Winthrop Harbor
Winthrop Harbor, IL · Municipal
egoease.com
Block Club Chicago
Riverside Brookfield Landmark
mchenrycountyblog.com
fox32chicago.com
hoodline.com
nadignewspapers.com
evanstonroundtable.com
The Center Square
Chicago festival grounds proposal raises questions over benefits
(The Center Square) – Chicago voters overwhelmingly voted Tuesday in support of a permanent festival grounds for the city in a non-binding ballot question. While there was support, the question may have left some with more questions about the proposal. The question, which asked if it should have its own festival grounds on publicly owned land, didn't advise voters of a location, costs to the city’s taxpayers or when planning would begin. Alderman Nicole Lee, the councilwoman behind the ballot question, said a festival site would help shift the delay and closure of public parks after events like Lollapalooza or Riot Fest. After a particularly rainy Riot Fest concluded in Douglass Park, neighborhood residents complained the park’s grass had been entirely killed and the park was mainly a field of mud. Residents complain each year that the festival ruins the park, but Riot Fest’s organizers say they bear the costs of restoring the park. This year, restoration began two days after the festival concluded, and the festival’s founder, “Riot” Mike Petryshyn said it cost them between $400,000 and $600,000. One co-owner of the independently owned music venue Bookclub in the city’s Lakeview neighborhood, Nick Heineman, raised questions in a video