Rival Protests Disrupt Ronan Park Plaza Ribbon-Cutting as Homeless Encampment Dispute Boils Over

ALBANY PARK: A ribbon-cutting meant to showcase years of work on a new riverfront plaza at Ronan Park turned into a standoff between two groups of neighbors Wednesday evening, one demanding the removal of a homeless encampment nearby and another accusing the city of trying to sweep it away.

The event at 2900 W. Lawrence Ave. was supposed to highlight a redesigned public plaza, built by Perkins and Will and Omni Ecosystems, that includes a performance stage, expanded seating, a bike repair station and new access to the North Branch of the Chicago River. The project also grew the footprint of the Global Garden Refugee Training Farm, adding garden beds, water access and new gates.

Kay Villamin, executive director of the North River Commission, the nonprofit that developed the 2018 plan behind the project, told the crowd the new plaza "creates a stronger gateway along Lawrence Avenue, improves access to the Chicago River, enhances native landscapes and creates welcoming public spaces where neighbors can gather for years to come." She said investments like this "create opportunity, strengthen our commercial corridors, reconnect our neighborhoods to the river and make Albany Park an even more welcoming place for everyone who calls it home."

Illinois state Sen. Graciela Guzman, Ald. Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez (33rd) and Chicago Park District Supt. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa joined Villamin at the podium, along with Illinois House candidate Miguel Alvelo-Rivera and Global Garden Refugee Training Farm Executive Director Haley LeRand.

But before the speeches wrapped up, at least four people showed up holding signs reading "We want our park back" and "Crime is crime, clear the encampment." Within minutes, roughly half a dozen neighbors arrived with their own signs, declaring "Housing is a right" and "No more sweeps," a reference to the city's repeated efforts to clear homeless encampments from parks along the North Branch.

The two groups argued directly behind the new stage as elected officials continued speaking about the park's redesign and programming. Park security stepped in to try to calm both sides as the dispute over what to do about the encampment, and about homelessness in Chicago generally, played out in front of the crowd.

Leonilo Laude, who has lived in the encampment at Ronan Park since March, said he was struck by the timing of the protest against the encampment. "Whoever decided to protest decided to do so at a grand opening of a new public plaza at the park. I don't know what's more disrespectful," he said. "Isn't that literally raining on someone's parade?"

The group calling for the encampment's removal left the park shortly after the ceremony ended.

The counter-demonstration was organized on the spot, according to Carina, an organizer with the nearby Albany Park Free Store, which has provided support to unhoused residents at the park. Carina, who asked that her last name not be used out of fear of retaliation, said another volunteer at the store spotted the anti-encampment signs, "turned back around and got a note pad and markers and came out to make signs" in response.

Tamara Fouché, who held a "No More Sweeps" sign, said the neighborhood needs more shelter capacity rather than more displacement. "There are thousands of people who are homeless and more become homeless every day," she said. "It's not reasonable to just keep shuffling people around and expect them to figure it out without any kind of support."

The confrontation is the latest in a series of disputes over homeless encampments along the North Branch of the Chicago River, where the city has repeatedly cleared tents and belongings from riverfront parks only to see people resettle nearby. In April, city crews removed two shelters from an encampment on the Northwest Side but said at the time there was no broader sweep planned. In March, the city cleared a North Side encampment during a cold snap while residents were still waiting on housing placements. A similar pattern played out in Logan Square in June, when an encampment was cleared ahead of construction on a new plaza there.

Ronan Park itself reopened this month after roughly a year of closure for construction, and a tent encampment had already grown back inside the park by the time of Wednesday's ceremony, according to Block Club Chicago photos taken the same day.

City officials at the ribbon-cutting did not announce any new plan for the Ronan Park encampment specifically, and neither the Chicago Park District nor Ald. Rodriguez-Sanchez's office addressed the dueling protests directly during the program. Outreach workers have continued to work with residents at riverfront encampments even as clearances continue elsewhere along the North Branch.

The encampment remains in the park as the new plaza opens to the public this week.