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 phone #: 312-276-5165