300 city trucks deployed as barriers in commercial corridors to discourage looting

In the wake of last weekend’s widespread looting, the city is taking additional steps to protect businesses.

Friday evening, the city started deploying 300 trucks from the Department of Streets and Sanitation, Department of Transportation and Department of Water Management into more than 175 commercial corridors throughout the city.

The trucks are being used to form barriers along those corridors; the strategy is to keep vehicles out, discouraging looters, while still allowing people to visit the businesses.

“These are exactly the kinds of trucks that we will be positioning across the South and the West Side to support our businesses in the commercial corridors,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said, standing in front of two large salt trucks at a Friday evening news conference.

Lightfoot said the city has partnered with private security firms to enhance protection of businesses in those commercial corridors.

The mayor also asked business owners to sign up for CHIBIZ Emergency Alerts to receive notifications from the city when dangerous situations may be developing nearby.

Also this weekend, the city will reopen Grant Park and Union Park to allow protests in those locations. Lightfoot said this will give space for people “wishing to express their outrage and righteous pain over the murder of George Floyd.”

“We want to make sure you have the space to lift your voices and make yourselves heard,” she said.

A curfew from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. will stay in effect over the weekend, Lightfoot said.