Greetings all,
IMPORTANT MEETING THIS TUESDAY NIGHT (JULY 25): Community Forum on South Side Development at the Experimental Station, 7-9 p.m.
This will be a key opportunity for community members to raise concerns and express their views .. Be there! Jamie Kalven will moderate. The Experimental Station is at 6100 S. Blackstone Ave. You can register through Facebook exp.st/ssdevelopment or just show up, but note the warning that seating may be limited.
Friends of the Parks op-ed on target
Friends of the Parks Executive Director Juanita Irizarry was right on target in her recent op-ed in Crain’s Chicago Business (appended below). She echoed JPW concerns with the rushed process to push through plans for the much expanded golf course and potentially unworkable road closures. She also importantly highlighted the difference between the lengthy, careful attention being lavished on improvements to North Lake Shore Drive and the hurry-up process the City and Park District are trying to impose on the South Side for major changes to South Lake Shore Drive and its extensions.
Traffic numbers: Are these credible?
The Chicago Department of Transportation has finally given some initial projections about how it will accommodate the Obama Foundation’s desire to close Cornell Drive between 59th and Hayes Dr./63rd St. No surprise to many that CDOT Commissioner Scheinfeld had reassuring words about keeping commute times manageable, saying “Our current analysis shows we’re in shooting distance of that.” Skeptics can be pardoned if they note that the CDOT’s own numbers show traffic would increase on Stony Island by some 40% and on Hayes Drive by close to 400%, making a smooth transition more than a bit unlikely. Interesting question: would visitors to the Obama Presidential Center find themselves stuck in traffic?
Mike Kelly lists recreational facilities to be lost
A recent DNAInfo piece not only noted confusion about potential new indoor basketball facilities as a part of the Obama Presidential Center, but also gave Park District CEO Mike Kelly’s own tally of recreational facilities to be lost to Jackson Park users as result of the golf project now being championed by the Park District, the Chicago Parks Golf Alliance, and the City: 21 or more tennis courts and 6 of the 8 baseball diamonds now in the Park would to be taken out. As was the case with the South Shore Nature Sanctuary and Jackson Bark dog park, also to be eliminated by this project, Kelly dismissed these sports facilities as underused.
Brenda Nelms and Margaret Schmid
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