Park supervisor fired over stripper; 25-year veteran insists

A 25-year veteran Chicago Park District supervisor has been fired from his $56,500-a-year job for allegedly permitting a nude male dancer to perform at a private party at a South Side park.

Larry Baldwin, supervisor of recreation for Wentworth Gardens Park, 3770 S. Wentworth, said he was terminated Friday after being confronted with pictures of the male stripper taken by a Chicago Park District underling who left work early to attend the Jan. 8 dinner dance.

Baldwin, 55, insisted that he had no advance warning about the nude dancer and had his hands full that night breaking up a dice game in the men's washroom.

When the gamblers threatened to vandalize his car, Baldwin insisted that he ran out into the parking lot to make certain there was no damage.

Only after he returned to the fieldhouse did he finally see the male dancer, whom Baldwin says was performing in a G-string. As soon as he saw what was going on, Baldwin says he acted immediately to end the lewd dinner dance.

"I was fired because the people who gave the party had a male stripper I knew nothing about," Baldwin said Monday.

"When I went back in the building, I told him he had to stop because it's against park policy. He kept moving. He kept dancing. So, I told the [disc jockey] to cut the music off and, if he didn't, I would cut the electrical circuit off, which could damage his equipment. I told everybody the party was over, put the lights on and they left."

Park District spokesperson Jessica Maxey-Faulkner said she is prohibited from discussing disciplinary action against park employees.

She would only say the Park District "became aware a couple of months ago of an incident that occurred in January at Wentworth Gardens Park where an exotic dancer performed during an evening room rental."

Asked whether the Park District employee who took the photos would also be disciplined, she said, "A park supervisor is ultimately responsible for events that happen in their park."

Baldwin argued that he did not deserve to be fired and that he was "set up" by the photographer, whom he identified as a Park District attendant.

The fired supervisor claimed that he had reported the attendant in the days leading up to the party for failing to adequately clean the fieldhouse.

"For me to lose my job and nobody else loses their job -- for them to just say, 'You're the supervisor. We have pictures [the attendant] took,' a party participant who happens to be a park employee -- it's almost like they bargained with her at her hearing to get rid of me," Baldwin said.

The attendant did not return telephone calls from the Sun-Times.

"The stripper should not have been there. When I became aware there was a stripper, I said, 'This is over with.' The party ended right there. The Park District is trying to say I should have known, but how would I know? It's just like the dice game. That's not acceptable, either. But, if you're not in the bathroom the whole time, somebody could go in there, shoot up dice, roll drugs or whatever."

Since there is no security at Wentworth Gardens Park, Baldwin said he contacted the community policing office to warn them about the event and alerted the local district commander.

"He said somebody would be here," but police never came, Baldwin said.

Rules and regulations dictate whether security should be hired by private parties renting park district property. If it was the kind of event that required security, the supervisor must make sure the renter provides it, Maxey-Faulkner said.

Photo: Keith Hale, Sun-Times / Larry Baldwin in front of the Wentworth Gardens fieldhouse on Monday.