Parks

Development | Parks

Touring Jackson Park’s Future

With the Obama Presidential Center incoming, the Jackson Park Advisory Council seeks to ease concerns about a beloved park

by 2 months ago

Jason Schumer

The planned Obama Presidential Center (OPC) in Jackson Park has drawn praise and criticism from the beginning. Proponents argue it will bring jobs and spark economic development in Woodlawn, with the Obama Foundation estimating that, over ten years, the OPC will generate $2.1 billion in additional income for South Side business owners. But critics of the center, led by the Obama Community Benefits Agreement Coalition, argue that a legally binding agreement is needed to ensure that influx goes to supporting residents, rather than displacing them.

Features | History | Parks | South Shore

A Palace for the People

South Shore residents continue a long fight to make the South Shore Cultural Center a space for community arts

by 2 months ago 7 Comments

Jason Schumer

Boasting four tall towers, each topped by an American flag and flanked by well-groomed flower beds, the South Shore Cultural Center drips of stateliness. Inside there is no less pomp and circumstance—cascading chandeliers, embossed ceilings, detailed early-twentieth century wallpaper, and floor-to-ceiling windows give the space a palatial quality.

Features | History | Nature | Nature Issue 2017 | Parks

Greener Pastures

What the history of Jackson Park tells us about its uncertain future

by 2 years ago 3 Comments

Within a year of the World’s Columbian Exhibition’s closure, a large fire razed most of the buildings, which gave Olmsted the opportunity in 1895 to create this revised general plan for Jackson Park—a waterway system that would connect Jackson Park through a canal running down the Midway to Washington Park. (New York Public Library)

Parks are for people,” Frances Vandervoort told me. A board member and Committee Chairman of the Hyde Park Historical Society, she holds a similar position on the Jackson Park Advisory Council (JPAC), a watchdog organization for the South Side park of the same name. That’s what I’ve come to talk with Vandervoort about: the changes that will soon come to Jackson Park. The first signs of these changes are visible even today—a nonprofit called Project 120 Chicago, in partnership with the Chicago Park District and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), has partially underwritten a series of revitalization projects taking place in the park since 2013. These are forerunners of more significant changes to come: the Obama Presidential Center (OPC) is slotted to open in Jackson Park in 2021, and the Tiger Woods–designed revitalization of the Jackson Park and South Shore Golf Courses—which will combine them into one PGA-grade course, and will be financed through a public-private partnership—is expected to be completed by 2020. Both projects have been sources of controversy.

Nature | Nature Issue 2017 | Parks

The Eyes, Ears, and Voices of the Parks

All public parks in Chicago can have stewards, volunteers who takes care of the wildlife and perform public outreach. The Weekly spoke to five of them.

by 2 years ago

L-R: Heather Breems, Jennifer Raber, Katie Flores, Jerry Levy, Alison Anastasio (Rohan Patrick McDonald)

Alison Anastasio and Jennifer Raber, Rainbow Beach Dunes Stewards

Lead | Parks

Paths to Contamination

How lead can enter the body, in private homes and in public parks

by 2 years ago

Christopher Brown

Lead, a soft and naturally occurring metal, is one of the best-studied toxic substances known to humans—it is especially harmful to the brain, kidneys, bone marrow, and other body systems of young children. Childhood lead poisoning has been dramatically reduced over the past few decades, as lead has been phased out from gasoline, food and beverage cans, house paint, and other common sources. In 1978, there were about 14.8 million poisoned children in the United States; by the early 1990s, that number had declined to 890,000 children. In Chicago, the rates of elevated blood levels in children have decreased from one in four to fewer than one in one hundred children tested.