Committee approves maintenance agreement with Nativity Jesuit Academy for pedestrian mall; council members asked about free-speech protections

The committee approved a maintenance license agreement between the Department of Public Works and Nativity Jesuit Academy covering the Nativity Jesuit Pedestrian Mall in the Eighth Aldermanic District.

James Washington, public works coordination manager, explained the agreement defines maintenance responsibilities for a pedestrian mall created by earlier legislation (file 241341). The mall will include a soccer field, a basketball court and other amenities that the school will operate and that will also be available to the public. Washington said the feature remains public right-of-way and DPW will retain ultimate authority over the space.

Alderwoman Larissa Taylor pressed staff on First Amendment implications because the location will be on public right-of-way and maintained under license by a religious school. She asked whether people would retain their free-speech rights at the site. Washington replied that the public-right-of-way status does not change and that “if you think that you can do in public right of way, you should still be able to do here.” He said the agreement does not grant Nativity Jesuit Academy the authority to exclude constitutionally protected activity on the public mall.

Committee action: Alderman Bowman moved adoption of the maintenance license agreement and the motion carried without objection.

Context and next steps: The pedestrian mall was authorized by a prior file (241341) and remains public right-of-way; the maintenance agreement formalizes who will perform routine upkeep. Officials said the agreement assigns much of the day-to-day maintenance to the school while DPW will maintain oversight and retain public-use obligations under city law.