November 7, 2022

Dear friend of the parks,

Warm greetings amidst a beautiful autumn season in Chicago.

And we cannot help but be very cognizant of the difficult, but important, role Friends of the Parks plays in holding space for conversations--including honest and legitimate disagreements--about what it means for parks to be democratic spaces.

For example, neither all board members nor all friends of the parks immediately would have the same opinion about the appropriateness of a new or expanded museum in a public park. Some of us fiercely advocate against buildings of any kind in parks. Others see museums and other public buildings as potential assets that could enhance a park under the right circumstances.

But we know one thing for sure. There is no room for the taking of public land that is represented by the unauthorized start of construction on a new building in the park as the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture (NMPRAC) recently has done.  

City Halts Work On Puerto Rican Museum Project Next To Humboldt Park Landmark | Block Club Chicago

“A Humboldt Park museum led by a longtime former alderman has been ordered to stop construction on a cinder-block building after city officials found the project got underway without correct permits.

The National Puerto Rican Museum of Arts & Culture, which occupies a landmarked building at 3015 W. Division St. in Humboldt Park’s namesake park, is building a secondary facility on park land directly next to the museum. Once complete, the building will store the museum’s archives and art collections, Executive Director Billy Ocasio said.

Ocasio served as 26th Ward alderman from 1993 to 2009.

Preservationists and neighbors questioned how the rectangular, cinder-block structure was permitted to go up next to the Queen Anne-style stables, which date back to the 1890s. As it turns out, the project did not receive necessary permits or clear layers of city and state approval to start construction, officials said. A stop-work order was issued Sept. 25, city officials said.”

Read the complete article at Block Club Chicago.

We can value NMPRAC’s role as one of the authorized Museums in the Parks as well as their part in the Puerto Rican community’s movement to celebrate culture and stand firm in the face of gentrification and still insist that this action they have taken is wrong.

Meanwhile, we have been tracking park-related decision-making processes (or the lack thereof) in other parks, regardless of individual and organizational opinions about the actual structures or uses planned for certain parks.

From the beginning, FOTP impressed upon the Obama Foundation the importance of following the Section 106 and NEPA processes that would be required because of that choice. We even warned them that others might sue over improper process. Indeed, that has been the case, as we all know about Protect Our Parks’ legal challenges.

Plans For Eastern Midway Plaisance Overhaul Could Be Finalized Before End Of The Year | Block Club Chicago

“The changes follow a 45-day public review that ended Aug. 22. Dozens of the 140 public comments criticized aspects of the Midway overhaul, including nearly a dozen similar responses taking issue with the play area’s disruption of ‘ephemeral wetlands.’

Opponents also questioned why the Park District is overhauling spaces near Jackson Park and another playground instead of adding green space to areas that need it more than Hyde Park. Some want officials to modify the agreement so the project can be moved.

The Park District isn’t interested in relocating the project or leaving the Midway’s east end as-is, Gleason said.”

Read the complete article at Block Club Chicago.

Over the years, we also have become aware of behind-closed-doors processes regarding a proposed Garfield Park Power House project to reutilize vacant structures on public park property. It is hard to find up-to-date information about the concepts announced here. But that is part of our concern. We now are hearing renewed murmurings about forward movement. But when asked, Chicago Park District senior officials have expressed a lack of knowledge about the current status of the project. Garfield Park Advisory Council members leave open the possibility that it could be a good opportunity to collaborate with existing youth and arts programming at the park. But their access to information about the project has been limited.

So in all that we do, FOTP is championing parks as democratic spaces in terms of both product and process. As we develop our advocacy strategies, our assessment of where the problems lie and which entities need to be challenged and how is not always the same.

In another instance, it was a local bird advocate who also is a friend of the parks who has brought to the light concerns about the Chicago History Museum expansion project. This issue raises questions about whether the Museum in the Parks lease relationship with the Chicago Park District appropriately ensures oversight—this time in relation to requirements to protect endangered birds—as the relevant players point fingers at one another.

A Chicago Museum Disrupted an Endangered Bird's Habitat | National Geographic

“In 2021, the museum broke ground on an effort to modernize its shaded lawns. The project included the construction of a walking trail with signs highlighting Chicago history, the installation of native plantings, and the reinforcement of the ceiling above its leaky underground archives. The work was designed, in part, to make the space a more attractive venue for high-dollar events like weddings and fundraisers.

The area, however, was also adjacent to a long-standing breeding ground for at least 45 pairs of black-crowned night herons, which are listed as endangered in the state of Illinois. Museum officials were not only aware of the herons, staff and visitors even enjoyed having an endangered bird’s rookery on the museum’s grounds.

‘The birds had been around for a while,’ John Russick, senior vice president of the museum, told National Geographic. ‘It was kind of cool that they were here.’

Yet museum officials appeared to minimize possible damage to the birds’ rookery that a major construction project would cause. Based on the museum’s limited assessment of the birds, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources conducted a brief environmental review and found the renovation posed little risk of disruption to the herons. Teams of workers arrived in March of 2021, just before the herons’ annual springtime nesting season. The crews operated loud equipment at times only a few yards from the rookery.

Soon after, the birds abandoned their nests. Weeks later, crows were seen scavenging on dead nestlings. In 2022, a handful of male herons returned to the site, but after failing to attract mates, they left.”

Read the complete article at National Geographic.

This summer, FOTP utilized our role on the mayor's Museum Campus Working Group to ensure that everyone heard the message that lots of Chicagoans stand strong in defense of the historic “open, clear and free” nature of our lakefront, while some members of the group schemed about how to get around limitations to building there. Shortly before that, our Advocacy Committee had engaged the Shedd Aquarium’s invitation to speak into their proposed design for expansion of their lakefront museum; ultimately, they took their plans to the Chicago Plan Commission for review with an FOTP letter of support in hand. The year before that we saw the finalization of plans for a new school on the grounds of Riis Park, a development that many of us might not have preferred but which we negotiated over a two-year period with community representatives, with commitments to advocating together for more green space nearby and preserving the historic field house building as key parts of the outcome.

For our parks and for our democracy.

Yours in partnership,

Keith M. Kelley

Board Vice-Chair and Advocacy Committee Chair

Juanita Irizarry

Executive Director