KEEP OUR LAKEFRONT ACCESSIBLE!

This email blast speaks for itself...

From: Matt Mirapaul [mailto:keepsheridanopen@yahoo.com]

Keep Evanston's Lakefront Accessible!

Please forward this to all concerned citizens. And please urge everyone to communicate their concern to the city's consultants via e-mail or letter. Our voices matter. KEEP OUR LAKEFRONT ACCESSIBLE! THE ISSUE Outside consultants to the City of Evanston are proposing some radical ideas in the latest version of the Lakefront Master Plan. The consultants claim their goal is to make our beloved lakefront more appealing and accessible. But if their poorly conceived plan is approved, the result would be exactly the reverse. LESS ACCESSIBLE! The consultants want to permanently close a straight section of Sheridan Road that runs just south of Northwestern University. They would re-route its busy traffic -- through two sharp turns -- onto quiet residential sidestreets. People driving to the lakefront would be forced to squeeze through terrible traffic bottlenecks. Visitors who can now park conveniently on Sheridan Road would have to search elsewhere for parking spaces. Also being discussed: closing Clark Street Beach, so popular with local families, and replacing it with a huge motorized-boat launch for powerboats and jet-skis. These proposals have been generated by outside consultants who clearly don't know the city or its neighborhoods. The ideas did not come from Evanston residents, who will suffer for decades with the plan's disastrous consequences. The city is calling the consultants' creation a "Draft Consensus Plan," but there is *no* consensus. Most Evanstonians remain unaware of the schemes to re-route Sheridan Road and close Clark Street Beach. The city has called more public meetings to collect citizen responses, but they have taken no polls or surveys. Residents of the neighborhoods that will be the worst affected are already voicing strong opposition to a plan that will make their streets unsafe, and the 11,000-plus annual visitors to Clark Street Beach have yet to realize they might lose their favorite playground. These proposals are dangerously close to becoming part of the final Lakefront Master Plan. After just a few more public meetings, the city will hold a public workshop on Nov. 15 to review the plan. Then it is likely to be submitted to the City Council. These proposals should concern everyone in Evanston. If the plan is approved, any resident expecting easy access to the lakefront will instead encounter gridlocked streets and tight parking. Northwestern students, faculty and staff will lose a major path to the campus. And commuters to Chicago and the North Shore will find their main artery has been clogged. LESS APPEALING! The consultants want to set up this roadblock so they can incorporate two tiny parcels of land, Lunt Park and Patriots Park, into the existing lakefront green zone. At the moment, those parks serve as calm public spaces that are close to but separate from the lakefront, providing a peaceful retreat for people who want to avoid the lakefront's hubbub. So, how would the consultants enhance this expanded natural setting? They want to replace a large lakefront area with a paved parking lot that is likely to be overrun by boat trailers. They want to plant a prairie-like dune environment that cannot be used for recreation. To help accommodate the re-routed Sheridan Road traffic, they would convert chunks of Lunt Park and Patriots Park into asphalt. And they might replace Clark Street Beach with a noisy launch for powerboats and jet-skis. STOP THE LAKEFRONT LUNACY! Before a Lakefront Master Plan containing these proposals is submitted to the City Council, everyone in Evanston should be made aware of the consultants' radical "vision." Evanston's lakefront needs work, and residents deserve improvements. But we need a realistic plan. Residents should demand that an independent traffic-engineering study be conducted to determine how closing Sheridan Road would affect commute times, parking, noise, and, most of all, car and pedestrian safety. And the consultants should be required to give cost estimates and funding sources for their proposals. Our taxes are already sky high, yet Evanston can barely afford to provide essential services. Until the consultants can guarantee that their plan won't raise taxes or lead to cuts in basic services, any action on these pricey proposals is premature. The consultants also must explain why taxpayers might have to pay for an expensive new boat launch when its users are happy where it is. Evanston has a long tradition of making its lakefront accessible to its diverse population. The consultants also need to demonstrate how shutting two blocks of a major road and closing a popular beach will preserve this tradition. Don't let a consultant's "vision" become Evanston's nightmare!

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP? OPPOSE THE PLAN AT ONE OF THE PUBLIC MEETINGS: 7-9 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 1: Levy Senior Center, 300 Dodge 7-9 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 8: Fleetwood-Jourdain Center, 1655 Foster Street OPPOSE THE PLAN AT THE FINAL PUBLIC WORKSHOP: 7-9 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15: Evanston Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Ave. (Parasol Room) OPPOSE THE PLAN IN A LETTER OR E-MAIL: It's important to make your opposition part of the public record. Whether you attend a meeting or not, send an e-mail or letter to city officials and their consultants before Nov. 8. The contacts are: Outside Consultants: Patricia Natke, UrbanWorks Ltd., Chicago: pnatke@urbanworksarchitecture.com Gregory Weykamp, EDAW Inc., Chicago: gregory.weykamp@edaw.com City of Evanston: Stefanie Levine, City of Evanston Landscape Architect/Project Manager: slevine@cityofevanston.org Julia A. Carroll, City Manager: citymanagersoffice@cityofevanston.org Lorraine H. Morton, Mayor: (847) 866-2979 Mailing address: City of Evanston, 2100 Ridge Road, Evanston, IL 60202 TELL YOUR ALDERMAN THAT YOU OPPOSE THE PLAN: Cheryl Wollin (1st ward): cherylwollin@sbcglobal.net Lionel Jean-Baptiste (2nd ward): ljean-baptiste@cityofevanston.org Melissa A. Wynne (3rd ward): mwynne@cityofevanston.org Steven J. Bernstein (4th ward): ald4th@aol.com Delores A. Holmes (5th ward): dholmes@cityofevanston.org Edmund B. Moran Jr. (6th ward): emoran@cityofevanston.org Elizabeth B. Tisdahl (7th ward): ebtisdahl@aol.com Ann Rainey (8th ward): annrainey8@aol.com Anjana Hansen (9th ward): anjanahansenorg@sbcglobal.net TELL THE LOCAL MEDIA THAT YOU WANT TO KEEP THE LAKEFRONT ACCESSIBLE: Write to: Editor, Evanston Review, 3701 W. Lake Ave., Glenview, IL 60026 bseidenberg@pioneerlocal.com (Bob Seidenberg, City Editor) Editor, Evanston Roundtable, 1124 Florence Ave., Suite 3, Evanston, IL 60202 info@evanstonroundtable.com ASK YOUR NEIGHBORS TO HELP KEEP THE LAKEFRONT ACCESSIBLE: Many residents are still unaware of these proposals. If you have friends and neighbors who will be affected by the plan, please share this information with them. If you know local organizations that would lose access to the lakefront, please alert them to these issues. More information on the Lakefront Master Plan, including illustrations of the Sheridan Road re-routing, is on the City's Web site: http://www.cityofevanston.org/departments/parks/lakefront-plan.shtml QUESTIONS? Contact your concerned neighbors at KeepSheridanOpen@yahoo.com KEEP OUR LAKEFRONT ACCESSIBLE!