BACKGROUND:

The stretch of South Burnham Park on the West side of Lake Shore Drive between 5300 and 5500 S Shore Drive is enjoyed both by people who live in the many nearby residential buildings and by people all over Chicago who visit the park, whether to enjoy the large field on the West side of Lake Shore Drive or to pass through it on the way to a picnic on Promontory Point.

This section of park, as well as the adjacent section of South Shore Drive, would benefit greatly from some simple improvements to address speeding traffic and loud activities too close to the residential buildings, as well as expanded beautification efforts. Hyde Park Together has assembled the following list of proposals based on conversations with neighbors and HPT cleanup day participants. We have shared them with Ald. Leslie Hairston, and hope to do what we can to advocate for these or similar improvements to our shared public green space.

PROPOSALS:

- Continue the "shared streets" program (but with more robust, immovable barriers like these concrete traffic diverters, so that they don't need to be continually repositioned).

- Make S Shore Drive between 55th and 53rd one way going north (toward Lake Shore Drive) to cut down on high speed traffic coming from the 53rd St. LSD exit.

- Close the dead spur (formerly a Lake Shore Drive ramp; often called "the cul-de-sac" by neighbors) now, using cheap, durable traffic diverters — and eventually return it to parkland.

- Fully repave S Shore Drive repaved from at least 53rd to 55th and improve signage & crosswalks. This is badly needed, and doing so would block S Shore for a couple of months, making it clear that the vibe of this stretch is changing.

- Ensure that the Point is open until at *least* 11 PM so that people who want to enjoy the lakefront in the evening have a place to go that is a reasonable distance from where people live.

- If necessary, implement regular late-night unarmed patrols of S Shore Dr, like the OEMC and Park District Security presence that we saw near the Point during summer 2020.

- In the long run, we would like to see the City of Chicago develop a community responder program like those that exist in other cities to help mediate noise complaints.

- Aware of the Chicago Park District's budget crunch, Hyde Park Together will continue our volunteer park cleanup program, and hopes to expand to other landscaping & beautification along this stretch.

Interested in getting more involved? Email Hyde Park Together at hydeparktogether@gmail.com