By Kathy Bergen Tribune staff reporter 6:03 p.m. CDT, July 11, 2012
Chicago’s extensive efforts to reinvigorate its convention and tourism industries could be damaged unless the city quickly defuses the violent crime wave that has exploded in its neighborhoods and nicked the downtown, the city’s top convention and tourism official said Wednesday.
“We hope this sunsets quickly because all the good work we’re doing regionally, nationally and internationally, if this is not contained in a reasonable period of time, it will have an impact,” Don Welsh, president and chief executive officer of Choose Chicago, said in a morning meeting with the Chicago Tribune’s editorial board.