Fifth Ward Ald. Leslie Hairston\u00a0is pushing back against plans to close major roads running through Jackson Park.<\/p>\n
The Obama Foundation has floated plans to community leaders\u00a0to close sections of Cornell Drive between 60th and 67th Street, and possibly Marquette Drive from Cornell to Lake Shore Drive.<\/p>\n
Hairston said the only plan she\u2019s been presented with is closing sections of Cornell Drive, and she\u2019s not in favor of the idea from what she\u2019s heard.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis seems like a bad idea,\u201d Hairston said.<\/p>\n
She said she was struggling to see how traffic would get from Lake Shore Drive to Stony Island and onto the Chicago Skyway. She said the intersection at 59th Street that diverts cars south onto Stony Island Avenue and west to the Midway Plaisance is already problematic.<\/p>\n
Obama Foundation officials were not available to comment.<\/p>\n
Closing Cornell Drive would connect the future Barack Obama presidential library campus to the green spaces surrounding Wooded Island farther to the east and the Museum of Science and Industry. Eliminating portions of Cornell and Marquette drives also would open space for the redesign of the Jackson Park Golf Course and eliminate headaches for designers trying to figure out how to get golfers across several busy streets in the park.<\/p>\n
Hairston said the problem for her was that the proposal does not account for the added traffic the redesigned golf course, the presidential library and a proposed visitors center would all bring to the park.<\/p>\n
\u201cStony Island has to be a discussion,\u201d Hairston said. \u201cWhen you talk about closing a street, you have to be talking about everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hairston has expressed concerns in the past that the large number of projects planned for Jackson Park are too siloed and progressing without enough attention on how they will all interact with each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to look at the totality,\u201d Hairston said.<\/p>\n
A representative from the Chicago Park District referred questions to the Mayor\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n
“It is premature to talk about specific ideas related to site configuration, improvements, street and access matters and related issues,” said Shannon Breymaier, a spokeswoman for the Mayor’s Office.\u00a0“Options will be fully vetted once additional details on the center have been developed. Any significant proposals will have to be approved through a process that will include the opportunity for community input.”<\/p>\n
Park District Supt. Mike Kelly has said in the past, including at a recent 5th Ward meeting, that all plans being developed have been in the works since at least 1999, when a framework was developed with the community and park volunteers. The framework, though now about 18 years old,\u00a0includes many of the projects now in the works, including an $8.1 million habitat restoration by the Army Corps of Engineers.<\/p>\n
That\u00a0plan\u00a0calls for Cornell Drive to be narrowed from its current six lanes, reducing its role as a shortcut for commuters.<\/p>\n
Experts on the park\u2019s designer, Frederick Law Olmsted, have also renewed the call to reduce the size of Cornell Drive.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt 12 feet wide, the Cornell lanes are highway lanes now,\u201d said Patricia O\u2019Donnell of Heritage Landscapes in November 2015 after completing a review of the park for the Park District.<\/p>\n
No one\u00a0has proposed closing streets.<\/p>\n
Friends of the Parks has echoed some of Hairston\u2019s concerns and called for a more comprehensive planning process.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey really should have done a new framework plan in this decade ahead of this process of planning for a golf course,\u201d said Juanita Irizarry, executive director of the parks advocacy group, after the Park District board voted to move forward with initial survey work for the golf course in January.<\/p>\n
The Jackson Park Advisory Council has remained active in the discussions of all the projects, but has often, like with the golf course, been unable to vote on the projects until the ball is already rolling.<\/p>\n
The council determined on Jan. 27 that redesigning the golf course would be an asset to the park.<\/p>\n
The council\u2019s decision came two weeks after a Jan. 11 vote by the Park District board to spend $1.1 million on a feasibility study on redesigning the golf course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fifth Ward Ald. Leslie Hairston\u00a0is pushing back against plans to close major roads running through Jackson Park. The Obama Foundation has floated plans to community leaders\u00a0to close sections of Cornell Drive between 60th and 67th Street, and possibly Marquette Drive from Cornell to Lake Shore Drive. Hairston said the only plan she\u2019s been presented with … Continue reading Closing Road To Skyway Through Jackson Park A ‘Bad Idea,’ Alderman Says<\/span>