Chicago Illinois’ Magnificent Mile is as Dangerous as It’s Ever Been
Chicago's "Magnificent Mile" is known across the country as a beautiful, shopping destination. But the Chicago Police Department has issued a stern warning to visitors. CBS2
The stores are being robbed and people are getting robbed as visitors, all the time...at an alarming rate. So much so that the number of people and number of stores has shrunk. People are simple...afraid.
The current problem is a massive wave of robberies that take place ALL OVER the Magnificent Mile. The problem has gotten so bad that the new potential store owners are very hesitant to move in.
There's a portion of North Michigan Avenue that remains vacant, because of the overwhelming crime. Macy's and Disney have left, who will be next to exit this crime zone?
“I think it does not help in terms of the recovery for downtown Chicago, the impression around the nation is that Chicago is not a very safe place to be. And the incidents we saw this morning, over the weekend, the episodes before that, only feed that.” - Robb Karr, president and CEO of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association
Just this past Monday, three 7-11 locations were held up by armed robbers DURING the morning commute. What are the plans by Chicago law enforcement? How do they handle something like this?
“We have a tactical plan in place to respond to any intelligence that comes our way about planned retail theft. There was a rumor one of the high end stores on Oak Street was going to get hit, yet again, this weekend, we were able to deploy a force, including undercover resources. It didn’t happen, fortunately, but we were ready if it did.” - Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd)