DOWNTOWN — Automotive entry to Downtown could possibly be briefly minimize off to non-residents and employees beginning Friday as the town preps for Mexican Independence Day celebrations over the weekend and into subsequent week.
For years, automotive caravans of revelers have flooded Downtown throughout Mexican Independence Day weekend, inflicting site visitors snarls and congested streets. Final yr, the town briefly closed off the Central Enterprise District to most site visitors to stem the movement of caravans and restrict public partying.
Town’s emergency administration division is able to do the identical factor this weekend and into subsequent week, if crucial, in response to a Thursday information launch. Mexican Independence Day is Tuesday.
“In excessive circumstances, road closures limiting transit within the Central Enterprise District and diversions to regulate site visitors movement could also be crucial,” in response to the Workplace of Emergency Administration and Communications.
Which means automotive entry to Downtown could possibly be restricted throughout sure occasions to folks dwelling and dealing within the space. If the town does shut down entry, folks could also be requested to point out their driver’s license or an worker ID at sure entry factors, which might be:
- Chicago/Inexperienced
- Halsted/Washington
- Halsted/Madison
- Halsted/Jackson
- Division/LaSalle
- Roosevelt/Canal
- Taylor/Desplaines
- 18th/State
- 18th/Michigan
- 18th/Indiana
Pedestrians wouldn’t be impacted by the closures.
The announcement comes as organizers postponed this weekend’s city-approved El Grito Fest in Grant Park amid the specter of immigration raids concentrating on Mexican Independence Day occasions.
A separate El Grito celebration is deliberate at 5 p.m. Monday at St. Paul Catholic Church, 2127 W. twenty second Place in Pilsen. A Mexican Independence Day parade can also be deliberate for midday Sunday on twenty sixth Avenue in Little Village.
In a Monday publication, Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd), whose ward consists of components of Streeterville and the Gold Coast, stated the cancellation of the El Grito competition in Grant Park may lead to extra automotive caravans on Downtown streets.
“The latest and unlucky cancellation of the sanctioned El Grito occasion, which helped mitigate unlawful automotive caravans previously, could have the unintended consequence of elevated caravan exercise,” Hopkins wrote. “The Chicago Police Division might be taking a multifaceted method to holding automotive caravans, lots of which originate within the suburbs, away from our neighborhoods and Downtown, and I applaud their efforts.”
Hopkins and Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (forty second) are additionally distributing entry passes to native property managers of buildings to present to residents who could also be impacted.
“On the listed entry factors, residents can current these passes to the native [police] officers,” Reilly wrote in a publication final week. The feedback had been first reported this week by CWB Chicago.
This weekend’s anticipated festivities will happen a couple of days after the Division of Homeland Safety launched a ramped-up immigration enforcement motion in Chicago that it’s calling Operation Halfway Blitz. Neighbors and neighborhood organizers have reported a “surge” in federal brokers within the metropolis, however there have been few confirmed arrests.
Final week, Mayor Brandon Johnson inspired folks to proceed to have fun Mexican Independence Day regardless of issues over immigration arrests — though he stated the town would maintain any unlawful gatherings or caravans “accountable.”
“We don’t assist these people. That’s what I’ve stated. We’re asking folks to have fun responsibly. Don’t trigger mayhem in our beloved metropolis. And the overwhelming majority of people that come to have fun don’t include that degree of nonsense,” Johnson stated Sept. 4. “There’s an excessive amount of pleasure in our metropolis to have fun responsibly, and if any particular person or people work outdoors of these parameters, they’ll be held accountable.”
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