Some of Chicago’s Loop lakefront residents are concerned about the amount of graffiti at the Cancer Survivors’ Garden, upset that the vandalism is destroying a “hidden treasure.”
Chicago Police Department Tactical Sgt. Charles Battaglia told attendees at a CAPS meeting last month that the graffiti is not gang related.
It’s young artists performing, “urban art or urban tagging,” Battaglia told residents gathered at the 400 East Randolph Condominiums.
As a member of the audience and a resident of the Loop for 24 years, Carol Kyros-Walker said she has noticed the graffiti has become a problem at the Cancer Survivors’ Garden in the past two years.
Chicago Park District calls the garden, “a hidden treasure,” that allows people who are cancer survivors to share their experience and stories, in nature and outdoors, with other survivors in the garden.
“Who is doing this [graffiti] and what are we doing to catch them?” Kyros-Walker asked the CAPS officer, Sgt. Mary Panick, who hosted the meeting.
Panick said she didn’t know who was responsible for the graffiti at the west end of the memorial.
The Bloch Cancer Foundation has donated $1 million for upkeep via the Parkways Foundation. This money was to be used to build and maintain the Cancer Survivors’ Garden, according to a press release.
As one of Chicago Park District’s properties, some residents said they are concerned with the reason the park isn’t being properly maintained with the $1 million donation that built the garden.
“Our biggest offenders are the kids down here [in the Loop],” Sgt. Mary Panick of the Chicago Police’s 1st District said. Panick said the Loop averages about 15-20 incidents of graffiti a month but says its low compared to other areas of Chicago.
Some residents questioned whether this park could receive more police patrol after previous issues with people who are homeless being in the park after hours and now with the recent graffiti issue.
Panick told residents there would be an increase in police force in the district for the holiday display windows at Macy’s. She said she would enter a work order after walking the garden on Sunday, to get the graffiti removed.
“They [the urban artists] truly consider themselves artists,” Battaglia said. Battaglia told the residents if they see graffiti, to call 311 and report the address of its exact location.
Panick said that when calling 311 make sure to elaborate on where the graffiti is, what surface the graffiti is on, and how high off the ground it is, to ensure the proper equipment is brought for the removal.
Chicago Park District’s Communications Director, Jessica Maxey-Faulkner, said she wasn’t aware of the issue at the garden but said she would, “ look into it.”
Maxey-Faulkner said, “If residents are concerned about a park, we look forward to hearing from them,” Maxey-Faulkner said. Residents can call their concerns into the park district and report the graffiti at 312-742-PLAY.
Panick was not available when contacted for an update on the vandalism.