Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Someone asked me, in a different forum, what I envision this bike path/park development would look like. Apparently, they thought I was for expanding LSD. That is not true. I am not trying to break down this myth so that we can build another highway. What I would like to see is similar to what you see in Evanston. A nice gently curving path that winds along the lakefront with a well kept park with modern facilities. Why can't we do that? Show me a study that says building such a park would decrease property values or destroy wildlife habitat. Would you really rather maintain a massive stretch of rubble along Loyola's lakefront and the private beach rights of a handful of properties? Explain to me how that serves the community.
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3 comments:
>What I would like to see is similar to what you see in Evanston. A nice gently curving path that winds along the lakefront with a well kept park with modern facilities. Why can't we do that?
We can, but not without a 6-lane highway.
>Using LSD expansion paranoia to block all development on the Lakefront does a disservice to this community and makes us all look foolish.
LSD expansion is not paranoia, it is legitimate concern of residents, a concern borne from common sense and from an understanding of how a such a project would be funded, an understanding informed by years of studying how similar projects were financed.
A lakefront bicycle path from Hollywood to the City limits would involved adding landfill at least a few feet wide for some parts of the lakefront. Then you have to worry about the landfill staying where you put it, so you need serious revetments of concrete or stone or whatever, sufficient to hold up when the winds of November come pounding. So even the most humble plan is a massively expensive project. Then the incremental cost of widening the landfill just a bit and slapping in a six-lane highway becomes negligible. Federal transportation dollars will be used, and the project will be pitched as a free park.
You are making yourself look foolish by refusing to recognizing this while labeling your neighbors as paranoid.
The only thing I refuse to recognize is that we are doomed to forever have to live with what we've got around here. The current park system is woefully inadequate to serve our community and in need of a lot of TLC.
Walk down to the end of Birchwood and notice the sign that notifies you of the park's closing time and then look for a park. Unless you conider a few barriers, a fence to keep you from falling into the rocks below and strip of sidewalk a park, you'll have to admit that some serious upgrades are in order.
Depave Lakeshore Drive
The Campaign for a Free and Clear Lakefront is a grassroots coalition to remove Lakeshore Drive from Grant Park, and eventually the entire Chicago shoreline.
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