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Chicago hospital sues in attempt to stop Riot Fest from happening

This coming weekend, Riot Fest is set to take place on Chicago's West Side in Douglas Park. St. Anthony Hospital, however, suddenly doesn’t want that to happen.

Last Friday, hospital attorneys filed a federal lawsuit, as well as motioned for a temporary restraining order, against the three-day extravaganza. The case stands on the ground of Riot Fest’s “extreme” noise potentially being detrimental towards their patients’ health, (via The Chicago Tribune). 

Read more: Despite support to stay in Humboldt Park, Riot Fest Chicago forced to move to new location

Riot Fest spokeswoman Chris Mather shared the following in a statement over the weekend: “Attorneys for St. Anthony stated that they would file a lawsuit to seek to stop the festival unless the hospital was paid $154,000.”

While a spokeswoman from the hospital, Kathryn Grosso, denied the claim, the festival sent out a press release today that contains two alleged emails from St. Anthony, which state to either pay or be sued. 

“If these were critical concerns, why did St. Anthony’s not mention them in the multiple meetings we have had since June, but instead waited until less than ten days before the event to make the demand [of] $154,000,” said Mike Petryshyn, co-founder of Riot Fest.

Read more: Chicago reportedly won’t enforce new smoking ban at Riot Fest

The press release later goes on to state that 100 percent of St. Anthony’s proposals were met and satisfied during the various meetings that were held. Additionally, the festival claims to have worked with the Chicago Park District, Chicago Police Department, Chicago Fire Department, CTA, Office of Emergency Management And Communications, along with various others, to ensure that the way they plan to operate this weekend was met with approval from everyone involved. Subsequently, they were issued all proper permits from the city of Chicago.

Grosso, however, goes on to claim, ”Saint Anthony's reached out many times to the organizers of Riot Fest to voice their concerns, and Riot Fest made promises that they would abate the noise. Those promises were broken.” 

She adds, “The bottom line is that Saint Anthony's patients will not be able to peacefully heal when being forced to listen to heavy metal, rap and rock music blaring from stacked amplifiers just a few 100 feet away.”

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