BRIDGEPORT — The much-anticipated 19,000-square-foot Eleanor Street Boathouse is slated to open next summer.
But a handful of neighborhood folks between Pilsen and Bridgeport are keeping busy by building a plan to help develop the $5.7-million facility.
James Burns, a 30-year-old law clerk living in Pilsen, is one of them.
With a small group of locals interested in shaping a vision for the boathouse and the park around it, the North Side native wants to start up a park advisory council to plan events, create programs and improve infrastructure around the stretch of Eleanor Street known as Park No. 571.
The endgame is simple: Make the Eleanor Street Boathouse a destination that draws business, tourism and foot traffic to the South Side.
“I want to see more people going to that park,” Burns told DNAinfo Chicago. “The hope is that — between the boathouse, the park advisory council and support from local businesses, elected officials and the Chicago Park District — that we will have hundreds of thousands of people funneling into those parks on a nice weekend, and with that will come some more development in the area.”
To make that happen, Burns is calling on more locals to attend public meetings to discuss what they want to see at the boathouse. On Tuesday night, in the headquarters suite of Recovery on Water, Burns hosted one of those meetings.
Park-savvy community figures like Maureen Sullivan, president of the Henry C. Palmisano Park Advisory Council; Montana Butsch, executive director of the Chicago Training Center; and about a dozen local residents showed up to spitball ideas about potential events, classes and improvements to the park’s infrastructure.
Sullivan said more shade wouldn't hurt.
It’s an issue she’s had to navigate at Palmisano Park, where, in the dead of summer, you often have to walk across the street to McGuane Park to get out of the sun.
Owen Lloyd, co-owner of Bridgeport’s Blue City Cycles, said access for residents who aren’t particularly interested in rowing is an issue that should be addressed.
He also wants to see more bicycle racks scattered around the property for locals who might just want to take a ride around the park.
And more garbage cans.
“A weekly garbage pickup and four cans” would help, Lloyd said.
While the boathouse represents a major makeover along the shores of Bubbly Creek, a storied waterway known for its rank smells and pollution, it’s important to keep the area clean.
The conversation at Tuesday’s meeting made one thing clear: Possibilities for the boathouse are endless.
The area along Eleanor Street could one day be the site of fundraisers, festivals, regattas, historic tours and 5K events. Or what about a Movies In The Park event featuring water-centric films like "Huckleberry Finn" or "Moby Dick?"
There could even be a dog park.
Any of those developments would fall in line with the vision of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who announced plans to build the 19,000-square-foot, Jeanne Gang-designed boathouse last November in a bid to expand recreation in several neighborhoods near the Chicago River.
The Bridgeport facility was the last in line, and three other boathouses have already been built in Clark Park, River Park and Chinatown. The city finally broke ground on the Bridgeport boathouse in August.
Over the next several weeks, Burns will hold additional meetings to gather more input from the community.
Holding public meetings is required before you can file the paperwork downtown to establish an official park advisory council. Once that happens, there will be an election to swear in three officers: a president, vice president and treasurer.
“We’re trying to get as many people as we can into these meetings over the next several weeks so we can have a better idea of what the people want,” Burns said. “Once we can define what the people want, we can the pencil in plans in the next year.”
Burns said he’s been in contact with Ald. Danny Solis (25th) and Ald. Patrick D. Thompson (11th) to chat about a vision for the boathouse.
Community movers and shakers are also standing behind Burns.
“It’s helpful to have a group of neighborhood people who care about the parks,” said Jenn Gibbons, director of Recovery on Water, a program that teaches recovering breast cancer patients rowing for exercise and mutual support. “We can come up with a bunch of ideas of what people might like and create successful programs that will be well-attended.”
The next public meeting is set for at 7 p.m. Dec. 15 at Pilsen’s Lozano Library, 1805 S. Loomis. Elections for the council could happen as early as January, Burns said.
“This is something that the South Side really deserves,” Burns said, “and there’s great opportunity here.”
