In the wake of a fatal overnight shooting, two downtown Chicago aldermen are demanding the city clean up an encampment of unhoused people, saying it has turned into a dangerous open-air drug market.
Ald. Bill Conway (34th) and Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) said they have been working for months to get the city to do something about the encampment under the viaduct at the intersection of Lake and Clinton in the Fulton River District neighborhood.
"This is not a homeless encampment, it’s a magnet for drug dealing, violent crime and now a fatal shooting,” Conway said.
Initial information indicates the shooting of a 40-year man there early Thursday morning was the result of a drug deal gone bad, Conway said. He and Reilly both complained that a plan to remove the tents and move residents to rapid re-housing was scrapped after Conway refused to go along with a deal with the mayor’s office on certain city council votes.
"This was ready to go," Reilly said. "We had two wards coordinating this effort, but in the blink of an eye, the mayor’s office decided to cancel this, I believe, as political retribution to my colleague, which is completely and is totally unacceptable."
On Thursday, the mayor’s office did not address the aldermen’s allegations, but in the past, he has dismissed the voting controversy as a "misunderstanding."
The office did issue a statement on safety around the viaduct saying, "The City adheres to established protocols when cleaning up areas beneath viaducts, taking into consideration the complex nature of these encampments which requires a compassionate City response to individuals in need of medical care, mental health services or treatment for substance use. Before any movement or cleaning of encampments, the City must ensure that these individuals are safe and connected with the social services resources they need."
Residents who live around the viaduct have 1,500 signatures on a petition demanding that more be done.
"It quickly turned into an open-air drug encampment where there are open-air drug deals and open-air drug usage,” said Brendan Nyhan, who has lived across the street for eight years. He said he has seen a number of people die from overdoses under the viaduct.
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Chris Clodfelder said the situation is very disturbing. However, she said she is also concerned for the safety of the people living under the viaduct. “Obviously they are in need of resources they are not finding,” she said.
