Public commenters at Cook County committee meeting urge investment in South and West sides and criticize funding choices

Four members of the public addressed the Cook County Business and Economic Development Committee during the public-comment period at its Feb. 3, 2026 meeting, urging greater investment in the South and West side neighborhoods and criticizing local economic and funding decisions.

Mike George Blakemore told the committee that Black-owned businesses once thrived on Chicago’s South Side and West Side and argued those businesses have largely disappeared. “These black people are great… They don't know how great they are,” Blakemore said, urging elected officials to do more to restore Black business presence and asking how much the county would invest in those neighborhoods.

Dennis White said businesses have left Chicago over concerns about safety and high taxes and called for renewing what he described as a local “Black Wall Street.” He criticized perceived failures of local Black leaders to advocate for their communities and urged the committee to take action on investment in the South and West sides.

Jessica Jackson placed current economic struggles in historical context, referenced the crack epidemic and said earlier government conduct contributed to long-term harm: "We know it was the government because Maxine Waters investigated it years ago and found that the CIA had done that," she said, framing calls for remedies and accountability in that history.

A fourth commenter, Zoe Lee, raised a series of allegations about criminal activity by noncitizens, questioned local job and licensing practices and criticized what she said was a $21,000,000 allocation to Trinity United Church for day-care funding, saying smaller local operators had not received comparable support. Lee said she planned further protest to seek federal attention.

Committee members moved quickly to agenda business after the public-comment period; no committee votes or actions specific to the public comments were recorded in the meeting transcript. The speakers’ claims about past investigations, grant amounts and criminal conduct were presented as assertions by the speakers and were not confirmed in the public record during the meeting.