Community and Schools Oppose Loud Concerts in Douglass Park
By Jim Vail
The community of North Lawndale is united against the Riot Fest because their beloved Douglass Park is off limits each year for almost a month to make way for an expensive four day musical concert for outsiders.
"Dear Alderman George Cardenas," a student wrote in a letter, "I am writing about the Riot Fest. People who are living there are trying to sleep, if they don't sleep their head will hurt and they will be in pain. People also don't use that really pretty park its blocked off. Some people will get fired and lose their jobs because they have to take the long path and will not have money."
I discussed the problems with Riot Fest and shutting down Douglass Park with my students. They all complained about how the concert is so loud they can't sleep or do homework, how the traffic is so bad during the week that their parents have to take alternate routes that makes them late (not to mention that the hospitals nearby have problems with emergency vehicles getting through!), how they cannot use the park to play soccer games or use the track to run, and that the smoke and crowds scare the animals.
The anger is visible throughout the area where flyers are posted on street sign posts demanding that Riot Fest 'Get the f%$# out of Douglass Park,' and 'Riot Fest gave Alderman George Cardenas $40,000.'
It got so bad that the mainstream media started to pick up the story that people are very unhappy with this monster concert taking over the beautiful public park and destroying their peace and quiet in a part of the city that has already been traumatized by poverty and violence.
A Facebook group called No Riot Fest in Douglass Park formed a couple years ago that details all the outrages people feel and what can be done to get the music concert to leave.
A community meeting was organized on October 10 to discuss what can be done. People noted that Riot Fest was kicked out of Humboldt Park several years earlier after the community rose up and the Alderman Roberto Maldonado stopped supporting the concert after homeowners complained. It moved to Douglass Park in 2015.
However, Alderman George Cardenas is solidly behind the privatization of the park and people complained that his brother was able to profit off the concert by charging concert goers a lot of money to use the Saucedo Elementary School parking lot during the Fest.
A taqueria owner said despite the large crowds who come his business was slow during the concert because the organizers had food vendors set up inside the park and made it difficult for people to leave and patronize local food vendors. One student's parent said they had to cancel their pizza order from a nearby pizzeria because the traffic was so bad.
One community resident said the closure of Sacramento and California Avenues made it impossible to get into her car during the concert.
Many of the soccer leagues where the local teams play have to cut their season short and go to another park that is difficult for families with limited transportation means.
Ernie Alvarez, a soccer coach for an after-school program for kids in schools in the surrounding area, said the Fest made the soccer fields unsafe to play, forcing his organization to get permits for other fields.
 |
| This was one of many cartoons to lament Riot Fest kicking the children out of their public park for almost a month. |
The question organizers at the public meeting in the park said Riot Fest should consider relocating to Soldier Field or Grant Park to hold their concert.
The Tribune wrote that diesel fumes from trucks for the concert aggravate kids' allergies in an area where pollution is already high due to the factory.
One resident noted that they could hear the loud booming music almost half a mile away. Some students at my school complained that they couldn't do their homework or concentrate because of the noise.
People at the meeting wondered how much money the Park District makes off the Fest to have to endure such damage. It is estimated that Riot Fest paid about $150,000 to use the park. Almost a third of that was spent on paying off Alderman Cardenas to support the concert. How much did Riot Fest make on the concert?
Lawndale and Little Village where the park intersects is Ground Zero on the West Side to gentrify the City of Chicago. Developers are buying up property all around as rents rise and low-income people move out. The public schools are losing enrollment as families can no longer afford to live in the area.
About 20 years ago the former Chicago Board of Education President Michael Scott headed the Park District and was behind a lot of real estate deals to develop land around the park. He tore out two beautiful baseball diamonds to build a nine hole golf course and mini-golf in order to help attract people with money. Scott had heavily invested in the area where land value was expected to skyrocket if Chicago landed the 2016 Olympics where they would build part of the Olympics infrastructure that would involve clearing out the land so that they could put up new developments. That dream ended when the Olympics went to Rio de Janiero and Scott killed himself a little while later.
Michael Scott's son is now the Alderman in Lawndale whose territory includes a part of Douglass Park. Park activists asked the Alderman back in 2015 why he did not inform the community about Riot Fest coming to Douglass Park for which he took "responsibility," and then said he does not have the staff power to knock on every door nor does the City give him money to send out mailers. He admitted that the concert is not for the community but claimed the park is "underutilized," a word that was used by the Chicago Public Schools to convince the public why schools had to be closed. He said the Fest paid $150,000 in permit fees to the Park District which is put into a general fund. He told people at the meeting that he would not hold a public meeting for the community about the Riot Fest because "every time Riot Fest comes to a meeting they get beat on."
Douglass Park was the site of activism several years ago when a group of students from Village Leadership Academy protested the name. Douglass Park was originally named after Stephen Douglas, a former senator and corrupt businessman who profited off of slavery and said voters should decide to have a free or slave state. Despite the students protests, it wasn't until Black Lives Matter took center stage following the riots and protests of the police killing of George Floyd that the City's rulers decided it was time for a quick change to Frederick Douglass Park, named after the abolitionist hero and former slave.
Organizers are gathering petitions, continuing to speak out and encourage people to follow them on Facebook at No Riot Fest in Douglass Park.
No comments:
Post a Comment