Alderman Vasquez and Park District Seek Feedback on Design and Programming of West Edgewater Neighborhood Park Before the 1st of June

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).

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Community Discussion of Plans for West Edgewater Park Development

My apologies for the late notice.

WEAR is hosting a Zoom discussion with Ald. Andre Vasquez and representatives from the Chicago Park District to discuss the West Edgewater neighborhood park (Park 599) tomorrow evening, May 13th, 2021 at 6 pm. Acording to WEAR board member Ruthie Williams the event will be “an opportunity to learn about the proposed timeline and talk through two preliminary concepts for the park” and to collect community feedback.

To register for the event follow the link.

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Alderman O’Connor Hosting Public Meeting to Discuss Future Rosehill Nature Preserve

This evening, February 11th, Alderman O’Connor is hosting a public meeting to discuss the future 21-acre nature preserve that will be located on former Rosehill Cemetery property near the corner of Western and Petersen (5801 N Western Ave). At last Wednesday’s meeting Alderman O’Connor mentioned that at this meeting community members will have the opportunity to volunteer to be on the advisory board for this future nature preserve. The Chicago Park District designation for this future site is Park 568. Sorry for the late notice.

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A Revised Proposal for the Edgewater Medical Center Site

For the moment rather than of providing yet another account of Alderman O’Connor’s public meeting in the St. Gregory cafeteria last night, we are going list a series of links to other accounts of the evening.

• Eilene Spear’s account for the Edgeville Buzz, Residents Pack Medical Center Meeting, is at this link.
• Benjamin Woodard’ s account for DNAinfo, Proposal to Put Housing, Park at Edgewater Hospital Heads to City, is at this link.
• Joe Ruppel’s article, Edgewater Medical Center Plan Ready for Review, is in The Red Line Project, an online publication of DePaul University College of Communication undergraduate journalism students in Mike Reilley’s Online Journalism II course.
• Jonathan Greig’s piece, Shuttered Edgewater Medical Center Could be Site of 250 Residences, Commercial Space and Park, is in the online publication Medill Reports – Chicago. Medill Reports is written and produced by graduate journalism students at Northwestern University’s Medill School.
• Maurine Berens’ summary of the evening is on the WEAR Facebook page. Maurine is WEAR’s Treasurer. On the WEAR Facebook page there is additional information about other topics that were touched on during the meeting (Mellin Playlot, METRA station, and Rosehill Nature Preserve).

  • Benjamin Woodard also has an article for DNAinfo about the proposed METRA stop, the development of which will have an effect on the success of the redeveloped EMC site.

More information will follow in the coming days, weeks, and months. Thank you to everyone who was able to attend and who was able to spread the word about the meeting. Working together in a constructive manner the Andersonville/West Edgewater Community has  accomplished quite a significant achievement. Alderman O’Connor himself acknowledged this at the meeting when he said, after presenting the revised proposal, “the neighborhood can take credit.” Thank you everyone.

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