LAKEVIEW — With March half over, Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) has gone silent on whether the city will fulfill its promise to add 25 police officers to the Town Hall District by the end of the month, as he promised.
In exchange for his vote to approve a record $589 million property-tax increase, Tunney said in October that Mayor Rahm Emanuel and then-Police Supt. Garry McCarthy promised to add 35 officers to the district in 2016, along with eight who were already set to transfer to the district in November — for a total increase of 43.
The first 25 of the 35 to be hired this year were supposed to be brought in by the end of March.
Neighbors have asked about the progress repeatedly, and over the past two weeks were told Tunney was meeting with police and city leaders this week so the alderman could find out for himself how many officers had been hired.
Tunney did meet with the interim superintendent's chief of staff and got verification on the department's staffing level and its "ability to move additional officers" to the district, said Julie Levar, Tunney's director of communications.
"Ald. Tunney will continue to press for the promised increase of additional officers," Levar said in an email Friday. "Ald.; Tunney's top priority is the safety of the residents and visitors in the Lakeview neighborhood."
But she did not say how many officers had been hired. On Sunday, she referred DNAinfo Chicago to Tunney's October statement.
At a meeting Thursday at the Town Hall District, 850 W. Addison St., Tunney acknowledged the department had not reached a net increase of 25 officers yet this year. But he did not say how many had been hired and he contradicted his earlier promise, saying the total increase by the end of 2016 would not be 43 but instead would be 35.
On Friday, when asked whether the discrepancy was intentional or Tunney misspeaking a second time — he had earlier dropped the total to 30 before his staff corrected him — Levar declined to clarify. Chris Jessup, Tunney's public safety liaison, did not respond to a similar question Friday.
The last update on hiring came in early February, when his office said the district had a net increase of 15 officers since Tunney's October pledge.
In an effort to keep the uneasy community informed, the ward will be providing monthly updates on police resources with a flow chart detailing changes since October, Tunney said Thursday. He did not say when that chart would be made public.
"We're working weekly on that commitment that the mayor has provided to me," Tunney said. "My commitment is to make sure that commitment is followed through [over] the course of the year."
The dwindling police totals since the 19th and 23rd districts merged in 2012 have been a hot-button issue, particularly as neighbors bemoan a rise in violent crimes in Lakeview.
Last month, the anonymously run Crime in Wrigleyville + Boystown said district growth has been stagnant since August, with new transfers offset by officers' retirements or other departures.
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