Let them eat cake! (From the pork barrel?)
In this story, a queen comes to Chicago. The foreign land from whence the queen hailed was Detroit. She is the self appointed queen of the parks in Chicago that invokes the words of great architectural planners to justify the agenda of a very select few. This queen now lives in a palace in the Gold Coast of Chicago and met her king in a fairy tail story set on the bicycle trails of the Lincoln Park lake shore. Not only did she fall in love with the man but also the lake shore. Most of us can empathize with her passion for the lake shore! In her bliss, the queen has come to the conclusion that she knows what is good for all the people of Chicago when it comes to the park system and social re-engineering. As with most monarchs, this one doesn’t care that much about what the little people think. (Even in the case of the most recent referendum/vote taken during the presidential primary race)
What would be the first and foremost purpose for this landfill? More bicycle trails of course! Is the lakefront really where we are “park poor” and is the FOTP initiative really what the public has been asking for anyway or is this really more about a philosophical rub and 100+ year old vision gone wrong?
Somehow, even though summertime Chicago becomes the country's largest beach town as sun fanciers and sports lovers flock to our 29 miles of lakefront, the FOTP feels that we have so little lake front available that citizens are being disenfranchised. The FOTP feels that something dramatic must be done about it. (Make no little plans)
The FOTP tactic has been to treat their agenda as a "Fait accompli", rather that asking what the community really wants and in fact flat out ignoring what the majority of the community really is saying.
Ironically the queen feels that the most appropriate use of public funds for our supposedly “park poor” city would be to add more public beach right next to the already existing public beaches and parks. Of course putting more parks in areas multiple blocks west of lake Michigan which are truly devoid of such amenities doesn’t fit in to her agenda.
Even worse, this plan would be accomplished by doing landfill in front of private property owners homes to in effect, take away their beaches. (this brings glee to some people) In fact, these properties have had private residences on them since the time before Daniel Burnham’s plan. If you would ask the FOTP why something so extreme needs to be done, they’d suggest that, NO ONE should have that exclusive lakefront privilege. It would seem that the FOTP is trying to “paint” Daniel Burnham as an egalitarian communist that had the belief that there’s something ethically wrong with us living here directly upon the lake shore.
If the FOTP was really trying to “feed” these supposedly disenfranchised residents parks that they “supposedly” so sorely needed, why is the FOTP proposing feeding them the types of parks that Edgewater already has an abundance of ?
My plea to the politicians is, before considering anything the FOTP wants, consider the crumbling bridge and viaduct infrastructure, soaring sales taxes, and the struggling public transportation system. The negative consequence is that the city, as usual, would mainly be indulging those interested in “pork”!!! The FOTP needs to think more about becoming a true FOTTP (Friend of the tax payer).
Some would say that this is really about a Gold Coast elitist’s ideas of how social re-engineering should take place. Aren’t there easier places to build parks that don’t require such unusual engineering feats or pose environmental concerns?
While the FOTP suggests they are taking their “marching orders” directly from Daniel Burnham’s plans, many believe that the FOTP has perverted those ideas to suit their own agenda. It would seem that some activist types are being duped in to thinking this FOTP charter would be for the greater good of all in Chicago. We are encouraged to believe that in fact this was Daniel Burnham’s plan; it is sacred, unalterable, beyond reproach and that it is almost blasphemous to suggest “the plan” may not fully be standing the test of time 100+ years later.
Design charette volunteers? (50% of them not from Edgewater, let alone Sheridan Road) Some of these “do gooders” have become more militant. In fact, it would seem that the strategy has been to start creating unneeded social class warfare where we never knew there was a problem.
It would seem that we are just being used as pawns by both the FOTP and the Chicago politicos and developers that stand to benefit from this “pork barrel” proposition.
The FOTP has enacted a strategy that pits neighbors against neighbors. Some of the FOTP supporters have described the Sheridan Road condo residents as cliff dwellers that live in ugly structures that make Sheridan road a very dark cavernous space. At the 3/6 FOTP meeting in Berger Park, a male FOTP activist was shouting at a female East Point resident to the point that it became physically intimidating and another male had to step in to calm the situation. The FOTP is encouraging a nasty version of "class warfare".
Basically, if the FOTP gets their wish, the lakefront owners lose big while the supposed “disenfranchised” gain very little and all while the “pork barrel” proponents win big! This is the classic Chicago political mode of operation! Let’s stop repeating history. Really, truly, the primary ones that would benefit from the FOTP’s agenda are city politicos, architects, developers and all at a huge cost to us.
Interestingly and ironically, there are some Chicago Park District employees that have their concerns and objections about the FOTP’s ideas but can not publicly voice them because of the danger of doing so.
FOTP admittedly has been pushing this agenda, neighborhood by neighborhood, over and over again since the 1980’s. Of course it was shot down in 2004 in Roger’s Park and most recently in South Shore by a vote of 91%. The “Queen” chooses to ignore those facts! (Just ask her)
Personally, my wife and I have lived in the Edgewater/Roger’s Park neighborhoods for over the past 20 years. Both of our families are from South Shore. My family came to Chicago in the 1830’s. I used to ride my bike to the beach as a child. Neither myself nor my wife have lived on the lakeshore before this, nor have our families ever since the 1830’s.
SOMEHOW NONE OF US EVER FELT DISENFRANCHISED AS THE FOTP WOULD SUGGEST WE SHOULD HAVE!
John Redell