Grant Park Conservancy

Location: Grant Park's Historic Hutchinson Field, SE corner of Balbo and Columbus

Mulching and caring for trees allows them to retain more water, prevents damage by lawn mowers, nourishes them, conditions the soil, and allows them to live longer and draws attention to them and their importance to the environment.  It is also great exercise and a good work out. 

• The convergence of all of the events is a great opportunity to draw attention to the importance of trees and what better place than Chicago’s green “front yard to the world”, Grant Park?  We want to draw awareness for raising funds for trees in Chicago through private funds, public funds, maybe creating a private tree fund and raising federal dollars (trees have huge environmental impacts and trees are part of the transportation and urban infrastructure).  Trees are a great way to green up the environment and they create jobs.  Trees attract people to live in an urban environment which is one of the most environmentally-friendly ways to live as it is close to public transit.   
  
• Grant Park is the green centerpiece of Daniel Burnham’s 1909 Plan of Chicago. This year is the centennial of that Plan.
  
• Grant Park will be the 2016 Olympics celebration central and the venue of three Olympic events.
  
• Very visible location bounded by Lake Shore Drive and Columbus Drive.
  
• Grant Park is Chicago’s front yard and lively, outdoor civic center to the world.

• Charles Hutchinson,  for which Hutchinson Field is named:
  

• Planting trees is one of the least expensive and most effective ways of drawing excess CO₂ from the atmosphere.  
  
• A mature tree can absorb carbon dioxide at a rate of over 40 pounds per year and release enough oxygen into the atmosphere to support 2 human beings.
  
• They cleanse the air absorbing tons per year of carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and particulate matter.
  
• They reduce heat islands.
  
• They increase property values.
  
• They cool buildings by shading them from the hot summer sun.
  
• They relax people and reduce tension.
  
• They provide shade for people walking on sidewalks and in parks.
  
• They provide habitat and food for birds and other nature.
  
• They prevent soil erosion. 

Please help us help Chicago's birds this spring.  We need volunteers.

The Grant Park Conservancy and Advisory Council have been working with the Chicago Park District and Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation at Northerly Island to help nature and birds.  We also teamed up with the Chicago Park District and Flint Creek to locate the center at Northerly Island.  We believe it is important to help the millions of migratory birds that fly through Chicago each spring and fall along an important migratory flyway.  The spring migration season is now beginning and unfortunately many birds are injured crashing into buildings.

The early bird catches the worm:

Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation seeks volunteers to work two hours, one morning per week, to rescue and recover migratory birds that have struck buildings during migration. 

Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation's rescue and recovery teams patrol buildings in downtown Chicago each morning during migration in order to save the lives of birds that strike buildings.  Thousands of bird strike glass on Chicago's many buildings during their twice-yearly migration through the city.  These stunned birds fall to the ground where the lie unconscious.  Without intervention, they are stepped on by unaware pedestrians, eaten by hungry gulls or die a slow death without the benefit of medical treatment.  These birds include beautiful warblers, woodpeckers, thrushes and buntings, among others. 

Well over 80% of rescued birds can be released back to the wild.  Timely treatment is important to survival and Flint Creek's rescue teams ensure that birds are treated by Flint Creek's federally-licensed staff at nearby Northerly Island where they have the best chance of survival.

Flint Creek also needs:

Building Rescue Coordinators who coordinate rescue efforts at their residential or office buildings

Transporters to take the birds from Flint Creek's Northerly Island facility to its Barrington facility for those birds that need extended care.

Volunteers only need to devote a few hours one morning a week to save the lives of birds in the city.  Training will be provided as will rescue and recovery supplies.  Interested volunteers should complete the volunteer application on Flint Creek's website at www.flintcreekwildlife.org/volunteer.htm  or phone 847.842.8000 for more information.

Flint Creek is a federally-licensed, not-for-profit wildlife rehabilitation organization with facilities on Northerly Island in downtown Chicago, and in Barrington and Itasca.

Spring migration will begin around March 15th.  What should you do if you find an injured bird?   Place the bird in a paper bag with a folded paper towel in the bottom.  Secure the bag with a binder or paper clip.  Place the bag in a quiet, dark location and phone Flint Creek Wildlife's hotline at 888.FLINTCREEK or 847.842.8000 to arrange a pick up.  Please do not attempt to give the bird food, water or medical attention as it might cause further injury.  Injured birds may also be dropped off at Flint Creek's Northerly Island facility daily between the hours of 8:30 am and 10:30 am. 

Visit Flint Creek's website at www.flintcreekwildlife.org for directions to the Northerly Island facility.

We hope this dovetails with more participation by the public.

Thank you very much for all of your help!

Bob O'Neill

Grant Park Conservancy

Grant Park Advisory Council

Phone: 312-927-6795

Email: boboneill@grantparkconservancy.com

Daniel Burnham's 1909 Plan of Chicago:

Centennial Symposium on Grant Park

Burnham's Vision: Grant Park's Role, Past, Present and Future...

Meeting Details:

When:  Wednesday, November 19th, 2008 at 6:30pm

Where: Spertus Institute's Crown Family Great Hall - 9th Floor

610 S. Michigan Avenue

The Centennial of the 1909 Plan of Chicago is almost here and we have assembled a panel of experts to discuss Grant Park. This will be part of a series of discussions over the next year.  The history over the last hundred years, the present and the future will all be discussed in a visual presentation. 

The Grant Park Advisory Council and Grant Park Conservancy are proud to announce our distinguished panel for the evening:

Geoffrey Baer

Geoffrey Baer Tours Host and Producer at WTTW Channel 11

Geoffrey is an expert on all things in and around Chicago.  From the El, the river, the lake and from the south and west suburbs to the very north and all in between, Geoffrey shows us a side of the city we have rarely seen before. He makes it fascinating.  He is a graduate of Northwestern University and Miami University.  His latest program: Chicago's Lakefront  is coming in December 2008!

Gordon Gill, AIA

Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture

Gordon is a managing partner at Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture.  He has designed award-winning architecture across the globe. His work emphasizes a holistic approach to design that works with natural surroundings- contributing to the sustainability of cities and augmenting the built landscape. Gordon’s work includes the design of the world’s first net Zero-Energy skyscraper, Pearl River Tower, and the first mixed-use positive energy building, the Masdar Headquarters.  He was recently recognized for his Grant Park/Monroe Harbor Eco-Bridge which proposes the breakwater called for in Daniel Burnham's 1909 Plan, the last of its major components. This would be a grand civic space with a soft shoreline and a place to learn from and study Great Lakes ecology.  These landmark projects exemplify Gordon’s philosophy that architecture must strike a balance with its global environmental context. Prior to founding Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture LLP in 2006, Gordon was an Associate Partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP and a Director of Design for VOA Associates.  Gordon has a Masters of Architecture from Harvard University and one from the University of Texas.

Web page:  www.smithgill.com

Linda Keane, AIA

Linda is a National Council of Architectural Registration Boards Professor of Architecture and Environmental Design at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.  Linda is an architect and environmental designer.  She combines an architectural practice with environmental design leadership developing eco literacy initiatives that use animation and the Internet to introduce design thinking to the design-denied public.  During her tenure as Chair of the Department of Architecture, Interior Architecture and Designed Objects at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she initiated new undergraduate and graduate architecture curricula.  She continues to work on green initiatives along the Chicago- Milwaukee corridor understanding that environmental issues are in part issues in education.  She directed the City of Chicago’s Green Roof Website, advised Metropolis 2020’s Metro Joe’s Regional Web Game, and, with a team of teachers, students, architects and designers, co-created www.NEXT.cc, an educational non profit art + design eco web community promoting environmental stewardship across the K-12 curriculum.

Web page:  www.studio1032.com

John McCarron

John is a contributing columnist for the Chicago Tribune and an adjunct Professor at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism.  John has covered all things urban throughout his long and recognized career having once covered the urban affairs beat for the Chicago Tribune.  He also passes on his wealth of knowledge at Northwestern University, as well as through his numerous appearances on WTTW's Chicago Tonight including being a frequent Friday night guest on Channel 11’s The Week in Review.

He is also a former financial editor of The Tribune and former member of its editorial board. John continues to write a monthly column for the Tribune’s op-ed page.  John was also a panel moderator on "Globalizing Cities - Chicago and the World" at UIC's 2006 Daley Urban Forum.

Web page:

http://www.medill.northwestern.edu/faculty/adjunct.aspx?id=5785

Lawrence Okrent

Okrent Associates, Inc.

Larry is a Chicago-based planning and zoning consultant with over 35 years experience in Chicago and around the world specializing in land planning and zoning, aerial photography, mapping, and graphic design for real estate marketing materials.  Some of his work in Chicago includes the Chicago 21 Plan (Central Area) and Dearborn Park.  He began his career at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, where he was a member of the planning staff for 10 years.  Larry has processed dozens of planned developments in Chicago, including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Michigan Avenue’s Park Tower, and the expansions of the Adler Planetarium, the Museum of Science and Industry, Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum.

Larry also has an extensive image base of Chicago's past which he will be sharing with us.

He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and a recipient of a Master's degree from Northwestern University.

Web page: www.okrentassociates.com.

Mark Sexton

Krueck + Sexton Architects, Principal 

Mark is the architect of the new Spertus Institute, the Chicago Children’s Museum and the Crown Fountain in Millennium Park among many other projects.  The Spertus Institute was an interesting challenge.  It contains over 700 pieces of glass shaped in over 500 unique ways, including parallelograms tilting in different directions.  Mark also designed the Penguin Seabird House at the Lincoln Park Zoo and the Art Institute of Chicago’s Joseph Cornell Galleries, and the Herman Miller showroom, the Shure Technology Center and the renovation of Mies van der Rohe’s S.R. Crown Hall and 860-880 Lake Shore Drive cooperative.  Mark lectures around the world and is a member of the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects and, with Ronald Krueck, was named Chicagoan of the Year by the Chicago Tribune. Mark has a Bachelor of Architecture from the Illinois Institute of Technology. 

Web page: www.ksarch.com.

Dr. Carl Smith

Northwestern University

Carl is a Franklyn Bliss Snyder Professor of English & American Studies at Northwestern University. He is the author of Chicago: Daniel Burnham and the Remaking of the American City, which was named Best Book in American Planning History by the Society for American City and Regional Planning History.  In collaboration with The Art Institute of Chicago, he wrote the text and coordinated the preparation of the digital essay, The Plan of Chicago (http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/10537.html),
He teaches American literature and cultural history and holds a joint appointment in the history department.  Dr. Smith has a Ph.D. American Studies, Yale University.

Web page: www.history.northwestern.edu/faculty/smith.htm .

Dr. Howard Sulkin

Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, President and CEO

Dr. Sulkin has a perfect view of Grant Park's progress at the newly-constructed Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies where he has served as President for over 20 years.  He has been involved in activating the park as well as in preserving its history.  As an institution on the park, directly influenced by Burnham's plan, Howard has a unique perspective on both its history and its future.  Founded in 1924, Spertus Institute is a multi-purpose institution for Jewish studies, and awards graduate degrees, has a major continuing education program, and an extensive library, archives and museum.  He also serves as a Trustee of the Institute. Prior to going to Spertus Institute, Dr. Sulkin was at DePaul University, where he was founding Dean of their School for New Learning, and then University Vice-President.  Howard received his M.B.A., MA. and Ph.D. degrees from The University of Chicago, and a L.H.D. degree (honoris causa) from DePaul University, and he serves on several civic boards.

Web page: www.spertus.edu

We'd like to thank the panelists for the gift of both their time and invaluable expertise.  We'd also like to thank the generous support of the Spertus Institute for hosting all of us in its magnificent and topic-appropriate space... affording all a view of Daniel Burnham’s and Edward Bennett's great work.

Also, coming in 2009 is the 50th anniversy of Queen Elizabeth II's visit to Chicago and the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway.  This area, where she arrived, is known as Queen's Landing at Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park.  It was the first time in history that a reigning British monarch had come to Chicago. 

I look forward to welcoming you all to this exciting symposium celebrating the centennial of Daniel Burnham's great Plan of Chicago.

Thank you,

Bob O'Neill

We have changed the date and location to accommodate more panelists and to secure a spectacular venue overlooking Grant Park and Monroe Harbor: Burnham's green centerpiece.

Please save the date - more details will be forthcoming.

Daniel Burnham's and Edward Bennett's Plan of Chicago and Grant Park: 100 years later - What would Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennett think?  How far have we come and where are we going?

Grant Park Advisory Council and Grant Park Conservancy public meeting

Wednesday, November 19,  2008 - 6:30 p.m. at the new Spertus Building at 610 S. Michigan Avenue - Crown Family Great Hall - 9th Floor.

The Centennial of the 1909 Plan of Chicago is almost here and we are assembling a panel of experts to discuss Grant Park (along with Monroe Harbor, the Plan's formal "front door").  This will be part of a series of discussions over the next year.  The history over the last hundred years, the present and where we are going will all be discussed in a visual presentation. 

Also, coming in 2009, is the 50th anniversy of Queen Elizabeth II's visit to Chicago and the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway.  This area, where she arrived, is known as Queen's Landing at Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park.  It was the first time in history that a reigning British monarch had come to Chicago. 

Thank you,

Bob O'Neill

312-927-6795.

The Grant Park Conservancy and Advisory Council, with help from the Chicago Park District, are having two Earth Day volunteer days in Grant Park:  Saturday, April 19 and Sunday,  April 20th.  Both are from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

 Exelon Volunteers Help to Save the Trees at Grant Park

An invitation from the Grant Park Conservancy and Grant Park Advisory Council with help from the Chicago Park District.

When: Saturday, April 19, 2008 from 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Where: Meet at Grant Park - Daley Bicentennial Plaza, 337 E. Randolph, just east of Columbus Drive across from the BlueCross BlueShield Building. This is at the Chicago Park District field house.

Join Exelon volunteers to help the environment and Grant Park - Chicago's front yard and the 2016 Olympics celebration central. Come out and show your civic pride in Grant Park - home to the world's largest green roofs! 

As part of the company’s efforts to address climate change, Exelon is dedicated to making this a big day, bringing together employees from across northern Illinois to work in the park. This is the third year the company has volunteered for Grant Park as part of its environmental service activities.  Please help us make this the biggest Earth Day celebration right in Chicago's front yard. 

Over the last two years, we have been able to plant close to 2000 trees in Grant Park with help from the Chicago Park District.  We will continue this effort by mulching and caring for these trees on April 19.  In addition, we will also be cleaning up the park as we go.

It's great exercise, it's productive, it's fun and it helps the environment.  T-shirts and refreshments will be provided.

 And:

Green Apple Festival with JPMorgan Chase with help from the Chicago Park District.

 Earth Day Network & Green Apple Festival  are hosting simultaneous Earth Day celebrations in landmark parks across the country in: Washington DC, New York City, Miami, Denver, Dallas, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

When:  Sunday, April 20, 2008 from 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 Noon.

Where: Meet at Grant Park - Daley Bicentennial Plaza,  337 E. Randolph just east of Columbus Drive across from the BlueCross BlueShield Building.  This is at the Chicago Park District field house.

JPMorgan Chase is sending many volunteers to help the trees in Grant Park.  Please come make this a very successful Earth Day celebration in Chicago's front yard and home to the largest green roofs in the world.  Your help will improve the green on the green roofs.

We will be mulching trees (by working with the Chicago Park District, we have worked to get 1000's of trees planted in Grant Park, close to two thousand in the last year).

We will also be picking up left-over winter litter and debris.

It's great exercise, it's productive, it's fun and it helps our trees and the environment.

Thank you!

Bob O'Neill

Grant Park Conservancy

Grant Park Advisory Council

cell: 312-927-6795

Grant Park Advisory Council and Grant Park Conservancy public meeting

Celebrating urban nature and the coming of spring

Monday, March 10, 2008 - 6:30 p.m.

Daley Bicentennial Plaza - 337 E. Randolph ( just east of Columbus Drive across from the BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois Building and in the park)

Urban nature and open green space along Chicago's lakefront: nearly 20 years of creating positive,  environmentally-friendly change with thousands of trees planted and hundreds of acres of new green space created by Mayor Daley and the City of Chicago, the Chicago Park District with the help from corporations, individual citizens and other organizations through public/private partnerships.

and...Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation - Northerly Island Bird Hospital: we are entering the spring bird migration season.  Come see beautiful raptors: a Red-Tailed Hawk, a Great Horned Owl, an Eastern Screech-Owl and an American Kestrel live and up close and learn about these wonderful, majestic birds of prey.  Many people have never seen these birds this close. Grant Park rabbits beware!  We think it is a wise idea to give a hoot about these birds. Unfortunately, we will not be able to see any cuckoo birds.  Some say we have too many already.

Come see an extensive PowerPoint presentation on the nearly 20 years of history-making, green space creation in Chicago.  Grant Park projects, the Museum Campus, Northerly Island, acres of Soldier Field asphalt, surface parking lots removed, Jane Addams Park parking lot removed, Navy Pier headlands, Lake Shore Drive Medians, Lakeshore East Park, many new parks in Central Station and the South Loop, removal of many asphalt parking lots east of LSD, Millennium Park, soon-to-be DuSable Park, Sir Georg Solti Garden,  Hutchinson Field, and the Green at Grant Park are just a few of the hundreds of acres of new green space created and/or thousands of trees that have been planted on Chicago's lakefront, a lakefront for all of Chicago and for the world.  There have also been all sorts of green initiatives like the removal of the enormous, asphalt parking lot at the Museum of Science Industry on the south lakefront and the landscaping along south Lake Shore Drive and many projects in Lincoln Park and these will be discussed but we will concentrate on the downtown lakefront.

Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation at Northerly Island Bird hospital - We are entering the beginning of the famous international migratory bird season where millions of migrants fly through Chicago in the spring time.  Dawn Keller will give a presentation that will blow you away.  Her work has really taken flight.  The Grant Park Conservancy and Chicago Park District have partnered with her to create a bird hospital at Northerly Island to be closer to the injured wildlife in downtown Chicago and avoid lengthy commutes to the suburbs with injured wildlife.   What she does there and her education outreach and scientific data collection are truly remarkable.  Come hear it first hand and meet some of the raptors.

Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation is a state and federally licensed facility dedicated to the rehabilitation of injured and orphaned wildlife with the goal of returning fully rehabilitated wildlife to its natural habitat.  Flint Creek promotes respect for wildlife and wildlife habitats through public education programs.  Flint Creek also supports efforts to repopulate endangered and threatened wildlife species. 

Thank you for your interest and participation!

Please contact: Bob O'Neill, 312-829-8015. 

Grant Park Advisory Council and Grant Park Conservancy public meeting

Parkitecture 2008 

Monday,  February 11, 2008 - 6:30 p.m.

Daley Bicentennial Plaza - 337 E. Randolph ( just east of Columbus Drive across from the BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois Building and in the park)

Grant Park's rapidly-changing Michigan Avenue Streetwall (Historic Michigan Boulevard District)

We will present a visual description of past, present and future projects and the many new plans and changes.  We will also include the new high rises on Wabash and some of the changes on the north and south walls quickly completing Grant Park's frame with new, modern high-rises.  It will also be a discussion of how to encourage more changes, renovations and improvements.

Our speakers will be:

Denise Casalino, Vice President,  Earth Tech.  Denise is a recent, former Commissioner of Planning and Development at the City of Chicago.  She was also the project manager for the new $200 million Wacker Driver Reconstruction Project.  She completed the 21-month-long and one of the City's most complicated public works projects under budget and on time. She also streamlined the City of Chicago's permit process and finalized the development of block 37. Denise is a civil engineer.

Ken DeMuth, Architect, Pappageorge/Haymes. Ken is an expert in adaptive reuse and renovation developments.  His notable adaptive reuse and historic preservation projects in Chicago include:  Metropolitan Tower - 310 S. Michigan Avenue, The Park Monroe, The Montgomery, Domain, Metropolitan Place (former Florsheim Shoe headquarters)  Haberdasher Square, the Fisher Building, 116 S. Michigan, and the new Chicago Central Post Office adaptive reuse.

Peter Psihas, Director of Sales and Marketing,The Blackstone, A Renaissance Hotel.  Peter has an 18-year history in hospitality. Peter will give a visual presentation of this restored landmark hotel, opening on Grant Park later this month. This Marshall and Fox masterpiece is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Sage Hospitality Resources, of Denver, Colorado is finishing up the renovation.  It is a $110-plus million renovation of a long dormant hotel next to DePaul University's historic Merle Reskin Theatre on Balbo Drive. The hotel hosted many U.S. Presidents and countless celebrities.

Six years ago this month, the City of Chicago designated Grant Park's Michigan Avenue streetwall a Chicago Landmark.  It comprises buildings designed by such great architects as: Adler & Sullivan, Burnham, Holabird & Roche, Marshall & Fox, Cobb, Beman, Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, and Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge. It is one of the world's most-recognized architecture walls framing the increasingly rejuvenated and world-class Grant Park. 

There are big plans for Grant Park's streetwall and there are many changes underway and even more planned.  However, with all of these success stories, there are also deteriorating buildings (one even boarded up and scaffolded) and empty lots right on Grant Park/Millennium Park.  With the many changes to the streetwall,  there are buildings not realizing their potential, even a closed, historic theater.  

What can we do to encourage and support more adaptive re-use and other development in this slower real estate market to create a more lively, energized district and thus Grant Park?  

Thank you for your interest and participation.

Please contact:

Bob O'Neill

Phone:   312-829-8015