ROGERS PARK — Artist Robert Hansen's decorative bike rack design — depicting the common Rogers Park scene of the sun rising over Lake Michigan — garnered the most votes Sunday and will adorn several racks that will be installed around the neighborhood.
Four finalists were on the ballot. Hansen's design nabbed 145 votes — 32.5 percent of the 446 votes cast, according to the results released Tuesday by Ald. Joe Moore (49th).
Hansen will be awarded a $500 prize for winning the competition.
Some bicycle advocates cautioned Rogers Park voters last week to consider the usefulness of the rack designs before voting. In other neighborhoods, the decorative designs have limited the ways a bike can be locked up — and could even make bicycles less secure and vulnerable to theft, they said.
Moore said the winning design for Rogers Park, if necessary, could be modified slightly to "ensure the functionality of the bike racks."
A panel of judges from the Rogers Park Arts Alliance and 49th Ward participatory budgeting team narrowed down 40 submissions from neighborhood artists.
In 2010, residents voted to spend $105,000 of Moore's 49th Ward discretionary budget on 15 artistic, multifunctional bike racks. But the city shot down the idea, citing safety and cost concerns.
So instead, Moore said, the money would be used to install nearly 100 bike racks, a few of them featuring the new logo.
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