Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is pushing to eliminate the controversial ShotSpotter gun detection system, calling it a costly failure despite attempts by City Council members to save it. A legislative battle is brewing as council members try to override Johnson's decision.
Fran Spielman and Tom SchubaJohnson condemned the ShotSpotter system as a costly waste of tens of millions of taxpayer dollars - even as the stage was being set for a legislative showdown.The gunshot detection system some City Council members are trying desperately to keep is little more than "a walkie-talkie on a pole," Mayor Brandon Johnson said Monday.
That measure has been assigned to the Rules Committee, where legislation opposed by the mayor typically is sent to die. But its supporters want to invoke Rule 41 on Wednesday. That parliamentary maneuver allows an alderperson to call for immediate consideration of an ordinance if no action has been taken in committee.
"They said. ... it would reduce gun violence by 50% and that this was going to make neighborhoods safer.," Johnson said at an unrelated news conference Monday at Soldier Field. "We cannot afford the interest of corporations to play off the pain and the suffering of the people of Chicago." The Council already voted 34-14 to block Johnson from pulling the technology from any ward without a meeting of the public safety committee and approval by the full Council.
And even if the Rule 41 vote falls short, Beale added, he has a backup plan: calling a special Council meeting for later Wednesday to consider a new ordinance authorizing a different city official - Annastasia Walker, executive director of the Office of Public Safety Administration - to negotiate a new contract.
Shotspotter Chicago Mayor Johnson Gun Violence Legislation
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