DNC security perimeters, protest route change to Chicagoans' day-to-day lives
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Road closures are in place for the Democratic National Convention, security perimeters, and a protest march route are among the changes for which some Chicagoans have been forced to prepare as the event nears.
The closures are real, and are leaving an impact to those on the West Side near the United Center, and in the South Loop by McCormick Place.
No protests are planned near McCormick Place, road closures and security perimeters are still changing what day-to-day life looks like. Streets are fenced off and ready nearby in the South Loop for whatever or whoever tries to be disruptive.
"They're starting to lock stuff down. People are starting to pay a little bit more attention," said South Loop resident Ernie Byers. "But you know, I think the city is going do what it can to keep the neighborhood safe."
Besides limited parking, large road blockages reading "STOP" in red text line the neighborhood.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security some time ago issued maps showing security perimeters around the United Center and McCormick Place. Unauthorized people are not allowed in the red zones at all, while vehicles entering the surrounding yellow zone will be screened.
The perimeters were officially put into effect at 10 p.m. Friday, and will remain in effect until the convention wraps up.
"We've got events down here all the time," Byers said.
Byers also witnessed authorities tape off the U.S. mailbox near his house—so as to ensure no explosives are put inside. There will be no pickups at that mailbox during the convention.
"I actually saw them doing that this morning—just putting tape and paper," Byers said. "So I don't know if it's just to keep people from putting mail in it, because it doesn't seem like it'd be much of a deterrent if you're that committed to take some tape and paper off."
Some neighbors unhappy about DNC protest route running right past their doors
City Hall has approved a route that would begin in Union Park, and will head south on Ashland Avenue, west on Washington Boulevard, north on Hermitage Avenue, and west on Maypole Avenue to Park 578 where many speeches are expected—and then to Damen Avenue, north to Lake Street, and east back to Union Park where more speeches are planned.
Activists have been fighting for a longer protest that the city has allowed. They said there will be tens of thousands of protestors, and argued that a longer route was thus needed.
But earlier this week, a federal judge turned down the bid by the Coalition to March on the DNC to require the city to change the route. So the current route will stand, amounting to a one-mile circuit.
Some of the streets around the United Center—including Washington Boulevard—have high security barricades on either side. But on other parts of the route, the sidewalks and streets on minor thoroughfares like Maypole Avenue are wide open.
All this is a problem for some neighbors who said they were given advance notice that the protest would come past their front doors.
When CBS News Chicago met West Side neighbor Yolanda Armstead, she pulled a cardboard sign from her car that she plans to hang in her window at home. It reads, "DNC = 1 month rent free?"
"Do you know why I put this sign here and why I am holding this sign today?" Armstead said. "It's because this was already in the making. We just didn't know about it."
Armstead is upset about all the barriers, crowds, and protesters coming to her neighborhood—saying she has heard little from her city leaders.
"You didn't consider a safety plan?" she said. "You didn't consider even coming to us and having a town meeting with us?"
Others say they have seen protests in other parts of the city, and say there's no reason to expect trouble.
"I don't really have a choice since I live close by, but then again, the last protest didn't affect me much," said Omar Blackshire Jr., "and I know the protest will hopefully get everything out of everybody's system, hopefully."
Some who live along the protest route, who didn't want to be on camera, said they are excited for the convention—and think protest crowds come with it. But others still plan to avoid the area entirely.
"It's like a hindrance, so I may just wait until this has ended," one neighbor said.
But Armstead said such is not an option for her.
"People like me, we can't afford to leave our home," she said.
The route the coalition originally wanted would have taken them farther down Washington Boulevard. But at least part of the stretch of that road they had in mind is now inside the Secret Service's hard security perimeter, so it is not an option.
The Coalition march plans to at Union Park Monday at noon for the first day of the convention and again on the last—Thursday at 5 p.m.
Businesses boarded up in case of unrest
Close to downtown, some businesses have boarded up their windows as a preventative measure—in a scene ominously evocative of the aftermath of the unrest in Chicago in the spring and summer of 2020 following the murder of George Floyd and other incidents involving police in Chicago and elsewhere.
Yet Mayor Brandon Johnson insisted Chicago and the CPD are ready.
"If you can predict something, you can prepare for it—and that's what our superintendent has done," the mayor said. "But we're also coordinating with Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies to make sure we have vibrant and productive DNC."
Restrictions for parking and pedestrians will be in place throughout the DNC. The city has an app to keep the public updated on changes.
