Friends of the Lakefront Trail

40 people living under the overpass. Cans, bottles and garbage . Not to mention the threat of a real outbreak of disease. Human
feces in the park is not only disgusting it is dangerous. Typhoid fever is spread by contaminated food and water from waste. Why isn't the Department of Health involved? Another first for Chicago? Out break of typhoid fever because the city neglects to correct a basic component of stopping disease. What is going on with city services? Would this be taking place at the North Ave. underpass ? North and Lake Shore? Empathy for the homeless is one thing allowing them to create a potential life threatening disease opportunity is true stupidity.

I was unable to ride my bock under the Wilson underpass going into the park. The underpass is blocked with junk and you do not have room to navigate a bike, baby buggy, etc through the piles of debris. Two to three people are standing " guard at the South West entrance. . Why are these city violations allowed to get worse and worse.? The entire area going South toward Montrose is littered with bottles, cans, papers, boxes of rotting food, etc ( left by people) . The smell and amount of litter is really disgusting. We can now not access the park because the homeless have blocked access. Ridiculous and really obscene. I read that Chicago lost the most population of any major city in the USA. Does one wonder why? Seattle just cleaned out its homeless two mile stretch , New York just did the same thing. The reason was that these situations inpact the health and welfare of the entire community. Not just the people living under the viaduct. T.B., fecal born infections, spoiled food, all are factors that contribute to this serious issue. A representative from the city advised me last week that Department of Family Services is involved and that cleaning was going to begin? I see no evidence of this. It seems to me that no one in the city government of Dept of Public Health care, or are they just passing the buck. No one can advise me why these violations can be used by a small group to put the entire community at risk for major illness? Anyone wish to reply?

First off, I'm not sure who direct this issue to. However, there seems to be a growing camp under the lawerence/lake shore drive bridge. There are a dozen or more tents set up 24 hours here. This has been going on so long now that there are tables, chairs and bbq set round the clock. I have no idea how it has gone unnoticed and unchanged for so long. This is so wrong, considering the city has no problem giving me a ticket for parking too far from the curb. So sad considering this is the path way to our beatiful beaches, trails and lake. And so unsafe.

There are 18-20 tents in the Wilson viaduct (more at Lawrence). They block at least 3/4 of the sidewalk in numerous places. There are grills, furniture, bikes, and mounds of luggage in the viaducts and spilling into the park outside. There is feces and urine on the sidewalks. Cars repeatedly stop in the viaducts to either distribute food or sell drugs. The homeless have guards stationed to discourage anyone who might not be their advocate from getting too close. I managed to get a couple pictures yesterday. We're repeatedly told this issue has been closed but nothing is being done. When will someone address this dangerous situation?