In response to warnings from the Chicago Fire Department, the Mexican Consulate changed the way it admits the hundreds of applicants who converge there daily for documents, a consulate spokesman said.
The consulate no longer will allow applicants to wait in stairwells or in the first-floor lobby. A consulate employee will guide visitors to the second-floor service area from the street entrance at 300 N. Michigan Ave. when space becomes available.
Fire officials, who visited the consulate again Tuesday, had warned officials about overcrowding but were unable to enforce their citations because the consulate is considered sovereign Mexican territory.
The consulate also will improve a rear fire escape and fix an oversight that caused most instructions on escape routes to be posted only in English.
“These aren’t big things, but they could be the difference in an emergency,” consulate spokesman Cesar Romero said.
Consulate officials also plan stricter enforcement of a policy that bans applicants from bringing friends or relatives to wait with them in line, Romero said.
