After the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old boy in Millennium Park over the weekend, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has implemented a plan to keep crowds of youth from hanging out in the area. I'm not sure how effective the plan will be but there will definitely need to be officers on duty to keep things under control in the event this plan does not work.
Minors under the age of 18 years old are no longer allowed in Millennium Park after 6 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. In addition, the city's weekend curfew for teens will now be 10 p.m. instead of 11 p.m. The city's curfew hours have been in effect for many years so the only changing is the time.
Hopefully city officials can do more to get to the root cause of the violence in this city. Economic resources, activities that will keep our youth engaged and give them something to do, more youth-oriented jobs, learning centers, special events for young people and more are just some suggestions. We just can't keep losing our children Chicago, it can't continue to happen.