I introduced the legislation to remove the city’s restriction on day care centers that limited the time they could be opened to 9 p.m. so that now day care centers are able to provide child care for children whose parents work non-traditional shifts.

Early on I established a domestic violence subcommittee to raise the level of respect for women in Chicago. At first it was hard going and we had a lot of ground to cover. The city did not even have training for our police officers regarding domestic violence and few knew the basic requirements of our state law. We had little or no funding for domestic violence activities and no attention to it by any city department.

Today we fund domestic violence shelters, programs for safe places for women to bring their children to when there has been court ordered visitation with an abuser, training for our police officers and new recruits, a program for the wives of police officers involved in Domestic Violence situations as well as counseling for the officers, a help line that is accessing the needs of victims of domestic violence, and 4 city departments with specific responsibilities and staff assigned to Domestic Violence issues.

The importance of anonymity of the location of domestic violence shelters or residences cannot be underscored enough. And yet, to set up such a refuge for victims of domestic violence it is necessary to go through a public review process taking away this most important element of anonymity. I have legislation pending that will change this.