Greetings, All:  

Here is a quick look at some points of South Side park activity 

Cast your vote for the Parks on Feb. 28

If you are still undecided about voting in the municipal election, the Hyde Park Herald offers a useful guide to 5^th Ward aldermanic candidates’ positions on key issues, including several specific questions about public parks:

• Do you support making Promontory Point a Chicago Landmark?
• Do you support the November referendum to preserve trees in Jackson Park and South Shore Nature Sanctuary?
• Do you support the currently proposed overhaul of the public golf courses in Jackson Park and South Shore Cultural Center Park?
• How would you work with the Chicago Park District to ensure that residents have a say in developing plans for these local parks?

Do your homework and vote for the candidate whose responses most closely match your commitment to and concerns about South Side parks.

Join ongoing park discussions

• Jackson Park Advisory Council – Getting organized into topical committees.  Next meeting March 13.
• Midway Plaisance Advisory Council – Still opposing UPARR designation for eastern tip of Midway.  Next meeting March 8.  (Contact at midwaypac@gmail.com )
• Washington Park Framework Plan – in progress; next public meeting TBA

Preservation of Promontory Point – two more steps 

The US Army Corps of Engineers announced on January 30 a new process for the Chicago Shoreline Project that is to protect Chicago’s lakefront from storm damages and erosion.  In a shift from the prior plan, Promontory Point will now be treated separately from the other stretches of the lakefront that have not already been covered with concrete-step revetments. There is funding designated specifically for Point planning and there will be a separate NEPA environmental review and consultation process for the Point with opportunities for public input.  (The Corps has clarified that any public comments relating to the Point that were already submitted last month as part of the NEPA review for the general shoreline project will be redirected to the new NEPA review when it begins.)  

As previously noted, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks approved preliminary City landmark status for Promontory Point at its January meeting.  On February 15, the Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners gave its unanimous consent to the proposed landmarking of this particular CPD property, setting the stage for final approval by the City Council, perhaps in April.  

These actions both seem positive steps for efforts to preserve the limestone revetment and other historic features of the Point.  However, as previously noted, the devil is always in the details and continued engagement with the governmental agencies is necessary throughout the NEPA review (which should include a full Section 106 historic preservation review as well) and the development of engineering designs for repair and restoration (significant terms consistent with historic preservation guidelines that have so far been avoided by city and federal agencies). 

We will keep you posted at each step.  You can also stay up-to-date at https://www.promontorypoint.org/.

 Renovation of Midway Plaisance Metra Station – inching along

The project to renovate the 59^th St/60^th St. Metra Station, which has been on a slow track for more than a decade, is taking another short jerk forward. Plans for the project were outlined in March 2021, detailed in a Section 106 Historic Preservation report released in May 2022, presented to consulting parties in June 2022, and awarded federal funding in December 2022.  Now the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), which is the federal lead agency funding the project, has scheduled a March 6 session with consulting parties to discuss changes to address the comments submitted last June.  

There is a long Supplemental Report, but the substantive changes to the plan are few; all relate to the design of the two track-level headhouse structures and are intended to address concerns by the Illinois State Historic Preservation Office about the contemporary design not fitting with the surrounding historic context. Changes are now proposed for the tint of the glass, the size of signs, the design of the roof trusses.   Concerns mentioned by various other consulting parties are given minimal attention:  Lack of toilets (which could be used by park visitors) – not standard for Metra stations; coordination with the Park District regarding its plans for the eastern tip of the Midway – something that will be done; bright lighting and loud platform announcements bothering nearby residents – will be minimized as much as possible; tree removal – will be kept to a minimum and not in parkway.  So concerns are acknowledged, but the cursory responses provide little satisfaction. 

If you have reactions or comments to the revised plan that you would like submitted to the FTA and Metra, you can send them to jacksonparkwatch@gmail.com by March 5.

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATIONS!

Thanks to all who have supported us financially.  As always, we welcome your contributions.  If you have any questions about contributing, please contact us at jacksonparkwatch@gmail.com and we will get back to you.

You can contribute in three ways:

• You can contribute via checks made out to Jackson Park Watch sent directly to Jackson Park Watch, P.O. Box 15302, Chicago 60615. 
• You can contribute via PayPal here.  (If you encounter difficulties with PayPal, please let us know.)
• You can contribute via checks from donor-directed funds sent to our fiscal sponsor Friends of the Parks at FOTP, 67 E. Madison St., Suite 1817, Chicago IL 60602, ATTN Kevin Winters.  Such checks should be made out to FOTP with a note stating they are intended for Jackson Park Watch.

As always, we thank you.

Brenda Nelms and Jack Spicer
Co-presidents, Jackson Park Watch
www.jacksonparkwatch.org
jacksonparkwatch@gmail.com

Happy New Year to All:

2023 promises to be even busier for our South Side parks than last year. Here are some current events for your attention.

Vote for parks in the aldermanic and mayoral elections  

There is now a once-every-four-year opportunity to highlight and promote park issues with our elected officials.   We encourage you to learn about the candidates and to ask them about their positions on specific park issues.  

We attended the League of Women Voters Forum for 5^th Ward Aldermanic Candidates on January 8at Montgomery Place and distributed to all twelve aspirants an information sheet on the proposal for the Tiger Woods golf course.  (The latest version of that handout is appended at the end of this Update.)   We also attended the 5^th Ward Aldermanic Candidates’ Justice Forum on January 15 at Hyde Park Union Church.

Between these two forums, candidates were directly asked for a yes or no response to three important park questions:  Do they support preservation of Promontory Point, including the limestone revetment?  Do they support the ballot referendum initiative to have the City and Park District stop cutting trees in Jackson Park and preserve trees in South Shore Cultural Center Park?  Do they oppose using the eastern tip of Midway Plaisance as a UPARR replacement site for recreational space lost in Jackson Park to the OPC, rather than finding sites in Woodlawn or South Shore?  All 12 candidates responded “yes” about the Point at the first forum.  Two candidates were absent from the Justice Forum (Gray and Palmer), but all ten present responded “yes” to both the tree-cutting and Midway questions.

This is wonderfully encouraging news, but we must recognize that those were easy, feel-good responses, particularly reflecting the sentiment of the audiences.  However, as always, details and nuances are important (see below regarding the Point) and the candidates’ levels of understanding of these park issues vary greatly.   So continued engagement with the candidates on these issues by many voters is important in the weeks ahead.

There will be another 5^th Ward Candidate Forum next Sunday, this one sponsored by 

the Obama CBA Coalition and Not Me We. 

Sunday, January 22, 2:00 – 5:00 pm

South Side United Methodist Church

7350 Jeffrey Boulevard

The first half of the forum will be devoted to questions relating specifically to affordable housing and development/displacement issues.  The second half will cover other ward issues, including parks and the golf course (which of course relate to the first discussion topic also).  The forum will be a panel format, with questions submitted in advance and asked by a moderator, not from the floor.  If you have questions, reach out to 312-880-7265.  

In the mayoral race, it is not clear yet who might be a champion of public parks. We encourage you to pose questions and share information as you can.  There is one upcoming local opportunity to talk directly with a mayoral candidate:  Hyde Parkers Brigid Maniates and Matthew Isoda are hosting a fundraiser for Brandon Johnson on Sunday, January 29, 6:30-8:30 p.m. at 5450 S. East View Park, Apt. 3.   All are welcome, with or without donations, but if you do plan to attend, please send a note to brigidmania@gmail.com.

Promontory Point — a step forward and a pause for NEPA review

The Commission on Chicago Landmarks voted on Thursday to approve preliminary landmark status for Promontory Point, a significant first step toward more protection for preserving the Point and particularly its distinctive limestone revetments. As reported by both BlockClubChicago and the Herald, the vote was unanimous, with several of the commissioners mentioning their own personal experiences with the Point.  Final approval of Landmark status rests with the City Council and it is hoped that could be secured in April, though no firm schedule is set.

While the hearing was mostly a chorus of praise for the Point, it also aired the continuing failures to communicate and lingering distrusts between the Promontory Point Conservancy and other supporters of Point preservation and the multiple government agencies — Park District, CDOT, and Army Corps – that have responsibility for the site. Alderman Hairston, who has been a strong supporter of Point preservation efforts throughout her tenure, was particularly forceful in reminding the City (in this case CDOT) and the Park District of their failures to deal openly and in good faith with her and the community over the past two decades.  She warned them to heed now the community’s wishes for true preservation and repair. All commissioners present voiced support for preservation of the limestone revetment, 

As the Herald report makes clear, however, the devil is in the details and semantics is important whether it be the meaning of “locally preferred plan” or the nuances of the levels of preservation – repair, restore, or rehabilitate – that might be applied to the Point. (For clarification of those terms, see here.) CPD and CDOT officials continue to talk about “rehabilitation,” which leaves open a huge loophole for the possibility of installation of their now standard concrete platforms but with just a few limestone blocks positioned as decoration.  This would not be allowed under an honest reading of the Chicago Landmark guidelines or the Secretary of the Interior Standards for Preservation, both of which now apply.  Point lovers should continue to be alert and vocal.

The final steps to becoming a Chicago Landmark are not the only challenges remaining for the Point.  Most immediate is the renewed planning by the US Army Corps of Engineers to restore and protect the entire Chicago shoreline.   A necessary step in this planning is an Environmental Assessment of the area, from Evanston to Indiana, under the terms of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to identify the valuable shoreline resources that would be adversely impacted by construction so that customized plans for those segments can be developed. The assessment considers not only environmental resources but also cultural, historic and social resources.  

As a first step the Army Corps is asking for input from formal stakeholders and also individuals about aspects of the shoreline that need special attention and care.  The original deadline for comments (January 17) is being extended because of complaints by the Promontory Point Conservancy (and probably others) that the notice was not distributed properly or widely. The new deadline has not been announced, but you should have another week at least to gather your thoughts about areas the need special treatment along the local shoreline – e.g., the Point, the South Shore Nature Sanctuary – and elsewhere over the 26 miles. Submit your comments and concerns to ChicagoShoreline@usace.army.mil.

Jackson Park Advisory Council starts the year with new leadership

Our final Update in 2022 was focused on the run-off election for the presidency of JPAC.  As many of you already know by now, Michael Scott was selected in a close vote.   Both he and his opponent have expressed their hopes for a united, effective organization.  

The first JPAC meeting of 2023 will be held on January 30, at the Washington Park Refectory (because the Jackson Park Fieldhouse is inaccessible), from 6 to 8 p.m.  The meeting will be structured as a workshop with small-group discussions about how JPAC should operate going forward.  A good time to get re-involved or involved for the first time.

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATIONS!

Thanks to all who have supported us financially.  As always, we will welcome your contributions.  If you have any questions about contributing, please contact us at jacksonparkwatch@gmail.com and we will get back to you.

You can contribute in three ways:

• You can contribute via checks made out to Jackson Park Watch sent directly to Jackson Park Watch, P.O. Box 15302, Chicago 60615. 
• You can contribute via PayPal here.  (If you encounter difficulties with PayPal, please let us know.)
• You can contribute via checks from donor-directed funds sent to our fiscal sponsor Friends of the Parks at FOTP, 67 E. Madison St., Suite 1817, Chicago IL 60602, ATTN Kevin Winters.  Such checks should be made out to FOTP with a note stating they are intended for Jackson Park Watch.

As always, we thank you.
Brenda Nelms and Jack Spicer
Co-presidents, Jackson Park Watch
www.jacksonparkwatch.org
jacksonparkwatch@gmail.com

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Get Informed:
The “Tiger Woods PGA Golf Course” in the 5^th Ward

What is the proposal?

• An 18-hole golf course to be created by merging two well-used existing courses in Jackson Park (18 holes) and South Shore Cultural Center (9 holes).
• Often misleadingly described as a “renovation,” it is a total demolition of both current courses as well as of many adjacent non-golf park features. 
• A top-down initiative, drawn up behind closed doors with no organic public support.
  • The University of Chicago’s 2014 confidential proposal to locate the Obama President Library in Jackson Park included a plan for a merged and expanded golf course.
  • The concept was then nurtured in private conversations involving University representatives, now-ousted Park District CEO Michael Kelly, and golf consultant Mark Rolfing and on occasion Obama Foundation representatives.
  • The project was announced in late 2016 by Mayor Emanuel and (as was later revealed by the mayor’s private emails) deliberately misrepresented as a community-driven initiative. 
  • It was presented in the Park District’s South Lakefront Framework Plan discussions (2017-18), along with the OPC, as a done deal, not subject to substantive review.

How would the proposed course impact South Side communities?

Environmental and Other Inequities

• Diminish access of underserved South Side communities to lakefront park space and amenities, even as Chicago is trying to overcome its long history of inequity in public parks. This move would be an embarrassing setback.  
• Disadvantage community golfers with increased fees and decreased course access.

 Environmental Losses 

• Remove some 2,100 mature and heritage trees in Jackson Park and SSCC, exacerbating public health problems, such as asthma and heat trauma, in a time of increasing urban air pollution and rising temperatures

• Threaten the safety of lake water for both recreation and consumption with toxic chemicals used for golf course maintenance  
• Diminish the South Side lakefront as a safe and essential stopover for thousands of migrating birds and for other wildlife

Recreational Losses 

• Reduce park space available for non-golf activities (soccer, baseball, softball, basketball, tennis, rodeos, beach play, picnicking, people walking and dog walking)
• Reduce access for community golfers to the repurposed golf course
• Eradicate the major portion of the South Shore Nature Sanctuary at SSCC, a haven of tranquility for humans and wildlife
• Limit public access to the lakefront and completely exclude access to major portions of Jackson Park and SSCC for weeks at a time during prime season for outdoor recreation in order to stage for-profit golf tournaments

Can Chicago afford to build this course?  No!

Economic Costs – High

• 2023 guesstimate:  $150 million (total course construction and related infrastructure costs, with allowance for effects of pandemic and inflation)
• Original marketing of the proposal indicated the course “renovation” would be largely funded with $25 million in private donations (ignoring the need for $58 million in publicly funded infrastructure).  A revised estimate in 2019 more than doubled the course cost (to $79.3 million), still ignoring the infrastructure cost and with no evidence of private donations to pay for the course reconfiguration (as opposed to support for youth programs).   

Economic Benefits — Low 

• A Park District internal report commissioned in 2019 treats the project primarily as a real estate development and revenue generator for the City and Park District, not as a plan to improve parks for community users. 

• Estimate of new tax revenue attributable to the project over the first 15 years:  an annual average of $160,000 for the County and $520,000\ for the City.  Even those modest projections may be too high, as they unrealistically assume that there will be a major tournament every other year, whereas one every five years would be more likely.  (And even that frequency is not assured; there may never be a PGA tournament here.)
• Increased spending and taxable revenues would be in the lodging and food-and-beverage sectors, mostly concentrated downtown.  There is no projection that there would be major direct spending in South Side communities around the parks.

THERE IS A WIN-WIN ALTERNATIVE:

Improve and invest in the existing golf courses and surrounding parks!

• Improve the existing two golf courses to benefit both golfers and other park users and the surrounding communities
• Focus on serving the local golfing community (including youth) rather than a wished-for small clientele of affluent golfers from elsewhere
• Continue and expand current youth golf programs, which are in no way dependent on the TGR design 
• Implement environmentally sensitive restoration, preserving existing trees and protecting the South Shore Nature Sanctuary, and establish a program of routine maintenance to forestall a return to the past pattern of neglect and decay
• Set a realistic timetable for the full project and a realistic, affordable budget 
• Seek corporate and individual philanthropic support for both construction and programming, which will likely be more forthcoming with a reality-based, transparent plan for community golf

Prepared by Jackson Park Watch, January 15, 2023 (http://jacksonparkwatch.org/)

***REMINDER***

Run-off Election for President of Jackson Park Advisory Council

Wednesday, December 21, 7:00 pm, at South Shore Cultural Center

As noted in the prior Update, 2023 will definitely bring a change in leadership to the Jackson Park Advisory Council.  You can help determine its new direction.  

The Hyde Park Herald characterized the issue as a choice between two opposing views of the role of a Park Advisory Council:  

• whether it is to support the actions and programs of the Park District without question (represented by the prior board and by the candidacy of Duwain Bailey)   

OR

• whether it is to support Park District programs and to weigh in also on “policy” issues, such as the construction of the Obama Presidential Center or the proposal for the Tiger Woods golf course (represented by the candidacy of Michael Scott).   

We believe JPAC can best be an advocate for Jackson Park and for all users of the park by embracing both roles – that is, both by supporting and monitoring park stewardship and Park District programs and by accurately assessing and representing the full range of community sentiments about park operations and proposals for major new initiatives such as the OPC or the golf course expansion. Such a comprehensive approach would be consistent with JPAC’s purpose as stated in its by-laws:  to advise and to make recommendations to the Chicago Park District concerning matters relating to Jackson Park and to patrons of the park.  (We note that patron has a dual meaning – as user/customer and as supporter – both of which are rightly applicable here.)

Who are the candidates?

Duwain Bailey is a district manager for Primerica Financial Services, an insurance company serving middle income families, and executive director of the Network of Woodlawn, which is currently focused on the multi-million-dollar Woodlawn Central development along 63^rd St.  He has previously worked as a public administrator for programs of the State of Illinois, City of Chicago, and Chicago Housing Authority. He is aligned with the prior leadership of JPAC that has been in office for the past decade.

Michael Scott, a long-time resident of Hyde Park and patron of public parks, is a professor of mechanical and industrial engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago.  He is currently vice president of the Promontory Point Conservancy and has served as parent and community representative on the Local School Councils for Ray Elementary School and Murray Language Academy.  He is aligned with park users who have become dissatisfied with JPAC’s actions and inaction on key issues over the past few years.  

Who can vote?  

To vote in this special election, members of JPAC must have attended two JPAC meetings in the preceding 12 months (including the election month, defined here as November). We regret that the potential voter pool has been reduced this year by the cancellation of two regular meetings (January and October).  As stated by a Park District official last month, the list of eligible voters will be unaltered from the November election meeting.  

***

If you qualify to vote in this special election, we urge your attendance on Wednesday evening. Remember to allow extra travel time to SSCC because of the now predictable traffic jams and, of course, the never predictable weather.

We believe that Michael Scott can best facilitate conversation among the diverse JPAC constituencies, balancing the new leadership team to assure that all voices are heard and all perspectives are represented to support the common goal of maintaining Jackson Park as a public asset for all Chicagoans.

As always, we thank you.

Brenda Nelms and Jack Spicer
Co-presidents, Jackson Park Watch
www.jacksonparkwatch.org
jacksonparkwatch@gmail.com

Greetings, All:

Yes, this is indeed the busiest time of year. However, this year there is important parks business that deserves and requires your attention and action in the coming weeks, even amid your traditional pleasures and pastimes.

MIDWAY PLAISANCE – 

CPD Community Zoom Meeting on Tuesday, December 13, 5:30 pm

The Chicago Park District has scheduled the 5^th (and final) Community Meeting for its proposal for “Midway Plaisance East End Improvements.”  This will be a virtual meeting – a webinar via Zoom.  You can register for the meeting here. 

Records of all prior community meetings and versions of the proposal are finally available on the CPD Capital Projects—Projects in Design website.   Oddly there is no mention of or registration link on that website now for the upcoming 5^th Community Meeting. That announcement went only to prior meeting attendees or commentators, but anyone can participate.

The announcement promises an overview of community feedback about the 4^th Community Meeting and a presentation of the final design plans for the universally accessible play space.    JPW outlined objections to and specific concerns about the CPD proposal in the prior Update and submitted those comments to the Park District.  We remain hopeful that the “final” proposal will be responsive to the many questions that have been repeatedly raised about the project.

JACKSON PARK ADVISORY COUNCIL – 

Run-off Election, Wednesday, December 21, 7:00 pm, at South Shore Cultural Center

As many of you witnessed and the Herald reported, the annual meeting of JPAC – held on Nov. 22 to elect officers for 2023 – was a weighty event.  The Herald characterized the election as a struggle between opposing definitions of the role of a Park Advisory Council:  to support the actions and programs of the Park District without question or to weigh in on “policy” issues, such as the construction of the Obama Presidential Center.   

The either/or dichotomy about the nature of JPAC does not seem accurate or necessary.  We see no conflict in JPAC embracing both roles. It can and should be an advocate for Jackson Park and for users of the park, not only by supporting park stewardship and programs, but also by accurately representing the full range of community sentiments about park operations and major new initiatives such as the OPC or the Tiger Woods golf course. Weighing in on such “policy” issues is presumably what the adjective “advisory” means in the title Park Advisory Council.

We see the election run-off as an opportunity to recalibrate JPAC meetings from monologues to dialogues and to re-establish JPAC as an active advocate for Jackson Park rather than a passive rubber stamp for top-down decisions. 

The Nov. 22 meeting, awkwardly rescheduled to bump up against Thanksgiving, featured the unexpected withdrawal of current officers from consideration and the nomination of new candidates for the four leadership positions.  Three officers – VP Spencer Bibbs, Secretary Russell Pike and Treasurer Eric Rogers – were elected.  However, there was a tie vote for the presidential candidates, requiring another special election meeting. 

After some delay, the date for the special election has just been announced as Wednesday, December 21.  There are objections to this date, which awkwardly falls in the middle of the very busiest week of the holiday season when many will be traveling.  But, until there is further notice, we urge you to mark your calendar for Dec. 21 if you meet the eligibility standards.

An official of the Park District, which counts ballots and certifies the election, has stated that “[t]he list of eligible voters will remain unaltered from the November elections. Members must have attended 2 JPAC meetings between 12/21 and 11/22 in order to be eligible to vote in the special election.”(We note that there is some concern and confusion also about this defined span.)

The candidates for president are Duwain Bailey and Michael Scott.  Basic information about their backgrounds and positions is provided in the Herald article and more information will be available before Dec. 21.  We believe Michael Scott offers the best opportunity to balance the JPAC leadership team and to assure that JPAC is opened to diverse voices and perspectives.

WHY BOTHER?

Good question.  Why should you take time now to participate in the design review for the Midway or in the JPAC elections? Why, especially when it is commonly understood that the Park District spotlights Park Advisory Councils that support its actions and ignores or stonewalls PACs and advocacy groups that have differing visions for their parks.  But in both cases the CPD practices the same top-down management that is responsive less to community interests and feedback than to mayoral dictates and to private monied interests.  As a result, parks, especially larger parks, are treated as revenue-generating spaces for rental or for development rather than as community treasures and valuable public assets in their own right.  

So why bother?   First, because public parks are inherently worth preserving and supporting as civic assets essential for our individual and collective well-being.  Second, because there is a new wave of park activism across the city.  The protests by Douglass Park residents against the intrusions of Riot Fest have led to more scrutiny by the Park District Board over the leasing of park space for large for-profit events. It is a small step toward accountability, but it seems to indicate that the new Park District superintendent and the new chair and members of its Board of Commissioners are paying attention to which way the wind is blowing.  The overwhelming support in the November election for a non-binding referendum to stop the cutting of trees in Jackson Park and to preserve trees at the South Shore Cultural Center Park signals the centrality of parks in the now prominent discussions of environmental protection, justice and equity.  Third, because the upcoming city elections offer an opportunity to elevate park issues so that all candidates for mayor or alderman are asked their position on the protection and expansion of parks generally and on park issues specific to their constituency.  And fourth, because it is important to continue to fight for free and open access to our public parks and to resist their privatization, commercialization and monetization. Like schools, health care and safety, parks are one of our basic public rights.

FOTP RECOGNIZES NEW VIPs 

Park advocacy is not a one-and-done effort.  Perseverance is the key, and Friends of the Parks has been leading the way since 1975.  One of its first initiatives that year was a clean-up of Jackson Park.

On Saturday, December 10, as part of its annual Parks as Democracy Conference, FOTP presented its 2022 Volunteers-in-Parks Awards to recognize exceptional efforts on behalf of Chicago’s public parks.  Among those recognized:  

Susannah Ribstein, steward of the South Shore Nature Sanctuary,  received the VIP Award for Stewardship

Promontory Point Conservancy received the VIP Award for Advocacy.

JPW supports both of these initiatives and welcomes their recognition by FOTP as part of a stellar group of VIPs.

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATIONS!

Thanks to all who have supported us financially.  As always, we will welcome your contributions.  If you have any questions about contributing, please contact us at jacksonparkwatch@gmail.com and we will get back to you.

You can contribute in three ways:

• You can contribute via checks made out to Jackson Park Watch sent directly to Jackson Park Watch, P.O. Box 15302, Chicago 60615. 
• You can contribute via PayPal here.  (If you encounter difficulties with PayPal, please let us know.)
• You can contribute via checks from donor-directed funds sent to our fiscal sponsor Friends of the Parks at FOTP, 67 E. Madison St., Suite 1817, Chicago IL 60602, ATTN Kevin Winters.  Such checks should be made out to FOTP with a note stating they are intended for Jackson Park Watch.

As always, we thank you.

Brenda Nelms and Jack Spicer
Co-presidents, Jackson Park Watch
www.jacksonparkwatch.org
jacksonparkwatch@gmail.com

Greetings, All:

TRICK OR TREAT?

Today is the fourth anniversary of the approval by the Chicago City Council of the ordinance   siting of the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park. The Council members approved Mayor Emanuel’s request unanimously with no debate, giving the Obama Foundation effective control of 19.3 acres in the midst of a renowned public park for 99 years. 

The ordinance committed the City to direct some $200 million of public funding for road changes and other infrastructure work to facilitate the project.  It also required the Obama Foundation to pay the City $10.00 (total) for the use of the park space and to certify that the Foundation had raised full funding for construction of the Center and for an endowment to support its maintenance and operations over the next century.  

We assume the $10 lease fee has been paid, but the City (by then headed by Mayor Lightfoot) waived the other financial requirements and allowed the Obama Foundation to begin construction in August 2021 without certifying that it had sufficient funds in hand to build and operate the center.  There is still no evidence that those “required” benchmarks have been met, even as trees have been leveled and deep holes dug. 

LESSONS FROM OLMSTED 

In recognition of 2022 as the 200^th anniversary of the birth of Frederick Law Olmsted, the Chicago Architecture Center last week sponsored an on-line discussion entitled “Past, Present and Future of Olmsted Landscapes in Chicago.”  Presenters were local historian and preservationist Julia Bachrach (author of The City in a Garden: A History of Chicago’s Parks), photographer Duane Savage (long-time resident of Washington Park and a leader of the Washington Park Camera Club), and Patricia O’Donnell (head of Heritage Landscapes and a specialist in Olmsted landscapes who was an advisor for the recent Army Corps’ GLFER project to revitalize Jackson Park lagoons and plantings).  The session concluded by asking for their thoughts on the Olmsted legacy in Chicago and on the benefits and drawbacks of the OPC. community.  

Some of their observations: 

• Locals Duane Savage and Julia Bachrach were direct in lamenting the community’s loss of park space to the OPC. Said Savage, “[With] all the open spaces on the South Side of Chicago, they did not need to build anything inside of a park. . . This idea of placing things right in the park has to stop. What is the use of having these grand spaces if they are going to be chewed away by motorists getting to a tourist location?”  Bachrach wished for an opportunity to give President Obama a tour of Jackson Park: “I would tell him I’m a North Sider and I would want to have Jackson Park a thousand times more than Lincoln Park. . . In Washington Park and Jackson Park there is a sense of discovery; you lose yourself in nature. . .This idea that a good park has to have all these bells and whistles like Maggie Daley Park I think misses the point.  It’s sad to add this major thing to an existing park and not understand the asset that you have.”

• Patricia O’Donnell was more circumspect, given that she is now advising the Park District on the efforts to mitigate OPC-related damages to the GLFER project.  She focused on what we can learn from Olmsted: “I think Olmsted’s legacy is enduring because it is correct.  [The goal is] offering nature in the city and welcoming everyone.”  Channeling Olmsted’s vision, she stressed that good parks are flexible and have multiple uses; they should not be fenced off for single uses.  In Jackson Park, for instance, she noted the continuing problem of the fenced golf driving range blocking the stretch between the Music Court and Hayes Drive.  Washington Park has its great meadow; Jackson Park does not. 

• Supporting the Olmsted view of parks as inclusive and diverse, Bachrach registered her disappointment that the Park District is still talking about combining the Jackson Park and South Shore golf courses. She sees that as a move in the wrong direction that will serve only a very selective, small group. 

• Finally, all joined O’Donnell in stressing the need for caretaking and maintenance of parks.  Politicians are too dazzled by promises of big money and fancy designs, and we need first to value and maintain the assets we already have.  There must be active and persistent advocacy on behalf of parks, generally and individually.

* * * *

Jackson Park and Midway Plaisance both exemplify the sad lesson that “benign neglect” can suddenly turn into “destroy to improve.”   With that lesson before us, we encourage park lovers to continue to let the powers-that-be know what’s on your mind about Jackson Park and its park neighbors.

SPEAK UP ABOUT THE MIDWAY   

It has now been more than three weeks since the Park District held the fourth community meeting on its proposal to “improve” the eastern tip of the Midway Plaisance in order to “replace” recreational space lost in Jackson Park to the Obama Presidential Center.  In spite of promises that the slide presentation and the video/audio recording of the October 6 meeting would be posted on the CPD website for the project within two weeks, the record is still not available and CPD has not responded to questions about the delay.  

We’ll wait no longer to recap the meeting, particularly since it was sparsely attended due to heavy rain and strong winds that evening that amplified the now regular construction traffic jams, the media coverage was also spare and incomplete, and the Park District is still accepting public comments on the proposal. 

The Block Club Chicago article on the meeting provides a general overview but glides over details.  The meeting was purportedly to report on and respond to the public comments on the design plan that had been presented at the end of June.  However, the prepared presentation did little to substantively engage the many criticisms and questions submitted during July and August.  A Q&A session allowed for some direct questions, but there were few direct responses. The designs for the site generally and for the accessible play space were basically the same as before, though there were some problematic and confusing additions.  

• To criticisms that the decision to use the Midway as the UPARR replacement site was a top-down edict promulgated without proper community input and without concern for equitable distribution of parks, Heather Gleason, Director of CPD’s Division of Planning and Construction, did acknowledge the widespread public dissatisfaction with the lack of transparency in the site selection process.  She then asserted that neither the City nor the Park District had legal authority to renegotiate the terms of the Section 106 Memorandum of Agreement that codified the selection.  

This position has been challenged by the Midway Park Advisory Council in print and again at the meeting and seems contrary to the language of Section VIII of the MOA. In the face of the Park District’s no-can-do response, an individual community member requested that the Park District’s counsel be present at the next meeting specifically to address the question of amending the MOA, given the widespread support for such action. Preservation Chicago and Friends of the Parks also spoke out at the meeting in support of amending the MOA and relocating the UPARR replacement site, and Openlands and Landmarks Chicago advocated for such a move in their written comments submitted before the meeting.  

It is important to note that this particular spot at the border between Hyde Park and Woodlawn is already park rich, and, as Park District officials acknowledged in response to a direct question, there has been no systematic demographic survey of the nearby area to support the site selection.   Rather, the immediate beneficiaries of siting the UPARR replacement space on the Midway will be the OPC, just a block south, and the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools Early Childhood Center, just a block north. Meanwhile, surrounding South Side neighborhoods, especially West Woodlawn, are chronically park poor and will remain under-served.

• To the many expressions of concern about the safety of the site for any play area and particularly for one aiming to serve children and others with various disabilities, the Park District responded that it had been in discussion with CDOT (which was not represented at the meeting) and showed marks on the map for two proposed crosswalks and drop-off areas on the Midway east and west roadways near the train embankment. There was also reference to plans to coordinate traffic signal patterns and to use the public parking lot at 60^th and Stony (controlled by the University).  It was, at best, a gesture to recognize a problem, but without evidence of careful analysis or a finalized workable solution.

• To concern about the lack of nearby, accessible public restrooms – a chronic problem throughout Chicago’s parks but again one deemed particularly important given the target audience for the play area – the Park District announced a proposal to install an accessible porta-potty on each side of the central play area and expressed hope that a permanent facility could be built later when funds were available.  We believe these unattractive twin towers will be appropriately embarrassing emblems of the inadequate planning for this worthy but woefully mis-located project.

• To the widespread objection to the plan to eradicate a 0.4-acre natural wetland adjacent to Stony Island Avenue, the Park District revealed but did not fully explain a modified plan that would expand and develop the “lowland area” but also would install a stormwater filtration and drainage system (a feature not needed for a natural wetland). Park District officials refused to use the term “wetland” even though the area had been so identified in the Environmental Assessment report (Appendix f) issued by the National Park Service in 2020 and even though Park District staff did volunteer that the City has already paid the mitigation fee to secure replacement wetland in Will County.  This additional instance of the Park District’s continuing lack of transparency and Orwellian use of language only fuels more distrust and bears more investigation.

• To the concern that the proposed plan ignored the community’s past usage of the Midway site as a sledding slope, the Park District staff shrugged.  

Perhaps the presentation and recording of the Oct. 6 meeting will be posted by the time this reaches your email box.  Please check the CPD capital projects website just in case.  If they are still missing, look again at the July 8, 2022 Draft Plan for Review in light of this summary and consider submitting new or additional comments on the Midway Plaisance East End Improvements Feedback Form. 

SPEAK UP ABOUT TREES

Next week residents in seven precincts adjacent to Jackson Park will be able to vote on an advisory referendum, sponsored by Save Jackson Park, asking that the City and Park District stop cutting more trees in Jackson Park and South Shore Cultural Center.  Some 380 trees have already been clear cut in the initial OPC construction work; roadwork could take another 470 and the proposed golf course over 2000 more.  That’s quite a loss of oxygen-producing, heat-reducing live trees that would take four decades to replace. The numbers speak for themselves.

*****

THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATIONS!

Thanks to all who have supported us financially.  As always, we will welcome your contributions.  If you have any questions about contributing, please contact us at jacksonparkwatch@gmail.com and we will get back to you.

You can contribute in three ways:

• You can contribute via checks made out to Jackson Park Watch sent directly to Jackson Park Watch, P.O. Box 15302, Chicago 60615. 
• You can contribute via PayPal here.  (If you encounter difficulties with PayPal, please let us know.)
• You can contribute via checks from donor-directed funds sent to our fiscal sponsor Friends of the Parks at FOTP, 67 E. Madison St., Suite 1817, Chicago IL 60602, ATTN Kevin Winters.  Such checks should be made out to FOTP with a note stating they are intended for Jackson Park Watch.

As always, we thank you.

Brenda Nelms and Jack Spicer
Co-presidents, Jackson Park Watch
www.jacksonparkwatch.org
jacksonparkwatch@gmail.com

Greetings, All:

As autumn arrives, here are some actions you can take and information you can use to support Jackson Park and its companion parks.

Mark your calendar – Thursday, Oct. 6, 5 pm – to support the Midway Plaisance 

The Park District has announced a “community meeting” for Thursday, October 6, 5:00 pm, at the South Shore Cultural Center to present the results of the 45-day comment period on its proposed redesign of the eastern tip of the Midway Plaisance and to discuss the next steps for that project.  

The CPD website for the project includes both the draft design presented as of June 8  and a compendium of the comments about the design that were submitted through August 22.  The comments make for interesting reading if you can download and magnify the document.  The great majority of the comments (88 of 106) oppose the use of the Midway as UPARR replacement land and oppose the proposed design in all or part, objecting particularly to the removal of the small wetland. 

Also available at the Thursday session will be information on the upcoming Burnham Building Restoration, the Jackson Park Plan for Interpretive Materials project, and the upcoming Washington Park Framework Plan.

Comment on a proposed new Park District ordinance before Oct. 31

The Board of Commissioners of the Chicago Park District is showing a new and refreshing responsiveness to park-user complaints.  The immediate prompt for optimism is its recent response to the many complaints about large private events taking over park space and making a park inaccessible to regular users for extended periods (e.g., Riot Fest in Douglass Park, Lollapalooza and the newly authorized NASCAR race in Grant Park).  

The Board has proposed amendments to Chapter VII, Section C of the Chicago Park District Code that would be codified by ordinance.  The amendments would require that any permit application to use park space for an event or activity with 10,000 or more attendees per day must receive approval from the Board of Commissioners (Section C.3.c.), and would make the Board’s decision to approve or deny a permit final and not reviewable by the General Superintendent (Section C.6.a.).  

The proposed amendments have been posted for a required 45-day public comment period, which will conclude on October 31, at which point the change would become effective upon approval by a majority of the Board of Commissioners.

JPW believes this is a positive step toward accountable management for the Park District and a step back from monetizing public park space as its first priority. We believe parks should be respites for people, available at all times, and not rental space for profit-making corporations. We encourage support of the amendments.  However, we will suggest two additions to strengthen and clarify the proposed text:

1. The text should specify that Board approval is required for an event/activity with 10,000 or more attendees per day that is proposed for any park property, regardless of the classification of that particular site within the CPD classification system. No loophole exceptions.
2. In addition to the number of daily attendees, a second key criteria for assessing any large event permit request should be the length of time for which the event would make the park space inaccessible by regular park users.  For instance, the time for setup before and then repairing the damage after Lollapalooza make areas of Grant Park unusable for six or more weeks during the prime season for park use.  Similarly, the PGA golf tournaments envisioned for the proposed Tiger Woods golf course in Jackson Park and South Shore Park would close the course for regular public players for at least three weeks, again in the middle of an already short season.  Such infringements on the use of public parks should not be acceptable.

We urge you to review these materials and to submit your own comments before Oct. 31.   See the CPD notice page on its website for the text of the amendments and information about uploading your comments there or submitting them by phone, USPS mail or email.

Keep up to date on Promontory Point News

The Promontory Point Conservancy continues to push for restoration of the Point’s revetement as part of the City’s efforts to secure the lakefront shoreline.  Restoration is the optimal approach from a cost perspective and also because of the Point’s listing on the National Register of Historic Places.   

Cost Estimates: The City and Park District’s “Locally Preferred Plan” is to demolish the limestone revetment and replace it with a new concrete and steel structure (as already lines much of the lakefront).  Their current estimate for this is $75M.  In sharp contrast, to follow the Secretary of the Interior Standards for Preservation for a preservation design that requires repair, restoration and rehabilitation rather than demolition would cost an estimated $25M maximum.  

Advisory Council on Historic Preservation: The controversy over the preservation of the historic limestone revetment at the Point has now been advanced by the Illinois State Historic Preservation Office (ILSHPO) to the ACHP.  This is a significant step.  The ACHP is an independent federal agency that promotes the preservation, enhancement, and productive use of our nation’s historic resources, and advises the President and Congress on national historic preservation policy.  The ACHP has the authority to insist that any project follow the Secretary of Interior Standards and that design decisions are carefully considered under a Section 106 Review, and it can adjudicate between the current “Locally Preferred Plan” and the federally funded preservation study, sponsored by Representative Robin Kelly, to be done in 2023.    

Keep up to date on the status of the Protect Our Parks suits against the OPC

The often-quoted maxim “Justice delayed is justice denied” would seem to be the perfect label for the suits filed by Protect Our Parks since 2018 to challenge the construction of the Obama Presidential Center.  Richard Epstein, a member of the legal team for Protect Our Parks, recently summarized the case, outlining the multifaceted arguments and the frustrating delays it continues to face.  

Meanwhile . . .

Brace for more congestion and traffic jams in Jackson Park.

*****

THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATIONS!

Thanks to all who have supported us financially.  As always, we will welcome your contributions.  If you have any questions about contributing, please contact us at jacksonparkwatch@gmail.com and we will get back to you.

You can contribute in three ways:

• You can contribute via checks made out to Jackson Park Watch sent directly to Jackson Park Watch, P.O. Box 15302, Chicago 60615. 
• You can contribute via PayPal here.  (If you encounter difficulties with PayPal, please let us know.)
• You can contribute via checks from donor-directed funds sent to our fiscal sponsor Friends of the Parks at FOTP, 67 E. Madison St., Suite 1817, Chicago IL 60602, ATTN Kevin Winters.  Such checks should be made out to FOTP with a note stating they are intended for Jackson Park Watch.

As always, we thank you.
Brenda Nelms and Jack Spicer
Co-presidents, Jackson Park Watch
www.jacksonparkwatch.org
jacksonparkwatch@gmail.com

Greetings, All:

Supposedly we are in the lazy dog days of summer, but there is a lot going on in and around Jackson Park.  

Amid the noise we would like to focus your attention for the moment on just one controversy – the designation of the eastern tip of the Midway Plaisance to “replace” some of the acreage in Jackson Park that has been commandeered for the Obama Presidential Center.

Prior Updates (January through May) have covered  the convoluted logic and slippery process behind the City and Park District plan to “improve” the Midway east of the railway embankment in order to meet requirements attached to prior funding (UPARR grants) for Jackson Park from the National Park Service. 

Here is where we are now:

On July 8, the Park District posted its draft plan for review during  the required 45-day consulting party and public comment period, and invited all interested individuals to submit comments on the proposal by August 22, using a particular portal on the CPD website.   

More detailed versions of the draft plan were presented at a virtual community meeting on June 21 and are available on the Park District website – both the PowerPoint slides and  a video/audio record of the slide presentation and discussion.   

The Hyde Park Herald provided a summary of the meeting and noted that the questions and comments by community members were largely critical of the project.  There were objections to the process for selecting the site, to the proposed design for a  play space that would dominate the site, and to the eradication of the existing  half-acre wetland.  None of these objections are addressed in the subsequent draft plan now posted for review.

What you can do before August 22:

We encourage you to review the latest plan for changes to the Midway tip and to submit your own comments and suggestions.  Even if you have already provided feedback at earlier stages in this discussion, it would be worthwhile to repeat those comments or offer additional remarks directed specifically to the draft plan.   We note that the Park District does not provide a public record of the full comments and suggestions it receives and, we assume, does not carryover comments and suggestions that have been previously ignored.  So, repetition is necessary, and the more comments submitted, the better.  

In addition to submitting a statement on the Park District comment portal, we suggest that you consider sending a copy of your comments to several other parties, including the signatory agencies to the Section 106 Memorandum of Agreement that authorized this misguided proposal for the Midway:    

Federal Highway Administration, Arlene.Kocher@dot.gov
Illinois State Historic Preservation Office,  Anthony.Rubano@illinois.gov   
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, rnelson@achp.gov
City of Chicago, Department of Transportation, gia.biagi@cityofchicago.org
Illinois Department of Transportation, Anthony.Quigley@Illinois.gov
Chicago Park District,  rosa.escareno@chicagoparkdistrict.com
National Park Service, Herbert_Frost@nps.gov
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-Chicago District, chicagodistrict.pao@usace.army.mil (with subject line:  Attn Col. Paul Culberson)
Alderman Leslie Hairston, l.hairston@cityofchicago.org; ward05@cityofchicago.org
Hyde Park Herald, h.faris@hpherald.com
Jackson Park Watch, jacksonparkwatch@gmail.com

Food for thought:

As you make your own assessment of the draft plan, we recommend you read this statement by the Midway Plaisance Advisory Council, which has opposed the use of the Midway tip as UPARR replacement land since that was first proposed in 2018.  MPAC is advocating now for a revision of the Section 106 Memorandum of Agreement so that the UPARR designation could be redirected to open space(s) elsewhere in the neighborhood, which would allow for an actual expansion of public parkland.   

We also offer here for review JPW’s statement to the Park District. 

*****

Jackson Park Watch has previously stated our opposition to the proposed use of the Midway tip to satisfy the UPARR requirements and we summarize our reasons here:

• The process of selecting the Midway as the UPARR replacement site made a mockery of the City’s promises for community engagement in the decision and indeed completely ignored the expressed objections of the Midway Plaisance Advisory Council.  
• The City’s interpretation of the UPARR requirements was blinkered, seemingly designed to serve primarily the Obama Foundation by combining a solution to the UPARR impediment with a plan to spruce up the Midway’s eastern tip in anticipation of visitors to the OPC from outside the neighborhood.  But the City failed miserably to take advantage of a special  opportunity to provide new, additional park space to underserved neighborhoods such as West Woodlawn.  
• The  designated “replacement” site is not a vacant lot in need of development, but rather it is already a public good that, like much of Jackson Park and many other South Side parks, has long been neglected when it should have been maintained and nurtured. The decades of inadequate park maintenance across the area are evident in crumbling pathways and bridges, untended plantings, flooded underpasses, and unplayable tennis courts and athletic fields, features that have been used by the Obama Foundation, media outlets, and even elected officials to claim that the parks are underused  and in need of “transformation” when all that is needed is regular care of what is there already.      
• The site is inappropriate for the proposed design of which the central feature is a universally accessible play area.  The site is difficult and unsafe to access;  surrounded by heavy traffic and noisy train tracks, exposing users to air and sensory pollution;  lacking in restroom facilities that could be particularly important for the targeted audience (defined as young children and disabled individuals of all ages). 

Here we comment on the specific design plan presented by the Park District at a public meeting on June 21 and presented in summary  (without any changes to reflect community input at that meeting) for the required 45-day Public Comment period that began on July 8.

• The long-neglected restoration of the Cheney-Goode Memorial is the primary achievement of this plan and to be applauded.  It should be the central feature of the site.
• The universally accessible nature play area that is the central feature of the draft plan seems to be a comprehensive assemblage of activities that could serve a wide range of disabled children and adults as well as able children under about age 10.  The assemblage of 25 separate stations has the feeling of boxes being checked to meet every need.  But it also has the feel of being tightly jammed into a space too small for its worthy ambitions.  The maximum capacity was projected by design team staff as 125, but the area would be unusable if anywhere near that many individuals of different ages and needs (plus caregivers) showed up at the same time.  The play area as designed requires more space, on a different site, to realize its potential and to be the showcase model that the Park District hopes it will be.  
• Beyond its crowded appearance, the expansive play area and the vertical mix of its individual elements clash with Olmsted’s open space design.  Also jarring is the introduction of  a pastel-roofed outlook amid a maze of wooden structures and planting.  A different plan would be needed to be compatible, spatially and aesthetically, with the historic site.
• We are told that the current plan is defined to be responsive to the requirements demands of the National Park Service for active recreation space, but current community use of the space for such activity is ignored.  The wide stretch of the playground (north to south) along with the ornamental plantings at each end will create a barrier that effectively eliminates one of the current recreational activities frequently mentioned by community residents – sledding down the railroad embankment to the center of the Midway.  This is in spite of design team response to comments at community meetings that “we hear you.”  Removing the playground and rethinking the plantings could preserve this pleasant (and active) pastime and also allow for the open space required by NPS without the need to eliminate the wetland.
• The July 8 plan continues to include the CPD’s plan to eradicate the half-acre of wetland at the eastern end of the site by regrading and the installation of new drainage. Many members of the community have spoken in opposition to this eradication on environmental grounds as well as because of the cost and futility of the proposed changes. We support the recommendation that the wetland be retained and featured as an important and natural element of the Midway.  We believe that there would still be adequate space for an athletics area as mandated by NPS (though we also believe that it would be an unnecessary feature for the site given the better athletic fields just to the west).    
• Many of the features that community members cited as essential if the proposed play area were to be built are either not yet included or not fully illustrated in the draft plan presented on July 8 for review. Chief among these are a safety fence around the play area, a safe drop-off or accessible parking area, and a restroom.    
  • The outline for a fence is shown on Proposed Design diagram #3, but the fence is not shown in either of the “View” illustrations in which the play area appears entirely open and unprotected.  Appearances and details are important.  It seems likely that an illustration of the play area surrounded by a fence would further emphasize the intrusiveness of the design for the site.  No decision about the design should be made until there is full information about the fencing to be installed. 
  • The July 8 materials do not include any reference to the repeated community  concerns about safe access to the site.  There was mention by staff at the June 21 community meeting of discussions with CDOT regarding better crosswalks and a drop-off on the south side of the site and of looking to the parking lot at 60^th and Stony (which is owned by the University) for possible accessible parking.  We believe that those discussions should be concluded and the results incorporated into the plan presented for public review before any final decision is made about the site or the design. Such features are necessary, not optional, regardless of the final design for the site.
  • There is no reference in the July 8 materials to community concerns about access to a restroom for users of the site and particularly for users of the universally accessible play area. Community members suggested that restroom facilities could be developed in collaboration with the to-be-renovated Metra station.  Cross-agency collaboration is difficult but not impossible and is especially important in an age of budget tightening, and it should be pursued.  No decision about the current design should be made until that important need is resolved.

Given the misguided use of the Midway tip as a UPARR replacement space, given the misfit of the current draft plan for the chosen site, given the many community concerns about the current design, and  given the reported lack of final funding, we suggest elements for an alternative plan that would be more appropriate, more effective and, most likely, less costly:

• Transfer the UPARR designation to another space (or spaces) in Woodlawn that would constitute additional parkland and that would be more accommodating, appropriate and accessible for a universally accessible play area.
• Restore the Cheney-Goode Memorial and make it the central feature of the site with an accessible connector path to it across the Midway.
• Maintain and develop the wetland area as a public resource and educational opportunity.
• Develop a design that would be more compatible with long-standing recreational usage of the site (e.g., sledding hill) and would also maintain an open lawn between the wetland area and the Cheney-Goode Memorial for optional recreation.
• Establish permanent safe access routes, drop-off areas and accessible parking.   
• Establish an endowed fund to support regular maintenance of the Midway site to avoid continuation of the pattern of neglected maintenance that has been the rule for at least fifty years.

*****

THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATIONS!

Thanks to all who have supported us financially.  As always, we will welcome your contributions.  If you have any questions about contributing, please contact us at jacksonparkwatch@gmail.com and we will get back to you.

You can contribute in three ways:

• You can contribute via checks made out to Jackson Park Watch sent directly to Jackson Park Watch, P.O. Box 15302, Chicago 60615. 
• You can contribute via PayPal here.  (If you encounter difficulties with PayPal, please let us know.)
• You can contribute via checks from donor-directed funds sent to our fiscal sponsor Friends of the Parks at FOTP, 67 E. Madison St., Suite 1817, Chicago  IL 60602, ATTN Kevin Winters.  Such checks should be made out to FOTP with a note stating they are intended for Jackson Park Watch.

As always, we thank you.

Brenda Nelms and Jack Spicer
Co-presidents, Jackson Park Watch
www.jacksonparkwatch.org
jacksonparkwatch@gmail.com

Greetings, All:

Midway Plaisance East End “Improvement” 

On May 3 the Park District hosted the second community meeting about its plan to use the eastern tip of the Midway Plaisance as replacement for recreational space in Jackson Park that is being obliterated by the Obama Presidential Center.  Park District staff also attended the May 11 meeting of the Midway Park Advisory Council.  In both meetings, the full  CPD plan was briefly outlined, but feedback was requested for only one feature –  the universally inclusive play space – that is proposed for the center of the site just east of the Cheney-Goode bench.

It was noted at the MPAC meeting that when the community was first  informed of the possible designation of the Midway as “replacement” park land  — in Spring 2017 – community members  responded with concern and questions.  The City stated then and repeated again and again that any final decision would have to be approved by the community after extensive public discussion and meetings. Those promises of public engagement were not kept and the community now is being shown a plan codified in the agreements that concluded the federal reviews of the plans for the OPC in Jackson Park.  The City and Park District claim that their hands are tied and that they have no choice but to execute the terms that they helped define without full public discussion or review. 

Yet, concerns and questions that were posed in 2017 and  in 2018 and in 2019, have had to be asked yet again in 2022 and still await answers:

• Will the iconic space envisioned by Olmsted as the link to Jackson Park be respected? In that spirit, the 2000 Midway Framework Plan proposed a large fountain. The current plan will restore historic plantings, tree alleys and walkways.  However, the ambitious play facility at its center is at odds with Olmsted’s design in tone, palette and scale, as would surely have been determined if the design have been available for inclusion in the Section 106 review process.   
• How will the half-acre wetland be handled?  The Herald quoted DPD Associate Director Eleanor Gorski on a visit to MPAC in 2018: “because an  underground stream flows down the Midway, it has been prone to chronic flooding issues that two engineering projects in recent memory have failed to fix.”   Now the City, perhaps looking for a  cheaper option, seems to have forgotten that history.  The only recent response to the “how” question has been “regrading,” which seems inadequate and would also represent another variation from Olmsted’s horizontal vision.   
• How will the space be made more safely accessible amid the increased traffic congestion brought on by the OPC?  Visitors to the space have to cross at least two busy roadways, with little or no parking adjacent or close by.  The Park District has said it will have CDOT input at its next meeting.
• How can an active recreational facility be safe and enjoyable for young children and for people with various impairments?   The site is surrounded on three sides by fast-moving, exhaust-spewing cars and on the fourth side by loud freight and passenger trains, and seems to require protective features.

The design images presented at the meetings and an audio recording of the May 3 session (including Q&As) are available on the Featured Capital Projects page of the Park District website [select “Midway Plaisance East End Improvement,” scroll down to “Meetings” and select “Video” for May 3].

Comments on the proposals for the play space and the other proposed changes to the Midway site should be submitted by May 20 via the Park District’s  Capital Project Feedback Form in order for them to be addressed at the subsequent public meeting on June 21.   That third community meeting will be another virtual session via Zoom.  Including your email address on the Feedback Form will ensure that you receive notices about that and subsequent meetings.

Remembering what is lost

Also included in the Park District’s May 3 meeting was a brief introduction to another mitigation initiative prescribed by the Section 106 Memorandum of Agreement – the Jackson Park Plan for Interpretive Materials.   It is listed as a separate Featured Capital Project, but to view the slide presentation and remarks made on May 3 look at the video listed above for the Midway Plaisance project.

This project too is on a tight schedule.  There is the promise of meeting and feedback opportunities throughout the summer, but no specifics yet.  The plan is to be finalized in October 2022 and implemented by February 2023.  So, if you have comments or suggestions about themes or specific people or events to be celebrated or about the mode(s) of presentation, don’t delay.  Be sure to use the Feedback Form associated with this specific project. 

Long, hot summers ahead? 

With the beginning of road work in Jackson Park in mid-April to accommodate the construction of the OPC, South Side residents (and those far beyond) have been subjected to tortuous delays, not only during rush hours. Signage to redirect southbound drivers approaching 57^th Drive through or around the maze has been more confusing than helpful.  Accidents have occurred and  on occasion back-ups have extended to Oakwood Blvd.  This past Friday a multivehicle crash at  the 57^th Drive intersection during peak rush hour reportedly brought southbound cars and city buses to a standstill for some 90 minutes. Now an additional, life-threatening concern has been exposed by the tragic shooting around the Golden Lady on Tuesday night. Ambulances dispatched to the scene – where six were critically wounded – reported difficulties navigating the jumble of parked cars and street/lane closures.   That’s an ominous start to a summer of hot nights and crowded parks and likely for years ahead.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATIONS!

Thanks to all who have supported us financially.  As always, we will welcome your contributions.  If you have any questions about contributing, please contact us at jacksonparkwatch@gmail.com and we will get back to you.

You can contribute in three ways:

• You can contribute via checks made out to Jackson Park Watch sent directly to Jackson Park Watch, P.O. Box 15302, Chicago 60615. 
• You can contribute via PayPal here.  (If you encounter difficulties with PayPal, please let us know.)
• You can contribute via checks from donor-directed funds sent to our fiscal sponsor Friends of the Parks at FOTP, 67 E. Madison St., Suite 1817, Chicago  IL 60602, ATTN Kevin Winters.  Such checks should be made out to FOTP with a note stating they are intended for Jackson Park Watch.

As always, we thank you.

Brenda Nelms and Jack Spicer
Co-presidents, Jackson Park Watch
www.jacksonparkwatch.org
jacksonparkwatch@gmail.com

Greetings, All:

While we are still waiting for spring, Jackson Park remains a hub of park activities and concerns.

Midway Plaisance East End Improvement Community Meeting #2

The Park District will host its second community meeting about proposed changes to the eastern tip of the Midway on Tuesday, May 3, 5:30 pm, at South Shore Cultural Center.  

This will be an in-person meeting.  A presentation by CPD staff and consultants is to include an overview of community feedback since the initial meeting on March 29,  a report on the historically significant  landscape elements to be restored, and preliminary design ideas for a “universally accessible play space.”  The CPD presentation will be available on-line after the meeting, posted on the “Featured Capital Projects” page of the Park District website.  

As explained in prior Updates and in a recent letter to the Hyde Park Herald, we have been  unimpressed by CPD’s “community engagement” charade and continue to regard its plans for the Midway tip as inappropriate, unsafe, costly, and unlikely to succeed. We submitted our comments and questions to the Park District via its Capital Project Feedback Form, and encourage you to do the same.  We hope that these issues will be addressed in the May 3 meeting, either directly or through questions.

There is to be a Q&A session on the Midway project though it is not clear how much time will be allowed as this same meeting is to include also a second presentation, though that is not mentioned on the meeting flyer.

The second topic – “Project Introduction” for the “Jackson Park Plan for Interpretive Materials” – is described on the CPD website. The federal review of plans for the Obama Presidential Center and other changes to Jackson Park that yielded the plan to provide replacement parkland on the Midway tip also provided for mitigation of adverse effects to Jackson Park through the development of a plan for interpretive materials within the park. (Remember that those “adverse effects” are the destruction of the comprehensive Olmsted design for Jackson Park and the loss of approximately 20 acres of public parkland.)   Accordingly, the Park District has engaged a consultant team led by Skidmore Owings Merrill (SOM) to help develop materials and programs “to commemorate the cultural and natural historical contributions of Jackson Park and its use by South Side residents.”  Presumably the meeting will provide more details.

Park advocates should pay attention to both of these initiatives and try to attend the Tuesday meeting if possible.

Fake news vs. real news  

On March 29,  U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey dismissed portions of the lawsuit initially filed in April 2021 by Protect Our Parks and six joint plaintiffs in opposition to the construction of the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park.  The ruling was widely mis-reported as a complete dismissal of the POP complaint in its entirety.   

The Hyde Park Herald got it right, however.  The dismissal applied only to state law claims relating to public trust and public land issues.  Still pending on the dockets of both the U.S. District Court and the 7^th Circuit Court of Appeal are POP’s federal law claims relating to the evaluations of the OPC project by federal agencies with respect to its environmental and historical preservation impacts.

Judge Blakey’s recent ruling allowed the discovery process on POP’s federal claims to resume, although all parties believe it would be helpful to learn first what the Seventh Circuit has to say in regards to the current appeal there.  As to the dismissal of the state law claims, the Plaintiffs have asked the District Court to allow the rulings to be appealed, and written arguments on that motion now being submitted for consideration.   

Stay tuned.

A day to celebrate or mourn?

April 26 was Frederick Law Olmsted’s 200^th birthday, an occasion celebrated by the New York Times with a special insert “Olmsted’s Enduring Legacy.”  Olmsted deserves high honor as  America’s pioneering and still premier landscape architect, but little attention was given to the date or to Chicago’s historic Olmsted parks by local media nor was there any mention of Chicago in the special insert.  Such omissions are tacit recognition of the drastic changes now underway to Olmsted’s design for Jackson Park and Midway Plaisance. Olmsted’s legacy does not endure in Chicago and we wrote the Tribune to lament that loss.  

THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATIONS!

Thanks to all who have supported us financially.  As always, we will welcome your contributions.  If you have any questions about contributing, please contact us at jacksonparkwatch@gmail.com and we will get back to you.

You can contribute in three ways:

• You can contribute via checks made out to Jackson Park Watch sent directly to Jackson Park Watch, P.O. Box 15302, Chicago 60615. 
• You can contribute via PayPal here.  (If you encounter difficulties with PayPal, please let us know.)
• You can contribute via checks from donor-directed funds sent to our fiscal sponsor Friends of the Parks at FOTP, 67 E. Madison St., Suite 1817, Chicago  IL 60602, ATTN Kevin Winters.  Such checks should be made out to FOTP with a note stating they are intended for Jackson Park Watch.

As always, we thank you.

Brenda Nelms and Jack Spicer
Co-presidents, Jackson Park Watch
www.jacksonparkwatch.org
jacksonparkwatch@gmail.com

Greetings, All:

Jackson Park and the surrounding circle of public parks are a hotbed of activity.  Historic Jackson Park is being disrupted (which is to say, destructed and totally remade by the imprint of the Obama Presidential Center and attending road work), but there are challenges all around that also require attention and engagement.

Jackson Park

• The Obama Foundation and the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) are busy levelling trees, digging deep holes, and preparing to slice off wide swaths of Jackson Park to expand DuSable Lake Shore Drive and Stony Island Avenue.  Their presentations to the 5^th Ward’s monthly meeting in February and March placed great emphasis on the worthy but short-term positive effect on local employment during the construction phase and ignored the long-term consequences for park users of removing playing fields and denuding the landscape of mature trees for the coming decades.
• The lawsuit and related motions filed by Protect Our Parks and its co-plaintiffs to challenge the federal review process that allowed the work to begin in Jackson Park remain in limbo at both the district and appellate levels, even though the suit was filed before the City had handed over Jackson Park to the Obama Foundation. 
• Speaking up for the trees is SaveJacksonPark.org, which is sponsoring a petition for an advisory referendum on the June primary ballot to stop tree removal in Jackson Park and South Shore Cultural Center Park with particular focus on the damage to be done by the proposed Tiger Woods golf course.  
• Meanwhile, at its March meeting, Jackson Park Advisory Council leaders avoided consideration of issues confronting current park users by proposing to limit discussion of  “Old Business” and “New Business” to 3 minutes each and then summarily adjourning the meeting before even reaching that point on the agenda.  Henry Martyn Robert must be spinning in his grave.

Park District to present planned changes to Midway Plaisance at Community Meeting

The Park District has scheduled a “Community Meeting” for Tuesday, March 29, 5:30-7:00 pm, to present its plan for “Midway Plaisance East End Improvements.”  The plan results from the decision by the City to designate the eastern tip of the Midway (between the Metra tracks and Stony Island) to “replace” some of the parkland in Jackson Park that is being lost to the Obama Presidential Center.

The posting on the Park District website for the Midway Plaisance implies that the meeting will be at the Midway field house, but it will actually be an on-line webinar via Zoom, and advance registration is required to receive the log-in instructions  and other information. There will be an initial slide-show presentation followed by a Q&A session.  We are told that the Q&A will be managed primarily through the chat function, but there will be an opportunity for direct oral questions or comments by participants unable to use the chat function. Comments on the project can also be submitted directly to the Park District on the Capital Project Feedback Form for Midway Plaisance East End Improvements. 

The CPD plan was already presented at Alderman Hairston’s 5^th Ward meetings in February and again in March, and that presentation is available for viewing. The segment on the Midway project is found at minutes 43:30-55:00.

In the previous Update we addressed the nonsensical and controversial plan and its development in opposition to the expressed wishes of the Midway Plaisance Advisory Council.  To those concerns and criticism we should add the issue of a timetable that  does not take into account either the pending renovation of the adjacent 59-60^th St. Metra Station or the adjacent roadwork being undertaken by CDOT to accommodate the OPC.  Comprehensive planning and coordination are needed, not blinkered project management with a slice and dice approach. 

We urge you to participate in the Community Meeting to voice your own concerns, questions, and suggestions.  After the meeting,  you may want to submit additional and more complete comments on the Capital Project Feedback Form.

Limestone Rocks   

Preservation Chicago recently selected  Promontory Point as one of the Chicago’s most endangered historic sites for 2022  because of the continued threat to the Point’s historic limestone revetment and landscape, which was designed by Alfred Caldwell, one of the greatest of Prairie School landscape designers.  The City and Park District–ignoring the Point’s inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places–aim to replace (rather than repair) the still solid, still usable and still cost-effective limestone rocks with the uninviting and less-durable textured concrete steps that now line much of the lakefront.   At the 5^th Ward meeting on March 22, Alderman Leslie Hairston criticized the City’s failure to listen to the people in the community and restated her strong support for preservation of the limestone revetment.  U.S. Representative Robin Kelly and State Senator Robert Peters have also expressed their support for preservation.  More on the threat to this popular destination can be found on the Promontory Point Conservancy website.

A Respite for All

Supporters of the South Shore Nature Sanctuary,  soon to celebrate its 20^th anniversary at the South Shore Cultural Center, have established a useful website to share information about its history, flora and fauna, events, and volunteer stewardship opportunities.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATIONS!

Thanks to all who have supported us financially.  As always, we will welcome your contributions.  If you have any questions about contributing, please contact us at jacksonparkwatch@gmail.com and we will get back to you.

You can contribute in three ways:

• You can contribute via checks made out to Jackson Park Watch sent directly to Jackson Park Watch, P.O. Box 15302, Chicago 60615. 
• You can contribute via PayPal here.  (If you encounter difficulties with PayPal, please let us know.)
• You can contribute via checks from donor-directed funds sent to our fiscal sponsor Friends of the Parks at FOTP, 67 E. Madison St., Suite 1817, Chicago  IL 60602, ATTN Kevin Winters.  Such checks should be made out to FOTP with a note stating they are intended for Jackson Park Watch.

As always, we thank you.

Brenda Nelms and Jack Spicer
Co-presidents, Jackson Park Watch
www.jacksonparkwatch.org
jacksonparkwatch@gmail.com