Chicago Park District

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2007)

The Chicago Park District is the oldest and (financially) largest park district in the U.S.A, with a $385 million annual budget. The Chicago Park District has the distinction of spending the most per capita on its parks, even more than Boston in terms of park expenses per capita. The district is an independent taxing authority as defined by Illinois State Statute and is considered a separate (or "sister") agency of the city of Chicago. The CEO of the Park District is appointed by the Mayor of Chicago.

1 Jurisdiction
2 History
3 Image Gallery
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Jurisdiction

Main article: Parks of Chicago

A footpath in Portage Park

The Chicago Park District oversees 552 parks with over 7,300 acres (30 km²) of municipal parkland as well as 33 beaches, nine museums, two world-class conservatories, 16 historic lagoons and 10 bird and wildlife gardens that are found with the city limits. A number of these are tourist destinations, most notably Lincoln Park, Chicago's largest park which has over 20 million visitors each year, second only to Central Park in New York City.^[1]. Thanks to nine lakefront harbors located within a number of parks along the lakefront the Chicago Park District is also the nation's largest municipal harbor system.

A number of Chicago Park District parks are located in the vicinity of or even adjacent to a number of Chicago Public Schools. This design was done in order to make it easier for public school students and faculty to incorporate school assignments or physical activities into the learning experience. Additionally, a number Chicago Public Library locations are located within Chicago Park District facilities.

[edit] History

The agency was long considered a dumping ground for political appointees; most famously, it was run by Ed Kelly, one of the "Eddies" who frustrated Mayor Harold Washington in the 1980s. The size and personnel of the park district was dramatically pared down during the reform administration of Mayor Richard M. Daley-appointed CEO Forrest Claypool in the mid-1990s. Until 1983 it was District policy to underfund parks in minority neighborhoods[1].

The district has been run by Tim Mitchell since 2004. During his tenure, the park district has initiated a program of renovating and beautifying existing parks and initiating the building of a number of new parks in recent years such as Ping Tom Memorial Park, DuSable Park and most notably Millennium Park. The Chicago Park District has also made an effort to return programming to the neighborhoods through the parks and created a lakefront concert venue on Northerly Island on the site of the former Meigs Field airport.

[edit] Image Gallery

Buckingham Fountain, Grant Park	Flagstone steps in Portage Park	Osaka Japanese Garden in Jackson Park	Lincoln Park Zoo
Lincoln Park in winter	Millennium Park	Montrose Beach	The riverfront pavilion in Ping Tom Memorial Park