Joe Moore Pressuring Merchants to Remove Security Grating

I am watching a video of last night's aldermanic "debate." I was not able to get over to the second aldermanic "debate" last night. I had a techie problem that demanded immediate attention. As I watch the video, I see Don Gordon imploding and Chris Adams tilting his head and giving that Bob Dole hand gesture. Democrat Jim Ginderske did very well, and to fair and accurate, Joe Moore conducted himself well, too. But something was bothering me, like a shadow one sees out of the corner of one's eye that one is only semi-conscious of. Shadows. Then it hit me.

The security grating.

The candidates were speaking at the Loyola Park Fieldhouse on N. Sheridan. The candidates were at a table near large plate glass windows, with their backs to the windows, and there, right behind them, inches away was security grating on the windows. And what is the significance of this?

Joe Moore is currently pressuring some merchants in Rogers Park to remove the security bars and grating from their stores, particularly along Morse Avenue. A number of merchants have told me that Moore's people have been strongly urging them to take down their protective anti-burglar grating. But why?

It doesn't look good, you see. Joe Moore thinks the grating makes the neighborhood look rough around the edges. News flash: The neighborhood is rough around the edges, which is why you lock your doors at home and why merchants need protection from burglars and vandals.

One merchant put it this way: "Moore wants me to take down my grating. What does he think will happen? There's gangsters and drug pushers outside, all day and all night. If I took down my grating the next morning I wouldn't have a shop left to open."

Apparently, Joe Moore believes that if you just make the neighborhood look nicer it will magically be nicer. This is Joe Moore's attempt to build his own Potemkin Village, a make-believe place where everything is beautiful, where shopkeepers don't need to lock their stores up at night. To pressure merchants into removing their window grating is akin to urging a man with bloody wounds to just remove the bandages and everything will be alright. It wouldn't be, of course. Joe Moore does not seem to understand this.

Right behind Joe Moore, as he spoke to a croweded room last night, was security grating. Perhaps he'll urge the Parks District to remove it. Perhaps the Parks District would ask him if he has lost his mind.