The Ping Tom Park boathouse will be located at 300 W. 19^th Street on the newly-completed northern expansion of the park at a cost of $2.2 million.  In addition to the construction of a 2,500 square foot boathouse, the Park District is set to restore the shoreline of the river and construct a new 40’ long floating dock.  The main function of this space will be to provide private vendors a central venue for renting kayaking and canoeing equipment to residents for use on the Chicago River.  Although the project will not add any additional amenities, it is expected that the project will add new bathrooms and fit the park’s established aesthetic which was designed by landscape architect Ernie Wong.

View Ping Tom Park in a larger map

Richard Clark Park, at 3402 Rockwell St., will house a much larger boathouse that is intended to be one of the flagship buildings for recreational use of the Chicago River.  The Clark Park project will feature two free-standing buildings both of which were designed by prominent Chicago architect Jeannie Gang and, when completed, will be among the handful of LEED-certified boathouses in the country.  The larger building is a two-story facility which will house a number of community amenities such as an indoor rowing tank, a gym which includes 36 rowing machines, a community room, locker rooms, and bathrooms for resident use.  The smaller annex is similar to the boathouse at Ping Tom Park in that it is intended to house kayak and canoeing vendors as well but will also store boats for local rowing clubs.  The Clark Park boathouse, however, has not been without controversy; the Clark Park Advisory Council has opposed its construction on the grounds that the building’s footprint is simply too large for Clark Park.  Further, the cost for this project is significant, with a signed construction contract for nearly $9.5 million.

View Clark Park Boathouse in a larger map

These two boathouses, however, are not the end for the Park District.  They are expected to approve the contracts for construction of two additional boathouses – at River Park and in proximity to Canal Origins Parks – by the end of the summer.

According to the details of the contract, the new park will contain a significant number of amenities, including:

• Soccer fields
• Soft surface playground with spray features
• Baseball fields
• Skate park
• Walking and jogging trails
• Basketball courts
• Community gardens
• Public art

The development of this park is crucial for a number of reasons.  Little Village is among the city’s most park poor neighborhoods, and Park 553 will add more than 18 acres of open space, playgrounds, and athletic fields.  Additionally, the site was formerly home to an industrial facility – a “brownfield.”  Although the land was remediated in the late 2000’s, the land has been abandoned since the factory was demolished.  Creating a park on this land will transform this land, which has long been a drag on the community, in to an incredible asset.  Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the creation of this park is something that the community has long desired and resident involvement in the design process will make this park successful from day one.

In short, Friends of the Parks believes that this new park will do a great deal for the Little Village neighborhood and will continue to monitor its progress to ensure that the community is actively engaged throughout the design and construction phases.

View Park 553 Location in a larger map

During the cocktail hour, guests bid on many exciting packages in the silent auction.  As they entered the festive, flower-filled tent for dinner, they were entertained by Chinese dancers.  They dined on delectable fare, bid on exciting live auction packages, promised to support Friends of the Parks’ advocacy work with “Give for Green” pledges and danced the night away with music performed by The Business.

The event raised over $130,000 for Friends of the Parks’ citywide parks advocacy work!  Parks provide children, teens and adults with safe and healthy places to play, exercise and relax.  Parks contribute to public health and build stronger communities.  Friends of the Parks wants every Chicagoan to have easy access to safe, clean and beautiful parks with vibrant programs that serve and inspire all.  Our parks and lakefront also help draw thousands of visitors to our city.

Thank you to our all our guests and contributors for your generous support.

Although the full details have not yet been released, the Board did announce many of the relevant details during its May 9th Board meeting.    The stated purpose of the Office of Inspector General will be to investigate any “fraud, waste, abuse, or misconduct” that the Park District or its staffers might be engaged in.  The scope of these investigations will be extremely broad, and the Office of Inspector General will investigate complaints from any source – including the public at large.  Alongside the creation of this new department, the structure of the Director of Auditing was also modified in a move to increase its independence.  In addition to having the broad capacity to collaborate with the Office of Inspector General, the Director of Auditing will now report to the Board President instead of the General Superintendent.

Friends of the Parks applauds both of these measures as proactive steps in ensuring that the Park District is effectively and efficiently delivering the best possible services to Chicago residents.  As more details are made public, we will continue to inform the public as to the role of the new office within the Park District.

The discussion is open to any resident and the presentations will be facilitated in both English and Spanish.  RSVPs are encouraged but are not required; RSVP to  Brendan Siegfried at 312.750.9820 or info@bloomingdaletrail.org.

Bloomingdale Trail Meeting this Tuesday, May 15th

Ping Tom Park in Chinatown was constructed with gorgeous Chinese dragon pillars and pagodas reflecting the culture of the neighborhood.  Lakeshore East Park was designed as a multi-use active recreational park becoming the backyard of thousands of condo-dwellers.  Bridgeport’s Stearns Quarry, an abandoned stone quarry was transformed into a naturalistic landscape with a stream-meandering park giving people a new fishing hole.  As a landscape architect, Ernest Wong has taken Chicago’s urban parks to a new level of outstanding design.

The Parks Ball begins with cocktails, silent auction and a special performance,   ollowed by a sit-down dinner, a ceremony to honor Ernest Wong, and dancing.  Our guests will include leaders from Chicago’s civic, business, environmental and cultural communities.  The event will showcase the importance of parks as critical places in neighborhoods to play, exercise, relax, find beauty and escape the stresses of urban life.  Your support of the Parks Ball will enable us to take steps to implement The Last Four Miles Plan by acquiring 100 acres of land for a new lakefront park.

2012 Parks Ball

Friday, May 11, 2012

Gallaria Marchetti

825 W. Erie Street, Chicago, IL

Conservers, Benefactors and Grand Benefactors will be recognized in the Program Book if responses are received by Friday, April 27.

Please print name(s) exactly as you wish to be listed in the Program and email to nancymswabb@hotmail.com.

For tables of ten:  Please send us a list of your guests and/or who you would like to be seated with for the event.  Please emailNancymswabb@hotmail.com.

If you are unable to attend and would like to make a contribution for this event, please contact Nancy Minster Swabb atnancymswabb@hotmail.com

65 people attended our meetings in order to answer these questions and more.  The evening began with a presentation by Randy Warren of Active Transportation Alliance who spoke about the history of the lakefront trail and its context as a center of recreation, transportation, and exercise for the residents of the city.  Next, attendees took part in four activities: a map soliciting input on Lakefront Trail access (getting to the trail); a map soliciting input on Lakefront Trail congestion, conflicts and crashes; a map for open comments about the trail; and a poster for voting on Lakefront Trail advocacy goals. After the meeting the totals were added up, and our community takeaways are as follows:

Workshop attendees voted for the following top five advocacy goals for the Lakefront Trail:

1. Create facilities to encourage separation of different types of users (e.g. soft surface trails and boardwalks). Providing parallel paths that would be more attractive to different types of users could better serve their needs while reducing crashes. For example, people strolling on the trail to enjoy the view may prefer a boardwalk closer to the water, while people biking to work may prefer a more direct route further from crowds on the lakefront.
2. Improve bicycle and pedestrian safety along streets connecting to the Trail. Access to the trail includes not only Lake Shore Drive underpasses and overpasses, but also the connections from our neighborhoods. Dangerous intersections or a lack of bikeways on streets can be a barrier to accessing to the Lakefront Trail by foot and bike.
3. Wayfinding, signage and additional informational improvements along the trail. Better signage could help trail users orient themselves and find the appropriate trail entrance or exit for their destination. Signage could also be used to promote good trail etiquette or help trail users find park services.
4. Complete gaps in the Lakefront Trail including connecting to neighboring cities. Gaps in the trail could be filled using new facilities on the street network, such as protected bike lanes, or through new park land (see the Friends of the Parks Last Four Miles plan).
5. Improve service facilities (bathrooms, drinking fountains, etc.) along the path. Service facilities may have limited seasons or hours of operation and may not meet the needs of many trail users.

Takeaways from input regarding trail access:

• Streets with lower traffic volume, such as Buena, can provide safer and easier access to the trail with minimal vehicle conflicts.
• The older underpasses are in poor condition and not ADA accessible; there are problems with flooding; the steep ramps, blind turns and narrow tunnels cause conflicts between bikes and pedestrians and are difficult to navigate with bikes; and the underpasses sometimes connect with the streets at uncontrolled intersections (no stop sign). The older bridges, such as 35^th Street, have similar problems to the underpasses, though some offer only stairs and lack ramps altogether.
• At other access points, trail users access the trail with a street that passes under Lake Shore Drive. At these street-level access points, vehicle traffic coming from Lake Shore Drive ramps can be a hazard and there are often no bike lanes on the street connecting to the trail. People biking to the trail also face confusing connections from the street into the park – often the traffic pattern does not take into account bikes heading into the park, and there’s often no connection for bikes coming off the street.
• There are a number of gaps in access to the trail, including at Armitage and 41^st Street.

Takeaways from input regarding trail congestion, conflicts and crashes:

• Trail access points also tend to be areas of congestion and conflict between trail users, because there are often many people crossing and turning on and off of the trail. Access points that enter the park east of the trail help to reduce congestion and trail conflicts.
• Parking lots tend to create conflicts between people biking and walking – pedestrian flow from the parking lot to the lakefront needs to be planned to minimize trail conflicts.
• Bicycle/pedestrian conflicts and crashes were most common from Oak to Fullerton and around Navy Pier. Other highly congested areas included 31^st Street, Addison and from Hollywood to Foster.
• Conflicts between trail users and vehicles were most commonly reported at Illinois/Grand, Montrose, Wilson, Lawrence and Foster. Additional vehicle conflict points are at the South Shore Cultural Center driveway, the parking lot at 63^rd/Hayes, the parking lot north of McCormick Place East, Waldron, Monroe, North Ave., Belmont, and Recreation Drive.

The Friends of the Lakefront Trail will use this information in order to inform their advocacy work as they push the Chicago Park District and the Chicago Department of Transportation to create a better lakefront trail.  The meetings had great representation from many neighborhoods, but Friends of the Parks will seek  additional outreach and gather more input and launch an online survey in the upcoming months, so that community members who weren’t able to attend will have a chance to let their opinions be heard.  To find out more information, please check out the Friends of the Lakefront Trail website.

Although we think of our backyards as our own private parks, they can also be significant drains on the environment.  For example, did you know that up to 40 percent of a home’s water use is spent on yards and gardens during the summer?  Additionally, up to a full third of our garbage could be composted for use as fertilizer in vegetable or flower gardens.  With that in mind, the city is helping residents with the Chicago Sustainable Backyards program; under this program, residents are eligible for up to a 50 percent rebate on the cost of certain supplies which will improve the sustainability of residents’ backyard, including trees, native plants, compost bins, and rain barrels.  Each of these investments can have a serious environmental and economic impact.  Instead of wasting tap water, capture clean rainwater and put it to good use in your gardens.

To find out more about how your backyard can be cleaner, greener, and more sustainable visit the city of Chicago’s Sustainable Backyards page.

This event was planned and organized by Friends of the Parks, the Chicago Park District, the Forest Preserve District of Cook County including several other partners;  American Indian Center, Chicago Public Schools, Chicago Wilderness, Friends of the Forest Preserves, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, Northeastern Illinois University, One Good Deed Chicago, Openlands TreeKeeper’s, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

To see a complete list of our sponsors, please visit www.earthdaychicago.com

This years event was presented by:

]]> http://fotp.org/news/23rd-annual-earth-day-parks-preserves-clean-up/feed 0 http://fotp.org/news/chicago-park-district-approves-development-of-40-acres-of-new-park-space http://fotp.org/news/chicago-park-district-approves-development-of-40-acres-of-new-park-space#comments Fri, 13 Apr 2012 20:43:47 +0000 MDS http://fotp.org/?p=4216 We have some great news to announce for the Lincoln Square and Little Village neighborhoods.  On April 11^th, the Chicago Park District Board unanimously voted to approve development of Park 553, located at 2800 S. Sacramento Avenue and Park 568, located at 5951 N. Western Avenue.

Park 553 will transform a piece of land that is a brownfield site and a burden on the community in to a 21.3 acre park, a much needed amenity in a neighborhood that has long been one of the city’s most park poor communities.  Although the initial plans for the park have not been finalized, the design that was presented to the Park District Board indicated that the Park District would construct two field turf soccer fields, two baseball diamonds, a skate park, community gardens, a natural area with a winding path, and a central facilities room with restrooms and concession stands.

View Park 553 on a map.

Funding for the new park site was made possible from various government opportunities: $8 million from the Department of Community and Economic Opportunity, which was secured by Senator Antonio Munoz (1^st District) and $4 million in TIF funding from Alderman George Cardenas (12^th Ward).  Approximately $7.5 million of these funds were spent on land acquisition, so park development costs will be in excess of $4.5 million dependent on the Park District’s financial contribution.  A precise timeframe has not yet been set, but the Park District is aiming to opening the park in fall 2013.

Park 568, part of the West Ridge Community Area in the 40^th ward was made possible through Alderman Patrick O’Connor’s advocacy on behalf of the community.  Park 568 is formerly part of Rosehill Cemetery and boasts 20.5 acres of wooded land complete with a four acre pond and rolling topography.  The Chicago Park District will develop the site into a nature preserve which will include fishing stations, wildlife viewing, trails, a boardwalk, landscape and habitat restoration.

View Park 568 on a map.

Funding for the new park was secured from $700,000 in TIF funds from Alderman O’Connor and an additional $2.8 million in federal transportation funds from Mayor Rahm Emanuel while he was the 5th District Congressman.  Construction on this exciting new nature area is expected to begin in 2013.