Lollapalooza noise level irks neighbors

By Jennifer Geiger

Think you have heard the last of this year’s Lollapalooza? Think again. At a recent Grant Park Advisory Council (GPAC) meeting, members of the board, Chicago Park District personnel, and Lollapalooza representatives got an earful from area residents about the music festival’s faults―particularly its noise level.

Though the council acknowledged it heard the community loud and clear, Lollapalooza, the three-day music festival that transforms Chicago’s front lawn into the city’s epicenter of alternate music, will return to Grant Park next summer for its third season.

GPAC President Bob O’Neill received numerous calls and e-mails that were either very complimentary or extremely negative; this same combination of extremes occurred in opinions expressed at the most recent GPAC meeting.

O’Neill and the council are trying to find out what went wrong and what went right during the August festival so they can reconcile the area’s angry neighbors with the lucrative park event before next summer―something O’Neill admits will be a challenge.

“Because Grant Park is Chicago’s front yard, we have to balance these programs and have entertainment and cultural events for a variety of different people,” he said. “We have to make it work for residents who live on the park and for those who come from all over to enjoy the park.” 

Many residents attending the meeting said turning down the volume would be preferable to Lollapalooza leaving Grant Park, but others, particularly those living in highrises bordering the north side of Grant Park, feel the festival has no place in their neighborhood at all.

While sound, specifically the bass level, was the top complaint, residents cited other festival problems including drug use, pedestrian safety issues throughout the area’s traffic-filled streets, and fields torn up by trucks.

“The noise is always going to be an issue, and I think we need to work with Lollapalooza and the park district to mitigate that issue,” O’Neill said.

While O’Neill agreed the event was loud, he was quick to let residents know Lollapalooza’s faults do not outweigh the year-round park improvements it funds.

“The quality of life is significantly improved the rest of the year because of these events,” O’Neill said.

During the Lollapalooza weekend, tourists spent millions of dollars in Chicago at hotels, shops, and restaurants. Closer to home, the Chicago Park District took in around $600,000 from the festival, and some of that money is earmarked for Grant Park improvements.

One major project set for this fall is a garden honoring longtime Chicago Symphony Orchestra conductor Sir Georg Solti. Park staff are relocating the bust of Solti from in front of the Lincoln Park Conservatory to a location in Grant Park near Symphony Center.

“We’re using rock music to fund classical music, and that’s how we balance these things out,” O’Neill said.

Concert funds also will go toward a roller skate and skateboard park near Grant Park’s recently completed dog park. Another project made possible by Lollapalooza funds is Hutchinson Field’s renovation; the field serves as one of the festival’s main stages and hosts other City events such as the annual Movies in the Park program. Plans also call for planting 1,000 lilac bushes and crabapple trees throughout the park this fall, with 600 more added in the spring. Another 4,000 trees paid for by the festival will be planted throughout the Chicago Park District and the city’s parkways.

For some residents, however, putting up with the festival still is not worth it. “We have to demand better things for this area―better than some trees,” said Maddy Fields-Gollogly. “It’s time we quit negotiating; it’s time we demand. We have a right to peace in our own homes.”

While a few residents applauded the festival and what it does for the city’s and Grant Park’s images, most present agreed no one will be happy unless some changes are made.
“Lollapalooza established Grant Park on an international level,” said area resident Angela Tosic. “Grant Park has this international image now for a great concert on an amazing backdrop. It seems like there’s room here for some kind of compromise.”

Some suggested Lollapalooza’s main rock stages, like the Butler Field band shell, be turned southeast, facing the lake and the museum campus rather than the highrises bordering the other sides of the park. Others recommended scheduling more acoustic bands on the north side of the festival, where most of the residents live and where most of the complaints originated.

Others want a path cut through the grounds so pedestrians and bikers can get to the lake from Michigan Avenue without having to go around the entire festival.

While GPAC members have a struggle ahead in terms of gaining the public’s acceptance, O’Neill is not backing down but has promised to include the public in every step of the negotiating process. “Bring it on, make it work—that’s how we make Chicago great,” he said.