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City Needs More Than Listening Tour To Ease Tensions With Police: Beale

By Mark Konkol | April 29, 2015 5:39am
 Ald. Anthony Beale celebrated opening day at Method, the first factory build on the South Side in 30 years.
Ald. Anthony Beale celebrated opening day at Method, the first factory build on the South Side in 30 years.
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DNAinfo/ Mark Konkol

PULLMAN — On Tuesday, Chicago celebrated opening day at the new Method Soap factory — the South Side Soap Box, they call it — with colorful balloons, thoughtful speeches and tasty fruit smoothies, among other things.

The Method plant, in case you haven’t heard, is the first new factory built on the South Side in about 30 years, which, of course, is reason to celebrate.

But more than that, the environmentally friendly soap-making plant stands as a pastel-colored big box beacon of hope in what some locals call Chicago’s “Wild Hundreds” — a collection of neighborhoods that for decades have suffered the devastating effects of economic decay, real estate redlining and street gang violence.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel thanked Method executives — a team that calls itself “People Against Dirty” — for setting up shop in Pullman.

“The ability to recruit other companies gets easier after you’ve had your first sale,” Emanuel said. “And Method coming in here shows that the first factory in 30 years is not an accident.”

The mayor pointed to Method as proof that President Barack Obama's designation of Pullman as a national monument was a nod to the neighborhood’s bright future as well as a way to honor its historic past.

But after the final laudatory speeches, the historic factory opening took a back seat to questions about what the mayor’s administration has planned to combat the fractured relationship between the Police Department and poor black neighborhoods — particularly in light of the violent rioting in Baltimore over the death of Freddie Gray that many people view as yet another manifestation of the strained relationship between police and poor black people in America.

The mayor stressed the need for better community policing and backed the “listening tour” announced by his police superintendent, Garry McCarthy, that aims to spark an “ongoing dialogue necessary to build and sustain trust.”

Emanuel said McCarthy and “every district commander is going to be interacting in a more significant way with religious leaders, community leaders, so it’s not just a meeting once a week. We are constantly working toward that trust-building exercise so people know who their commander is, who the sergeant is.”

If you’re one of those cynical people who think that the Police Department listening tour doesn’t sound like much of a difference-maker, you’re not alone.

 Mayor Rahm Emanuel (center) cuts the ribbon at Method's
Mayor Rahm Emanuel (center) cuts the ribbon at Method's "South Side Soap Box," the first new factory built on the South Side in about 30 years with (right to left) Ald. Anthony Beale, Method co-founder Adam Lowry, Method CEO Drew Fraiser and Method board chairman Jonathan Bond.
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DNAinfo/ Mark Konkol

Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) has concerns, too.

“I don’t know how you start a listening tour four years after you’ve been here. That should have been what you did first,” Beale said at the Method factory opening.

“And I don’t know how you can say you’re listening when you don’t return phone calls. I’ve called [McCarthy], and he has not returned my phone calls. So how are you going to listen to what’s happening on the ground in my community? I know what’s going on in my community, and I can articulate that to him. It’s up to him to help me in this community to make sure my community is a safer place. But he wouldn’t know that if he doesn’t listen.”

McCarthy wasn’t available to answer questions on Tuesday. And police spokesman Marty Maloney didn’t respond to questions about Beale’s assessment of the listening tour.

Beale, who once headed the City Council Police and Fire Committee, said people who live in struggling Chicago neighborhoods where there’s a real rift with police need more than someone to hear their concerns.

For one, Chicago needs more African-American officers patrolling African-American neighborhoods, the alderman said.

And the best way to cut crime and ease tensions with police in struggling neighborhoods is to bring good-paying jobs — new retail centers and modern, environmentally friendly factories like Method — to struggling neighborhoods that need them, Beale said.

After all, he’s already seen the positive results for himself with the addition of more than 600 jobs at Pullman’s Wal-Mart-anchored shopping plaza.

“I can tell you without a doubt … that if you put people to work, if you reinvest in housing, if you give them an opportunity by bringing jobs in their area, you’re going to see crime go down. That’s the clear reason why overall crime is down 24 percent and violent crime is down 44 percent [in the Calumet police district]. I’m not going to tell you we don’t have our challenges, but without question the 9th Ward … has rebounded,” Beale said.

“If you don’t give a community anything, but you keep throwing police at it, that’s not going to solve the problem.”

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