Clare Lane: This is WBEZ. Some of the candidate's for Chicago mayor debated the toxic culture at the Police department and unreliable CTA service today. Alderman Roderick Sawyer and Activist Ja' Mal Green appeared at the forum for mayoral candidate's hosted by WBEZ's Reset. Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson and businessman Willie Wilson agreed to participate in the forum, but neither showed up citing scheduling conflicts. The other five candidates appeared at Reset's forum yesterday. WBEZ Chicago politics Reporter Mariah Woelfel joins me now to recap these forums. Hi Mariah.

Mariah Woelfel: Hi Clare.

Clare Lane: Let's start with why two of the candidate's were no shows at today's forum. What happened?

Mariah Woelfel: Well, there have been many, many mayoral forums at this point. And I will say both Willie Wilson and Brandon Johnson confirmed weeks ago that they would attend today's forum, but they both cited scheduling conflicts for dropping out of the event last minute. Activist Ja'Mal Green took advantage of their absence.

Ja'Mal Green: Very unfortunate that two other candidates dropped out of this forum. Hopefully they are considering dropping out of the mayoral race too. 

Mariah Woelfel: Really their absence from the stage, you know, it deprives our audience and voters of the chance to hear directly from them. I should note that our new poll out shows the two candidates who showed up today, have you know, some of the lowest support among voters.

Clare Lane: Well, let's get to what's Chicago voters did hear. Sawyer and Green spent a lot of time talking about how they'd reduce crime, and what was said?

Mariah Woelfel: Alderman Roderick Sawyer spoke about replacing Superintendent David Brown as many, many of the challengers to incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot have also said. He also spoke about how the police culture right now is quote "toxic."

Roderick Sawyer: Because, right now the police feel that they're working in a toxic work environment. They're not afraid of criminals, they're afraid of their superiors.

Mariah Woelfel: Green meanwhile talked over and over again about finding city money that he'd use to hire more social workers, do more outreach, get more city funding for Block Clubs and you know those types of community programs that are meant to address the root causes of violence.

Clare Lane: Mariah, the candidates also spoke at length about unreliable service on the CTA, and how hard it is to get around the city. How do they differ?

Mariah Woelfel: Well Ja'Mal Greene called the CTA a mobile homeless shelter and spoke again about how he would want to use social workers to help people who needed it on the CTA. He also spoke about how the CTA should be free. And then Sawyer agreed that the CTA needs help instead the trains, you know, they smell like urine, they smell like weed. Um, but he took a different tact in terms of solutions. He said part of the solutions should be boosting police on CTA trains, which many other candidates have mentioned before. Green today did not express support for that.

Clare Lane: And the questions from this forum were inspired by WBEZ listeners. At the same time a new WBEZ/Sun-Times/Telemundo/NBC5 poll shows what issues likely Chicago voters are weighing when they look for who to vote for. What did the polls show?

Mariah Woelfel: So the poll shows crime and what candidates will do about it will overwhelmingly determine how people will vote in this election. Nearly two thirds of poll respondents don't feel safe in the city, and nearly the same number don't think the relationship between police and the community is good. Um, 44% of likely voters say crime and public safety is the most important issue on their list, that far outweighed issues like criminal justice reform, which was the second top issue with 13% of voters saying it will determine who they vote for on the ballot. And then the economy which came in third. And I think, you know, in the final three weeks of this campaign, we can expect to hear sharper points from candidates on how to address public safety and crime.

Clare Lane: That's WBEZ Chicago politics reporter, Mariah Woelfel. Thanks Mariah. 

Mariah Woelfel: Thanks Clare.

Clare Lane: You can hear an encore of today's mayoral forum tonight at 7 p.m. on 91.5 and WBEZ.org. This is WBEZ.

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