News stories
COVERAGE OF OUR CHALLENGE TO THE ILLEGAL CONSTRUCTION IN LINCOLN PARK
- Chicago Journal – Park district to reimburse $2 million to Latin School
- WBBM Newsradio – It’s Not Over Yet (WAV file)
- Chicago Reader – Heads We Lose, Tails We Lose [tax payers pay for city arrogance]
- Chicago Tribune – Mayor defends soccer field, children’s museum on park land
- Skyline – Amazing victory for Lincoln Park activists
- Crain’s – Judge raps Park District over Latin field
- Chicago Tribune – Judge won’t halt Lincoln Park soccer field
- Reader – Latin School soccer field isn’t the only one Stop that bulldozer -
Worse Than We Thought - Skyline – Latin School soccer field enters litigation
EARLIER NEWS STORIES
- Land-grab in Lincoln Park? – In-depth coverage of the Committee’s work and the entire story to date. (large file, 6.8 MB, PDF format)
- Park District Superintendent’s View is Distorted – We answer Mr. Mitchell in detail.
- Skyline Coverage of Park District is Distorted – Letter from Superintendent Tim Mitchell.
- We brought 50 people to the March 12 meeting of the Park District Commissioners. Read the story, “Squabble over soccer field clouds truth, transparency in Park District Dealings.
- Residents Confront Park District Board – from Skyline.
- Watch the segment from Fox News Chicago on our packed house community meeting!
- Read the story in The Chicago Journal – Latin School Field Headed To Court
- Read the story in The Chicago Tribune on our community meeting.
- Read the story in Chi-Town Daily News
- Letter to the editor by Committee member Herb Capan in the Chicago Journal
- Timothy Williams, Deal over Randall’s Island (NY) sports field is voided. New York Times, Feb. 1, 2008.
- Can Latin School’s Soccer Field Still Be Bounced?
- Felicia Dechter, Plea to halt Latin work falls on deaf ears. Skyline, Jan. 25, 2008 (original link).
- Jeff Borgardt, School soccer field lawsuit big possibility. Inside, Jan. 9-15, 2008, p. 1.
- Latin’s controversial athletic field. Inside, Dec. 26, 2007-Jan. 1, 2008, p. 9.
- Felicia Dechter, New group moves forward against Latin soccer field. Skyline, Dec. 7, 2007, p. 3
- Felicia Dechter, Latin field moves forward. Skyline, Nov. 9, 2007, p. 1, 7
- Greg Hinz, Latin School offers compromise on controversial field. Crain’s, Oct. 26, 2007
- September 21, 2007 Skyline
- Ben Joravsky, A Not-So-Level Playing Field. Chicago Reader, Sept. 7, 2007
- Greg Hinz, Latin hints it may compromise on Lincoln Park field. Crain’s, Aug. 24, 2007.
- Ben Joravsky, Soccer for Some. Chicago Reader, July 20, 2007.
- Greg Hinz, Latin lessons. Crain’s, May 28, 2007.
—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—— - The folks at Save Grant Park are protesting the proposed construction of the Children’s Museum in Grant Park. Read the March 19 Sun-Times story.
- Kid Museum Sights Still Set on Grant Park – Chicago Tribune
About us
We are a growing group of neighbors who are outraged at the secret deal concluded between the Chicago Park District and the Latin School of Chicago, a private (and very wealthy institution). This deal is to build a soccer field in the park near the bridge to the North Avenue Beach.
The Latin School is paying for much of the construction, but not all, and the Park District is paying for the maintenance. According to the contract some 880 hours of prime-time, kid-friendly hours are being given to the Latin School for their exclusive use.
This amounts to the majority of the time that schools and after-school and summer programs would need such a field. Also, advertising and sponsorship signage is permitted on the facility. This strikes us as a partial privatization of public park land.
If there is a genuine need for a soccer field on the site, well and good. The Park District has a process for capital improvements. But we are skeptical that it is so important to put it in Lincoln Park. If a private entity wants to contribute to improve a park or plaza, well and good. But that doesn’t (or shouldn’t) give them exclusive, long-tern use of a public asset.
Overall: This is bad policy, bad process and and bad politics.
We have incorporated as tax exempt organization as “Protect Our Parks” because we see the fight to stop the privatization of Lincoln Park as part of a larger fight to keep our public spaces free and open. The Committee to Keep Lincoln Park Public or “Save Lincoln Park ” is now a project of Protect Our Parks.
Contact: info@cklpp.org
Our allies
- Save Grant Park – stop the Children’s Museum from carving up the park.
- “Latin School “Land Grab at GLPDFA – source documents and other links.
- Public Policy at Issue with Latin School Soccer Field Plan. Friends of the Parks
- Friends of the Parks
- Keep Lincoln Park Public This citizen’s group fought the Latin School land grab in 2002.
- Greater Lincoln Park Democracy for America
- The Sierra Club of Chicago
- Openlands Chicago