Having seen from my nearby condo the annual damage and park repair from the Sueños Festival, NASCAR and Lollapalooza, I am amazed that the City of Chicago has not created a more sustainable plan to maintain and more broadly utilize this prime lakefront location.
Each year, as over 600,000 people descend on the south end of Grant Park, it is destroyed, and each year, the city spends hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair the damage. If you multiply this by 20 years, that is quite a fortune in energy, staffing and financial resources to maintain a publicly owned space that is of little use to the public. In fact, the park is an eyesore, due to damage, for most of the year.
Why not create a public and private partnership to more fully utilize this space in a manner that is sustainable and does aesthetic justice to it’s beautiful location nestled between the city skyline and the lake?
With the set-aside funds that these festivals are paying each year to repair and rebuild, the city could transform this scraggly looking tract of land into a beautiful multi-use public space worthy of this fair city. The multi-use space could feature a variety of uses including restaurants, cultural facilities and park space, in addition to its current use as festival grounds.
— Chris Cantele, Chicago
Post-DNC enthusiasm
I have volunteered to work at the Democrats table in Oak Park outside the Farmers Market since Barack Obama’s second election. Never have I seen such enthusiasm from passers-by as I saw the Saturday after the Democratic National Convention. I had people stopping at our table saying things like: “Oprah inspired me to get involved. How can I help?” Or “Michelle said to do something so what can I do?” And “The DNC inspired me, sign me up to volunteer.” People actually waited in line to talk to us. We ran out of Kamala Harris/Tim Walz yard signs in just a few hours. We ran out of postcards used to send to swing states. People signed up to knock on doors and make calls in swing states. The feeling was electric.
Usually we have to use tricks to get people to stop at our table. For example, before Tim Walz was picked, we had a straw poll to see who people would choose. Or we have issues for people to rank according to what is important to them.
No tricks were needed. People are excited. They see a path to victory. I hope this feeling wakes up the people who stayed home last time. They cannot afford to stay home now.
— Jan Goldberg, Riverside
Thank you
Thank you to all the people for the effort they made to make sure our city would shine during the DNC. Gov. JB Pritzker, Mayor Brandon Johnson, Supt. Larry Snelling, the thousands and thousands of police officers and city workers, are all appreciated for whatever they did to keep our city safe. They deserve our appreciation and gratitude.
— Frances Moore, Evanston
Kudos to the cardinal
The Tribune recently published a letter from a reader who was critical of the invocation given at the DNC by Cardinal Blase Cupich (“Cardinal failed his faith,” Aug. 23).
I thought that his remarks were excellent. This was not a Christian occasion. It was secular. Kudos to the cardinal for his inspirational words.
— Gerald Lasin, Deerfield
Cupich’s prayer was spot on
Doug d’Autremont’s letter naively criticizes Cardinal Blase Cupich for his action at the DNC because his invocation did not mention Jesus Christ, Christ’s words, or abortion. d’Autremont goes so far as to imply that DNC organizers may have pre-screened the prayer. Such implication gives voice to groundless conspiracy that the “woke media” does not acknowledge or respect Christianity. That position may play well in circles of Christian nationalism, but like so many groundless conspiracies, it misses the obvious. Specifically, it seems unable to fathom that Cardinal Cupich likely made his own independent decision, thinking that his invocation should be open and embracive, a prayer that speaks on behalf of all religions, hopefully not alienating anyone, while clearly invoking God’s grace and spirit on the entire DNC.
We need more of that approach, not less. Like d’Aurtremont, I too am a lifelong Catholic, but we Christians have no-more-nor-less right to be offended by a non-mention of Christ or abortion than do persons of other religious beliefs have a right to be offended by failure to mention pieces of their religion. The more important point is that our government is theistic; different people have different ways of worshipping, which is fine. Each of those religions is protected by the First Amendment. That’s something we should all agree on.
— Daniel A. Boehnen, Chicago
What voters want
Both presidential candidates are merely preaching to the choir when they attack their opponent. What the voters really want is to hear some practical plans about how to deal with our economy, crime, gas prices, home mortgage rates, and how to end the war in the Middle East. Hearing each candidate bash their opponent is a worthless waste of time.
— Bruce Sutchar, Hanover Park
Greyhound editorial misses key points
The ill-informed editorial of Aug. 21 (“Amtrak should welcome Greyhound for its passengers’ sake“) misses several points about Amtrak questioning a proposed “temporary” Greyhound bus terminal next to our Chicago Union Station.
We are seeking alternative options with the city, as would any business having learned there is a plan to invite 50 or more buses to their door every day. That’s a figure the Tribune’s editorial downplayed as “three or four dozen spaced-out buses” (whatever that means).
We have repeatedly been told by Flix, Greyhound’s new owner, an unsheltered traffic lane on Jackson Boulevard would become the stop, not the off-street (but also outdoor) CTA Union Station transportation center touted by the Tribune. Amtrak remains concerned with either location. We will ask officials to clarify the city’s position in our upcoming meetings with Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office.
Flix has provided us concepts short on details on passenger accessibility for those with any disability needs, storage and handling of luggage, bus staging areas away from Jackson Boulevard and myriad other items that would occur on what is already a congested street and without shelter.
Not only is a serious impact to our current Chicago Union Station passengers a certainty, but an international for-profit company is also seeking use of publicly owned facilities, whether it is the city street or our station, at little to no cost. We have reason to believe market-based rent or payment of remodeling costs anywhere to make room for hundreds of daily bus users at any location will be rejected by Flix. Their stated goal is to shed costs with a curbside-only outdoor model everywhere they can.
From our first meeting with them, Flix told us “We don’t do stations.”
We hope the city can intervene and assist Flix at the current location through the coming winter, since resolution of this transportation issue is one of equity and can take time. Otherwise, it is expected Greyhound will vacate the terminal by Oct. 1.
More time will enable a more inclusive process since Flix has told us the city has limited their options and all that remains is Jackson Boulevard. We have experience with multimodal stations nationally and are offering to help find a solution, temporary or permanent, in addition to Greyhound’s current use of the 95th Street and Cumberland CTA stations.
Let us be clear, we want to be a good, collaborative partner and help find a solution that is best for current stakeholders, for our customers, for users of all modes, and for all communities.
— Marc Magliari, senior public relations manager, Amtrak, Chicago Union Station
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.