In a move that is shocking many in the LGBT community, a group of Lakeview residents is asking MB Financial bank to close off its parking lot to young people who line up there for services from the Night Ministry bus.
For 20 years, the Night Ministry, an organization that administers services to homeless youth and adults, has done street outreach in Lakeview. It has spent 10 of those years providing food and other services on the street on front of the MB Financial bank (formerly Corus bank).
However, some residents on "Take Back Boystown," a Facebook page dedicated to addressing crime in Lakeview, say that the young people who line up for services outside the bank are making the neighborhood unsafe.
The campaign is the latest development since Lakeview residents started expressing fears that crime in the neighborhood is on the rise. Those conversations have sparked a debate over whether or not some tactics for stopping crime are unfairly targeting LGBT youth who come to Lakeview for services.
On July 22, some residents began asking their neighbors on "Take Back Boystown" to call MB Financial and ask the bank to close off its parking lot, located near Halsted and Belmont.
"[Night Ministry] does their thing and departs the scene taking no responsibility thereafter," said one commenter on the page, who appeared to be leading efforts to close down the parking lot. "MB [Financial] also takes no responsibility though it is their private property. Something's got to give. We cannot and must not have sex traffickers, drug dealers, thugs hanging out in that lot."
Windy City Times reached out to this commenter and others in support repeatedly, but none responded to inquiries.
One member of "Take Back Boystown" posted multiple photos of people standing in the lot, apparently waiting in line for the bus. While some commenting said they saw nothing illegal in the pictures, others argued that loiterers were hiding illegal activities by standing in large groups.
Rev. Barbara Bolsen, the vice president of programs for the Night Ministry, said the organization's mobile health bus serves between 25-150 homeless and struggling young people in Lakeview two nights a week. Every Tuesday and Thursday, the bus passes out food, safer-sex supplies, personal hygiene products, bandages, socks and underwear to those in need.
"A lot of them don't have young adults they can feel safe with or they can trust," said Bolsen, adding that the van is a non-threatening way to offer services.
"Physical abuse, neglect… all of these things come into play when people become homeless," she said. "Lots of folks are not going to be comfortable walking into a building and asking for help."
According to Bolsen, the Night Ministry has had a verbal agreement with MB Financial since the bank moved in approximately two years ago. The bus parks on the street while those waiting for services line up in a designated section of the parking lot.
The bank's Lakeview branch manager was on vacation and not available for comment. However, Karen Perlman, chief marketing officer for MB Financial, said her company was taking resident concerns seriously.
"Our major thing is making sure that the neighborhood is secure and safe," Perlman said. "We want to be a good community citizen, and that may mean different things to different people."
Perlman would not comment on whether or not the bank planned to ban Night Ministry clients from the lot.
Cerese Depardieu, a community activist, said that if that happens, crime will only increase.
"There will be a backlash," Depardieu said. "Because where will people go?"
Depardieu argued that services like the Night Ministry bus prevent many people from committing survival crimes.
"[The residents] are complaining about [sex] workers on the street, but that's just going to add to the problem," she said.