Critics decry CPD's post-Pride response to teens
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Police monitor people gathered in front of the Vic Theatre Sunday. Photo: Monica Eng/Axios
More than 100 Chicago police officers descended on Lakeview Sunday to head off a yearly post-Pride teen gathering that draws hundreds to party in the street and often twerk on cars.
Why it matters: For years, local lawmakers have debated how to prevent violence and property damage at "teen trends/takeovers," and this year's strategy — using police, transit restrictions and extensive barricades — largely achieved those aims.
- Some, however, are criticizing the operation as overkill.
Catch up quick: This year, the city fenced off Belmont sidewalks from Halsted to Seminary and cut off side streets to non-residents.
- Police also stopped CTA riders from leaving the Belmont Red Line station unless they showed proof of residence.
- After attendees blocked streets and ignored dispersal orders, police directed them to a barricaded area in front of the Vic Theatre, where they stayed until authorities enforced the 10pm curfew.
- Unlike most years, this year's gathering had largely dispersed by 11pm.
Between the lines: Mayor Brandon Johnson has often criticized expanding police power to address teen takeovers. He even vetoed an ordinance to let CPD impose earlier curfews.
- But he noted that other tools at CPD's disposal, like dispersal orders, proved largely ineffective this week.
What they're saying: "Here's an instance in which [dispersal] authority was lifted up before the curfew officially kicked in and people didn't respond," Johnson tells Axios. "My work every day is to keep people safe, and I believe there were over 30 arrests."
- Lakeview's 44th Ward Ald. Bennett Lawson also applauded the police effort, telling Axios, "I am incredibly grateful to the agencies that came together to make this year run smoothly and prevent post-parade challenges we've seen in previous years."
The other side: "I felt disgusted, I felt intimidated, I felt worried for the young people and for everyone," Nata Abbott, co-founder of Lakeview group 44th Ward Action, tells Axios.
- She says she and her husband, Chris, were asked to show proof of residency while walking home Sunday night, and that the barricades made things feel less safe.
- "It felt dystopian, it felt like the entire thing was designed to intimidate you and make you feel like you have no power ... Why are we as a city not seeing the humanity in these children?"
- At the 19th Police District Council meeting Tuesday night, Chris Abbott decried Sunday's CPD operation as "apartheid-like" and designed "to make people miserable and to leave…to keep everybody in this corral space, where obviously there was nothing for them to do."
By the numbers: The CPD says it arrested 34 people at the event, including five juveniles.
- Six people were charged with felonies including illegal gun possession and aggravated battery.
- 23 attendees were charged with misdemeanors.
- Five juveniles were charged with battery, assault, disorderly conduct and intoxication.
The intrigue: Axios asked city officials why they didn't at least notify residents that the Belmont stop would close. They said the security plan was changing as circumstances on the ground progressed.
What's next: The Abbotts say their group will keep requesting a public meeting with Ald. Lawson about post-Pride planning for next year, when they'd like to see, among other things, an event for teens near the lake, away from residential areas.
- Lawson says, "We're never done learning how to improve the Pride Parade experience for visitors and neighbors alike, and I look forward to building on this year's success as we start preparing for next year." He asks the community to offer input through this survey.