As a chaplain at two local hospitals, my aim is to bring comfort to the patients and families I visit. How would you like to be lying in a hospital bed with noise from over 50,000 people and blaring rock, rap and punk bands directly outside? That’s exactly what is going to happen in North Lawndale and Little Village – two communities of color on Chicago’s west side. In their great wisdom and seeming disregard for the community and, even more egregiously, patients and their families at Mt. Sinai and St. Anthony hospitals, Mayor Emmanuel, the Park District and Alderman Cardenas have situated Riotfest directly adjacent to these two hospital complexes.
In fact, St. Anthony had to raise a concern that the Riotfest organization had the main entrance situated directly across from their Emergency Room on 19th Street. They have since moved it further east on 19th Street and closer to Mt. Sinai Hospital. If the Park District, Alderman Cardenas or the mayor had any regard for the residents of this area, they would have been more considerate. But, then, what else do we expect from leaders who care more about tourists and the almighty dollar than the patients in local hospitals and their families in North Lawndale and Little Village.
—Fr. Larry Dowling, Pastor, St. Agatha Catholic Church, Chicago
