Chicago beaches are still not (fully) closed - but the city is somewhat enforcing it
Back on July 4, I wrote about how, even though Chicago beaches were officially closed, it wasn't enforced in any practical way, and questioned the wisdom of even having the closure on the books.
The next evening, I visited Loyola Beach - and saw the police car parked smack in the middle of it.
Nobody was actually stopping people from going to the beach, or swimming.
And later, after I swamp of a bit, I noticed bicycling cops riding around and stopping to talk to people.
As I've often commented here, I try to recognize foreshadowing in my life. So, when I visited Thorndale Beach the next day, I wasn't too surprised that there were more barriers.
But what was most striking was that the beach itself was empty save for a guy in a red vest walking around (I didn't get a good shot of him, but I think the emptiness speaks for itself)
I went over to check out the Hollywood Beach, to the spot where, as you may recall from my last post on the topic, Lakeshore Trail ends and merges into the street. All of the entrances to the beach - the one from the trail and the one from the street - were blocked.
In addition to the Red Vests...
...I saw the Chicago Office of Emergency Management workers (you usually see them doing traffic control during events/emergencies, as well as near schools)
Hollywood Beach was empty, with warning tape blocking it off.
And what you can't see in the photo above, but there are cops on the left who were patrolling the beach.
I figured I would see the same thing in Rogers Park - but I decided to check it out anyway.
At the North Shore Beach, the garbage bins that served as barriers were up - but, more importantly, a Red Vest was walking around, politely but firmly telling anyone who went onto the beach to turn around
Ditto Loyola Beach
At this point, it was almost 6:00 PM, and I had nothing better to do - so I decided to hang out at the park. And, about an hour later, I had a hunch.
You see, in normal, non-pandemic times, Chicago beaches are open at 11:00 AM - 7:00 PM. But what this means in practice is that this is when the lifeguards are around. And what usually happens around 7:00 PM is that lifeguards tell people to get out of the water, people wait patiently for the lifeguards to leave and get back in. The city knows this is what happens, and looks the other way.
So I went to see the beach and, sure enough, the Red Vests left.
And people went swimming. Well, mostly, they sat on the beach, but a few of them swam.
Over the next two weeks, I would go to Loyola Beach after 8:00 PM. Because these were the two weeks that the weather went into the 90+ F, and my apartment has no air-conditioning (my previous apartment, for the record, didn't have it either - but I used to rely on air-conditioned libraries and coffee shops to stay cool (because the ceiling fan could only do so much). Obviously, COVID-19 limited that. But that's a whole other tangent I keep meaning to do a separate post on). And I got a sense that many people felt the same way, becuase there were definitely more people on the hotter days. Not as many as there would be in non-pandemic times, but still.
Then, on July 20, I decided to see what was going on at Thorndale and Hollywood beaches. I was wondering if the city still paid the Red Vests to patrol the beaches until 7:00 PM. Because of some poor planning on my part, I wound up there a little after 7:00 PM. And I discovered that, while Thorndale Beach has never been more barricaded off, that didn't stop people from climbing over them.
In fairness, they weren't that tall
Over at Hollywood beach, the entrance from the street side of Lakefront Trail's end was blocked off
But the barrier at the entrance from the trail was simply moved aside
And if the previous photos didn't make it clear - there were plenty of people. Still way less then there would normally be, but more than at Loyola Beach
And people were swimming
I walked south - and saw that the caution tape at another entrance was torn off
But that was kind of expected. What wasn't expected was that there were several cops sitting by the beach house and watching it all. (I didn't take the picture of it, because I was wary of getting the photographic evidence of cops letting people use an officially closed beach. Not my finest hour as a journalist). And I saw a family climb under the caution tape, in full view of the cops (I didn't photograph them either, but here is the photo of the beach house and the caution tape)
I kept walking, seeing caution tape at some entrances
And more beachgoers
Though, again, way less than there would normally be at the more partying, LGBT-heavy end of the beach
At the south end, there was this retaining wall structure that was supposed to protect the landfill the beach sits on from erosion (bear in mind - all of Chicago beaches are artificial) that goes on for a while until you reach the next beach over - Foster Beach (famously the beach where Danny and Sandy had their summer romance in the original, Chicago-specific version of Grease. But I digress). I don't think that area counts as a beach, so people can hang out here.
But here's the thing - there is a caution tape separating that from Hollywood Beach. And people were climbing under it. In full view of the cops.
I had to assume that they had some kind of standing orders. "After 19:00, keep an eye on people, but don't do anything unless they do something else illegal."
Then, just yesterday, July 30, I decided to head over to Hollywood Beach on a lark. It has been windy all day, bringing some much-needed relief from 90 F weather. It was around 6:50 PM, and I saw pretty quickly that the beach was empty. I went over to the retaining walls, I witnessed some spectacular waves that swept over the lower steps.
In those conditions, the walkway to Hollywood Beach's iconic rainbow-colored lighthouse, a popular hangout spot, looked legitimately dangerous.
A Red Vest was there, telling bicyclists not to go to the beach - but she left by 7:00 PM
Of course, with waves like this, nobody dared to try to swim. People either hung out on the beach or watched the waves.
Two friends (at least I assume from their conversation they were friends) seems to have made plans to have a dinner on the steps, but didn't anticipate just how bad the waves would get.
They left after a while - and I wound up working on the newest version of Chasing New Dawn's prologue, occasionally looking up to catch the waves
Then, my editor at Austin Weekly News called me to talk about the article ideas I sent. And one of the advantages of having a phone and a camera as separate devices was that I could get this shot while listening to him.
So, in conclusion... In my earlier post, I questioned the wisdom of a beach closure that wasn't in any way enforced. I can't say it isn't enforced anymore. But, at the same time, the fact that it's only enforced during regular beach hours still makes the whole thing somewhat dubious. Especially when we had temperatures approaching 100 F, and the city's official position was still that the beaches were completely closed, and that people could get relief at cooling centers and splash features at certain parks. I still maintain that there was no reason why they couldn't open the beaches with capacity limits enforced by Red Vests, maybe give priority to seniors and kids. Having people wait until 7:00 PM and go in anyway feels... dubious.
And I am dubious about enforcement in general. As I said before, the city doesn't enforce nightly beach closures during normal times, but it doesn't normally have cops hanging out at the beaches, watching people swim when they aren't supposed to and drawing attention to the lack of enforcement.
What I am curious about is how this plays out on the South Side beaches, whether it's in mixed-race Hyde Park, majority-Black Bronzeville, Kenwood, Woodlawn and South Shore, black/Hispanic South Chicago and majority-Hispanic East Side. Does enforcement also stop after 7:00 PM? Or do police actually enforce it there? What I've been hearing online has been contradictory... But I want to try to find out. Which is easier said than done, given public transit logistics, but I want to try.
The next evening, I visited Loyola Beach - and saw the police car parked smack in the middle of it.
Nobody was actually stopping people from going to the beach, or swimming.
And later, after I swamp of a bit, I noticed bicycling cops riding around and stopping to talk to people.
As I've often commented here, I try to recognize foreshadowing in my life. So, when I visited Thorndale Beach the next day, I wasn't too surprised that there were more barriers.
But what was most striking was that the beach itself was empty save for a guy in a red vest walking around (I didn't get a good shot of him, but I think the emptiness speaks for itself)
I went over to check out the Hollywood Beach, to the spot where, as you may recall from my last post on the topic, Lakeshore Trail ends and merges into the street. All of the entrances to the beach - the one from the trail and the one from the street - were blocked.
In addition to the Red Vests...
...I saw the Chicago Office of Emergency Management workers (you usually see them doing traffic control during events/emergencies, as well as near schools)
Hollywood Beach was empty, with warning tape blocking it off.
And what you can't see in the photo above, but there are cops on the left who were patrolling the beach.
I figured I would see the same thing in Rogers Park - but I decided to check it out anyway.
At the North Shore Beach, the garbage bins that served as barriers were up - but, more importantly, a Red Vest was walking around, politely but firmly telling anyone who went onto the beach to turn around
Ditto Loyola Beach
At this point, it was almost 6:00 PM, and I had nothing better to do - so I decided to hang out at the park. And, about an hour later, I had a hunch.
You see, in normal, non-pandemic times, Chicago beaches are open at 11:00 AM - 7:00 PM. But what this means in practice is that this is when the lifeguards are around. And what usually happens around 7:00 PM is that lifeguards tell people to get out of the water, people wait patiently for the lifeguards to leave and get back in. The city knows this is what happens, and looks the other way.
So I went to see the beach and, sure enough, the Red Vests left.
And people went swimming. Well, mostly, they sat on the beach, but a few of them swam.
Over the next two weeks, I would go to Loyola Beach after 8:00 PM. Because these were the two weeks that the weather went into the 90+ F, and my apartment has no air-conditioning (my previous apartment, for the record, didn't have it either - but I used to rely on air-conditioned libraries and coffee shops to stay cool (because the ceiling fan could only do so much). Obviously, COVID-19 limited that. But that's a whole other tangent I keep meaning to do a separate post on). And I got a sense that many people felt the same way, becuase there were definitely more people on the hotter days. Not as many as there would be in non-pandemic times, but still.
Then, on July 20, I decided to see what was going on at Thorndale and Hollywood beaches. I was wondering if the city still paid the Red Vests to patrol the beaches until 7:00 PM. Because of some poor planning on my part, I wound up there a little after 7:00 PM. And I discovered that, while Thorndale Beach has never been more barricaded off, that didn't stop people from climbing over them.
In fairness, they weren't that tall
Over at Hollywood beach, the entrance from the street side of Lakefront Trail's end was blocked off
But the barrier at the entrance from the trail was simply moved aside
And if the previous photos didn't make it clear - there were plenty of people. Still way less then there would normally be, but more than at Loyola Beach
And people were swimming
I walked south - and saw that the caution tape at another entrance was torn off
But that was kind of expected. What wasn't expected was that there were several cops sitting by the beach house and watching it all. (I didn't take the picture of it, because I was wary of getting the photographic evidence of cops letting people use an officially closed beach. Not my finest hour as a journalist). And I saw a family climb under the caution tape, in full view of the cops (I didn't photograph them either, but here is the photo of the beach house and the caution tape)
I kept walking, seeing caution tape at some entrances
And more beachgoers
Though, again, way less than there would normally be at the more partying, LGBT-heavy end of the beach
At the south end, there was this retaining wall structure that was supposed to protect the landfill the beach sits on from erosion (bear in mind - all of Chicago beaches are artificial) that goes on for a while until you reach the next beach over - Foster Beach (famously the beach where Danny and Sandy had their summer romance in the original, Chicago-specific version of Grease. But I digress). I don't think that area counts as a beach, so people can hang out here.
But here's the thing - there is a caution tape separating that from Hollywood Beach. And people were climbing under it. In full view of the cops.
I had to assume that they had some kind of standing orders. "After 19:00, keep an eye on people, but don't do anything unless they do something else illegal."
Then, just yesterday, July 30, I decided to head over to Hollywood Beach on a lark. It has been windy all day, bringing some much-needed relief from 90 F weather. It was around 6:50 PM, and I saw pretty quickly that the beach was empty. I went over to the retaining walls, I witnessed some spectacular waves that swept over the lower steps.
In those conditions, the walkway to Hollywood Beach's iconic rainbow-colored lighthouse, a popular hangout spot, looked legitimately dangerous.
A Red Vest was there, telling bicyclists not to go to the beach - but she left by 7:00 PM
Of course, with waves like this, nobody dared to try to swim. People either hung out on the beach or watched the waves.
Two friends (at least I assume from their conversation they were friends) seems to have made plans to have a dinner on the steps, but didn't anticipate just how bad the waves would get.
They left after a while - and I wound up working on the newest version of Chasing New Dawn's prologue, occasionally looking up to catch the waves
Then, my editor at Austin Weekly News called me to talk about the article ideas I sent. And one of the advantages of having a phone and a camera as separate devices was that I could get this shot while listening to him.
So, in conclusion... In my earlier post, I questioned the wisdom of a beach closure that wasn't in any way enforced. I can't say it isn't enforced anymore. But, at the same time, the fact that it's only enforced during regular beach hours still makes the whole thing somewhat dubious. Especially when we had temperatures approaching 100 F, and the city's official position was still that the beaches were completely closed, and that people could get relief at cooling centers and splash features at certain parks. I still maintain that there was no reason why they couldn't open the beaches with capacity limits enforced by Red Vests, maybe give priority to seniors and kids. Having people wait until 7:00 PM and go in anyway feels... dubious.
And I am dubious about enforcement in general. As I said before, the city doesn't enforce nightly beach closures during normal times, but it doesn't normally have cops hanging out at the beaches, watching people swim when they aren't supposed to and drawing attention to the lack of enforcement.
What I am curious about is how this plays out on the South Side beaches, whether it's in mixed-race Hyde Park, majority-Black Bronzeville, Kenwood, Woodlawn and South Shore, black/Hispanic South Chicago and majority-Hispanic East Side. Does enforcement also stop after 7:00 PM? Or do police actually enforce it there? What I've been hearing online has been contradictory... But I want to try to find out. Which is easier said than done, given public transit logistics, but I want to try.