Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Downtown
If they would prefer to have the park further north, on the land between Polk and Ninth where they plan future residential building, that might make sense. But they're trying to build a building with a pretend park on top. A landscaped roof reached by a narrow exit stair and an artificial turf soccer field are not a park. They will be entirely controlled by shopping center or school officials. The flowers might be better tended, but you can't walk a dog, put together a pickup game of baseball or Ultimate Frisbee, film a student movie, have an impromptu musical jam session, or hold a peaceful protest in shopping center landscaping.
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^ I'm not sure what the big issue is here. Having a public park on the roof of an existing structure is not a new concept in Chicago. Chicago's most successful park (Millennium Park) is an obvious example of this. There is no reason why it can't be a perfectly good park if well executed. I agree with you, however, that local residents should fight to make sure that it is easily accessible by the community from all directions, and that use for school activities is limited (in writing) to a certain proportion of the time.