Chicago Mayor Johnson on Teen Takeovers: ‘It Is About Accountability as Well as Opportunity’

EXCERPT:

JOHNSON: “Well, I mean, look, we have to make sure that we have safe spaces for our young people. This weekend, for instance, we're hosting the WNBA All-Star. We released over 500 free tickets for young people. We are invested in our parks to give young people more activated spaces. You may remember I partnered with a YMCA where we made it free for young people to have YMCA memberships. Right now, we have over 2,000 young people that are participating in seven Ys across the city of Chicago. So between the economic development that's happening in our city, more visitors coming to our city, creating more safe spaces for our young people, and of course, you know, I'm very proud that we've reached our goals in terms of the young people that we've hired. Last year, we hired more young people than any other administration. So certainly we have to hold people accountable, but it's about accountability as well as opportunity and we're doing both.”