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Some Aldermen Still Resentful A Week After Looting, Criticize Mayor Lightfoot

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A week after looting decimated part of the city, resentment was still simmering in many Chicago neighborhoods.

Some aldermen said that resentment is fueling more criticism among elected officials about how Mayor Lori Lightfoot is running the city.

CBS 2 Political Investigator Dana Kozlov spoke to one of those aldermen on Monday.

The doors at the Aldi in West Chatham were open Monday, but boards remained up. Employees said business was slowly picking up Monday after looting ravaged West Chatham and so many areas of the South and West sides a week ago.

"I don't have fear in my heart, but I do have love and I have concern," said Elgier Coleman of Englewood.

Coleman said she hopes the protests and even the looting sparks permanent, positive change when it comes to police treatment of African-Americans. But Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) said many in pillaged neighborhoods were still reeling a week later.

"People are still furious," Beale said.

Beale's Far South Side ward, which includes Pullman and Roesland, was hit hard. He is still angry too.

"The lack of response was just totally ridiculous," Beale said. "They were calling, they were calling, and they couldn't get help. I was calling, trying to get resources couldn't get help."

And he blames the mayor.

"We were totally dismissed," Beale said.

Beale echoed what Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th) told Kozlov a week ago, even as his South and Southwest Side ward continued to be looted.

"We have individuals – the mayor, Superintendent Brown, who are not listening to these people who are rooted in this community," Lopez said last week.

RELATED: Mayor Lori Lightfoot And Ald. Raymond Lopez Have Foul-Mouthed Argument Over Looting; 'You're 100% Full Of S***' Mayor Says

Beale said it has widened a divide between the mayor and a group of aldermen who question her decisions.

"It just goes to show that if you don't agree, or if you're not just basically, you know, a go-along, get-along person, you're not going to get the resources," Beale said.

And Beale expects critics will grow more vocal.

"When you look at the first vote against the administration, there was only 11 dissent votes, but now we're at 21," Beale said. "That shows that there's a growing concern of the way that this city is going, and it's not going in the right direction."

To be fair, Beale and the mayor have clashed for some time.

Beale said the mayor's fund to help small businesses recover – started with $10 million in taxpayer money – is a good idea.

But he wondered, with a massive revenue hit this year alone, where that money will come from – in other words, will it come from a property tax hike?

The mayor has said in the past that nothing is off the table when it comes to balancing the looming budget.

Kozlov asked Mayor Lightfoot about the fractured relationships with aldermen in a phone briefing Monday afternoon. The mayor talked about doing so with the community by deploying resources, but did not address the rifts with aldermen.

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