At the Zoom community meeting held on the 13th of May Alderman Vasquez brought together representatives from his office, representatives from the Chicago Park District, and community members from the WEAR association and other neighborhood associations to discuss the status of the West Edgewater neighborhood park.
With the official designation of Park 599 from the Chicago Park District the as yet to be named neighborhood park in the West Edgewater/Andersonville community is now finally much closer to becoming a reality some 20 years after the closing of the Edgewater Medical Center.
The future park occupies approximately 33% of the original Edgewater Hospital site and is located just west of Anderson Point, a adaptive reuse luxury apartment complex located in the former Edgewater Hospital buildings along 5700 N Ashland Ave.
Sarah White, Park 599’s project manager, updated the attendees on the project’s status and a shared 2 new concepts for the design of Park 599 (see images below). The 3 main points I took from her presentation are as follows: (1) the city is working on the acquisition of the site, (2) the site design and approvals will require about 6 months (project is presently in schematic design), and, (3) once approved the “bidding, permitting, and construction” could be completed in 6-12 months.
Following her presentation the meeting was opened up for comments, questions, and discussion. There were quite a few that Alderman Vasquez, members of his staff, and park district representatives took turns fielding. The topics ranged from such matters as local infrastructure around the park, park cost, park programing, park naming, and community input and participation. For a full account of the presentation and the questions and discussions that followed, view the recording of the meeting at the link https://fb.watch/5IReXbwTNz/.
That said in summary I would say the questions and discussion indicate there remains a strong desire in the community for the opportunity to participate in the designing and programing of the park and there also remains a strong desire in the community for the park to include a playground area and a dog friendly area.
To provide feedback on the current design and programing email Sarah White at cpdpark599@gmail.com. I would also suggest CCing the email to the 40th Ward Office at info@40thward.org. Feedback should be sent before the 1st of June (my apologies for the delay in posting this update).
Friends of West Edgewater Park 
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