Cultural Affairs and Special Events Commissioner Erin Harkey acknowledged that Taste of Chicago was once the city’s premier food and fun festival spanning ten days that included the all-important July 4th weekend and the July 3rd fireworks show. But, that was before a tidal wave of police retirements left a demoralized and overworked Chicago Police Department with more than 1,000 vacancies as it struggles to tame an unrelenting crime wave that saw homicides surge last year to levels not seen in a quarter century. Against that backdrop, it’s difficult to justify a ten-day summer showcase in Grant Park that requires siphoning officers from neighborhood police districts to protect to avoid what happened in 2008.

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