Sunday Parkways Program Closes Down Roads, Opens Up Neighborhood

by Elisa Tavares Bell

Sept. 4, 2008 – Ald. Rey Colon (35th) and other local leaders want Chicago cyclists and pedestrians to fill several major West Side boulevards in October to promote active lifestyles and community interaction.

“We already know that telling people to eat less and exercise more is not enough,”

Colon said last month at a press conference announcing the October events. “Americans will be fat in the next 30 years if current obesity trends continue.”

BickerBikes participants, part of a Bickerdike Redevelopment Corp. program that teaches youngsters how to repair bikes, rode to the press conference.

The project, known as “Sunday Parkways ,” will close off sections of Chicago boulevards to cars on Oct. 5 and Oct. 26, and allow bicyclists and pedestrians to take over the streets from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. On Oct. 5, the route will run from Kedzie and Logan boulevards to Woodward Drive and Jackson Boulevard. On Oct. 26, the route will run from 24th Street and California Avenue to Lake Street and Central Park Avenue.

West Side residents, who have fewer parks that other Chicagoans, should be primary beneficiaries of the program, said Lissette Castañeda, president of the Logan Square Neighborhood Association (one of five community-based organizations that developed the pilot project). The Little Village and Logan Square neighborhoods rank first and second among the city’s 77 neighborhoods in paucity of green space, Castañeda said, giving residents little access to recreational areas.

“Some neighborhoods have bike paths and forest preserves” – their own Sunday parkways, she said.

Eunita Rushing, president of the Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance , said the project, three years in the making, coincides with her organization’s mission to “enhance the environmental, social and economic vitality of Chicago’s West Side.”

“Sunday Parkways offers the opportunity to share culture by tearing down the boundaries and expanding the community,” said Rushing. “It promotes time with families and camaraderie among neighbors.”

Eunita Rushing, president of the Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance

Similar projects in Mexico and Colombia have been successful, said Ald. Ariel Reboyras (30th), noting that Sunday Parkways organizers traveled beyond U.S. borders to see what was being done elsewhere. New York City, he said, also recently implemented its own version, known as “Summer Streets ,” every Saturday.

“If the community understands why we’re walking, strolling or walking that day, it will be educational for others too,” said Reboyras, adding he hopes it will become a long-term, local tradition.

Local residents are responding with enthusiasm to the plan.

“I’m excited that (community leaders) are recognizing that bikes don’t just go from outskirts of the city to downtown,” said Sarah Miller, youth instructor of the Bickerdike Redevelopment Corp ., another non-profit organization involved in the development of Sunday Parkways.

Yahaira Ramirez, a nurse at Norwegian American Hospital, plans to participate next month. Street closings on those two Sundays should not cause problems, she said, since patients can access the hospital from various entrances.

Chicago Police Officer Keith Cali of the 13th District doubts extra police patrols will be needed to help with the event.

“Most businesses are closed on Sunday, and the boulevard is so big that it doesn’t allow for much conflict,” said Cali, an 18-year veteran officer who regularly patrols the Humboldt Park area. “I’d even attend that day, but I’ll be on vacation.”

Funding for the project came from several local groups, including Local Initiatives Support Corp. (LISC), The Chicago Community Trust and the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation . The project also includes partnerships with five communities and the Chicago Park District.