Daley calls violence summit
ALBERT CASE | 'Mayor is very passionate and concerned'
On his first day back at work after the Olympics debacle, Mayor Daley called a high-level meeting Monday with city and school officials to seek an answer to the violence that culminated in the videotaped beating death of Derrion Albert.
Daley and about 15 to 20 others met Monday morning at Chicago Board of Education headquarters. City Hall kept it quiet because the mayor didn't want cameras, sources said.
Those seen leaving the meeting included police Supt. Jody Weis, the Rev. Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Church and Ishmael Muhammad of the Nation of Islam.
"The first thing he does, back in the city, is address this issue of violence," Pfleger said. "The mayor is very passionate and concerned."
"He was saddened, he was angry, that this young boy lost his life," Weis said as he emerged from the meeting.
"It was an obviously committed, honest conversation," a source said, "of 'What do we do?' "
Tape of Albert's fatal beating, administered by other teens, has played around the world, feeding talk shows and giving Chicago the viral equivalent of a black eye.
Weis and Pfleger said the meeting focused on response instead of finger-pointing.
"I think we all recognize that the solution is not purely a law enforcement one. It's not purely education," Weis said. "It's a societal failure."
"This is not a government problem," Pfleger said. "This is not a police problem. It's everybody's problem."
Other participants included Schools CEO Ron Huberman; CPS Safety and Security Chief Michael Shields; Fenger principal Elizabeth Dozier; and Ald. Carrie Austin (34th), whose ward includes Fenger.
Last week, Austin -- who was swarmed by angry constituents after the slaying -- lashed out at police and the schools.
She said she has been pleading with the Chicago Public Schools for more than two years to change attendance boundaries around Fenger to reduce tensions between rival neighborhoods.
"They did not see the same plight I saw -- that these things could become volatile," Austin said. "The boundaries we have now, all students from the Far South Side are to attend Fenger and bypass schools in their area. Altgeld Gardens kids wouldn't be coming to Fenger if they were allowed to go to Carver."
Huberman acknowledged last week that Austin "has brought to our attention that some of the boundaries may be problematic."
"We are reviewing those boundaries now to see what we can change to reduce conflict," he said. In the meantime, nine school buses have been added to help students "get across these problematic gang boundaries," he said.
Weis said there'll be a new emphasis on intelligence-gathering and information-sharing between police and schools on a daily basis to respond to trouble spots.
Four teens have been charged in Albert's murder. Weis made another appeal for three others sought in the case. "We have not gotten the information that would allow us to charge those three." Weis said. "It'll bring closure to the family."
In the wake of the Olympic defeat, some at City Hall have questioned Daley's will to dive back in to the less glamorous job of solving Chicago's most intransigent problems. Monday's meeting was apparently designed, at least in part, to prove that the fire still burns in the 20-year incumbent.
Contributing: Rosalind Rossi