The Democratic convention has left Chicago with most of the delegates successfully shielded from its myriad problems by the bubble city officials built around them.

But Chicago residents who remain behind have already been reminded of the city’s ongoing crisis mentality. Just days after delegates flew home, Mayor Brandon Johnson announced the city faces a nearly $1 billion deficit next year.

As for crime, four people were killed over the weekend in one incident at a single Chicago Transit Authority stop in Forest Park and somebody shot up a downtown Starbucks.

How bad is the violence in Chicago? As a city of 2.6 million people, the Windy City had 1,553 shooting incidents from January to late August of this year.

By comparison, New York City – with 8.4 million people – reported 594 shooting incidents so far this year.  That means New York with three times the population of Chicago has had only 38 percent of the number of shooting incidents!  And, of course, most of the victims were minorities.

The DNC may have found the “politics of joy” in nominating Kamala in Chicago. But for the people who live there, it must have seemed they were looking at a Potemkin Village concealing a rotting reality.