If you're a regular SBC reader, you're probably familiar with the controversy over the Chicago Department of Transportation's project to make Archer Avenue in Brighton Park a safer, more efficient, and more pleasant street for all users. If not, check out one of our recent articles about the project, and the organized weekly protests against it near local Ald. Julia Ramirez's (12th) office, promoted by right-leaning politicians and lobbyists trying to defeat her in the next election.
Fortunately, Safe Streets advocates, almost all of whom live in Brighton Park or nearby neighborhoods, have also been showing up every week to voice support for the initiative. In recent month's, they've outnumbered the "Not In My Back Yard" folks. Pro-Archer project rally co-organizer Alfredo Valladares Jr. provided a brief update on what went down last Monday, March 30.
"Our Monday, the Safe Streets Improvement Rally went great," Valladares wrote. "As usual, we showed up to support the new safety infrastructure being put in. The Archer Avengers [his nickname for the opponents, who call themselves the Archer Guardians] came out and they brought more hazards, I mean more people, to their protest of the Archer Complete Streets project."
What did Valladares mean by "hazards"? This video he took shows what he was talking about. Not only were cars parked in the half-finished protected bike lanes, as protesters have done in the past, forcing bike and e-scooter riders to use a mixed-traffic lane. But the clip shows a scooter user having to detour around a driver because a demonstrator was in the street, blocking his route.
"Afterwards we took a ride to Little Village, then to Harris Park in Pilsen, and finally to Chinatown where we hung out for a bit before returning to Brighton Park," Valladares concluded. "We met up with Sugondy Rides to 'Light Up' Chinatown Square in memory of Manny Leds [Juan Manuel Macias Jr.] from CC LED [a bike light and e-bike company], who unexpectedly passed away recently. CC LED is where we all get our wheel led lights."
Judging from the photos below, and considering how great the weather was on Monday, not only were the Archer boosters doing important advocacy work that evening, it also looks like they had an enjoyable and meaningful ride.
Read CDOT's FAQ about the Archer / Kedzie traffic safety projects here.
Materials about Archer Avenue can be found here.
Materials about Kedzie Avenue can be found here.
Read Streetsblog Chicago's writeup of Round 1 of the dueling Archer rallies, 12/8/25, here.
Check out our article about Round 2, 12/15/25, here.
Read SBC's coverage of Round 3, 12/22/25, here.
Read our article about Round 4, 12/29/25 here.
Check our post about Round 5, 1/5/26 here.
Take a look at our assessment of Round 6, 1/12/26, here.
Read SBC's post about Round 7, 1/19/26, here.
Take a gander at our article about Round 8, 1/26/26, here.
Check out our article that mentions Round 10, 2/9/26, here.
Peruse out writeup of Round 11, 2/16/26, here.
Read our article about Round 12, 2/23/26, here.
Take a look at our post about Round 13, 3/2/26, here.
View a couple of images from Round 16, 3/23/26 on Bluesky and Twitter.
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