The killing of a Loyola freshman at the lakefront is a devastating tragedy — and it demands more than sympathy and broad promises from City Hall. It demands honesty about what our leaders are prioritizing. Right now, in Rogers Park, those priorities are misplaced.
An editorial (“Loyola student’s killing shows how much is at stake for Chicago universities in reducing crime,” March 20) calls for renewed public safety efforts. But on the Far North Side, residents and students are watching the city, under Brandon Johnson, and Ald. Maria Hadden — whose ward includes Loyola University Chicago and much of East Rogers Park — expand speed cameras along Sheridan Road, Broadway and nearby streets. These devices generate ticket revenue. At the same time, the city has not made comparable investments in police cameras, license plate readers and real-time surveillance tools that could help prevent or solve violent crime.
These are not equivalent strategies. Speed cameras do not deter armed offenders, identify suspects or enable faster police response. They issue tickets days later. Meanwhile, the streets where students walk at night remain undermonitored in ways that actually matter.
This is not about opposing traffic enforcement. It is about priorities. When the city moves aggressively on revenue-generating measures while lagging on tools that directly support policing, it sends a clear message: Collecting fines comes first.
For Loyola students and Rogers Park families, that message is unacceptable. After a tragedy like this, there should be an immediate, visible shift toward measures that deter violence and help catch those responsible. Instead, we are asked to accept incrementalism.
That is not enough.
If city leaders truly understand what is at stake, they should prove it. Reallocate resources. Expand the technology that directly enhances public safety. Be transparent about these decisions. And stop defaulting to programs that are easier to justify because they pay for themselves.
A young life was lost. Students are afraid. Residents are demanding action. The response from City Hall — and from Ald. Hadden — will show whether safety is the priority or just the talking point.
— Nick Agnew, Loyola University of Chicago Class of 1990, Evanston
Priorities of Congress
After reading Jackson Shedelbower’s piece on congressional delay in approving funds for U.S. aviation improvements (“Congress needs to clear the runway for O’Hare upgrades,” March 19), it struck me as lunacy that $1 billion a day of taxpayer money can be found overnight to finance a U.S. war of choice against a country that posed no imminent threat to us, but the $19 billion necessary to upgrade aviation technology from floppy disks and recruit air traffic controllers can’t get funding in Congress.
What are Congress’ priorities if not for such a vital and important public good? That this goes ignored at the expense of flight reductions, flight delays and passenger safety is egregious.
— Marge Malo, Chicago
Data centers’ power
How frustrating to read Elizabeth Shackleford‘s lament (“Global oil crisis once again makes the case for renewable energy,” March 20) that the United States did not follow President Jimmy Carter into a solar-powered future and then to read in the business section that the Illinois Commerce Commission approved larger deposits from power-hungry data centers under construction to limit rate increases for Illinois citizens (“ICC OKs ComEd proposal for data centers”).
The solution seems obvious enough, borrowing from Carter’s “road not taken”: Illinois should require data centers to install solar panels on their massive roofs, thus generating power for themselves. My own garage has solar panels that provide enough electricity for my Edgewater two-flat, with enough to spare for the winter months.
Why not ask incredibly wealthy technology companies to do what my partner and I did and invest some of their money into their very own solar power plant? Illinois ratepayers only stand to benefit.
— Bryan Cones, Chicago
EWA no payday loan
Regarding the op-ed “The high cost of workplace payday loan apps in Illinois” (March 13): Having worked in the consumer financial protection space for nearly 20 years, I’ve seen many consumers preyed upon by predatory lenders. There was a woman who lived in her car, fearing that an auto title lender would take it. There’s a woman on Social Security who took out several pawn loans at 240% APR and had to extend them 20 times, paying $2,500 interest on the $2,050 she borrowed. Reading Christopher Greenwood’s piece against this backdrop, the details don’t add up. Literally.
Earned wage access (EWA) providers charge no interest, mandatory fees or late fees. The only charges are a fee if you want the funds expedited and deposited into your account immediately, and some companies collect “tips” — voluntary payments like any other type of tip. In my experience, if you don’t pay the expedite fee, you still get the funds within 24 hours. Most, if not all, EWA providers have a free option, meaning you can get a cash advance for free. No payday lender ever made the payment of fees and interest optional.
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Of course, overreliance on EWA can upset your finances — just as any financial service product. Unlike a typical loan, however, if you stop paying an EWA provider, the only consequence is you cannot use that service again until you pay it back. Thus, EWA itself cannot force a person into eviction. EWA is used to address a cash shortfall caused by something else.
This month, one of my dogs is having a lump removed, which will cost about $1,100. I’m using EWA to pay for part of it, which gets automatically repaid on my next payday. Every other method of addressing my shortfall, other than asking my friends for help, is more expensive than EWA. My main credit card, for example, has an APR of 28.99%, and cash advances on credit cards often carry an additional fee.
While EWA is better than other financial products, the Woodstock Institute supports legal guardrails to prevent situations such as the one Greenwood describes. Preventing “stacking,” for example — when you use multiple EWA providers at a time — is a reasonable limit that might have prevented her situation, but calling EWA a payday loan is not the answer.
— Brent Adams, senior vice president of policy and advocacy, Woodstock Institute, Chicago
We need fairer taxation
Corporations and the richest people in America are able to use loopholes and special tax breaks to avoid paying what they owe.
All of us pay taxes when we buy gas and groceries. Local folks and small businesses pay taxes for roads, schools and services their communities need.
Many corporations and the wealthy among us pay lower tax rates than teachers, nurses and public employees. Corporations with billions in profits routinely pay little in federal taxes while hugely rewarding CEOs and executives.
Our present tax policies written by Congress benefit wealthy elites and powerful corporations instead of the people who actually do the work to make our nation great. We need Congress to implement policies making the ultra-wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share.
First, demand billionaires and those at the top of the financial ladder have their wealth taxed the same way wages are taxed. Second, raise corporate rates, ending tax breaks that shift profits offshore and enforce the Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax so they cannot pay taxes at rates lower than the rest of us. Third, reform the estate tax that allows inherited wealth to escape taxation. Implement a financial transaction tax and tax billionaires on wealth gains.
These changes could raise trillions of dollars over the next decade and lower costs for the rest of us.
Demand political agendas that tax wealth and profits at levels commensurate to their standing at the top of our nation’s economic ladder.
Take back your government through the power of your vote! Send no one back to Congress who will not commit to tax reform benefiting ordinary Americans.
— Jerry Hanson, Elkhorn, Wisconsin
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