GOLD COAST — As the plan to update Washington Square Park takes its first steps, some residents are skeptical about the intentions of the group responsible for creating the plan.
The Washington Square Park Advisory Council announced its proposal process during a meeting Oct. 14 and sent an announcement to Gold Coast residents a week later, emphasizing that community input was essential.
The proposal calls for a "placemaking" approach to remaking the park, 901 N. Clark St., and the proposal will take four to six months to finalize. During the meeting, several members of the council disclosed that they donated to help support the proposal process.
To figure out what updates are best for the park, the council will reach out to neighbors and nearby businesses and nonprofits. The council also will conduct an online survey to gather data and community input, and hold a community meeting on the matter.
To help guide the process, the council has brought on Alison Zehr, a local consultant, and Chris Gent, a local architect and former president of the Illinois Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects.
“The desired outcome of this project — a plan for the park created with the community — will be the framework from which to raise any additional funds that may be needed to implement the plan the community agrees upon to refresh and renew this historic park,” Cindy Mitchell, Washington Park Advisory Council president, said in an email.
Some residents who attended the meeting Oct. 14 questioned whether an update to the park was necessary and why several council members had personally made donations toward the planning process.
Joe Cesarik, a Gold Coast resident who attended the meeting, said that given the commercialization of nearby Mariano Park and Connors Park, he was concerned about the motivations behind updating the parks. The presentation did not mention any prospective business owners.
“It’s nice if people are concerned about the maintenance and upkeep. That’s fine and good, [but] I’m concerned that there’s some agenda here that’s not being really shared,” Cesarik said.
The planning process is entirely community-driven, Mitchell said, adding that goal was to create a plan for which more funding could be raised to renew the park.
“By providing the funding for the planning project, these individuals made possible the most important step: a professionally guided community-engagement process that will be constructive and thoughtful,” Mitchell wrote.
Amber Sharma, another resident who attended the meeting, said Washington Square Park was one of the few places in the city where Chicagoans could sit and see an area that has been relatively untouched. She said she thought the park was pristine as it was and should not be marred.
“They may have other motivations that we don’t know about,” Sharma said. “We have a real concern in this city where any new installation or building [is a] commercialization of something."
Mitchell said the community’s input would be taken into consideration in regards to the resources, demographics and future changes in the neighborhood as well as the historic character of the park, adding that the council urged the community to get involved.
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