Drive for 'visioning' is stuck in park

Call me a spoilsport, but I decided not to participate when the Friends of the Park started asking for ideas on ways to change the lakefront parks in Rogers Park.

Oh, I went to one of the initial meetings with every intention of finding out what the real plan is for Chicago's northernmost lakefront. Couldn't figure that out. At that meeting, a woman from Friends of the Park was urging everyone to dream big and come up with ideas. We could do some "visioning," as the Friends' Web site likes to say.

Nope, I didn't want to play along with the Friends that day or any since, although subsequent meetings have been drawing a core group. I know that a lot of them are there because, like me, they are wary whenever there is talk about bringing changes to this piece of the lakefront. A couple years back, a Park District initiative was unveiled that proposed a marina and dock where no one who lives there wanted them. The opposition was so fierce that plans were abandoned after one boisterous meeting.

At this winter's meeting I wasn't surprised to overhear one participant wearily say to another, "Why are we here again?"

Many people in Rogers Park feel they've gone to more than their share of meetings when it comes to the parks. The consensus has remained the same: How about cleaning up and taking care of what already is there? Then maybe we can talk.

Because what was designed originally has the potential to be the jewel it once was. There is expansive park and beach space. The pier at Pratt is popular for fishing. Change isn't needed because this is underused space; these are two miles of super popular lakefront.

But, it is all so very worn out and often downright dirty. Sometimes repairs are started and left uncompleted, like the torn-up walkway around the drinking fountain at Pratt. Did that begin last summer or the one before?

A cynic might think the movers and shakers on high already have a plan. Or might wonder if these lakefront parks have been allowed to deteriorate and at times become downright dangerous crime-wise so that the residents will be so grateful when someone finally does pay attention that they'll go along with any proposal.

Rogers Park has waited this long for cleanup and repair, why the big rush now? The plans are supposed to be in place for a meeting June 12 at Loyola Park. If the Friends of the Parks really cared to understand the area, they'd know they haven't done enough to learn what people who use this space actually need and want.

Has anyone sought the opinions of the elderly who fill the benches once the days are warm? Or the recently arrived immigrants from every country under the sun, people often living in small quarters who really need an outdoor escape?

And what about kids? Has anyone asked the teens who need something to do to stay out of trouble what could be done to make this park space somewhere they'd like to come and enjoy peacefully?

These are people who aren't into "visioning" at meetings. Their opinions should matter, but by the time they're back in these parks and beaches, plans will be set without their ever being asked to weigh in.

That's so wrong, and it makes me wonder if the Friends have someone else in mind that they want to be pals with, other than the people who use this lakefront.