What Have You Done for Me Lately?

The DNC success is now a distant memory:

• A weekend of downtown revelry tied to Mexican Independence Day turned into a nightmare for downtown residents, who fought their way to designated checkpoints only to be turned away by Chicago police officers.

  Downtown Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) said his inbox was flooded with emails from angry residents. Social media and websites like “Next Door” were filled with complaints from residents who followed all ground rules outlined by Chicago police, but still couldn’t reach their homes in Streeterville, River North or the Loop.

  After last year’s gridlock, the city promised to do a better job of “screening downtown residents and medical employees trying to get to their jobs at Northwestern and Lurie Children’s Hospital” and to make it easier for those people to “get through the roadblocks and checkpoints,” Hopkins said.

  But it didn’t happen. One resident, turned away from a checkpoint on their way home, said they slept in their car.

Assorted social media showed firework mortars going off in the middle of downtown, tens of dozens of cars pulled over on I-55 by McCormick Place blocking two lanes of traffic and partying on the highway, along with the usual street "takeovers."

Whatever the plan was, it sucked and was poorly executed. Obviously, when the DNC was in town, no expense was spared and pretty much any needed authority was exercised to maintain order. But with the spotlight off, Larritorious reverted to form and backed off any real enforcement efforts in case he got called on the carpet.

A number of comments suggested that the Mexican Independence "celebration" needs to go the way of the South Side Irish Parade and take a hiatus for a few years. The trouble here is that there is no central authority controlling the impromptu parades, takeovers and firework displays downtown. The city tried to organize a downtown event to alleviate the illegal celebrants from misbehaving and it failed spectacularly. 

The only thing that gets this under control is a year or two of massive enforcement - tickets, tows, impounds and arrests.Wwhich means it won't happen for a while yet.