Chicago reporter ‘booted’ from community meeting by city councilman’s staff

Reporter Francia Garcia Hernandez said she was told by a local official’s chief of staff to leave a community meeting in Chicago, Illinois, on Feb. 20, 2025, although two other reporters remained. The staffer disputed the account.

The community meeting was held at a public school in the Pilsen neighborhood to discuss the controversial reopening of a local bar that had been temporarily closed by police after a fatal shooting outside, Garcia reported for Block Club Chicago.

Pilsen residents had called for the bar to be permanently closed after the shooting, citing “increasing violence” associated with the business.

Alderman Byron Sigcho Lopez, who represents the ward that includes Pilsen, had advertised the meeting as public, and a flyer about it had been widely distributed by residents on social media, Garcia noted in a subsequent report about the incident.

“Neighbors shared the public meeting notice and invited me to come to the Thursday meeting,” Garcia reported, “saying they wanted to ensure their concerns about the bar would be heard and other neighbors who couldn’t attend would be able to learn what happened.”

Garcia wrote that she was greeted by Sigcho Lopez after she arrived. But 20 minutes into the meeting, once the attendees had begun to express concerns about the bar reopening, Garcia was told to leave by Sigcho Lopez’s chief of staff, Lucia Calderon (referred to as Lucia Moya in Garcia’s report).

Calderon said that the ward office hadn’t secured permission from Chicago Public Schools for reporters to attend and that the meeting was only for neighbors within a four-block radius of the bar.

“I asserted my First Amendment rights to report, but left because of the police presence in the room, and because I didn’t want to interrupt neighbors’ testimonies,” Garcia wrote.

Garcia added that reporters from Telemundo and Univision remained in the room, though their camera operators were asked to stay outside.

Calderon told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she had previously informed those reporters the event was closed to media and asserted she hadn’t known they were there. “If there were other members of the media in the room, they did not identify themselves and they did not violate the rules on photography and videography,” she added.

After the incident, Sigcho Lopez, who later referred to coverage as “irresponsible,” also said that the meeting was private, with no media allowed per Chicago Public Schools policy, reported Garcia. He did not specify which policy he was referring to.

Garcia told the Tracker that she has previously attended and reported on several community meetings at public schools in the ward. Garcia also wrote that Calderon subsequently acknowledged “the language around the notification” — which called the meeting “public” — gave the impression the meeting was open to everyone.

Calderon, who later posted a lengthy Instagram response to Garcia’s article about the incident, told the Tracker that “we did not clear media attendance at this event on public school property,” and that Garcia had “alarmed” attendees by taking photos with flash at the meeting, when Calderon said none was allowed.

Calderon said she approached Garcia to say the meeting was closed and added, “Following a brief conversation, Francia offered to leave and Calderon accepted that. At no time was Francia asked to leave or ‘removed from the event’ by any person, official, or worker.”

Garcia said that she had not encountered previous access issues with Sigcho Lopez’s office. She said that her outlet had covered previous violent incidents around the bar and neighbors’ response to them, but could not confirm if her expulsion was linked to that coverage.

“As a neighborhood beat reporter, participating in a meeting about a public issue is critical to understanding neighbors’ perspectives,” Garcia said. “This was the first time the bar owner held a dialogue with neighbors and addressed them, but excluding me from the conversation barred me from observing this conversation and its outcomes.”