I just saw this article recently on plans to create a massive state park peppered throughout southern Chicago's Calumet region. It would apparently cover 140000 acres in all, and represent a reclamation of what is at once one of the US's most biodiverse regions (where forest meets prairie meets coastal sand dunes meet swamp meet lake, with lots of migratory birds thrown in for good measure) and one of its most polluted (think active and abandoned factories, chemical waste dumps, municipal waste dumps, municipal sewage treatment).
This idea excites me for its size and ambition, and it would obviously be great to restore polluted brownfields into intact wetlands open to public visits. I have a soft spot in my heart for the Calumet region after living there for a while for a job I had a few years ago. But I don't know if I buy the optimistic prognosis as far as boosting tourism and creating jobs. Calumet is remote, unknown, and scary to most Chicago dwellers. Who's going to visit this park? What jobs will it create? Will the State take on more employees in these lean times?
At any rate, I look forward to hearing more about this in the near future.
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When one of my urban planning classes was assigned Riverdale as a Chicago community area of study, there was also a lot of talk of revitalizing the Calumet region via eco-tourism, open space, and the like......seemed like pie in the sky optimism to me too. If anything, it would probably be nearby middle-upper class south suburbs that might take advantage of river biking trails.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how far they will actually get towards the 140,000 acre goal. The initial phase calls for restoring 15,000 acres of space scattered throughout the district. You can see a map detailing this on their website:
ReplyDeletehttp://www2.illinois.gov/gov/millennium-reserve/Pages/default.aspx
You raise valid concerns about what it will cost and what purpose it will really have. Not sure a 'build it and they will come' mentality is going to work in these times. But I hope it pans out.
To me, an interesting point in the article you posted is that Chicago ranks so low in terms of greenspace; as a north sider, I think of Chicago as a city filled with parks.