Lightfoot asks CPD to prepare security plans for large-scale summer events
As vaccinations go up and infections go down, mayor asks CPD to get ready for large-scale summer events
With vaccinations surging and coronavirus cases dropping, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has asked the Chicago Police Department to prepare security plans for large-scale summer events.
The discussion about police preparations for a return to some sense of normalcy in Chicago this summer came up this week during the mayor’s regular “accountability” meeting with top police brass.
Chicago Police Department spokesman Don Terry refused to say what types of major events the mayor is contemplating — only that CPD is “preparing for the summer for things to open, if they open up.”
“If we continue on this path, with people being vaccinated and the infection rate going down — and if the city opens up — we’re gonna be prepared for what happens in the summer in Chicago,” Terry said Friday.
“We’re gonna be prepared for however much the city is able to open up. We’ll be prepared. We’ll be practicing.”
Summer in Chicago normally means Cubs and Sox games with fans in the stands at Wrigley Field and Guaranteed Rate Field. It means Lollapalooza, Taste of Chicago, July 3 fireworks at Navy Pier and a host of neighborhood festivals.
Terry did not indicate which of those events Lightfoot asked CPD to prepare for or at what crowd levels.
“We’ll be prepared for whatever comes our way. That’s all I’m gonna say for now. If you want particulars of what the mayor thinks is gonna happen, that has to come from City Hall. I’m not telling you that.”
Lightfoot talked about the possibility of large summer events after joining Gov. J.B. Pritzker to announce the United Center would be used as a mass vaccination site.
“Summer comes to Chicago. So we want to make sure that we’re prepared for any eventuality,” Lightfoot said. “But whether or not we have a summer that looks more like 2019 as opposed to 2020 is gonna be wholly dependent on where we are in the arc of the virus.”
Last summer, the Cubs devised strict protocols they believed would allow as many as 7,000 fans to safely attend games at Wrigley.
At the time, Cubs President of Business Operations Crane Kenney told the Chicago SunTimes the Cubs were eager to test their limited capacity plan to “see how the ballpark operates with those rules,” he said.
Time ran out before the city and Major League Baseball could approve the plan. And after winning their division, the Cubs were swept by the Marlins in the first round of the playoffs.
Three months later, Lightfoot said the Bears had presented the city with a plan detailed enough to make her comfortable that fans could safely return to the stands at Soldier Field. But the mayor said she would allow it only when Chicago’s “health metrics” started “trending in a very different direction.”
“I hope that we can get there. I’m a multidecade Bears fan. And it is different watching it remotely than being in the stadium,” Lightfoot said then.