot last year, 25 of them fatally, officials said.
“When unsupervised children are on the street late at night, they are potential victims of crime or offenders of crime,” Starks said.
Youngsters have opportunities for constructive activities, officials said.
More than 100,000 children are expected to take summer classes in the public schools; the city’s summer jobs program will have 18,600 participants; at least 45,000 are expected to participate in a summer reading program at public libraries; and more than 11,000 will take part in educational and recreational programs funded by the city’s Department of Children and Youth Services and the After School Matters program.
In separate action Thursday at City Hall, Daley announced the appointment of Richard Rodriguez to head the city’s troubled Buildings Department. If approved by the City Council, Rodriguez would become the fourth buildings chief in a little more than three years, assuming his post after revelations of breakdowns in code enforcement and arrests of some current and former employees on bribery charges.
Rodriguez, 36, has served as head of the Department of Construction and Permits since last year. That department has a long history of problems issuing permits in a timely manner, but Daley said that under Rodriguez’s tenure, the time frame for permit issuance was cut by about 40 percent even though the volume of permit application reviews climbed by 10 percent.
Daley said that a merger of the Buildings and Construction and Permits Departments is being considered, but no decision has been made.
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gwashburn@tribune.com
