BUCKTOWN — A dark privacy screen that was installed around a public pool in Bucktown to keep creeps from leering at swimmers created such an uproar that it was taken down just a few days after it went up.
Some residents welcomed the screen's removal, calling the black tarp an eyesore.
"It was trashy, looked like a construction zone, and posed more of a danger. If the creepers are out there and they can't see in, they are going to go into the pool," neighbor Effie Tsakalis said on Tuesday afternoon, while watching her 1-year-old son walk around the playground adjacent to Holstein Park's pool.
The screen, which appeared to be made of dark black plastic or canvas, was installed late last week around the pool at 2200 N. Oakley Ave. Shannon English, Holstein Park's supervisor, said on Monday that the screen would be up for the entire summer.
Alisa Hauser explains that a new screen may soon be put up:
But not everyone is happy the screen is gone. Neighborhood resident Nadja Serak said she is "in favor of a privacy screen" after a recent "negative experience" there with her daughter.
"A man was watching my 10-month-old playing and masturbating," Serak wrote in an email to DNAinfo Chicago. "Two days later, I walked in to the Police Station on California and Fullerton to ensure that my report was filed and to demand that police take action."
Serak said another area mom reported a similar experience, but did not have a police report number available for either case.
On a Bucktown Community Facebook page where online outrage over the fence has been smoldering, Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) encouraged anyone who sees indecent exposure or other suspicious activity in the future to call 911.
"The Park District headquarters heard the negative feedback on this, and hopefully will work with the Friends of Holstein Park or neighbors more proactively in the future," Waguespack said.
Holstein Park Pool, with and without the privacy screen. [DNAinfo/Alisa Hauser]
On Tuesday, Holstein Park Supervisor Shannon English said another screen is scheduled to be installed, but it will be more transparent, similar to a screen at Hamlin Park, 3035 N. Hoyne Ave. in Roscoe Village.
"You can only see silhouettes," English said of the new screen, which she said was coming soon. The park supervisor said she wasn't sure exactly when it would be installed and declined to comment further, referring all inquiries to Park District officials, who did not respond to requests for comment.
A worker in Hamlin Park who declined to be named said that the park's screen is there to protect the swimmers from onlookers.
"Children, ladies that like to sunbathe, it's there so they are not being looked at," the worker said.
The city's 90 other Chicago Park District outdoor pools are scheduled to open Friday.
Holstein Park Outdoor Pool Opening Weekend Pool Hours
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