By rssfeeds-admin Holding signs with messages including, “no displacement, no sweeps,” and “yes to housing, no to harassment” close to two dozen people stood at the corner of West Lawrence and North Keeler avenues around 6 p.m. Monday night.
The members of the independent political organization 39th Ward Neighbors United say actions at the park are criminalizing the unhoused, while the city says it’s helping dozens find a path to permanent housing.
The protest follow last week’s outreach effort called an ‘Accelerated Moving Event,’ which the city hails a success with 100 percent of participants continuing the optional process to find stable housing. In total, 29 people living at the encampment opted to work with secure free support services to obtain more stable, permanent housing. The city is making it clear nobody is being forced to leave.
The group protesting Monday night acknowledged the progress of the event, but argued the actions taken against those living in Gompers Park in the month prior were “cruel and counterproductive to the goal of housing the residents.”
While the group argues people moved from tents into newly installed, warmer yurts, and that the Park District, along with Chicago police, confiscated the newly unoccupied tents, those working to clean up the park said the city gave ample notice and posted signs warning any abandoned yurts would be confiscated.
“City spokespeople cited fire hazards to justify the removals, yet fire extinguishers were also confiscated. These actions increased the risk of frostbite, hypothermia, and freezing, which claim the lives of multiple unhoused Chicagoans every year,” the group said in a statement.
The city and Ald. Samantha Nugent’s (39th Ward) office both emphasize that no one was forced to leave the park during the AME.
The group argued that on the morning of the AME on March 5, an “aggressive police presence created an atmosphere of chaos.” It said while it celebrates the success of the event and the efforts to provide supportive services and housing to those in placement, it believes until solutions are ample, and as the number of people facing homeless continues to grow, public parks should remain “free and available to all.”
For months, neighbors raised concerns about the growing encampment at the park on the 4200 block of West Foster Avenue, saying it creates an unsafe environment. Residents and officials say used needles, weapons and drug paraphernalia have been found. There have also been reports of alcohol use and fires, including two in six-day span last month. The fire department has been called to the park at least 36 times since January 2024.
One resident who lives in the area told WGN Monday night that her son is in the baseball program unable to play at the park due to the ongoing issues. She said she has grown increasingly concerned over the items found at the park. She also said she has. Firsthand, seen fecal matter lining certain areas of the park.
A group working to help improve safety and cleanliness at Gompers Park, Restore Gompers Park, shared a statement Monday night:
“The Restore Gompers Park Coalition has worked tirelessly for months to push for an Accelerated Moving Event; we are glad that 100 percent of AME participants are moving forward with the housing process, per the press release issued by the Mayor’s Press Office on March 7. We have heard from numerous local residents who are happy to hear about this win-win solution for everyone. However, many in the local community have expressed their disdain for this protest today. Protesting the alderman’s office does not help the unhoused. Spewing extreme rhetoric is a distraction and an affront to the efforts underway to provide housing and wraparound services to those in Gompers Park. We denounce the continued attempts to create chaos and disruption by this vocal minority of individuals.”
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