CITY HALL — The Ohio Street underpass that connects Downtown to the lakefront should be locked from midnight to 5 a.m. April through October after a fatal shooting June 18 near Ohio Street Beach, a City Council committee recommended Monday.
Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) said officers assigned to patrol Downtown and the lakefront overnight are "spread quite thin," and the closed gate — which is already in place and was locked in years past, Reilly said — could help officers patrol from Oak Street Beach to Navy Pier.
"This will help us stretch police resources," Reilly said after introducing the order at Monday's meeting of the Finance Committee. "This area needs special attention."
However, 9th Ward Ald. Anthony Beale said the move was an overreaction and an overreach by Chicago officials spurred to act "because someone got murdered Downtown and officials need to be seen as 'oh, we are doing something.'"
His voice rising with emotion, Beale said he was appalled by the "knee-jerk reaction" of aldermen that the South Side alderman said illuminates the "double standard" in how officials react to murders in "black and brown communities."
The homicide was the first of the year Downtown.
If the Council approves Reilly's effort, it will do so over the objection of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, whose spokesman called the alderman's actions "more about style than substance."
The measure could be approved as soon as Wednesday, when the full Council is scheduled to meet. However, the Finance Committee may be required to vote on the measure for a second time, since the order was introduced by Reilly just before the meeting.
Finance Committee Chairman, 14th Ward Ald. Edward Burke, said the measure was "common sense."
Reilly, who said last week he would ask Chicago Police Department brass to add patrols near where Raven Lemons, 25, was shot around 2:40 a.m., told the committee he also would use his ward's discretionary fund to add more lighting and to move a camera into the underpass.
"This is nothing more than a routine change to my ward's infrastructure," Reilly said.
