Yes, I was there, and it was about the shitshow you’d expect. The Dearborn Park II soccer moms came loaded for bear. Much as I cringed when they talked about this new station headhouse “looming” over their homes, or that there was no need for restrooms in Cottontail Park because users can “just go back to their houses”—they’re not entirely crazy to be concerned about the crime and scary guys currently found at the Roosevelt station coming to invade the quiet child-centered world of DPII and the park. I was a little surprised that everyone seemed to accept the development of the 62 acres as a
fait accompli; no one stood up to suggest that it all should become a park.
At my first meeting with Related, months ago, I had pressed them on what exactly is under Clark Street that makes it impossible for the station entry to be on the west side. It seems that there’s a big water main, a big MWRD interceptor, and ComEd and fiber in the old freight tunnel, so that blocks you all the way down to -50 or -60. I was astonished that they were throwing around a $300m figure for just this simple headhouse and the two platforms. Because the platforms are so close to the surface, the design Carol Ross Barney showed has daylight permeating the headhouse and reaching down to the platforms.
Ald. Dowell was circumspect in her statements, and this still could get rammed through in the final days of the Emanuel Administration, but I think last night’s meeting made it clear that the best way forward is to spend the extra money to put at least the entry, if not the platforms, west of Clark.
The meeting began with the smell of distrust, as Related admitted that it had in fact bought those four townhouses using a blind trust. But why, exactly? They’d be the ones most affected by construction, true, but they’re only reachable by an easement through the HOA to the north, which naturally felt they should have been consulted. Maybe Related should buy all the houses within 200 feet and go all Disney World, having employee-residents show up at future meetings to beg for the new station.