Friends of the Parks

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Help the Chicago Park District as a volunteer or with a group to help pack up the donations from True Value Hardware Stores trade show at McCormick Place!  Hundreds of volunteers are needed for different time slots.  View:  TrueValueflyer

Title: Global Youth Service Day
Location: Dunning Read/Humboldt Park
Description: Chicago Public High School students can earn valuable service learning hours by helping out at their neighborhood park or preserve. Contact Mary Eileen Sullivan at sullivanme@fotp.org
Date: 2010-04-24

Event Date: Saturday April, 24 2010

A portion of the proceeds will benefit the following organizations: The 26th and 35th ward Community Enrichment Funds, The Global Exchange, and Friends of the Parks

Registration:

Event Date: Saturday April, 24 2010

There are two ways to register for The 5K for Earth Day
1. You can register online by clicking on the link below 
2. Same day registration, (but it’s more expensive and wastes paper)

 Entry Fees (includes processing)

Early Registration – $25 prior to 1/1/10

Registration – $30 after 1/1/10

Race Day Registration $35 ($5 off if you bring in an old operable cell phone)

Youth (Ages 11-17) $20

Kids Under 10 Free

To register click here!

Race day registration starts at 7am at the Race Start

Enjoy the Mayor’s Preview Party (while supporting Friends of the Parks!) at The Chicago Flower & Garden Show at Navy Pier (more…)

On October 7^th the Forest Preserve District Board of Commissioners approved negotiating a lease with the Village of Hinsdale to allow Hinsdale to build a sports and recreational park on Bemis Woods in a western forest preserve.  (more…)

Join hundreds of millions of people taking a simple step to bring awareness to climate change by turning off your lights for an hour to recognize Earth Hour.  This year, Earth Hour will take place on March 27th at 8:30 p.m. local time and it’s expected to be part of a surge of darkness moving around the globe.  Illinois is an official Earth Hour state. 

World landmarks like the Empire State Building, Brooklyn Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge, Sears, oops Willis Tower, the John Hancock, the Merchandize Mart, the Las Vegas Strip, the Pyramids, the Eiffel Tower and the Vatican are planning to switch off the switch. 

Show your support for the environment by going dark for Earth Hour.

Friends of the Parks and the Chicago Park District present:

2010 Park Advocacy Conference

Caring and Sharing in Chicago’s Parks

Saturday, March 27, 2010

9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

South Shore Cultural Center

7059 South Shore Drive

Chicago

The Park Advocacy Conference provides an opportunity for park advisory councils (PACs) and park activists to learn how to be strong and effective leaders in their communities.  Conference participants will network with PACs across the city to share best practices and build relationships.  The Chicago Park District, Friends of the Parks and community representatives will offer workshops and seminars on fundraising, playground design, leveraging community and governmental resources, security issues and more! 

For more information or to RSVP* please call: 

312.857.2757 ext. 17 or 312.742.4762 or email heisej@fotp.org

* Parking included with RSVP

Last Four Miles:  Mother Nature’s New Beaches should be acquired by Park District

Friends of the Parks released the Last Four Miles Plan this summer as part of the Burnham Centennial Celebration.  One of the fundamental principles of Daniel Burnham’s vision and the Plan of Chicago was to create a public lakefront park system.  It is one of the key Burnham features implemented for 26 of the 30 miles of Lake Michigan.  This remarkable public lakefront that was envisioned by the early citizens of Chicago and later by the great planners and activists Olmsted, Burnham and Ward has resulted in Chicago being one of the nation’s great cities.   Even in such difficult times as the Great Depression and wars, Chicago taxpayers voted affirmatively on 83 binding referenda to increase their property tax dollars to invest in their future by continuing to construct lakefront parks, both on the North and South Sides of the city.  FOTP’s Last Four Miles Plan presents a concept for the next several years to embrace and finish the work of previous generations by completing Chicago’s most important urban asset:  Lake Michigan and its lakefront park system.  The plan is anticipated to be accomplished over time as funds become available. 

The first phases, however, can be accomplished with no public dollars.  Over 140 acres of lakefront land between the Calumet River and Calumet Park lie fallow and barricaded off from the public with razor wire.  A simple, zero cost amendment to state legislation could transfer that land to the Park District for a future lakefront park.  

A second no cost public park expansion opportunity exists on both the North and South Sides where Mother Nature has caused Lake Michigan to recede and, thus, created acres of new beaches.   Recently, more than five acres of new parks have been formed from Ardmore to Lane beach, thus implementing part of the Last Four Miles Plan naturally.   Indeed, Friends of the Parks calls on the city and the Chicago Park District to claim that parkland and take advantage of this opportunity to complete our lakefront path.   In year one, with no dollars expended, the first 160 acres of the Last Four Miles could be completed. 

In this era of far too much reliance on automobiles and far too little encouragement to our children to get away from video games, the completion of the lakefront path for pedestrians and bikers is a worthwhile investment for future generations, echoing the gifts bestowed on us by our ancestors. 

You can receive a copy of the Last Four Miles Plan by contributing a donation of $20.00 or more.  Please email Eleanor Roemer at roemere@fotp.org for more information

Good news! The Chicago City Council’s July 29th vote on a new Air Pollution Control Ordinance containing amendments severely restricting ecological burning in parks and forest preserves was deferred!

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