The Chicago Park District is giving it away. Leasing it, anyway. The lakefront, that is, one little bit at a time. There is a petition being circulated in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood to stop the latest wave of erosion.
Update: Rogers Park resident Mary Bao is circulating a petition to protest this development. Her number, on the petition, is 733-368-1005. Call her, get a petition, circulate it.
The tennis courts at the end of W. Farwell Avenue have long been neglected by the Park District. The courts have not been repaved in years, and the nets are left up during the winter. Even so, many local residents enjoy playing tennis on the courts that their taxes helped to build.
But the Park District wants to grant a long-term lease to a condo association for the private use of the grassy land next to the courts for private use. That grassy patch of land will be paved over to become a parking lot.
To quote from the petition: "There are plans to lease the space between 1125 Farwell and the tennis courts to the developer" of an 18-unit condominium building. That's the building that's been under renovation for a long time now. "They will develop 30 parking spaces," says the petition, "for the private use of the 1125 Farwell Condominiums."
The units sell for upwards of $299,000 each. A two-bed, one-bath is selling for $339,000. It is not known how much the Park District will charge for the leasing of this patch of green park land.
It is bit ironic that in Rogers Park, a neighborhood in love with its beaches and starving for local parking, 30 new parking spaces might be created by what amounts to the theft of public park land by an agency charged with protecting it.
We hope that Alderman Joe Moore, a guy who swears he's for protecting the lakefront, will step up and do what he can to block this. In the unfortunate event that the lease becomes reality, do you think the Park District could spare a few sheckles to repair the neglected tennis courts?
LINKS:
Chicago Park District
Alderman Joe Moore
Updated: Giving Away the Lakefront
The Chicago Park District is giving it away. Leasing it, anyway. The lakefront, that is, one little bit at a time. There is a petition being circulated in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood to stop the latest wave of erosion.
Update: Rogers Park resident Mary Bao is circulating a petition to protest this development. Her number, on the petition, is 733-368-1005. Call her, get a petition, circulate it.
The tennis courts at the end of W. Farwell Avenue have long been neglected by the Park District. The courts have not been repaved in years, and the nets are left up during the winter. Even so, many local residents enjoy playing tennis on the courts that their taxes helped to build.
But the Park District wants to grant a long-term lease to a condo association for the private use of the grassy land next to the courts for private use. That grassy patch of land will be paved over to become a parking lot.
To quote from the petition: "There are plans to lease the space between 1125 Farwell and the tennis courts to the developer" of an 18-unit condominium building. That's the building that's been under renovation for a long time now. "They will develop 30 parking spaces," says the petition, "for the private use of the 1125 Farwell Condominiums."
The units sell for upwards of $299,000 each. A two-bed, one-bath is selling for $339,000. It is not known how much the Park District will charge for the leasing of this patch of green park land.
It is bit ironic that in Rogers Park, a neighborhood in love with its beaches and starving for local parking, 30 new parking spaces might be created by what amounts to the theft of public park land by an agency charged with protecting it.
We hope that Alderman Joe Moore, a guy who swears he's for protecting the lakefront, will step up and do what he can to block this. In the unfortunate event that the lease becomes reality, do you think the Park District could spare a few sheckles to repair the neglected tennis courts?
LINKS:
Chicago Park District
Alderman Joe Moore
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No! This is wrong! Valuable lakefront property being used for Parking? That is sick.
ReplyDeleteSame story over at Chase and the North Shore School. Shameful.
Meantime, half of the north side fencing at the baseball field has been ripped down and lays on the grass. A few sheckles are needed for that repair too.
ReplyDelete