Activists plan to march on Lake Shore Drive to Wrigley Field next month

A group of community activists are planning to march along Lake Shore Drive to Wrigley Field next month in an effort to highlight the disparity in resources available on the South and West sides as compared to the North Side.

The Rev. Gregory Livingston, of the Coalition For A New Chicago, said that details are still being hashed out, but marchers would enter Lake Shore Drive at Belmont around 4 p.m. on Aug. 2 and head to Wrigley Field.

The Cubs are scheduled to play a home game against the Padres at 7:05 p.m. that day.

“We want to bring South and West siders to a place like Wrigleyville so they can see what a well-funded neighborhood looks like,” Livingston said. “The mountain won’t come to us, so we have to go to the mountain. We have to take the people to where these complaints are heard.”

Asked how many marchers he wanted to join him, Livingston said, “Hopefully, enough to jam it up.”

Livingston and others are calling for the resignations of Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson, as well as greater investment in South and West side neighborhoods.

Livingston said that he and other organizers have not reached out to the city or CPD about marching on the busy thoroughfare.

“We’re willing to go to jail,” he said. “We’re not asking anyone’s permission.”

More details about the march were set to be released at a press conference Tuesday.

Asked if he and the marchers would try to get into Wrigley Field, Livingston said, “You’ll have to wait and see.”

The plan to march along Lake Shore Drive comes just weeks after Father Michael Pfleger organized an anti-violence march on the Dan Ryan Expressway on the South Side.