Chicago police shutdowns over violence go easy on clout-heavy bars downtown, harder on South Side, West Side businesses

In other instances, such as the May 19 mass shooting outside a McDonald’s at 10 E. Chicago Ave. in River North, violence prompted inspectors from City Hall, rather than police officials, to visit businesses and order an emergency closing as a result of code violations, city records show. But that’s a less serious outcome than a police summary closure, which one Chicago City Council member calls the “nuclear option.”

The numbers of these business closings, both those ordered by the police and those mandated by city inspectors, have accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, city . . .