Abby Crisostomo
By Josh Ellis and MPC Research Assistant Paolo Cisneros - October 23, 2013
While currently underutilized, Blue Island’s waterfront is a unique resource with enormous potential for recreational opportunities, economic development and an improved quality of life for the Chicago southland and its neighboring communities.
In conjunction with the City of Blue Island, the Metropolitan Planning Council is looking for your ideas to help craft a plan to transform the Cal-Sag waterfront into an inviting and scenic front yard for the community.
Planners will host a series of placemaking sessions along the channel on Saturday, Oct. 26. All area residents are encouraged to attend. Sessions will be held at the following locations along the waterfront:
- South side of the channel at Olde Western Ave., 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
- SEPA station (directly east of the Metra tracks), 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
- Ann Street overlook, 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
- North side of the channel at Olde Western Ave, 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
For those unfamiliar with the process, placemaking is a people-centered approach to the planning, design and management of public spaces.
Put simply, it involves looking at spaces and subsequently listening to and asking questions of the people who live, work and play in them in order to discover their needs and aspirations for the area. This information is then used to create a common vision for that place. That vision, in turn, can evolve quickly into an implementation strategy beginning with small-scale, achievable improvements to bring immediate benefits to public spaces and the people who use them.
A public, town hall style meeting will be held on the evening Tuesday, Nov. 5, from 6 to 8 p.m. The meeting will be held at Blue Island Park District HQ at Memorial Park, 12804 S. Highland Ave., Blue Island.
More information on the Blue Island waterfront planning process can be found at BlueIsland.org/Waterfront.