Chicago Civic Media

so Beautiful...

...But the Violence . . .

IT'S CITYWIDE.
OUT OF CONTROL.

CHICAGOANS WONDER:
WILL IT ALWAYS BE LIKE THIS?

WILL CHICAGOANS ALWAYS BE MOURNING?

SEEMS THAT WAY.
UNLESS CHICAGO ACTS TO REVERSE
THE SIX DECADES OF FAILED EFFORTS
TO REDUCE VIOLENCE THAT HAVE
BROUGHT THE CITY TO WHERE
IT IS TODAY.

BUT IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY

So what are they?
They're all well known.
The first TWO are the resources
Chicago has used to REDUCE
violence since the 1960's.

They're the city's Public Safety
(police) and Public Health
(medical) professionals.

Yet violence overwhelms them.
As Chicago's police keep saying,
"We can't do it alone."
 

Chicago's THIRD resource?
It's the city's most powerful
safety resource by far. . .
but only when it's properly deployed.

In recent years, its been partially
deployed by Chicago's underfunded
Community Alternative
Policing Strategy (CAPS)
program. It's 

1. LET CHICAGO COMMIT TO MAKING ITSELF SAFE. NOT MERELY LESS VIOLENT

• PERHAPS EVEN THE SAFEST BIG CITY IN AMERICA.

  • MAYOR LIGHTFOOT IN 2019​

• CHICAGO NEEDS A TRULY POSITIVE GOAL.

• CHICAGO ANS YEAR FOR SAF

• VIOLENCE REDUCTION HAS FAILED. CHICAGOANS HAVE LOST FAITH IN IT

• BURNHAM ON GREAT PLANS

• D

• ​

2. USE CHICAGO'S DIGITAL-AGE MEDIA TO MAKE CHICAGO SAFE

• L

• D

• ​
   

3. FIRST, USE CHICAGO'S MEDIA TO SHOW CHICAGO'S LEADERS WORKING TOGETHER TO MAKE CHICAGO SAFE

4. NEXT, USE CHICAGO'S MEDIA TO INFORM, INSPIRE AND MOBILIZE BY FAR CHICAGO'S MOST POWERFUL PUBLIC SAFETY RESOURCE: THE PEOPLE OF CHICAGO 

UNTIL CHICAGO COMMITS TO MAKING ITSELF SAFE. NOT JUST LESS VIOLENT. 

THE PEOPLE OF CHICAGO

Chicagoans of all ages, occupations,

orientations, races and backgrounds ...

 THE PEOPLE OF CHICAGO

BUT ONLY when their MEDIA are tapping DEEP into their

Experiences - Insights

Talents - Wisdom

boundless energy

and

Yearning for Safety.

​

THE PEOPLE OF CHICAGO

Especially Chicago's YOUNG.

The primary VICTIMS of violence.

And literally Chicago's FUTURE ...

THE PEOPLE OF CHICAGO

Including Chicagoans who have gone

the wrong way. Like this man.
Because all deserve a second chance.
And all are Chicagoans.

And because all Chicagoans

can help keep Chicago SAFE.

THE PEOPLE OF CHICAGO

When connected with their 

PUBLIC SAFETY and PUBLIC HEALTH 

professionals ... 

THE PEOPLE OF CHICAGO

When EMPOWERED by THEIR MEDIA 

to work with THEIR LEADERS to make Chicago

a SAFE place to work, play, visit and raise a family in.

Everyone knows Chicago's
FOURTH resource.
It stares us all in face from our
TV and device screens.

It's the MEDIA that comprise Chicago's
Public Communication System
And its key component is Chicago's six
Network TV stations

to which most Chicagoans turn daily
for their local news, sports and weather.

BUT THERE'S A PROBLEM HERE.

THE PEOPLE OF CHICAGO
CAN'T WORK WITH
 

THEIR LEADERS

IF THEIR LEADERS CAN'T
WORK WITH THEMSELVES!

THIS PROBLEM  MAY SEEM UNSOLVABLE.
BUT THINK AGAIN.

BECAUSE WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE
THESE LEADERS DO WANT CHICAGO TO BE SAFE.

AND THEY WILL START MAKING CHICAGO SAFE...

... BUT NOT UNTIL THEY CAN DO SO IN THE MEDIA
THAT PRESENTLY ONLY SHOW THEM BLAMING
EACH OTHER FOR CHICAGO'S VIOLENCE.

AND THERE ARE ALL KINDS OF WAYS
FOR CHICAGO'S MEDIA TO SHOW
CHICAGO'S MEDIA MAKING CHICAGO SAFE.

. . . HERE'S JUST ONE . . .
IT'S ANEXCITING THREE-MINUTE
TV NEWS FEATURE CALLED
 

TWO CHAIRS

IT'S A GAME.

NOT MUSICAL CHAIRS. POLITICAL CHAIRS

A GAME CHICAGO CAN'T AFFORD TO LOSE.

A GAME TO MAKE CHICAGO SAFE.

​

A GAME TO GET PAIRS OF FEUDING POLITICIANS​

WORKING ON THE SAME PAGE TO MAKE CHICAGO SAFE.

​

SO WHICH FEUDING LEADERS should chicago see first?

​

• MAYOR lightfoot AND COUNTY BOARD PRESIDENT preckwinkle

• MAYOR LIGHTFOOT AND F.O.P. PRESIDENT CATANZARA

• Ald. Ervin (28th Ward) and Ald. Villegas (36th Ward)

• dem. Governor Pritzger and rep. billionaire ken griffen

• mAYOR lightfoot and ATTORNEY GENERAL kim fox

• lori and the chicago teachers union

​

​HERE'S HOW THE GAME WORKS

DYNAMIC CIVIC MEDIA FORMATS LIKE THIS ARE
PROFIT CENTERS
FOR CHICAGO'S MEDIA . . . 
ESPECIALLY ITS
NETWORK TV STATIONS

BECAUSE MOST CHICAGOANS STILL LOOK TO TV
FOR THEIR LOCAL NEWS, SPORTS AND WEATHER.

PROFIT CENTERS?

HERE'S WHY.

AND HOW.

FIRST: what's THE LARGEST (yet untapped)
LARGE MARKET IN CHICAGO?
even LARGER THAN THE MARKET
FOR TV SPORTs? it's the

MARKET OF THE WHOLE 

OF CHICAGOANS
OF ALL AGES AND BACKGROUNDS
who want safe neighborhoods
and a safe city.

SECOND: THE STATIONS THAT 
SERVE THIS MARKET BEST
WILL pROFIT from it MOST. wHY?

THIRD: BECAUSE CHICAGOANS know
their city. theY WILL INSTANTLY KNOW
WHICH tv programs ARE MAKING CHICAGO
SAFE, AND WHICH AREN'T.
 

ON THE DAY
WHEN CHICAGO'S MEDIA ARE FACILITATING
chicago's citywide DRIVE to make itself SAFE,
Chicago WILL BE DOING WHAT NO OTHER AMERICAN
CITY HAS EVER THOUGHT OR DARED TO DO . . .

it WILL BE INFORMING, INSPIRING AND MOBILIZING ALL 2.7 MILLION CHICAGOANS 
to make CHICAGO safe. perhaps even
"the safest big city in America"

in terms of CHICAGO'S
189-YEAR HISTORY, AMERICA'S 
INDUSTRIAL-AGE "I WILL" CITY
-- "THE CITY THAT WORKS" --
will BE WORKING AS aMERICA'S FIRST
DIGITAL-AGE "WE WILL" CITY.

CHICAGO will now have
a digital-age
CIVIC INFRASTRUCTURE
that does for chicago what the 
INDUSTRIAL-AGE
PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE
of daniel burnham's 1909 PLAN OF CHICAGo
has done for chicago over the past century.
chicago's new civic infrastructure will
renew the core value of burnham's plan:
"wHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE,
Good citizenship
 is the prime object
of good city planning."

AND IF ALL THIS ISN'T ENOUGH . . . 
aMERICA'S URBAN VIOLENCE POSTER CHILD
(for years, it's been chicago)
WILL be showing the rest of america
how a great american city is making
itself safe using ITS essential
PUBLIC SAFETY RESOURCE.

memo to: CHICAGO'S tv stations

re: two program types

there's an apparent RIFT between
chicago safe programming
and traditional violence COVERAGE.

FOR INSTANCE: FOR DECADES
TV NEWS
HAS AIRED WHAT MANY chicagoans CALL
"THE SAME-OLD, SAME-OLD:"
THE SAME SENSATIONALIZED
IF-IT-BLEEDS-IT-LEADS CRIME STORIES 
AND THE SAME FRUSTRATING
POLITICAL BLAME-GAME STORIES 
ABOUT VIOLENCE.

DAY IN AND DAY OUT, THIS COVERAGE
HAS arguably created A CITYWIDE
MINDSET OF FEAR, HELPLESSNESS
AND EVEN ACCEPTANCE OF

WARTIME LEVELS
OF VIOLENCE
AS PERMANENT, UNALTERABLE
FACTS OF CHICAGO LIFE.
like BRUTAL CHICAGO WINTERS

over the years 
this depressing coverage
numbs THE MINDS OF CHICAGOANS
AND THEIR LEADERS TO the VERY
POSSIBILITY
OF a safe chicago.

so how to RESOLVE
this apparent RIFT?

CHICAGO'S TV STATIONS SHOULN'T alter
THEIR EXISTING VIOLENCE COVERAGE. BECAUSE
IT'S THE NEWS
IT'S the daily updates, IN OUR VIEW,
of the TRAGIC story OF A GREAT CITY'S
INABILITY TO PROTECT ITS RESIDENTS.

TV stations can SIMPLY SUPPLEMENT 
THEIR traditional VIOLENCE coverage
WITH CHICAGO SAFE PROGRAMMING
THAT HELPS CHICAGO LIFT ITS HEAD
(AND BROAD SHOULDERS)
OUT OF THE SAND...

... THAT OPENS THE MINDS OF CHICAGOANS
AND THEIR LEADERS TO THE POSSIBILITY
AND FEASIBILITY
OF WORKING TOGETHER TO 
MAKE CHICAGO SAFE.

in time, BOTH PROGRAMMING types -
NEWS REPORTING AND PROBLEM SOLVING -
will CO-EXIST AND COMPLEMENT
EACH OTHER. fOR INSTANCE:

INTREPID NEWS REPORTERS WILL expose
ABUSES OF CHICAGO SAFE deliberations,
THEREBY RESTORING THEIR INTEGRITY.

AND UPDATES ON chicago safe OUTCOMES
will be REGULAR STORIES ON TV news.