Visitors from North Lawndale to the South Loop came Thursday to City Hall to honor Chicago police Cmdr. Paul Bauer, signing remembrance books for the slain officer.
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The flags outside, cloaked in dense fog, were at half-staff, a show of respect for the fallen Police Department veteran, signs in the entryway said.
Inside the lobby, teeming with midday activity, two lines formed at the center of the room, book-ending a table adorned with white roses and oriental lilies. In dozens of pages inside two books, guests penned messages to Bauer and his family. “Thank you,” many of the notes read; gratitude was the overwhelming sentiment of the day.
“There’s always been somebody in line,” a police officer standing nearby said. “There’s been a steady flow since 8 a.m.”
Most who stopped in the lobby appeared to be at City Hall for other matters: A couple getting married, the bride pregnant, in a cream-colored fur coat, glittery gold boots and white flower crown. City employees, some headed to lunch and others returning. High-heeled women and sharply suited men stood alongside elderly guests in jeans and sneakers, some of who drifted in to pay bills or request city services. A man in a wheelchair, who almost passed the crowd, returned to wait in line. Two older women stood in the line, too, both patiently clutching their walkers as they waited for their chance to honor the life of the commander.
For one, Yolanda Swanigan, the visit to City Hall from her home in North Lawndale was necessary. She had to show up for Bauer, she said, after learning of his Tuesday death from a local news report. She took a train and bus downtown.
“I wasn’t gonna let nothing stop me. I said, ‘I’m gonna sign this book,’ ” said the 61-year-old, who was wearing a medical mask and had tubes connected to her nose. “It’s not very often that we hear about good cops. And it is sad that we gotta hear about it in this way.”
Bauer’s 31-year commitment to the city moved many. Roger Britton Sr., a Chicago native who said he was a recent retiree from the Army National Guard, said he cried twice in the past few days.
“He responded to his comrades in need, in a moment of distress,” Britton said.
Despite the violence happening in the city and the world, Britton said, Bauer’s bravery in the face of danger was remarkable.
“This is worse than the Wild West,” Britton said, referencing losses of life in the city due to violence. “I feel safer in a war zone than here.”
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