Shovel the sidewalks? Maybe the city should plow side streets first.
A worker sweeps snow from the sidewalk along East Ohio Street in the Gold Coast neighborhood in December.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
I just read the article about the city investing in a pilot program to have Chicago “plow the sidewalks.”
Nice idea, but Chicago can’t even “plow the streets.”
Let’s invest in a program to ensure that all the side streets are plowed. And as long as I brought up streets, how about resurfacing the streets? Driving on the side streets in this city is like driving off-road, especially in my neighborhood
John LaBrant, Norwood Park
Close-up on Chicago River
Tens of thousands of Chicagoans flock downtown every year to see the Chicago River become a different shade of green, as they did this year — and yet for some reason, the city closes the Riverwalk and prohibits people from lining the bridges to get a good view of the festivities.
Why? Isn’t the whole purpose of the Riverwalk to allow people to view the river close up? Let’s hope the new mayor makes a change for next year.
Mike Kirchberg, Little Italy
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Improper endorsement
Thirty-three newly-elected police district council members have publicly endorsed Brandon Johnson for mayor. This was most improper, because they do not speak for the highly diverse populations of their police districts. CAPS beat facilitators never made such endorsements, although many had worked, as individuals, for candidates.
These council members were elected by voters who likely did not know them or know about the position, having first seen the office when they voted. A great many are anti-police and have never worked with the police.
Larry E. Nazimek, Logan Square
Revealing response by Vallas
I’ve been following the runoff campaigns with interest, trying to decide which mayoral candidate should get my vote, as neither did so in the first round. A key goal of mine is to cut through the typical campaign PR noise and try to understand character. How will the candidates behave when no one is watching? How will they respond when tested by the inevitable bad news and negative surprises?
To that end, I’m grateful to our local media for unearthing the recent history of one candidate’s social media accounts. The repeated endorsement of disturbing and often hateful posts has been revealing. Even more revealing was the response of Paul Vallas: Deflecting blame to volunteers or hackers, ducking responsibility by having his campaign issue a vague apology, trying to change the subject to “the issues.” Character is an issue, and this was a failed test.
Bob Nuber, South Loop