Citing safety concerns, animal-welfare group cancels event on Near North Side

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Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday acknowledged that a pattern of mob violence on the Near North Side could harm the city's reputation but also backed the Police Department's response to crime in the area.

In his first comments on the attacks, the mayor repeatedly told reporters that acting police Superintendent Garry McCarthy had already covered the issue. Emanuel said he spoke to McCarthy about the attacks over the weekend while the mayor was in Washington with his family and again Tuesday morning.

"I reinforced to Superintendent McCarthy that I wanted to see not just a number of youths, but every one of them brought to justice, in the sense that if they're responsible, that we go get them," the mayor said. "Because it's part of our reputation, but it's also part of our public safety."

In the aftermath of Saturday's attacks, the Near North Police District, which includes Streeterville, the Gold Coast and the Magnificent Mile, has concentrated patrols in the area, police said.

Five people, two of them juveniles, have been charged in the attacks on Saturday evening, when five victims were rushed by a group of young men who beat them while trying to grab iPads, cellphones and other valuables.

The attacks occurred around 8:30 p.m. along Chicago Avenue east of Michigan Avenue and along the nearby lakefront, a busy neighborhood generally considered safe.

The victims included two doctors who were in Chicago for the annual convention of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, which typically brings in more than 30,000 doctors, vendors and other specialists from around the world.

The assaults were the latest in a series of mob attacks downtown. In April, about 70 youths stormed a McDonald's at State Street and Chicago Avenue, prompting the restaurant to close for nearly three hours.

In February, Loyola University Chicago warned its Water Tower campus students and staffers about "flash mob offenders" who were getting off the CTA Red Line at Chicago Avenue and stealing items from retail stores around the campus.

Chicago police started implementing strategies to address crimes carried out by such mobs in mid-May. Some of the attacks are believed to be coordinated via text messages or social networking websites, although Saturday's attacks did not appear to be coordinated by social media, police said.

It's not clear how the well-publicized mob actions have affected the overall crime rate in the area. Robberies in the Near North District are up just a tick in the early part of this year — there were 141 reported through the end of April, compared with 128 over the same four months a year ago, police said.

Violent crime in Chicago has been on the decline for years. Saturday's attacks nonetheless raised concerns about how such well-publicized crimes will affect tourism and activities downtown.

Those worries appeared to have credence Monday when a Chicago animal-welfare group announced it was postponing a pet adoption event scheduled for Michigan and Oak Street.

In an email, PAWS Chicago said it was holding off on Sunday's event because of "safety concerns from unpredictable crowds and weather conditions."

However, according to the city's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events PAWS submitted its application for the event too late to get a permit. Applications must arrive 45 days before the event, and PAWS' request was turned in May 31, according to the department.

John Chikow, president of the Greater North Michigan Avenue Association, said the email from PAWS "makes it look like everything that happened over the weekend was the reason to postpone the event. That's like squirting a little gasoline on the campfire."

Several emails and calls to PAWS officials, including the group's executive director and its founder and chair, were not returned Tuesday.

Tribune reporter Jeremy Gorner contributed.

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ejhickey1 at 10:42 PM June 07, 2011
there was another flash mob , rob and beat down tonight around Chicago and Wabash.  Nice job CPD and Mayor Rahm.   Here is a tip - to prevent crime you have to be on the street , not in the doughnut shop.