The New McKiernan Park

Bits and pieces from the Southtownstar article.

A new playground is being installed at McKiernan Park, 10714 S. Sawer Ave.

The new playgrounds will be completed in about six weeks. Thanks to a donation from Team Reil, a playground company based in northwest suburban Union. The company is also installing artificial turf beneath the playground, eliminating muddy shoes or those messy woodchips one often finds in parks.

The value of the project has been placed at $500,000 by a grateful Chicago Park District, spokeswoman Michele Jones said.

The new playground could lead to more of the same around the city. At least that's the hope of John Cederlund, the president of Team Reil, which represents Missouri-based Miracle Recreation. Miracle makes the playground equipment being installed while Team Reil specializes in fake grass.

Two years ago, Cederlund approached park district officials with the offer of a free playground. Eventually, word got to Ald. Ginger Rugai (19th), who liked the idea.

Cederlund knows that the gesture is appreciated, and hopes it translates to more business for his company. If not, that's OK, too, he said.

"Chicago is too big an account to not try to get back. A lot of influential people live there," Cederlund said of the politically-connected 19th Ward. "All in all, it's great for the kids. This will be nice for them, and we're happy about it. Everybody is happy about it," Cederlund said.
The park district is certainly happy because it's getting a new playground for free.

McKiernan will be the first park in the city to have artificial grass, she said. Cederlund said the product is durable and, perhaps best of all, needs no watering.

Rugai provided $80,000 in city funds to pay for the demolition and a sub-surface drainage system that had to be installed before construction, Jones said. The old playground equipment "was fairly dated," Jones said.

There will be two separate playground structures, Jones said. One is for children ages 5 and younger. The other is for children ages 5 to 12.

Open Post 4/27 - 5/3

Here is the post for miscellaneous comments, questions, etc.

Irish Eyes are Smiling (It's not over yet)

Members of the South Side Irish St. Patrick's Day Parade planning committee are meeting tonight for the first time since voting to end Beverly's annual parade.

The 25-member committee will brainstorm ideas and go over community suggestions for how to celebrate the holiday away from the parade down Western Avenue.

But a decision likely won't be reached until this summer.

"I'm looking at this as a long evaluation process," member Mary Beth Sheehan said today.

Autism Speaks - Jewel shop-n-share

Autism Speaks will hold a Shop & Share fund raising program on the dates of April 20th thru the 22nd and also on April 27th thru the 29th, 2009 at all Jewel-Osco Stores.

By shopping at Jewel-Osco on one of those days, 5% of the total purchase, excluding tax, will be donated by Jewel-Osco to our organization. It’s a great way to help these kids and it will not cost you a cent.

Autism Speaks will use the money generated by their Shop & Share to create awareness and research for a cure.

Anyone interested in helping Autism Speaks by shopping at Jewel-Osco on those dates will need a Shop & Share Identification Slip - please go to the link below for slip.

http://www.kintera.org/atf/cf/%7Bbebb52f7-5ae4-49f7-a192-bf4b7dd999c6%7D/JEWEL%20SHOP%20&%20SHARE%20-%20AS.PDF

Please feel free to pass this along. Thanks for helping raise money for Autism

St. Patrick's Day Parade - relocated

The parade hasn't been cancelled just relocated. Thank you to our troops. :) God Speed.

Open Post 4/20 - 4/26

Future of Special Ed at Mt Greenwood

from the Southtown: Authored by William Lee

Frustrated Mount Greenwood School parents packed a meeting to vent their frustration at the news that some special education students would be moved to a Morgan Park elementary school to alleviate overcrowding at Mount Greenwood.

The crowd of nearly 100 parents met with Chicago Public School officials and Ald. Ginger Rugai (19th) Wednesday at the Mount Greenwood Park fieldhouse, 3721 W. 111th St., to discuss the plan that would move special education students to two other schools.

In light of a surge of new applicants for the 2009-2010 school year, some parents recently received letters that their children would be bused elsewhere.

The parents of autistic children were told their children would be transferred to Clissold School in Beverly, which has a similar program. The parents of children with Down Syndrome and other developmental disabilities were told their children would be sent to Esmond School, 1865 W. Montvale Ave., which CPS officials say is the only area school with adequate space.

None of the nearby public schools had proper space to take in new special education students, said Jawanda Hairston, a senior manager with CPS' office of specialized services. While the transfer plan was not a done deal, it was a "frontrunner," Hairston said.

The plan caused a furor among parents, who were either disliked the idea of busing their children out of the neighborhood or were concerned about the safety at Esmond.

"My biggest frustration is that nobody asked me anything," said Nancy Cranston, whose 9-year-old son Danny has Down Syndrome and attends Mount Greenwood. Cranston echoed many parents' comments saying they felt a strong sense of community.

Katie Kettering, who helped arrange the meeting with several other mothers, said safety for her son Charlie was her biggest concern.

"I know that when he's here, he's going to be watched over," Kettering said. "The older kids will make sure he won't go off by himself. His safety is a huge issue," she said.

Rugai said she understood parents' concern over the move, saying that while she'd witnessed positive changes at Esmond, that it sat in "the most volatile section of our community."

Rugai said she would fight to keep the students at the school and was open to other options such as converting other spaces into classrooms or even stopping Mount Greenwood's preschool classes.

The fight to stay at Mount Greenwood could also reignite tensions over student residency - a hot-button topic in the community - or increase demands to close open enrollment, as some parents did at the meeting.