CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The Chicago Park District says it has been changing signs back to the way they were in Douglas Park on the West Side -- months after someone added an extra “S.”
Douglas Park is named after Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas, of Lincoln-Douglas debate fame. He was not a slave owner himself, but a sympathizer.
There's been a campaign going on for three years to change the park's name to Frederick Douglass Park to honor the abolitionist and former slave.
Last year, 24th Ward Ald. Michael Scott said, somebody apparently got tired of waiting for official channels to change the name and modified a couple dozen signs in the park, on the city’s West Side.
"It doesn't look bad. So, I am not opposed to the Park District allowing it to stay,” he said. “I think there needs to be a further step where we physically and legally change the name. But that is still a fight that has not been won yet and we will continue to fight."
The Park District said it’s following code and the changes someone made to the existing signs technically is defacement of park property.
"A formal request and supporting documents must be submitted in writing to the General Superintendent or the Board of Commissioners before a referral is made for board review and the naming process is initiated,” a statement said.
"Such a request for the renaming of Douglas Park has not been received.”
Meantime, a separate project to honor Frederick Douglass at the park is underway, Block Club Chicago reports.