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McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski warned Chicago’s Mayor, Lori Lightfoot, that the rising crime was causing problems for him and his company and that if something isn’t done about it, it will be Chicago’s demise.
He said he can’t get executives to move to the city because of the violent and rising crime there.
He said, “Everywhere I go, I’m confronted by the same question. ‘What’s going on in Chicago?’ There is a general sense out there that our city is in crisis. The truth is, it’s more difficult today for me to convince a McDonald’s executive to relocate to Chicago from one of our other offices than it was just a few years ago.”
“It’s more difficult for me to recruit a new employee to McDonald’s to join us in Chicago than it was in the past.”
“We see every single day in our restaurants what’s happening at society at large.”
“It’s not going to be something that McDonald’s can solve on its own.”
“We need to be able to do it with the public sector as well.”
“That’s one of the things about McDonald’s. Whatever’s happening in society, good or bad, you can be sure it’s happening at McDonald’s.”
He said he soon;t going to be moving the headquarters, but pleaded with Lightfoot to make a plan to combat the crime.
“Let us know the plan so we can support it. It’s going to take partnership,” he said.
Of course, Lightfoot had her own thoughts on the matter.
“What would have been helpful is for the McDonald’s CEO to educate himself before he spoke,” she said.
She referenced an open letter by Michael Fassnacht, her hand-picked head of World Business Chicago, that she said: “lays out in exactly detail all the good news, economic news, about what’s happening in our city, so I’m going to focus on those things and not the comments of CEO of McDonald’s.”
“While the departures of Citadel and Boeing are disappointing and not to be ignored, encourage us to consider the 112 companies who have moved or opened their doors in Chicago over the last 18 months. These 112 company relocations or new market entrants created over 19,000 direct and indirect jobs. Additionally, the BLS business establishment data shows there are 7,400 more businesses today in the Chicago metro area than pre-COVID,” Fassnacht wrote.
The Wall Street Journal reported:
A number of major companies, including Boeing Co. BA 0.68%▲ and hedge-fund firm Citadel LLC, have announced this year that they will move their headquarters out of Chicago.
Citadel head Ken Griffin said he decided to move Citadel from Chicago to Miami for a better corporate environment, and company officials said crime was also a consideration.
Boeing said in May that moving its headquarters from Chicago to the Washington, D.C., area would bring the aerospace company closer to customers and engineering workers. Kellogg Co. said in June that it would move its global snacking business to Chicago as part of its decision to separate its business into three companies.
Chicago no longer the Windy City now best known as the crime capital AMERICA