“There’s still a big safety issue, especially with the small ones,” said Chicago Alderman George Cardenas of the 12th Ward. “They have a tendency to crash from time to time. So now you have something with spinning blades over the top of children that could fall out of the sky. That would seem unwise.”
However, that is a minor problem for Aldeman Cardenas.
He has become the main advocate for using drones to fly over the city’s Safe Passage routes.
In what has become seen as the sickest of jokes, the Mayor has christened the most dangerous streets in the city as Safe Passage. Each morning thousands of Chicago school children are forced to march along these routes through the city’s murder zones accompanied by armed guards, sometimes a mile or more, to what the Mayor calls Welcoming Schools.
Yesterday, one of these Welcoming Schools had to be evacuated due to an explosion in the electric generator as outside temperatures approached 100 degrees. It was then discovered that CPS has no safety emergency plans as required by state law.
But Alderman Cardenas has a solution:
“We could use the help.!” Ald. George Cardenas (12th) tweeted, along with an article from The Telegraph outlining ways the remote-controlled, unmanned aerial vehicles — commonly known as drones — have been used outside of military actions. “Why not use drones in safe passage.??”
During a follow-up phone interview, Cardenas said “there is no doubt technology is migrating from military use. … It’s going to take time to find those uses in an urban environment. It is, however, the future and I think people will want to take that leap. I think eventually we’re going to have to look at this technology.”
Parents are not amused.
“Did 12th Ward Alderman @georgeacardenas just advocate that Military Drones be used on CPS safe passage routes?” tweeted Martin Ritter, a member of the Local School Council at Whitney Young High School and a Chicago Teachers Union organizer. Ritter later tweeted, “Flying tanks are not the answer.”
Melissa Lindberg said over Twitter that Cardenas “just proved he’s unsuitable to hold elected office: drones in the city? Gee, what could possibly go wrong?” And another Twitter user said, “Interesting how there’s willingness to spend on anything BUT schools.”
Fred Klonsky 
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