Fenced Out Of Grant Park Weeks After Festival Ends
CHICAGO (CBS) -- August 5th - the end of the music festival Lollapalooza for 2018.
32 days later, CBS 2 wanted to see what Grant Park, affectionately known as Chicago's front yard, looks like now.
Walk along Balbo and try to get in Grant Park. The barricades basically say ''keep out.''
Try to enter from Lake Shore Drive and even taller fences will block anyone.
"These days, the barriers seem to take longer to come back down," said Juanita Irizarry who heads Friends of the Parks.
Lollapalooza pays for repairs to the grass. But her group has concerns about the delay in removing all that temporary metal.
"It's an eyesore to have these fences up for an expanded period of time," said Irizary. "A lot of times it just didn't come down because someone didn't get around to it."
Now, only geese are seen walking in the park, perhaps in part because of the rain.
But when Drone 2 flew over the park Wednesday, there weren't that many people other than crews working on the grass.
Despite some openings in the barriers, it's unclear if the park is open.
"Often park programming is deterred because of fences that stay up unnecessarily," added Irizarry. "They always give us the same answer. Things are in repair."
Another curious note: on Thursday CBS 2 saw some park district vehicles around the park, but no work being done.
The Chicago Park District told CBS 2 the fencing is up to allow new grass to grow. When asked if the fences are supposed to keep the public out, even though there are large gaps for entry, the agency didn't have an answer.
Lollapalooza is paying the full cost of the restoration and fencing.
The price tag: $388,000.
