RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, in recent years, the City of Chicago has seen an increase in violence throughout the City; and
WHEREAS, gun violence has particularly increased and has taken the lives of many innocent victims over the past several years; and
WHEREAS, in light of the economic and social problems that face the residents of Chicago, a pattern of distrust has developed between many communities and law enforcement in our City and throughout the country; and
WHEREAS, the City's civic, governmental, and religious leaders must come together to solve the current inequities in our communities throughout our City; and
WHEREAS, The Chicago Bar Association founded in 1874 is one of the oldest and most active metropolitan bar associations in the United States. The Association's voluntary membership of 22,000 consists largely of lawyers and judges from Cook County and the State of Illinois; and
WHEREAS, one of the primary objectives of the Chicago Bar Association is to increase the usefulness of the legal profession in promoting the due administration of justice and the public good;and
WHEREAS, the Chicago Bar Association, through the leadership of President Dan Kotin, will be sponsoring and hosting a summit to address the issue of violence in Chicago; and
WHEREAS, the Summit entitled "The Path towards Solutions: Curbing the Violence in Chicago" will be held on Friday, May 19, 2017 at the Standard Club of Chicago; and
WHEREAS, the Summit will hold panel discussions with local and national speakers that will represent all stakeholders of the subject of Curbing Violence in Chicago; and
WHEREAS, some of the topics to be addressed at this Summit will include the relationship between law enforcement and the community, the impact of social media on Chicago Violence and gun violence and our judicial system; and
WHEREAS, in addition to hosting this Summit, a sub-committee of the Chicago Bar Association will be assisting the Chicago City Council Joint Committee on Public Safety and Committee on Finance in researching best practices to improve the dissemination of information from the Gun Offender Registry and the Illinois Sex Offender Registry to the communities of our City; now therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED, that the Chicago City Council hereby commends the Chicago Bar Association and its President Dan Kotin for helping to take the lead to "Curb the Violence in Chicago"; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Chicago City Council encourages all members of our City government to actively participate in this summit to help bring about possible solutions to the violence that has devastated our great City; and