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President Obama's Lincoln Park Fundraiser Snarls Traffic, Brings Protesters

By Paul Biasco | April 3, 2014 8:12am
President Obama Fundraiser
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DNAinfo/Paul Biasco

LINCOLN PARK — President Barack Obama's fundraising trip shut down portions of Lincoln Park Wednesday, snarling traffic and bringing out protesters.

The Lincoln Park stop on the president's itinerary was at a private home in the 2300 block of North Janssen Avenue reportedly owned by Craig Freedman and Grace Tsao-Wu for a $10,000-a-ticket Democratic Party fundraiser.

Before the president's motorcade of more than 25 vehicles arrived, a half-dozen city tow trucks towed more than 10 vehicles off the block of the residence.

Secret Service agents and Chicago Police shut down all of Fullerton Avenue in both directions ahead of the president's visit from the lakeshore to at least Southport Avenue.

 President Barack Obama's fundraising trip through Chicago snarled traffic in Lincoln Park for hours late Wednesday afternoon into the evening.
Barack Obama Fundraiser Trip
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The shutdown of Fullerton led to major traffic jams throughout the rest of the neighborhood.

Before the Lincoln Park event, Obama dined at Chicago Cut steakhouse where he addressed the shooting that had occurred at Fort Hood Wednesday afternoon.

Protesters lined two blocks of Fullerton near the private Lincoln Park residence chanting against the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.

Calumet Park resident John Rusnak, 65, attended the protest.

The former school teacher said he heard about the event on social media and had previously attended Occupy Chicago meetings.

He was there to protest student loan interest rates and a lack of funding support for higher education.

"I just feel bad for the young people," Rusnak said. "Drawing attention to the problem is all you really can do."

Bronzeville resident Catrina Roberts, 28, heard about the protest on Facebook and was there to fight for environmental issues.

She said one of the major reasons she attended was the recent BP oil spill in Lake Michigan.

"I'm hoping he rejects the keystone XL and just leaves it at that," Roberts said.