Ald. Raymond Lopez

Please join us tonight at 5:30 p.m for a Prayer Vigil at the corner of 62nd & Paulina.

The best laid schemes of mice and men often go askew [especially when you don’t believe in them]

This isn’t “culture” - this is criminal.

Time for real Chicagoans to show up & show out - 11:30a in Room 102 today!

Birthday toads!

You’re still worth fighting for, Chicago!

We can (and must) strengthen & resurrect this ordinance to hold parents accountable. The best antiviolence program is a parent paying attention.

Seems I’ve stumbled upon a teen takeover trend at 57th and Everett

Shocking - a suburbanite

Arrest their damn parents!

FYI: The folks that won’t teach Black youth reading or math are the same folks responsible for playing the race card so teens can cause chaos on the streets!

Didn’t I already do this only to see it voted down by the Commie Caucus?

Today we honored our American fallen at the Catholic War Veterans Monument in the Brighton Park community. Erected forty-two years ago, our community has come together to honor the legacy of our parish’s heroes. God bless America 🇺🇸

After mass today we will say the Rosary Honoring the Fallen. Every patriot needs to give thanks for the brave men & women that died for our freedom & ideals here and abroad! God bless America 🇺🇸

I just wrote a letter to the Trib. Doubt they publish it, but here are my thoughts: Mayor Johnson's statement after five Chicago police officers were struck by a car at an after-prom teen takeover early Sunday morning was, once again, a master class in saying nothing. "Unauthorized large gatherings." "Safe spaces." A call for parents to "know where their children are." We have heard this script for years, and it has not stopped a single takeover. I lived in Streeterville through wave after wave of these events. I watched squad cars climbed on, businesses overrun, residents trapped in lobbies, and tourists wide-eyed on the sidewalk wondering what kind of city they had walked into. Most of the kids in those crowds were not breaking the law. That has never been the point. The point is that when hundreds of teenagers flood an intersection at 2 a.m., the bad actors come with them, and things escalate fast. A 14-year-old was killed in the Loop in November. Five officers are now in the hospital. This is not a "teen trend." It is a pattern, and the city keeps treating it like a branding problem. I eventually gave up and moved to Lincoln Park. That is the quiet story behind these gatherings: people leave. They stop walking to dinner. They stop bringing visitors downtown. Businesses lose customers, then they lose staff, then they close. The cost of the mayor's inaction is not abstract. It is paid block by block by the residents he is supposed to represent. Atlanta has shown there is another path. After a Beltline takeover earlier this year, police arrested participants, recovered eleven firearms, and announced that parents who let their children roam past curfew would themselves be charged. Tampa, Orlando, and Washington are moving in the same direction. Chicago, meanwhile, gets a tweet about "opportunities and safe spaces" while officers are wheeled into emergency rooms. Young people do deserve programming, mentorship, and somewhere to go on a Saturday night. None of that is in tension with enforcing the curfew that already exists, prosecuting the adults driving cars into police officers, and holding parents accountable when their children are downtown at 3 a.m. with weapons. Chicagoans are not asking for cruelty. We are asking for a mayor who will say the word "takeover" out loud and act like he means it.

On May 30, 1868, roughly 5,000 people gathered at Arlington National Cemetery to honor the Civil War soldiers buried there. Ohio Congressman and future president James A. Garfield gave a speech. The Ohioan had served as a major general during the Civil War. Brig. Gen. Halbert E. Paine, who lost his left leg during the war, read Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address as part of the ceremony. Afterward, attendees decorated the graves of more than 20,000 Civil War soldiers who died during the war. This event was the first national effort to honor U.S. soldiers who died in the service of their country. Around the turn of the century, “Decoration Day” saw two significant changes. By the 1890s, people began to refer to it as “Memorial Day.” Eventually, Memorial Day won out. After WWI, the holiday recognized soldiers of every American war, not just those who died during the Civil War. Another addition to the holiday was the introduction of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The first unknown soldier, killed during the First World War, was interred at Arlington in 1921. The soldier was recovered from France in November and transported aboard the USS Olympia back to the U.S. An ornate marble sarcophagus was constructed for the unidentified soldier. President Warren G. Harding attended the ceremony surrounding the soldier’s interment. Unknown soldiers from World War II and the Korean War were later added to the location. These soldiers rest in crypts adjacent to the WWI soldier’s sarcophagus. (A soldier from the Vietnam War was also interred, but was later removed when he was identified.) Since 1921, each American president (or a representative) has placed a wreath at the tomb on Memorial Day. In 1971, Congress designated Memorial Day a federal holiday. It also shifted the day to the last Monday in May instead of May 30. Most Americans spend the extended weekend taking a trip, going to a parade or barbequing with family and friends. Some of the largest parades are held in Chicago, Illinois; Washington, D.C.; and Douglaston, New York. -Frank Jastrzembski, Shrouded Veterans, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization committed to rescuing the graves of 19th century veterans.

A “teen” driving. 18 years old make him an adult.

And refuses to hold children & parents accountable

As the Canaryville Veterans Association comes together for its 30th Anniversary, we continued the tradition of reading the names of the community’s sons & daughters that gave the ultimate measure for our country going back to the Spanish-American War. We must never take patriotism for granted. It must be taught and instilled in our youth, in our traditions here and throughout our city. All of Chicago can learn from the values of Canaryville. May God bless the memory of our fallen, bless our city, and bless these United States of America!