Edward Keegan’s column “It’s time to tear down Dearborn Park’s walls” (Oct. 4) should be torn up and discredited for what it is: a plea to run more cars and vehicular traffic through a quiet neighborhood of the South Loop for The 78 and the new Sox Park.
In the market for small, short-sighted ideas about development in Chicago, Keegan’s is a showpiece. Martha Nussbaum, our city’s most eminent philosopher of justice, notes that “development” means “making things better.” Tearing down the walls of Dearborn Park would make things worse, much worse. And not only for residents of Dearborn Park.
Keegan’s ill-considered plan for Dearborn Park would risk much more than the well-being of senior citizens walking to the market or children playing in the parks.
The best history lesson is Lois Wille’s 1997 book “At Home in the Loop.” Wille was a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner who won her second Pulitzer in 1989 for editorial writing as the Tribune’s editorial page editor. Keegan makes no mention of Wille’s book, though the Architectural Record describes him as a “strong advocate for Chicago and its unique architectural legacy.”
As Wille observes, “Dearborn Park is now one of the most successful urban renewal efforts in the country. This peaceful little community of green parks and tree-lined walkways in the shadow of the Sears Tower is that rarity in the city—a genuine neighborhood.”
“Fans and critics alike agree that Dearborn Park is one of the nicest places to live in any American city, and certainly one of the most unusual,” she writes. “… Dearborn Park left a formula that other cities can use to turn fallow land into vibrant communities, and without big subsidies. It involves shared investment and shared risk on the part of local businesses and local government.”
Keegan’s idea would destroy lives, property and green space, a risky proposition that is neither shared nor sound.
— Stephen T. Ziliak, professor of economics, Roosevelt University, Chicago
Parents, talk to your sons
Jennifer Obel (“I was a Cornell student in 1987. Now I’m a Cornell mother”) wrote an insightful, important and necessary opinion piece that never should have been needed. She mentions parents talking to their daughters about how to protect themselves. What about parents talking to their sons about how to treat the girls and women in their lives?
If these boys and men who behave so heinously (criminally!) knew how to carry themselves with some self-respect and dignity, maybe they would know how to treat others in a similar manner. Those daughter talks should not be necessary. Alas, they most certainly still are.
— Kevin Cullinane, Oak Park
Are their parents donors?
Amid all the discussion around the Cornell University incident, has anyone considered the possibility that the parents of the boys involved might be large financial donors to the university?
— Jim Weber, Naperville
We need collective action
Regarding “New Northwestern president has big plans for Chicago. If only he had Ken Griffin” (Oct. 2): Congratulations to Carnegie Mellon University. However, relying on a single billionaire to bail out each institution of higher education is a fool’s errand, and it can’t replace the tax dollars distributed to the higher education sector by democratically elected officials from across the nation.
Additionally, the issue of climate change and particularly global ocean rise will not magically disappear from Florida’s shores simply because Ken Griffin has decided to build his new empire there. Miami is one of the most fragile coastal cities in our nation, according to a report by the University of Miami. New York City has its issues, too, as a decade and a half of storms since Hurricane Sandy have demonstrated. In contrast, Chicago has high potential to adapt to climate change. Perhaps Griffin will be able to use his billions not only to strengthen Florida’s educational system, but also to reinforce Miami’s coast and set an example for other coastal cities. I wish him and Miami’s citizens well in this endeavor, as this is critical work.
Our collective future calls for collective action, not singular answers.
— Leslie M. Harris, professor of history, Northwestern University, Evanston
This feels like Griffin PR
I have to wonder. Is the Tribune Editorial Board an editorial board or Ken Griffin’s personal public relations firm?
Let’s face it. Griffin left four years ago, spouting about crime rates as the driving factor; however, the reality was he chafed at oversight and regulation, and he moved to a state that has less of both.
It’s amazing how much deference and runway the editorial board affords petulant billionaires.
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— C. F. Waterman, Chicago
Flyer’s potential ill effects
A 15-minute ride between downtown and O’Hare International Airport is an appealing idea. As a retired family physician, I’d ask that we weigh it against what such a line would mean for the people who live beside it.
The proposed Flyer would run at 80 mph every 15 minutes from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m. The route would pass through River Forest between Forest and Park avenues, crossing Chicago Avenue, Iowa Street, Augusta Street and Thatcher Avenue. Residents and village officials say it would border more than 200 homes along a former freight line that has not seen regular use in over a decade. If trains run in both directions on that schedule, that is close to 140 passings a day.
From a public health standpoint, chronic transportation noise is more than an annoyance. Research links it to fragmented sleep, elevated stress, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and impaired learning in children. The first train at 4 a.m. arrives during some of the most vulnerable hours of sleep. Add vibration, construction disruption, elevated structures that change the character of a street and the presence of fast trains near places where children walk and bike, and the effect on quality of life is real.
Battery-electric power eliminates diesel exhaust, which is a genuine advantage, but it does not silence wheels, rails and bridge crossings.
Chicagoans know what transportation noise can do to a neighborhood. After O’Hare’s flight paths changed, the city received more than 400,000 jet-noise complaints in a single month in 2015, with residents describing lost sleep.
Faster airport access is a worthwhile goal, but it should not be bought with the health of the neighborhoods along the route. Before any approval, I urge officials to require an independent health impact assessment, including noise and vibration modeling with strict nighttime limits, and public meetings in every affected community, held before decisions are made.
I urge our officials to put residents’ health first and to make the answers public before any approval is given.
— William Gillard, retired doctor, River Forest
Note to readers
With Halloween coming, we’d like you to share your most memorable experience related to the holiday, either as a child or as an adult. A costume that you’ve never forgotten? A trip to a haunted house that scared you silly? Neighbors who went above and beyond to make things fun for the kids? Send a letter, of no more than 400 words, by Friday, Oct. 23 to [email protected]. Be sure to include your full name and your city/town.
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email [email protected].