Memorial Park in Arlington Heights is the centerpeice of the neighborhood, resident Pat Eitz says.
A 135-year-old beautiful tribute to military veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice.
“It’s such a beautiful park and the Memorial Day parade ends here,” another resident, Jennifer Baratta, said.
But some neighbors say that this park has been taken over by fans of popular video game app.
“He had four phones that he was playing the game with,” Baratta said.
She and her family have lived across the street from Memorial Park for nearly 30 years. Baratta says about two years ago fans of Pokemon Go started to visit the park frequently to capture virtual characters.
At first it started out with children on bikes playing the game, but a year ago Baratta says that all changed.
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“It’s adults, mostly in cars driving with phones in their hands while driving down the street, parking in front driveways, parking on the side of the street they are not suppose to park on," she said.
Baratta says she and other neighbors repeatedly complained to the park district about safety issues and traffic concerns.
“I think the park district wanted more people to complain before they were going to do something about it,” she said. “This is a park that is suppose for the veterans and doesn’t seem appropriate for the Pokemon game.”
The park district says they have listened to residents concerns, and will ask the developer of Pokemon Go to take Memorial Park off its map.
“We also want to make sure that the park is being respected and people are playing the game the right way,” Brian Meyer of the Arlington Heights Park District said.
Park district officials will speak with the game developers later this week in hopes getting Memorial Park removed from the game.
