Despite intense criticism from people who live and operate businesses near Douglas Park, the Chicago Park District Board voted Wednesday to grant a permit to Riot Fest to hold a three-day event in the park on the West Side starting Sept. 20.
Critics who have voiced concerns about the festival for years held a press conference before the park district board meeting to criticize Riot Fest, and several opponents of the event also spoke during the meeting.
One activist complained that the Park Service was allowing “serious damage” to Douglas Park, and said parks should be enjoyed by all rather than “rented to the highest bidder.”
But Rep. Monique Scott (24) attacked those critics when she announced her support for the riot festival, raising her voice, saying: “Most of the people who spoke out against the riot festival, I have never seen them in my community.”
Scott also said Riot Fest offered hope in a part of town where “we don’t have a lot of things.”
One Riot Fest supporter said she was upset that she had to take time off from her life to come to the gathering every year to participate in what she called a “theatrical performance” on behalf of the festival.
The Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners holds its monthly meeting on Wednesdays at the district's headquarters on the South Side.
After all the public comments, the four Park District Board commissioners present at the meeting voted unanimously in favor of the special events permit, which gives Riot Fest organizers an additional eight days before the festival to prepare and four days to pick up their items from Douglas Park.
The four commissioners who voted in favor of the Riot Fest were Modesto Valley Commissioner Sean Garrett, Robert Castaneda and Coya Paz Brownrigg. Newly appointed Commissioner Philip Jackson, who has ties to a food vendor at this year's Riot Fest, did not attend the meeting.
Firehouse Catering will be one of six “community” businesses offering services at the festival. It is part of a nonprofit community center founded and led by Jackson.
A Park District official told WBEZ that Jackson was absent from the meeting due to travel but did not say whether he had any role in arranging the catering venue for Riot Fest.
Festival organizers had said they would move the festival to a suburban venue, but have since reversed their position and renewed their request to use Douglas Park.
“We’re back home where we belong,” Jorge Herrera, Riot Fest’s community relations director, told the Park District board.
Dan Mihalopoulos is an investigative reporter on WBEZ's Government and Politics team.
