Officials with the U.S. Secret Service, Chicago Police Department and other agencies on Monday began the process of preparing businesses and residents around McCormick Place and the United Center for the impact of heightened security during this summer’s Democratic National Convention.
While it will be months before details such as parking restrictions, street closures and other security measures affecting day-to-day life for city residents are released, agencies charged with protecting delegates and the general public during the Aug. 19-22 convention have started to meet those living and working around McCormick Place south of the Loop.
A similar event is planned for Thursday in the West Side neighborhood around the United Center, which will host the prime-time speeches and other made-for-TV events of the convention, where President Joe Biden is expected to accept his party’s nomination for a second term.
“Our objectives today are to begin the conversation with the community,” Joel Heffernan, assistant special agent in charge for the U.S. Secret Service in Chicago, said during a news conference at McCormick Place. “We want to listen to their questions and concerns while receiving their input to further assist the security planning effort.”
Officials said they wanted to gather information about essential services such as Meals on Wheels and medical supply deliveries that could be disrupted by DNC security. In addition, there are more than 300 businesses around the two venues that could be affected by security efforts, Heffernan said.
While the precise security perimeters won’t be released until mid-July, maps released Monday show the Secret Service and other agencies expect their efforts to affect the area around the United Center from Leavitt Street east to Ashland Avenue, and roughly from Maypole Avenue south to Van Buren Street.
Around McCormick Place, where business such as drafting the official Democratic platform will take place, the impacted area will be from State Street east to the convention center and Cullerton Street south to 26th Street, according to the preliminary maps.
Like the Republican National Convention that will be held a month earlier in Milwaukee, the DNC is designated a “National Special Security Event,” which puts the Secret Service in charge of protecting designated areas where access will be restricted during the convention.
Details on access also are forthcoming, but officials said neighbors should know that the impact of the event likely will be felt before it begins Aug. 19.
“Residents and business owners can anticipate the build out for these venues will begin several days prior to the start of the DNC,” Heffernan said.
Glen Brooks, the Police Department’s director of community policing, said the need to establish lines of communication early in the process is one of the lessons the department learned from previous large-scale events, such as the 2012 NATO Summit, which officials have cited as a model for DNC security planning.
“We’ve learned that (the) more often and earlier that you reach out to the community, the best we can keep people informed,” Brooks said.
Tensions over the convention are already running high as groups that want to to stage protests around convention venues have had their permits denied at City Hall. Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration has instead offered a two-block route to march through Grant Park.
Last month, a collection of groups that have had their permits denied filed a lawsuit against the city, arguing that their First Amendment rights had been violated.
Activists, many of them angry over Biden’s positions on the Israel-Hamas war, have vowed to “make life miserable” for those attending the DNC.
The city also is due to respond later this month to a filing in the Police Department’s ongoing federal consent decree case that objected to the department’s mass arrest policy.
A coalition of community groups that pushed for the consent decree, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, argues in court papers filed last month that a draft policy released in February “eviscerates protections required by the First Amendment, the Consent Decree, and CPD’s existing First Amendment policy.”
At a DNC media briefing last month, police Superintendent Larry Snelling insisted that “every single thing that we’re doing right now is rooted in constitutional policing.”
Despite those ongoing disputes and possible inconveniences for their employees during the days of the convention, some businesses near McCormick Place see an opportunity in having thousands of Democrats in town.
“We’re going to be very busy,” said Kevin White, a sales manager at Fatpour Tap Works, located just across Indiana Avenue from McCormick Place’s West Building. “We’re going have both of our floors open the whole week, and we’re anticipating good crowds.”
The restaurant already is working with a couple groups to book events during the convention, White said.
Just up Indiana Avenue at Pizano’s Pizza & Pasta, Holly Malnati said that while her family’s restaurant has some questions about the logistics for employees getting to work and parking during the convention, the business is looking forward to hosting visitors.
“We’re in a great spot that we’re just excited to see the foot traffic and what all the convention will bring for our business,” Malnati said.
While she’s cognizant of the possibility of protests in the area, “protests are not new to Chicago,” she said.
“When you’re dealing with someone like the Secret Service, they’re very equipped to deal with that sort of thing,” Malnati said.
