* Alderman Moore is Fully Aware of these Plans

Hi All,

I attended the meeting at South Shore Country Club last night. Here’s the deal:

The Chicago Park District wants to build between 2700 and 4000 more harbor slips, depending on boat sizes and in response to increased demand. There are 5100 now. As presenter Brad Winick said, Chicago is “a missing link in the mega-yacht itinerary.”

They intend to construct the new facilities in several locations, and this phase of public comment is to help them select the best spots. They propose, among others, over a thousand moorings at Jackson Park, between 450-580 at Navy Pier, 350-500 at 31st Street, and 300-400 at Loyola University. They’re calling it “Edgewater Harbor”.

Now, didn’t we vote on this and reject it a couple years back? By a huge margin no less? They let people use the microphone for comments. I couldn’t resist.

I spoke first about having to drive from 7000 north to 7000 south at 6:00 p.m. for a meeting I read about that day in the paper, and invited them to present these proposals to my neighbors at say, Loyola Park. Then I talked about our diversity, about how we speak so many languages and rarely agree on anything. I told them about our Marina Referendum. I explained the results, wherein some 88% of our diverse interests voted against it. I asked if they had heard about this before. Then I inquired if they had worked with Devcorp North, Rogers Park Conservancy, or Alderman Joe Moore. I asked if this were connected in any way to Congressperson Jan Schakowsky’s newly- funded study regarding other lakefront changes.

Finally, I said that on behalf of my fellow 88%, I had a hard time seeing how this proposal would be received any differently than the last one. I asked very politely if perhaps they wouldn’t mind taking no for an answer on this one component.

Apparently I struck a nerve because the whole crowd clapped when I was finished. An odd reaction from a group that for the most part didn’t oppose the overall plan. The Jackson Park crew actually seemed quite excited about it. But they were surprised that it was proposed for an area that already rejected it so democratically and so clearly.

The presenters very competently answered all of my questions. They were not aware of the referendum. They said Devcorp was not consulted. They said that Rogers Park Conservancy had made some suggestions about smaller scale uses, “paddle boats and such”, and that the problem with building those facilities without the major construction was that they don’t generate enough revenue to pay for themselves. But apparently they never told RPC about the new “harbor” project. They simply read some suggestions, packaged it up and assumed that we’d like it.

They agreed to come up to Rogers Park and see us, and in fact claimed they were planning to head up north at some point anyway. Pressed for a date, they conferred and said most likely October 20th, but that they were going to call Joe Moore to be sure. They said that their plan wasn’t linked to any other, including Schakowsky’s study, which they appeared to know all about.

They said they had indeed worked with Joe Moore on this proposal. I asked three times to make sure I was clear on this:

Question: “So Alderman Joe Moore is fully aware of these plans?” Answer: “Yes, we worked with him on it.”

So here’s the deal: We got a meeting coming up soon, probably Oct 20th. I talked with the Park District reps, Rob Rejmon and Brad Winick, and they said the Loyola development would be the most expensive infrastructure out of all the proposals to build. I also talked to some folks from the Jackson Park Yacht Club, and they are very interested in getting as many of these slips as possible, their situation being completely different from ours. At our meeting, assuming it happens, the Park District representatives said they wanted to hear our thoughts on the whole plan, not just on our part of it. (I promised them I’d pass that on, so there it is.) I warned them that a chilly reception likely awaits them.

We have some leverage here. The Park District doesn’t need all these slips, ours are the most expensive to construct, and other areas are organized and want them badly. I say we work together and build consensus across the city to support a plan that makes sense for everyone.

My concern now is that this meeting happens. Call your alderman. He already knows all about it, or so I was told three times in front of two or three hundred south siders.

James Ginderske