I have lived in Chicago for over twenty years. I love its architecture, parks, and neighborhoods. I, along with three million residents, call it our home. However, the home has lost its function to protect its residents’ safety and quality of life—drive-by shootings, murders, daytime robberies, lootings, and other disturbances in public places have ruined, or deeply affected Chicagoans’ lives. It is time the residents stopped tolerating such public nuisances and held the city officials accountable.

In my daily take of the Red Line, loitering, loud talking, eating, sleeping, shouting, cursing, smoking, standing on chairs, and video-playing are routine occurrences. Certain passengers even make the train their home, eating, sleeping, and urinating, creating inconvenience and health hazards to thousands of riders each day.

In my occasional use of the downtown library and my local branch, I often witness adults talking loudly with one another or over the phone, dozing or sleeping over the desks and chairs, blockading themselves inside the restroom stalls, and kids running around shouting and talking, with little awareness of the discomfort or disturbance to others. Neither the librarians nor the security step up to intervene.

As a consequence of such violations, urban residents daily experience unnecessary stress and anxiety, public order is broken down, and the quality of life is compromised.

What happened to the order, etiquette, respect, and decency in public spaces in American cities? Who should be held responsible? Could the residents do something to change the situation?

The residents in big American metropolises have been subjected to such lawless and rule-less behavior for a long time. Many residents brush it off by saying it is the norm of big cities; really though? A large number of big cities in the United States and other parts of the world do maintain order and safety for their residents.

Last summer my wife and I visited London, a city of nine million, and I was expecting the city’s subway to be as dirty, smelly, disorderly, chaotic, and even violent as the subways in cities like Chicago, New York, Washington D.C., and San Francisco. It was just the opposite. The rides were safe and peaceful. We did not see loud talking, food eating, sleeping, loitering, soliciting, or crossing from one compartment to another. The British people would not tolerate the behaviors we experience in the American subways.

The afternoon prior to our departure for home the next day, there was a riot and looting on London’s Oxford Street. As the event was unveiling, Home Secretary Suella Braverman instantly declared that those who took part in the raid would be hunted down and jailed. The London police quickly took action and controlled it within a few hours, with very few businesses looted or smashed. Nine people were arrested. Contrast this incident with the massive looting that took place in Chicago’s Magnificent Mile in August 2020 when scores of high-end stores were ransacked and properties destroyed, with very few looters charged or sentenced, even today. NBC Chicago reported that a year after the occurrence, 26 individuals received probation and only seven ended up in jail.

In our many visits to big Chinese cities like Shanghai, which has 26 million people, I could walk on the streets as late at night or as early in the morning without thinking that somebody might rob or harm me. Public robbery, altercation, battery, and looting just do not happen in China. Period. Criminals understand that if they do, they will receive severe punishment. What happens to our big American cities that become empty, insecure, and hellish after eight or nine in the evening?

Luckily, not every American city is like Chicago, New York, or San Francisco. In my one-week stay in Tampa, Florida a week ago, I spent extensive time in the downtown Tampa-Hillsborough Public Library. Before the patron enters the library, he or she can see a big board on which are written behaviors that are prohibited in the library, such as bathing, shaving, washing clothes; loud, boisterous, disruptive or any other behavior; offensive bodily hygiene; drinking beverages; eating food; inappropriate attire; loitering, misuse of computers; skateboarding; sleeping; smoking; the list goes on. The patrons know and follow them. When minor incidents happen, the two security officers step up and enforce the rules.

I also had extensive walks in Tampa’s streets and parks, ate in a few restaurants, and tried the public transportation a few times. What I saw and experienced was order and peace. In its famous 2.6-mile river walk, residents and visitors run, walk, or ride their bikes, alone or in groups, without thinking about their personal safety. Governor Ron DeSantis should get credit for the great work he does in Florida.

The number and kinds of crimes and chaotic scenes in American cities are many: Law enforcement fails to, or is afraid to enforce laws and rules, and residents just keep voting the same officials year in and year out regardless of their incompetence or poor performance in managing the cities. Many residents just give up thinking anything will change given the corruption.

Could the cities do something? Absolutely. The cities need to create conditions for their law enforcement officers to do their jobs, and criminal and disorderly civil infractions must be penalized.

Could the urban residents do something? Yes. They need to wake up and muster the courage to say the patterns of public conduct in cities like Chicago, New York, and San Francisco are not the norm of the country; a majority of the cities do not tolerate such rude, hostile, violent, and lawless behaviors in public spaces; ordinary residents have rights to demand a safe and peaceful environment for work and raising families; and the one percent of criminals who have terrorized our cities for so long need to be held accountable to guarantee the rights of 99 percent of the residents.

The ways in which the American cities are managed by the incompetent and corrupt bureaucrats are a shame and disgrace. It tarnishes not only the reputation of this great country, but also the esteem of the Western world. We must hold the elected officials accountable. It is our tax dollars that support their livelihood, and we have every right to demand they do their job! We do not owe them anything; they owe us.

Larry S. Su is a professor at the City Colleges of Chicago.

Image: Free image, Pixabay license.