OLD TOWN — Little Bauler Playlot Park occupies a big place in its neighborhood, and it celebrated a revival Saturday with a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark its new renovation.
"It's a pocket park that is just filled with families," said Kenneth Dotson, president of the Lincoln Central Association. "It primarily attracts from the surrounding neighborhood. It's not like a destination park, you know, like Oz Park is."
Rather than a case of "if you build it, they will come," the renovation actually went in the opposite direction. They people were there, so they had to rebuild it.
The park was receiving heavy use from families, who eventually went on to make up the Bauler Park Advisory Council headed by Leslie Miller. They pushed Ald. Michele Smith (43rd) to make it a neighborhood priority. The playground equipment, they pointed out, was 30 years old and deteriorating.
Under their combined pressure, the Chicago Park District announced earlier this year that Bauler would be getting $150,000 in new playground equipment, and that led to a full-scale renovation with community input.
The park, located at 501 W. Wisconsin St., actually reopened a couple of weeks ago, but the ribbon-cutting ceremony marked its formal dedication.
"It's been there a long time, and it's sort of a gathering place," Dotson said. "It's embedded in a neighborhood."
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