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| Stockyards Memorial |
Anyone that knows me knows that I don't have anything less than total respect for our firemen so please don't take this posting as an insult but: seeing that we already have a memorial for our firemen in the Stockyards, is it the best usage to use a large lot on Western Ave. to duplicate a memorial located just seven miles north? Or is there a better usage for that lot? Something than would enhance the area? Perhaps a parking lot? Has anyone ever been to downtown LaGrange? They had a large vacant lot and built a 3 level parking structure on it. The result has been the opening of at least 10 eating establishments during the past 3 years. Restaurants and bars tend to do better when their patrons have a place to park.
I wonder who decided to build another fireman's memorial and how much critical thinking really went into this. A parking lot could have been built with an appropriate plague on the wall. The way this project is going now is the memorial is just filler for another vacant lot. It's an insult to firefighters and a coverup for the failings of past leadership.
Agree. Firemen are being played on this one.
ReplyDeleteThe Stock Yards Memorial is for the 21 firefighters killed at a single fire in 1910. Mayor Richard M. Daley’s plan to use Tax Increment Financing (TIF) to build a fireman’s memorial park in Beverly was approved by the Chicago City Council.
ReplyDelete“TIF is the City’s most versatile and effective economic development tool,” said Mayor Richard M. Daley. “It is important that we continue to invest in our park infrastructure as these facilities play a significant role in the quality of life in our neighborhoods.”
The memorial park will honor Chicago firefighters Anthony Lockhart and Patrick King, who were killed 12 years ago while extinguishing a blaze at a former car repair facility at 10611 S. Western Ave. The TIF assistance will pay for landscaping, fencing and a memorial for the fallen firefighters on the .6 acre site, which has remained vacant since the fire. Funds for the $675,000 acre project will be allocated from the Western Avenue/Rock Island TIF district. Preliminary designs include trees, grass, lighting, benches and walking paths surrounding a fireman-themed sculpture.
Where were YOU these last 12 years...waiting for a parking space, or at your favorite bar?
In my most humble opinion; YOU sir or madam, are a schlemiel.
The above sounds like an official response.
ReplyDeleteSO, ANYTHING BUILT WITH TIF FUNDS MUST BE GOOD.
ReplyDeleteThis property has been a topic since the fire occurred. It is strange that someone wants to make an issue of it NOW. This was debated and the residents chimed in on it - years ago. It's a done deal now. This park is certainly better than a vacant lot, and you should know that many firefighters supported this. Initially, I was hoping for an interesting business to appear, but there weren't any businesses vying for the space. At least non that were a good match for that spot. I've accepted that this lot is occupied by a park. The biggest problem will be keeping our own teens and bar-goers from using it inappropriately.
ReplyDeleteTo mister know it all above, get off your high horse! Where were you the past 12 years? I and the rest of the world respect the firefighters however enough is enough with the memorials.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion I think the park is a official excuse to stick it to the former owner's of the property. The gibbons' are decent people who who battled ginger every step of the way. for years they tried to present different development possibilities to ginger's hand picked advisory board only to be denied at which time ginger denied the request. The resentment between ginger and the gibbons' escalated over the years and gingers response was to start eminent domain procedures on the middle two parcels of the 7 lots. With the possibility of the two middle lots going away that made the rest of the property useless. One night during a campaign debate at st. barnabas several years ago the western ave. issue came up and ginger grandstanded about that being sacred land and she had plans for a memorial park because two fireman died.
ReplyDeleteAll this bullshit about sacred ground and two dead firemen is nonsense. If the city of chicago built a memorial park every time a policeman or fireman died in the line of duty we would run out of land. The park on western is bullshit and unneeded. All it is is ginger flexing her muscles and showing her authority. With the amount of people who will actually use this park I hope they call it rugai park. Like ginger the park will be useless
And yes, I am a chicago fireman, fourth generation
Someone is calling me names because I am questioning this? Are we living in Nazi Germany? I think calling this park into question is a good exercise in democracy. I am sorry if anyone is offended.
ReplyDeleteI would never even dream of visiting the firefighters' memorial at the Stockyards, and neither would most Chicagoans who aren't on the fire department. They wouldn't go out of their way to do it, and it wouldn't even occur to most people to visit there. Frankly, most people don't even know that memorial exists. This ward has the greatest number of firefighters in the city, and most residents in the ward know members of the Fire Department. I think we can assume that many residents will honor Patrick King and Anthony Lockhart, and all firefighters, by visiting the local memorial/park at least once. You can be glad that people respect the profession and visit a place dedicated to it in your own neighborhood, or you can be mad about it and say that the profession has been adequately honored and represented elsewhere. I would choose the former if I served on the department. It just depends on whether or not you want to be angry about something. I can think of other things to get upset about.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the north siders. do you think they are coming out here to visit the memorial? At least the stockyards is a more central location. But if we truly want to honor the firemen shouldn't the memorial be downtown. Maybe right in the middle of grant park. Howbout in millenium park?
ReplyDeleteI agree that the memorial bewing built on western is nothing more than expensive filler. Politically convenient expensive filler.
So now you're offended on behalf of North Siders? Who cares if they come to visit? The point is that you can, and so can all of your neighbors and family who live around here. They probably wouldn't think to go to the one in the Stockyards anyway. If you don't like this, don't go there, but it's not hurting anyone if other people go. As for businesses that might have built there - this economy is not conducive to that now. Hopefully it will get better. The people who want to open a business can and do find space elsewhere in the ward, since we, like all areas, have plenty of real estate available. The park is better than an empty lot.
ReplyDeletehey build it so the niggers have some place to go and chill out on sundays,
ReplyDelete