Tonight was “Council to Go” a session where our city council rep, Patrick Dowd was in Tazza D’Oro on Highland Ave to talk to constituents. I specifically went to talk about the recent gay bashing incident, and what is being seen as slow response by the cops.But a number of residents were there, and a variety of subjects were the topic, in addition to the gay bashing.

I wasn’t personally thrilled with Patrick decided to run for Mayor last year. It isn’t that I didn’t think he would be a good mayor. My guess is he would be (and someday possibly will be) a wonderful mayor. I just wanted him to stay a city councilman, and do some good work for the city and the district  before moving on to a higher level of government. And tonight, I really saw that hard work happening. If you haven’t met Patrick Dowd, he is a great guy. A family man who seems totally at ease talking about gay and lesbian issues. Just the kind of ally the LGBT community needs to have. (FWIW, I think there are a number of folks like that on this city council). Smart, personable, easy to talk to and clearly passionate about the city and how we can build on the good things we have to be an even great city in the future. There were a couple of things discussed tonight that I want to write more about, but for now, I want to focus on the bashing incident.

If you are on the Highland Park email list, you know that few details have trickled out about the attack, although what has been published, has been very bothering. It is outrageous to think of this type of incident happening here, or anywhere for that matter. There are two big issues from my perspective:

1) The incident itself- and the harm caused to victim. The need to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

2) The report of extremely slow police response.

Dowd expressed that when there is a 911 call, the response time is supposed to differ based on what is happening at the time of the call.  If the crime or incident has already concluded, and you are calling to make a report, response time may be much longer, but if you call while an incident is in progress, the response time is supposed to be very fast. I haven’t seen any details about when the call was placed nor what was said to the 911 operator, and if that explains the long response . Dowd agreed to look into this and see what can be learned from the 911 call. I want to note too, that Commander Thomas Strangrecki, of the Major Crimes department has already begun to look into this.

I asked what route anyone should take to get assistance past the call to 911. Should a person call the Mayor’s office, or the Mayor’s LGBT Advisory Council? Or should a person call their council person’s office. Dowd said any city resident should always feel as if they can cal their council person’s office to get assistance. There is often a sense by some LGBT’s that there is no reason to bother, but the reality is that council members do care, and the police care, and if we aren’t getting an adequate response from the police, we need to work the system to see that change. Use 911 to report problems, and use your council person when needed to get action.

Dowd offered to arrange a meeting with the police in the zone 5, and or with whomever else ought to be included. I will be following up with him about that.

I’ll write more after I follow up with his office about this, and some other things.

Do you want to be engaged with this process , email me!