Do Good Fences Make Good Neighborhood Parks?

A Chicago city park, recently redesigned to be more welcoming, could become less so in its final form. Neighbors complaining about "really shady" park visitors are lobbying for a 6-foot fence to be included in the park's multi-million dollar revamp.

1 minute read

May 8, 2017, 12:00 PM PDT

By Casey Brazeal @northandclark


park at night

The nighttime visitor to Seneca Park in this picture is a gentle creature. | Urbs in horto / Shutterstock

A small park near Chicago's Magnificent Mile, called Seneca Park, was recently redesigned by Chicago-based Site Design Group, but neighbors are complaining that the proposed design would make the park too welcoming for people they don't want hanging around their homes.

"The city aimed to make the park more inviting, in part by removing what it thought was an imposing fence surrounding the property," David Matthews writes for DNA Info. Neighbors disagreed, claiming that "really shady" visitors sometimes gather in the park in large groups and as early as 5:30 in the morning. "Parks officials tried to assuage neighbors' fears by proposing a 4-foot-tall fence around the park. But that wasn't tall enough for some people who attended the meeting," Mathews writes.

Thursday, May 4, 2017 in DNA Info

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