[UPDATE] Homeless Population Near Montrose Beach Displaced Before Mumford & Sons Concert
By Jim Bochnowski in News on Jun 17, 2015 5:30PM
Picture via Mumford & Sons Facebook
[UPDATE, 1:30 p.m.: The Mumford & Sons concert scheduled for tonight, June 17, has been rescheduled for Friday June 19, the Chicago Tribune reports. Due to the rainy weather this past week, construction of the stage at Cricket Hill has been delayed. The band is offering a full refund for those not able to attend Friday's rescheduled date, or tickets can also be used to attend the band's show on Saturday in Waverly, Iowa. We've reached out to see what that means for the homeless individuals who were moved ahead of tonight's original show date, and will update this post when we receive more information.]
Ahead of tonight's Mumford & Sons concert at Montrose Beach, ready for a crowd of bike-riding, banjo music-loving "fans", the city quietly displaced the local homeless population on Tuesday.
Several of Uptown's homeless individuals, who have taken up residency in the viaducts underneath Lake Shore Drive, were removed by the city's Department of Family and Support Services, according to DNAinfo.
While the city already has the area evacuated regularly for cleaning, this instance was different because the individuals were specifically told to leave in order to secure the location ahead of the concert. Matt Smith, a spokesman for the Department, told DNAinfo:
"It's not unlike what we'd normally do, but there's another issue tied to it. There is a concert expected to attract 35,000 people and they'll be using this viaduct [Lawrence Avenue and Marine Drive] and the one at the Wilson [Avenue] as access points. They've got to keep them clear, it's a safety issue. We're here to make sure people here know that there is going to be an event in the area. We're here to offer shelter and services and, in some cases, transport people."
Homeless advocates are concerned about the move, calling it uncoordinated and setting a poor precedent. Patricia Nix-Hodes, the director of the law project for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, told DNAinfo, "Some people thought they had to leave on Tuesday. Some people were told they could stay on adjacent lawns. There seems to be so much lack of information that was consistent and communicated to everyone."
Her colleague, Diane O'Connell, raised similar concerns:
"When you tell people who are homeless that they have to get off the grass in the park, but other people are free to sit on the grass in the park ... there's no real apparent reason why it's necessary. That violates the Homeless Bill of Rights, which says homeless people have the right to freely move about public spaces."
O'Connell and Nix-Hodes also had questions about the city's preparedness in moving the population. After "evacuating" individual people, the city told locals that a truck would stop by Tuesday morning to pick up their belongings, but it ended up arriving just after noon. When they asked where the city was taking the items, the sanitation workers did not seem prepared with an adequate answer, which caused Nix-Hodes to remark to DNAinfo, "It was not clear at all that they understood where the objects were going to be. It wasn't clearly communicated." Eventually, they were given addresses, which they had to scribble down in sharpie markers.
With forecasts calling for possible thunderstorms today, those same areas that were cleared out will be used as emergency shelters for the concert, the Chicago Tribune reports. The Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications has encouraged concert goers to evacuate to Lake Shore Drive underpasses from Montrose to Lawrence avenues, the parking garage of Weiss Memorial Hospital or the Chicago Park District field house at Clarendon Park in case of emergency.