Chicago Wants a “Public Option” for Grocery Stores

Plus, prosecutors get tough on anti-Israel protests; Jew-hate in Fulton County schools

The city of Chicago is moving closer to getting into the grocery store business.

What happens when the crime, regulations, corruption, union power, and taxes in parts of the city are so overwhelming that no free-market operator would open a supermarket there there?

In Chicago, the city government itself is preparing to try stepping in itself, with taxpayer dollars.

The Chicago Tribune has an interview with city policy chief S. Mayumi “Umi” Grigsby, who says the city is preparing to apply for funding from “a new $20 million state grocery initiative.”

“We truly believe that public options can increase access, affordability and services in areas where government really should be leaning in and leading the way,” Grigsby told the Tribune.

The newspaper quotes a feasibility study that the economic development consultancy HR&A and the nonprofit Economic Security Project (Ford Foundation money) did for the city:

​​The report says that “decades of structural racism, segregation, and disinvestment have led to diminished resident density, disposable income and community infrastructure,” which makes it difficult to attract and retain grocery stores in certain city neighborhoods.

The Committee to Unleash Prosperity, which spotted this one, headlined it, “Chicago To Go Full Soviet And Own Grocery Stores.”

It’s hard to know where to begin with this. It seems unjust for people running profitable grocery stores to be taxed so that the government can open up businesses to compete with them. And the government in Chicago and in Illinois are failing so at doing the basic, fundamental tasks they are already supposed to be doing, it’s hard to see the logic of their taking on additional missions, like running grocery stores, that are typically handled by the private sector. Will the city-run supermarket sell junk food? Non-diet soda? As for the idea that the “structural racism” led to “diminished resident density,” actually Chicago has emptied out as legal segregation declined. The resident density has diminished as government policies hostile to wealth and job-creation have sent businesses elsewhere, to more friendly destinations.

It is a reminder that language matters: “public option” sounds so much friendlier than Soviet-Communist-style state ownership.

Prosecutors get tough: Some possibly encouraging signs are emerging recently to indicate that anti-Israel lawless behavior won’t get a free pass. In the Northern District of New York, a former Cornell University student, Patrick Dai, was sentenced to serve 21 months in prison for posting anonymous threats to kill Jewish students. From the Justice Department press release about the case: 

As part of his previously entered guilty plea, Dai admitted that, on Oct. 28 and 29, 2023, he posted threatening messages to the Cornell section of an online discussion forum, including posts that said “gonna shoot up 104 west” (a dining hall at Cornell University that caters predominantly to Kosher diets and is next to the Cornell Jewish Center that provides residential accommodations for students) and “gonna bomb jewish house.” In another post, Dai threatened to “stab” and “slit the throat” of any Jewish man he saw on campus, to rape and throw off a cliff any Jewish women he saw and to behead any Jewish babies. In that same post, Dai threatened to “bring an assault rifle to campus and shoot all you pig jews.”

Meanwhile, in San Francisco, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced extensive charges against 26 individuals who blocked roadways, including the Golden Gate Bridge and US 101, on April 15.

From the press release:

Eight individuals are charged with one count of felony conspiracy (PC 182(a)(1)), 38 counts of false imprisonment (PC 236), trespassing to interfere with a business (PC 602(k)), obstruction of a thoroughfare (PC 647c), unlawful assembly (PC 407), refusal to disperse at a riot (PC 409) and failure to obey the lawful order of a uniformed officer (VC 2800(a)). 

Eighteen individuals have been charged with one count of misdemeanor conspiracy (PC 182(a)(1)) and 38 counts of false imprisonment (PC 236), trespassing to interfere with a business (PC 602(k)), obstruction of a thoroughfare (PC 647c), unlawful assembly (PC 407), refusal to disperse at a riot (PC 409) and failure to obey the lawful order of a uniformed officer (VC 2800(a))....

Unlike past protests, the A15 group made no attempt to acquire a permit for expressive activity, which the Golden Gate Bridge issues frequently.  They made no attempt to protest in a lawful place. Their intention was to cause chaos and to disrupt the lives of citizens, which they achieved by blocking the commute traffic lanes of the Golden Gate Bridge during the morning commute…

the [California Highway Patrol] was contacted by more than 200 people, either by phone or email, expressing how they were affected by this unlawful protest. Thirty-five victims initially contacted the CHP stating they were trapped on the Golden Gate Bridge and expressed how they were affected by the actions of these protestors.  The affidavit recounts the reports of numerous victims who missed work, important medical appointments school, and flights.  One victim’s experience cited in the affidavit notes missing a pre-op appointment for brain surgery to remove a tumor in their temporal lobe.  A mother, a victim cited in the affidavit, reported not having water for infant formula and missing a pre-surgery appointment for her baby.  A surgeon, another victim cited in the affidavit, also had to cancel and reschedule their entire surgery schedule for the day. The affidavit also includes another mother’s report of her disabled child being stuck on a school bus for four hours on the bridge.  The affidavit notes that at least two victims trapped reported having to relieve themselves in the car because they were trapped.  Several hundred other victims were trapped on the Golden Gate Bridge without the ability to drive off the bridge. They were held against their will at the mercy of the 26 people involved in this event.

It’s encouraging to see attempts to enforce the rule of law against the mob. More of this may have a deterrent effect, or at least put the perpetrators away where they can do less harm.

Fulton County, Georgia, schools face antisemitism complaint: The Louis D. Brandeis Center For Human Rights Under Law, Jewish Americans for Fairness in Education and the National Jewish Advocacy Center announced today that they have filed a formal federal Title VI complaint with the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights against the Fulton County School District in Atlanta. 

The press release is useful in offering concrete descriptions of the student and parent experiences:

• Just one day after Hamas’ terrorist attacks on October 7, 2023, Jewish and Israeli students in FCSD were subject to other students yelling anti-Israel slogans and cursing at them. One Israeli middle school student was told by a classmate that “somebody needs to bomb your country, and hey, somebody already did.” A high school student approached a group of Jewish and Israeli girls and mimicked shooting them with a gun while making gunshot noises. Students have also burned “I stand with Israel” posters….

• In one particularly egregious instance, a student asked an Israeli 5th grade student if she was Israeli and then told her that she hates Jews and Israelis and they should all be killed. The same student kept approaching the Israeli student and happily describing all the atrocities that Hamas had committed in Israel, including beheading babies and butchering children. Further, some Jewish students, as young as six years old, have been told, during class and with teachers present, that Israel is entirely at fault for this war.

• The harassment is not limited to students, but tolerated and even conducted by teachers and other school officials. Just nine days after October 7th, a 2nd grade teacher told her class – which included two Israeli students – that the war was Israel’s fault. Further, educational materials used by FCSD teachers to indoctrinate students with one-sided history include maps that completely omit the State of Israel and erase the heritage of Jewish and Israeli students.

• In April, during cultural night at a District elementary school, five Israeli mothers of FCSD students were tabling with their children when they were verbally accosted and abused by a group of Palestinian parents. The Israeli mothers were yelled at and called “Nazis.”  As the mothers began to shake and cry in fear for their children’s and their own safety, the leader of the Palestinian group – a father of another student – spat at them. After the victims complained to a school safety officer, the guard ultimately told the women that the man seemed nice, so he was not going to do anything.

RoughDraft Atlanta, a local news site, has a reaction from a spokesperson from the school district: “This private group’s effort to depict Fulton County Schools as promoting or even tolerating antisemitism is false…Like most, if not all, schools across the country, world events have sometimes spilled onto our campuses. Whenever inappropriate behavior is brought to our attention, Fulton County Schools takes it seriously, investigates, and takes appropriate action.”

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