Kosciuszko Park Advisory Council

Kosciuszko Park Community Forum Report

September 10, 2019

Last Spring, the city announced $1.8M in improvements coming to Kosciuszko Park. The Kosciuszko Park Advisory Council (KPAC) hosted a Community Forum in September to hear from park users and neighbors. 130+ people participated, and each had the opportunity to join up to three break-out sessions to discuss projects that were already in the works or ones they would like to see happen.

Here are summaries of the five break-out session topics.

Dog Friendly Area. In the fall of 2016, residents of the 31st Ward voted in participatory budget elections for a dog park at Koz Park. It's been over three years…and no dog park. This group discussed the proposed but yet unconstructed dog-friendly area.
Nature Play Spaces. Nature play spaces are designed for play with elements of nature that can be manipulated and moved. The Chicago Park District is encouraging nature play spaces around the city and Koz Park has been approved for one. What do we want and how can we make it work with existing play structures?
Gardens. Neighbors love gardens and we as the KPAC often hear from people who want more of them. Have you seen the butterfly garden in front of the pool? How can we do more of that?
Outdoor Basketball. Our basketball rims at the outdoor court have been down for many years. They were taken down after a drive-by shooting and they have been down ever since. We heard that the park district was considering replacing the rims. There are strong opinions about the basketball court and this was a popular session.
New Ideas. This break-out session was an opportunity to brainstorm new ideas and get a sense of how much support those ideas may have.

Detailed notes from each break-out section follow this introduction.

The KPAC shared notes from the Community Forum with the Park District as they developed plans. The latest conceptual plan the Park District provided can be seen here: We were told that construction will begin this spring.

New Ideas Breakout Sessions

Facilitated (and Interpretation) by Ana Avila

Wall posters were available for attendees to write their ideas for improvements to the park. Attendees were encouraged to mark those suggestions that they liked (see the counts in parentheses below) The most popular suggestions were a fitness center (indoor or outdoor), improvements to the playground and splash pad, improvements to the locker rooms and showers, improvements to traffic safety, and art classes, as shown below.

Outdoor facilities:

Fitness center, body weight equipment, climbing wall (23)
Upgraded and inclusive playground and splash pad (10)
Replace one baseball diamond with volleyball (4)
More, better benches, preferably in the shade (4)
More trash receptacles and better litter cleanup (2)
Make pool patio available (3)
Skate park or velodrome (2)
Picnic area (1)

Indoor facilities:

itness center (23)
Improve locker rooms, showers (6)
Ceiling fans or AC (4)
Sauna (2)
Laundry
Lockers, showers, warming area for homeless persons (1)

Programs:

Art classes – painting, pottery (7)
Yoga or Tai Chi (2
Teen outreach (2) gymnastics (2)
Festival activities like fall fest, craft market (3)

Area safety:

Improve traffic control in parking lot
Traffic light or stop sign on Avers and Diversey (6)
Security personnel (2)

General:

Contracts should prioritize minority/female owned contractors (5)
Include renewable energy (solar, wind) in any rehab (4)

Nature Play Breakout Sessions

Facilitated by Melanie Hoekstra

Largely, everyone who attended the nature play discussion was in favor of the idea. Many said it was a great idea, it would bring the community together, and would inspire children to learn more about the natural world. A few even framed it as the right of children to have access to natural areas, and many noted that in harkened back to play they deeply enjoyed as children. Folks also noted that it would give children the opportunity to explore the natural work, be creative, and gain confidence from climbing and playing with natural materials.

Specific suggestions included:

Dynamic logs (tree trunks with lot of cut-off branches that stick out from the trunk)
Tree cookies (thick branches or tree trunks cut into stumps that sit high enough off the ground that they require balance to walk from one to the next)
Mud kitchen and/or mud pit/sandbox area, possibly including pebbles and wooden bowls
High-up places for teens to perch and watch what's going on below
A sound wall, full of natural objects that make interesting sounds when hit
Loose parts, like different sized sticks, twice, and cloth to make forts, designs, etc.

The concerns folks had were:

How this would be funded
What the timeline for the project would be
Whether the space allocated by the Park District (directly north of the playground, but south of the path that encloses the playground) was sufficient
Whether this would bring an infestation of rats (there's no evidence of this in any natural play space around the city that Melanie is aware of)
Whether the logs would rot (this typically takes decades, assuming we find appropriate logs)

Garden Breakout Sessions

Facilitated by Jacqui Ulrich

The group talked about history of the two raised beds near the northwest corner of the pool building – Kraft great kids/harvest garden program run by Chicago Park District staff. We understand them to still be in use, but they don't seem to be planted.

Need help
Preparing beds
Planting
Watering

But once established not much maintenance
Natives are perennials that don't need a lot of tending once established
Can collect seeds or divide for other gardens (gardeners)
Can use as education for Park Kids, Day Camps, Pre-school, schools using gym

I like this idea because…

Native plants
Simple Illinois plants
Have some signage for education info and contextualization
Educational opportunity, maybe gardening classes
It's not expensive so we can do it and do all the other things too
Herbs
Beehives
Add a programming piece
Curate it so it looks pretty with lots of different blooms
Some people would like veggie beds
Have a community dinner using the veggies from plot (someone offered to cook)
Have a sculpture
Have a fountain
Have a wishing well

I have these concerns…

How maintained
Water
Will it be considered weedy?
Are the raised beds being used?

I want to…

Help
Start with Earth Day by just amending the soil … plant later
Involve the kids in the parks – they can help plant so they can watch them grow
Figure out the water situation
Figure out maintenance

Plant list:

Hasta – an offer to divide theirs
Goat's beard
Milkweed – monarchs
Bee balm
Cone flowers
Coreopsis
Flox
Sun flowers

There were many advocates for the trees to be replaced. We lost 27, which were cut down. We want:

Trees
Fall foliage
Fall
Spring blooms
Evergreens
Tree diversity

Dog Friendly Area Breakout Sessions

Facilitated by Geary Yonker, Interpretation by Martina Piñeiros

I like this idea because…

Dog friendly area must not be too close to the playground. Can we use one of the baseball diamonds?
There are many dogs in the area that need a place to play. An enclosed space is much safer than letting them off leach in the field.
There are logs of dogs in the neighborhood.
The nearest dog park is two miles away. When organized properly it becomes a place for the community with dogs and can be maintained properly. There are lots of dogs in the community and they need a place to exercise, which makes for good citizen dogs. Exposure to animals creates an empathetic community.

I have these concerns…

No concrete
Small space
Dog waste, may smell
Cost, funding and timeline
Will lower property values
Traffic on Diversey
There should be another vote that includes wards other than the 31st, since we all share park.

I want to…

Stages/along Diversey
Water connection
Small dog/big dog area
Dog park by basketball court

Basketball Court Breakout Sessions

Facilitated by Gladys Diaz and Arielle Maldonado, Interpretation by Perfecto Diaz; Notes compiled by Arielle Maldonado

The first session started with tension that quickly escalated. People concerned with violence arguing with people who were advocating for the right of youth to have access to outdoor hoops. The use of a marker as a talking piece worked well to help us move the discussion towards a more respectable and productive session.

Below are Ideas mentioned in order by popularity. I kept count by show of hands at end of every session.

1. B-Ball Court and Parking Lot Trading Spaces (17)

Cameras should be installed on field house
More benches or seating space around the court
Some parking would need to be saved for Special Rec
There were many people who expressed interest in using the courts, they believe that this will also help keep it safe.
There was an idea of locking it up at night, but concern over making it not welcoming and a fence would be eating up more of the budget.
There was an idea of the park, PAC, and community helping facilitate tournaments to help provide programming.
Many who came to meeting against rims going back up were happy with this compromise as they felt it would be safer with park district staff nearby and the court being further away from Diversey, which is far enough to not be able to make out who is playing at the court.

Updating the inside courts - is there enough money in the budget to have both? (10)

Many were in favor of updating both if it would be possible with the money, but many stressed the importance of it being outside and free to use since the inside court has a restricted schedule for use by age, programs, etc.

Decorative Fountain (5)

Many agreed that it was a beautiful idea and would be a nice place to read by, but that it did not take precedence over an outdoor court
Concerns about operating costs in years to follow and water/energy use
Lights and water could be turned off at night

Fitness Area (3)

Many liked the idea of an outdoor stationary fitness center, but only 3 in total raised hands for outdoor fitness center over courts. Seems courts were more important to the people who chose to come to this discussion group.
A woman mentioned that there used to be a fitness area in the basement and she thinks it should return as an indoor space so it can be used all year round and have machines that can't be left outside. Some who heard her liked the idea in agreement. She thought there was enough space.
Question that arose - if this was installed outside would there be a gate around it?

Volleyball Court (3)

This was mentioned towards the end of the last session

Leaving court as it is for open use space - for ex. Sale of Christmas Trees (1)

Installing rims where courts are now (1)

Overall concerns and dislikes:

Use of Gates/Fences - the message it sends to community and overall esthetics. People want it to be safe but also open and welcoming.
Taking away the rims takes away resources and enrichment for youth and young adults.
Taking away the rims targets a specific group/ racial profiling.
Many expressed concern that they don't want this redevelopment to signal gentrification. They want the renovation and updates to be geared towards all ethnicities and backgrounds. The community members who spoke desire diversity.
Do the risks outweigh the benefits? Concerns of drive-bys/violence. (Opposing side argued it can happen anywhere now).
Noise complaints (if courts were centered in park, fewer neighbors would be bothered by noise).
Don't want to lose parking for special rec, want adequate and accessible parking.
Can court and parking spaces both fit near field house?

Wants:

More security
The overall consensus was our kids deserve an outdoor basketball court and many who came to the meeting from all different backgrounds wanted the hoops back up. Those that were completely opposed due to safety concerns felt that if the court was moved to in front of the field house where the parking is that it would be safe and voted yes for this idea.