Rob Karr, President of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association

Twice in the last month—and as recently as this week— Mayor Lori Lightfoot urged Magnificent Mile merchants victimized repeatedly by smash-and-grab robberies to follow the lead of their counterparts in Milan, London, Paris, Rome and along Hollywood’s Rodeo Drive. She specifically mentioned security guards at the door, entrance cameras, merchandise “either chained and roped or put behind glass” and customers being “buzzed into” stores. On Thursday, Il. Retail Merchants Association President Rob Karr flatly rejected all of the mayor’s ideas. He branded the suggestions “extraordinarily disheartening,” “misinformed” and “false”—yet another example of how Lightfoot “continues to point fingers and play the blame game.”