Park District floats plans for 3 harbors

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-harbor13jun13,1,4845074.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true

Park District floats plans for 3 harbors

$120 million project seen as boon for city's Olympic bid

By Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah
Tribune staff reporter
June 13, 2007

Hoping to secure the 2016 Olympics and find space for more boaters, the Chicago Park District is putting efforts to build two -- and possibly three -- new harbors on the fast track.

It's the first time since 2000 that a new harbor would be built in the city, where Park District officials say 500 boaters are waiting for slips.

The new marinas near Navy Pier, 31st Street and at the site of the former USX steel mill in South Shore would add 2,230 new slips to the city and cost more than $120 million, according to park officials. Chicago currently has nine harbors with a total of 5,100 slips.

The 31st Street harbor has been proposed as the site for Olympic sailing competitions.

Parks officials said Tuesday that they are forging ahead with a financial analysis to determine whether they can pay for the construction of the harbors. They plan to issue bonds to pay for the project, which would be repaid with mooring fees.

"We're not going to build something that can't support itself," said Park District Supt. Tim Mitchell, adding that there's still a waiting list for slips despite the opening of DuSable Harbor seven years ago.

"We know two of these will absolutely work," Mitchell said.

In addition to sorting out financing, parks officials have to clear the projects with federal regulators and hold public hearings. If approved, construction could begin on at least two of the harbors in 2009.

The proposals will be discussed at Wednesday's park board meeting.

The 31st Street location, a potential Olympic site, would include about 830 new slips and require adding a new breakwater south of the existing beach pier.

"The 31st Street harbor is good news for us," said Patrick Sandusky, spokesman for Chicago 2016. "It's one of the things that will help our chances as we move forward to a 2009 decision."Officials estimate that it will cost $42 million for a new harbor with a multi-use facility for boaters and the public at the 31st Street site.

The Navy Pier location, at what is popularly known as Dime Pier, is being proposed for larger boats and transient boaters -- people sailing into Chicago from around the Great Lakes and beyond. In May, the Park District swapped land with the city to create a harbor at Dime Pier, which runs parallel to the south side of Navy Pier.

With up to 400 slips and concession and comfort stations for boaters, the new harbor, called Chicago Gateway Harbor, has been priced at about $24 million. In the event the city lands the Olympics, the harbor could also be used to moor boats from Monroe Harbor, a proposed Olympic venue for rowing competitions.

"In the business of boating, it is location, location, location," said Ned Dikmen, chairman of Great Lakes Boating Federation. "I know they will fill faster than the speed of light.

"The location near 87th Street would help spark a much-needed revitalization of the South Shore, officials said. The USX mill was closed in 1992 and the Park District has been discussing for some time the need to build a harbor there. They also hope to build a new causeway at the harbor that would lead to a new park on a small peninsula.

A harbor would add approximately 1,000 new slips to the system and be the most expensive of the projects at up to $58 million. The financial analysis will help park officials determine if boaters are willing to travel that far south of downtown or if there's enough interest from boaters in neighboring Indiana and the South Side to make the harbor viable.

Erma Tranter, president of the Friends of the Parks, said additional green space should also be included in plans for the new harbors.

Tuesday's announcement comes after a harbor study commissioned by the Park District in 2005. The consultants, JJR LLC, a Michigan planning and design firm, led more than 19 community meetings trying to narrow sites for future marinas.

After the city embarked on its bid for the Olympics, parks officials waited for nearly a year to release the study because they wanted to see if the new harbors could potentially become venues for the Games.

In all, JJR is proposing four new sites for harbors, with the fourth just east of DuSable Harbor adding 500 slips.

Rob Rejman, the Park District's director of lakefront construction, hopes to soon begin designs and preliminary engineering on at least two of the new harbors and start the process to get permits by the end of the year. He hopes to open the harbors in 2010.By then, the Park District will be able to inform slip-owners in the new harbors if they need to move to another harbor because of the Olympics. Mitchell believes some owners may opt to stay in the 31st Street harbor because of their front-row seats to the competitions.

Parks officials are also planning 500 new slips in Jackson Park, Burnham and Montrose Harbors in response to the rising popularity of boating among Chicagoans as more women and minorities purchase boats, Rejman said. Although officials haven't publicly discussed how they would reconfigure the harbors, they said they plan to add the slips.

Boats have become waterfront condos, especially for suburbanites. Dikmen said it's affordable for some people to moor a 30-foot boat in the city, which can cost up to $500 a month for the season."It's become a beautiful home on the lake away from home," he said.

Over the years, however, boaters have complained at park board meetings about the lack of facilities at existing city harbors -- including bathrooms, showers and washers and dryers -- which they can find at other harbors around the Great Lakes.

This year parks officials have hiked mooring fees by 8 percent, drawing boaters' wrath even further. The fees vary based on the size of the slip and which harbor a boater uses.

The Park District has promised to open a $3 million building at DuSable Harbor with a restaurant, store and bathrooms. They also said they would upgrade facilities at other harbors this year.

"If any more increases come to the boaters and they don't see what's been promised to us happen before they build new harbors, they will be very upset," said Capt. Walter Lisowski, president of the Friends of the Marine Community. "Before they build new harbors, they need to finish facilities at the existing harbors."

nahmed@tribune.com

Olympics offer rare opportunity for Illinois

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/news_opinion_letters/2007/06/olympics_offer_.html

Olympics offer rare opportunity for Illinois

This is in response to the Chicago Tribune article "Habitat pits cranes vs. Games; Small group of activists braces for fight over forest preserve chosen to handle equestrian events if Chicago wins bid for 2016 Olympics" (Page 1, May 25).

With the announcement of Lakewood Forest Preserve's prospect of hosting the equestrian venue for the 2016 Olympics, a small minority of Lake County residents has failed to recognize the importance of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

As a public official, I believe that second chances rarely come around, which is why I propose that our educational agencies, equestrian groups, competition and show participants, and community-based leaders formally recognize the true potential of this first-class Olympic venue for what it truly is: an opportunity to be one of the finest horse show grounds in the world and a vehicle for Lake County to show the world its beauty, charm and culture.

Unlike the small opposition, I wholeheartedly believe that the Lake County Forest Preserve District Board members have been, and will continue to be, good stewards of our open lands.

The current board has always weighed its decisions to acquire land based on protecting our natural resources and allowing the public to benefit from the use of the preserves.

The benefits of the equestrian facility after the 2016 Olympic events are endless.

Programs will be established that will allow a wide range of individuals and groups to take advantage of this magnificent facility.

One such program will be geared solely for our disabled and underprivileged youth, allowing them to experience a unique opportunity: to ride a beautiful creature and feel the power of independence.

After the 2016 Olympics, the Lake County Board will enter into an agreement with a second party to maintain and run the facility. This contract will be very specific as to what will, and what will not, be allowed.

Contrary to what has been said by the opposition, I have been assured by the board that there will never be a clause in the contract that would allow for monster-truck pulls or rock concerts.

It would be in the best interest of northern Lake County, and Illinois as a whole, to openly support the economic and cultural benefits of an Olympic equestrian venue, all of which can be integrated with, and enhanced by, our existing natural resources.

Please don't let a few individuals, fueled by personal agendas, stop an opportunity and legacy that will make Lake County shine with pride for decades to come.

Salvatore J. Saccomanno

Mayor

Village of Wauconda

PRESERVE LAKEWOOD FOREST PRESERVE

Cross Country Events

Check out the cross country trails. Look at the map and you will find that it covers a HUGE amount of the Forest Preserve.

Following the Olympics no one will be able to use the majority of the trails during cross country events and practice sessions.

There can be as many as 30-35 obstacles.

It will destroy the forest preserve!!

Pictures to give you an idea of what an Olympic Equestrian Arena and supporting facilities look like.

.

cross country event pictures

Imagine the arena, stables, cross country events, trailers, people, cars, noise, etc. We can kiss Lakewood forest good-bye.

It is incredible that the LCFPD states that the equestrian venue will not affect the environment.

It is an environmental fact that a great majority of species use their hearing to escape predators. The noise generated by use of the Olympic equestrian venue will put prey animals at a severe disadvantage, resulting in their reduced numbers.

The equestrian cross country course will disturb threatened tamarack trees, nesting and foraging grounds of threatened sandhill cranes, as well as areas inhabited by endangered black-crowned night herons, yellow-crowned night herons and henslow's sparrows.

Lake County, Illinois is rapidly developing. Open spaces are quickly being filled in. The last thing we need is for the lands we have set aside as forest preserves to suffer the same fate. It is the animals' last refuge in this area.

Article City Council Voting & Slide Show of Plans

Click the link for slideshow

http://cbs2chicago.com/slideshows/local_slideshow_023180622

City Council Votes 45-5 For Olympic Funding Plan
Under Plan, Taxpayers Would Be On The Hook As Last Resort

(CBS) CHICAGO The Chicago City Council has voted 45-5 to approve a plan to offer a financial guarantee of $500 million in local tax dollars for the 2016 Olympics.

But as CBS 2's Joanie Lum reports, the debate before the vote brought a range of opinions.

When the U.S. Olympic Committee visited the city last week, they said the lack of a guarantee of financial backing was the city's most serious weak point in its Olympic bid. Chicago is competing with Los Angeles to be named the American candidate for the games.

"This is going to be a monumental thing for the city of Chicago," Ald. Ed Burke (14th) said, imploring his colleagues to vote for the guarantee.

"The bid for the 2016 Summer Games has, in the words of Daniel Burnham, stirred the soul of Chicago,” he added.

"I think this is a no-brainer," Ald. Danny Solis (25th) said.

While some alderman dared to dream, others said they're concerned about the hard reality of kicking in $500 million of taxpayer money to guarantee the 2016 Olympics.

"I don't want to end up with a lemon on my hands,” said Ald. Ed Smith (28th).

Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th), who represents the South Side ward where the Olympic Village would be built, voted against the measure, saying the city's 2016 committee had not been inclusive or operated in a transparent manner. Preckwinkle said she was troubled that talk of a $500 million guarantee did not come out until after last month's city election.

"The same people who didn't tell us anything now want us to trust them that the possibility of using these guarantees is very, very remote,” said Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th).

USOC officials told city organizers during an inspection visit that they want the government to "have some skin in the game" to please the International Olympic Committee.

Under the resulting plan, which was unveiled by Mayor Richard M. Daley last week, Chicago taxpayers could be liable for half a billion dollars in overruns, but only as a last resort.

Daley compared the city's financial responsibility to earthquake or tornado insurance.

“This is only an insurance policy, it is only an insurance policy,” he said.

Chicago 2016 Chairman Patrick Ryan has said the organizing committee projects a budget surplus of $525 million, an estimate organizers believe is conservative. That surplus is the first of a five-layer structure of financial guarantees the city will submit to the USOC.

If the Games ran in the red, the first $200 million of losses would be covered by money the city expects to make by selling rights to build the planned lakefront Olympic Village and the rental of luxury suites at the Olympic stadium, Ryan has said.

The next $250 million in losses would be covered by the city. After that, the next $250 million in losses would be covered by private insurance and other undetermined public money, he said.

Finally, the city would stand behind a final $250 million guarantee to dig out from an Olympic financial shortfall.

Some aldermen said they felt excluded from the process. Twentieth Ward Ald. Arenda Troutman (20th), who lost her re-election bid, said this would be her last important vote as an elected official.

"I am still the voice of the people, I must vote no to the continual mistreatment of my community,” Troutman said.

Wednesday's vote also gave the city the ability to enter into intergovernmental agreements with the Chicago Park District, the Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority, the Board of Education and other municipalities and private institutions that would grant land and venue use as part of Chicago's bid.

But professor Irv Rein of Northwestern University said last week there cannot be an absolute guarantee that the Olympics will make money or break even. He said even though many cities have indeed made money on the Olympics, that does not mean it is a certainty. It took Montreal 30 years to pay off its debt as a result of organizing the 1976 Olympics.

The USOC will decide on April 14 whether Chicago or Los Angeles will get to go forward with an Olympic bid.

The International Olympic Committee won't pick a host city until 2009, and other bidders are expected to include Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, Rome and Tokyo.

Olympics & Lakewood Article

Olympic Bid Could Tame Lakewood

It may put Lake County, Illinois, on the map, give the forest preserve district a better venue for its equestrian constituents, and not cost taxpayers a penny. But the unanimous decision made by the Lake County Forest Preserves in January to offer up 300 acres of Lakewood Forest Preserve for conversion to an equestrian venue for the 2016 Summer Olympics has raised concerns among Lake County residents who support undeveloped open space. At about 3,000 acres, Lakewood is the district’s largest contiguous preserve and host to 17 state-endangered species of plants and animals. The Forest Preserve District would work with the City of Chicago and the International Olympic Committee to convert the land.

The public was made aware of the plans roughly two weeks before the district voted on the project. The proposed site at Lakewood Forest Preserve is south of Ivanhoe Road and west of Fairfield Road, in an area with nine miles of existing equestrian trails. The facility would be used for the two weeks of the 2016 Olympic Summer Games and then for the following week of Paralympics. Most of the open land that would be used for stables, warm-up areas, athletes’ lounge, and other amenities is currently agricultural field.

Some county taxpayers are protesting the decision, promising to fight it with letters to Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and the Olympic Committee itself, as well as alerting other residents. They say that 300 acres of land should be left open and restored to native habitat.
“No forest preserve in Lake County is safe if they can do this to one,” said Jay Glenn, a Lake Barrington, Illinois, resident and attorney who lives four miles away from Lakewood.
Forest Preserves Executive Director Tom Hahn has assured county taxpayers and environmentalists that no additional preserves would be affected if the Olympics deal goes through. (A final decision will be made in 2009.)

“As long as I am here at Lake County Forest Preserve District, preservation is first,” he said. “We selected the [preserve] that was as nonintrusive as possible.” Temple Farms and other Lake County venues had also been approached, but the Olympic Committee saw Lakewood as the best choice, said Hahn.

Private donations including significant financial backing from the well-known Pritzker family, enthusiastic equestrians, and Olympic funds will cover the costs, said Hahn. After the event, the preserve will have $12.5 million in infrastructure, making the area suitable for a variety of events, including major equestrian shows.

In response to protests that the 300 acres be used for restoration and as open land instead of an equestrian venue, Hahn said, “We try to keep 80 to 85 percent of all our preserves as natural areas. We’re cognizant that Lakewood is our largest preserve. We will put millions of dollars into restoration activities there,” he said, adding that the district just bought 147 acres of golf course next to Lakewood and will restore that land instead of using it as another golf course.

Glenn remains mistrustful. An Illinois statute allows forest preserves, except for the one in Cook County, to do whatever they wish with their land, he said. He thinks it’s time state constituents work to get that law changed.

Glenn and others, including Linda Breuer, who lives next door to the Lakewood Preserve, said it’s not only the 300 acres of land within the preserve they are worried about.

“Lakewood is a relatively wild area of Lake County,” said Glenn, and all that will change with construction, and the traffic that will no doubt come during the building.

But more troubling to some is that the wild creatures living in this region could be harmed irreparably because of construction and activity at the site. In fact, Broberg Marsh, just down the road from Lakewood, harbors some of the state’s rarest breeding birds, including black terns and yellow-headed blackbirds, both requiring specific water depths and vegetation to successfully nest. New sewer systems and added pavement could affect the water tables and buffer zones that these and other species need.

“We have a strong environmental process to go through” if the Olympics are held at Lakewood, Hahn said. The forest preserves will need to get approval from several governmental bodies, as well as the Olympic Committee itself.

But what happens after the venue is built and activities continue at the preserve? Studies suggest that noise and disturbance from large-scale equestrian events could push out any nearby nesting birds. Great blue herons, for example, will abandon their rookeries when traffic and other human disturbances are nearby.

Glenn said the Lakewood plan will likely revive the Route 53/176 extensions, adding to noise and wildlife disturbance. Further, he points to the Georgia International Horse Park near Atlanta, the venue for the 1996 Olympics. Once open buffer land around a 160-acre nature preserve, this park now hosts events nearly every day of the year, including equestrian and mountain biking competitions, fairs, festivals, concerts, and rodeos.

Some Lake County residents, including Middlefork Savanna steward Denis Bohm, think the Olympic equestrian center is a good idea. He says it will serve equestrians, one of the county’s constituent groups. But Glenn believes it will not serve others: “I’m protesting this plan for the next generation—and for wildlife.”

Don't Tread on Lakewood

Something to consider

Preservation vs. Conservation

The terms preservation and conservation are often confused, but there is a difference between them.

Preservation implies complete protection, with little human disturbance. It is a necessary tool of conservation in some instances. Wilderness and certain unique habitats for wildlife must be kept intact. On such areas man can acquaint himself with unspoiled nature and scientists can study the complex ecology of natural communities. Animals threatened with extinction must be totally protected so that man can continue to enjoy and learn from them.

Conservation, however, means the wise use of a renewable resource. Like trees of the forest, game animals are a renewable resource. There is an annual surplus that can be harvested safely by man.

Wildlife cannot be stockpiled. Each unit of land has a certain carrying capacity for each species, a limit to the number of that species it can support. A land unit may temporarily support an excessive population (like at the end of the reproductive season), but mortality factors will inevitably cut the population back. Protection will not alter this basic law of population biology.

In animal populations safety does not lie entirely in numbers. Wildlife sometimes can be overprotected. Rampantly reproducing muskrat populations are occasionally subject to decimating hemorrhagic disease. Overabundant muskrats may "burn out" a marsh by eating so much vegetation that almost none is left to support a muskrat population. The results of allowing a deer herd, deprived of its natural predators, to multiply beyond the carrying capacity of its range have been documented all too often. Poor growth, weakened physical condition, and starvation are sure to follow, with the smaller, less competitive fawns the first to fall victim. The severely damaged range takes many years to recover, reducing its value for not only deer, but other wildlife as well.

The reproductive potential of all animals, game and nongame, exceeds the carrying capacity of their range (more animals are born each year than the habitat can support). If untouched by humans, the surplus is removed by mortality factors such as predation, starvation, disease, or other natural causes. If used wisely by humans, the surplus can be harvested without risk to the next year's population.

Conservation implies management...of the animals, their habitat, and the people who use them.

Aldo Leopold, one of America's foremost conservationists and the father of modern wildlife management said: "We have learned that game, to be successfully conserved, must be positively produced rather than negatively protected....

We have learned that game is a crop, which nature will grow and grow abundantly, provided only that we furnish the seed and a suitable environment."

All subsequent experience has verified this observation.

No Stadium Here Video

Proposed Olympic Equestrian Center Creating Controversy

Not everyone is pulling for Chicago to win the bidding war for the 2016 Olympics.

Michelle Relerford talked to some people in the suburbs who want the games to go west.

Click the link below to start video

http://www.myfoxchicago.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=2651163&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=3.1.1

Save Lakewood Official Representative

Shown here is our official representative that has experience meeting with County officials and Federal representatives such as Bonnie Thompson Carter and Mellisa Bean.

Save Lakewood FP Flyer

Title: A New Olympic Event - The Forest Preserve Destruction Triathlon
Have you heard about the New Olympic Event planned for 2016?

- The Olympic Forest Preserve Destruction Triathlon
It consists of...

1. destroy the forests,
2. displace the animals, and
3. impact the peace of the surrounding communities FOREVER

Brought to you by Chicago’s Mayor Daley, and Bonnie Carter and her entire Lake County Forest Preserve Board

If the Olympics come to Chicago in 2016, Lakewood Forest Preserve in Lake County, IL the forest preserve and wildlife will be destroyed and displaced FOREVER through the construction of a 15,000 seat multi-building Horse Event Stadium and supporting facilities. All this for 3 weeks of supposed glory that might put Wauconda on the
Global map of famous places because we hosted the Olympic horse event.

What happened to the “Preserve” in Forest Preserve?
What is an Olympic Size 15,000 seat horse stadium doing in the middle of the woods? For the several years before the Olympics horse event, Death and destruction to the animals, wetlands, and trees...Seems Bonnie Carter and her board forgot about the endangered animals living here!

Road construction, stadium construction, horse stable construction

New sewage system, water system, more power lines

Noise Noise Noise, and MORE Noise for 1+ year straight, maybe more!
(what animals in the surrounding forest will stick around throughout all this?)

During the Olympics and forever after, Every weekend, and some weekdays too!

Bright flood lights

Blaring announcer loudspeakers

Hundreds and thousands of spectators = traffic

Fast food litter (have you ever seen this NOT be the case?)

Is THIS what we mean by the word “Preserve” in Forest Preserve?

After the Olympics, this “Legacy” that is left behind, what next?

Horse events, rock concerts, monster truck meets, WHAT ELSE?

Increased traffic

Increased crime opportunities

And sadly, no more peaceful Lakewood Forest Preserve

This is not just about the 300+ acres the horse stadium occupies, It’s the impact to the entire Lakewood eco-system.
It’s the impact to the communities surrounding Lakewood And worst of all, its setting the precedent that it is OK to let our wonderful Bonnie Carter and her Lake County Forest Preserve board, do anything they please, even if it means DESTROYING OUR FOREST PRESERVES.

Doesn’t their job description of Lake County Forest Preserve Board have the word “PRESERVE” in it somewhere?
Seems they have forgotten the original charter of the Lake County Forest Preserve (excerpt from their web site below)

http://www.lcfpd.org/about/index.cfm?fuseaction=about.viewHistory

And I quote directly from the above

“Our roots reach back to 1957…” “In those days, Lake County's population hadn't even reached 300,000.
But people were already shaking their heads about the loss of open space. Unique to Illinois, forest preserve districts were designed to protect large natural areas.”

End of quote from above Lake County Forest Preserve web site.

So how is a 15,000 seat Olympic size stadium destroying and displacing the forest and the animals consistent with their original charter as put forth on their OWN WEB SITE? Please take special note of the phrase “forest preserve districts were designed to protect large natural areas” – note the particular word “protect”! What better way to “protect” the forest and the animals than to put in a 15,000 seat multi-building Olympic horse stadium with all the fringe benefits of removing the trees and wetlands, displacing the animals, the noise, traffic, and litter I have mentioned above!

So once again,

What happened to the “Preserve” in Forest Preserve?

In 2020, Will your grandkids care that the 2016 Olympics horse events were in Lakewood? Or would they rather take a hike on one of the peaceful trails we preserved for them?

BONNIE CARTER AND THE ENTIRE LAKE COUNTY FOREST PRESERVE BOARD PLEASE – READ YOUR OWN WEB SITE YOU SEEM TO HAVE FORGOTTEN YOUR JOB

Gee, I wonder after they read this letter if their original charter will mysteriously disappear from their web site, just like the forest and the animals will if this Olympic Horse Stadium is forced upon mother nature?

Check back in a month to see if they will try to hide their sins by removing their original charter from their web site.

There is time to change this terrible mistake. Even if the Olympics do not come to Chicago, Lakewood AND EVERY FOREST PRESERVE in Lake County will be under an eternal risk that Bonnie Carter and her Lake County Forest Preserve Board could make similar tragically bad decisions.

Please, remember that there is the word “Preserve” in Forest Preserve.

Please, remember the original charter of the Lake County Forest Preserve, and I quote one more time, “preserve districts were designed to protect large natural areas”.