Democratic Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot suggested Thursday that street vendors stop using cash in order to quell Chicago’s crime spike.
The incumbent mayor listed her solutions to the ongoing crime crisis in the city during the mayoral debate with her eight opponents.
“I heard a lot of rhetoric here, a lot of soundbites, but not a lot of concrete solutions on how we get the job done and make our residents and our workers safe. We’re doing it every single day,” she said. “We have been in Little Village working with those street vendors, understanding what the nature of the crime is, making sure that we’re doing things in concert with them to help them, to make sure that their money is secure. Not use money, if at all possible, using other forms of transactions to carry themselves.”
WATCH:
Chicago is ranked to be the sixth most dangerous city in America, according to Property Club. Between Jan. 9 and Jan. 15, city crime spiked 65% from year-to-date the previous year. Sexual assault rose 16%, robbery surged 37% and motor vehicle theft soared by a striking 175%, according to the Chicago Police Department.
During the debate, Lightfoot said she recognized the crime crisis spreading across Chicago and vowed to hire more police and enforce stricter gun laws. (RELATED: Chicago Mayor Wants To Give Herself A Pay Raise Despite City’s Rampant Crime)
“Of course, my primary goal is to make sure that Chicago is the safest big city in the country – and we’ve made progress year over year, ending down 14 percent in homicides, 20 percent in shootings,” Lightfoot said, according to CBS News. “But I recognize that people in the city don’t feel safe, so we’ve got to keep working on the strategy that we know is making progress – taking guns out of the hands of criminals; holding violent, dangerous people accountable; and making sure that we hire more police.”
Several corporations have voiced their plans to flee the city due to the crime spike. McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said the rampant crime impacted his business, leading Lightfoot to hit back.
“Everywhere I go, I’m confronted by the same question these days — what’s going on in Chicago? While it may wound our civic pride to hear it, there is a general sense out there that our city is in crisis,” Kempczinski said.
“What would’ve been helpful is for the McDonald’s CEO to educate himself before he spoke,” Lightfoot responded.