Parks in peril

Chase Park
4701 N Ashland Ave
History Before the plot of land was a park, it was home to a semiprofessional baseball team that disbanded in 1913 when Wrigley Field was being built.
Problem The large, highly trafficked playground is dilapidated.
Who’s trying to fix it? Bart Phillips, who runs a tutoring program in the park.
Help out because… Local park activists say Winnemac Park seems to draw most of the 47th Ward’s funds. While Chase is smaller and located in a less ritzy area, the 95-year-old park is popular with the area’s young families.
What they need Phillips and about 13 others are trying to form a park advisory committee—an organized CPD-affiliated community association—and then apply for grants from area businesses.
Get involved The Chase group is seeking volunteers for its two free family-friendly fests at the park (Jul 27 5–11pm, and in August), and to help develop a website. Contact them at 847-508-6691.

Eckhart Park
1330 W Chicago Ave
History Renowned landscape architect Jens Jensen designed this West Town park in 1907 to include gardens for neighborhood children from the surrounding, overcrowded immigrant community.Problem The park’s beautiful community-tended gardens—the vision of 19th-century humanitarians like Jane Addams and Jensen—are no more.
Who’s trying to fix it? Catherine “Katy” Murphy, neighborhood resident and Chicago Journal gardening columnist.
Help out because… The spacious park’s northwest corner has been overrun with pigeons and litter. Replacing it with a garden might seem straightforward, but getting a hose hookup, and forcing folks to stop mowing over or stealing the flowers has been tricky.
What they need Money, plants and volunteers to help tend four gardens.
Get involved Join Murphy’s listserv at cmurph52@hotmail.com, or, for just a buck apiece, buy one of the small pins adorned with famous gardeners’ mugs (the George Washington Carver pin is pictured at left) at nearby Swim Café (1357 W Chicago Ave, 312-492-8600) and Grand Street Gardens (2200 W Grand Ave, 312-829-8200).

Harold Washington Park
5200 S Hyde Park Blvd
History This 1906 park, originally dubbed East End Park, went through a series of designers (including Jensen) in the early 20th century. But its claim to fame is the green South American Monk parakeets that for unknown reasons have nested here since the 1970s.
Problem The park has a boat pool that’s stood empty for decades.
Who’s trying to fix it? Irene Sherr, a neighborhood resident who’s led the park’s advisory committee since the 1990s.
Help out because… Several folks residing near the popular park have rightly complained that the empty water basin is depressing.
What they still need Sherr seeks younger people to help maintain the park. “I’m looking to find new leadership for the council—people who might have younger children and might be more active with the playground,” she says. “If you’re there every day you notice things, like a broken swing.”
Get involved Let Sherr know you want to help at hydepark.org/parks.

Haas Park
2402 N Washtenaw Ave
History The park was built in 1928 because the encroaching neighborhood development  was swallowing up all of the open space.
Problem The park serves the densely populated Logan Square neighborhood, but has
no field house.
Who’s trying to fix it? Phil Jones, lifetime neighborhood resident and Haas Park crusader.
Help out because… When his daughter was 6 (she’s 19 now), Jones realized the park was essential in getting kids off the gang-riddled streets. While Jones has helped organize basketball leagues, flag football, dance classes and unofficial homework time, these programs are run outdoors or in a local church.
What they need The park purchased a nearby abandoned building, but manpower and money are required to make it into a field house. Jones also is looking for environmentally oriented people who have “green ideas” about reinvigorating the park.
Get involved Contact Jones at hardhat2440@sbcglobal.net.