CHICAGO — Desperate to close the gaping $982 million deficit in next year’s city budget, the mayor’s office is looking at all options. And one expense in the mayor’s crosshairs is the cost of security at Millennium Park.
Lori Lightfoot established checkpoints at the park and barred minors from being on the grounds at certain hours without adult escorts after a series of incidents, including a murder near The Bean sculpture in the spring of 2022.
Now, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s team is looking to scale back on those security measures, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Johnson’s team was already reviewing the park’s curfew policy, but they are looking to make more immediate changes due to next year’s budget crunch. His office recently ordered a Millennium Park security budget review, giving the involved agencies new marching orders: draw up a new plan with less security commitment.
The security plan is currently in place Thursday through Sunday evenings.
But the new budgeting guidelines call for eliminating the underage escort policy except when Chicago Public Schools are on spring and summer breaks, an informed source said.
More: When the schools are on break, the “enhanced security” plan, which requires the park to be fenced and checkpoints established, will only be active Friday through Sunday, chopping Thursday from the plan.
The mayor’s team hopes to see savings in areas such as less money spent on checkpoints, including the rental of magnetometers and tents. Of course, staffing expenses would also be pocketed.
The source emphasized that the security budget review is still in progress, and the city had to ensure that any changes would not conflict with active contracts.
CWBChicago tracks “large group” incidents, such as the teen “trends” that sometimes turned violent, prompting Lightfoot to take action.
Between December 5, 2020, and the rollout of Lightfoot’s plan in May 2022, we logged ten major group incidents at Millennium Park and adjacent areas of the Loop.
However, we’ve only identified two such incidents since then, on April 13 and April 15, 2023, shortly before Johnson was elected.
Johnson was in a run-off election campaign against Lightfoot when those incidents occurred. At the time, he said he did not condone the violent behavior of some teens who attended the trends. Then he offered this:
“Look,” he said, “demonizing children is wrong. We have to keep them safe as well. Have you ever taught middle school? I have. Have you ever raised young people? Do you understand the risks that young people take just because they’re young? Do you know that home plate is at the bottom of my stairs? I found that out when my son was sliding down those stairs, trying to score. They’re young. Sometimes they make silly decisions. They do. And so we have to make sure that we are investing to make sure that young people know they are supported.”
Since the city beefed up security at the park, “teen trends” have popped up in other areas, with multiple incidents at 31st Street Beach and the area around Roosevelt and Canal.
The mayor’s office did not respond to an email seeking input for this story.
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