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Concrete Eyesore Near Logan's Huge Monument Will Soon Be Grass

By Mina Bloom | April 20, 2017 5:02am
 The well-traversed triangular median near the Illinois Centennial Monument will soon see new life.
The well-traversed triangular median near the Illinois Centennial Monument will soon see new life.
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DNAinfo/Mina Bloom

LOGAN SQUARE — The well-worn, triangular concrete median near Logan Square's huge Illinois Centennial Monument will soon see new life.

This spring the city will replace the concrete with grass, a project that is expected to be finished by May, according to Mike Claffey, spokesman for the Chicago Department of Transportation.

Claffey said the planting was added to last year's Logan Boulevard resurfacing project thanks to the neighborhood group Logan Square Preservation and the local alderman.

The department agreed to include the project, which will cost about $4,000, in the resurfacing budget, according to Claffey.

If locals hadn't requested grass, the department would've replaced the concrete, Claffey said.

It's been about 60 years since the median was last filled with grass, according to Logan Square Preservation.

The organization said the city has also removed two obsolete bus stop sidewalks that projected 10 feet into the parkway at California Avenue and Logan Boulevard and plans to add grass there as well.

The projects align with the neighborhood group's Logan Boulevards Improvement Plan, which includes planting at least a few hundred trees in the district over the next few decades and, ideally, narrowing the streets to create even more green space.