Chicago hospital drops lawsuit against music fest

With the three-day festival set to open Friday, hospital officials are raising a ruckus, filing a lawsuit and holding a press conference, fearing that ambulances, patients, doctors and nurses will be disrupted by fans of rocker Gwen Stefani and her band No Doubt, punk rock godfather Iggy Pop, rapper Snoop Dogg, country music legend Merle Haggard and dozens of other acts.

After a weekend of escalating accusations, St. Anthony Hospital agreed Tuesday to drop its bid for a federal decide to dam the three-day Riot Fest live performance from happening in close by Douglas Park this weekend.

In an email, Saint Anthony Hospital Vice President James A. Sifuentes said, “We have tried to collaborate with the Riot Fest organizers to address our concerns, to no avail”.

A spokesperson for Riot Fest called the lawsuit a “money grab” and claimed the hospital had threatened to sue unless Riot Fest organizers paid it $158,000. Officials with the fest and hospital said they met with police and city officials to help come to a compromise.

Both sides regret their previous aggressive statements. Afterward, however, follow-up communications by St. Anthony to Riot Fest went unanswered, and the hospital heard nothing else until Riot Fest publicly released the layout on August.

George Cardenas (12th) and the city of Chicago for clearing up misunderstandings and helping to guarantee hospital access for the community.

The fest organizers agreed to revive parking on 19th Road in entrance of the hospital and erect pedestrian barricades on the west aspect of California Avenue and “sound monitoring inside the hospital to guard sufferers”, the assertion stated. That’s a discount from the $189.98 three-day passes still available via the Riot Fest website and the ticket seller Ticketfly.

Earlier than the settlement was reached, park advocate Cata Truss stated she hoped the hospital would “take a again seat” for now and see how issues go.

Riot Fest co-founder Mike Petryshyn has criticized the hospital, saying his staff has had numerous meetings with Saint Anthony over the summer.

“Riot Fest gives the North Lawndale community an additional opportunity to promote and showcase assets and benefits of coming and starting businesses, living, working and playing in our community”, said Marcus Betts, co-chair of the North Lawndale Community Development Coalition.

The festival is taking place next to another hospital as well.