Carmen-Winona Block Club: Read, 5/6/04

May 6, 2004
922 W. Carmen Ave.
Unit 2W
Chicago, IL 60640

Ms. Megan McDonald
Lakefront Region Manager
Chicago Park District
7059 S. South Shore Drive
Chicago IL, 60649

Subject: Request to do community gardening in the Park District-owned plot that forms a narrow strip on the east side of the Carmen and Marine intersection in Margate Park

Copy to: Ms. Dana Zilinski, North Lakefront Area Manager, Chicago Park District
Mr. Ernie Constantino, Aide to 48th Ward Alderman Mary Ann Smith

Dear Ms. McDonald:

We are representatives of the Carmen-Winona Garden Club, a subgroup of the Carmen-Winona Block Club. We are based at Carmen and Winona Streets in the 48th Ward. We have an active web site at: http://www.carmenwinona.org and maintain a growing email list of people in the community who are interested in gardening.

We request your permission to continue a community gardening effort in a Park District-owned plot on the east side of the intersection of Marine and Carmen. We began work as a club there last summer and planted Greencorps-donated bulbs in the plot in late October of last year. This spring we planted several bunches each of the native Feather Reed and Prairie Dropseed grasses, and we are preparing to transplant seedlings there, grown indoors from seeds received in the Spring Greencorps distribution. This garden, and others like it in Margate Park, may be regarded as an extension of the city-planted and community-maintained gardens in the Marine Drive bump-outs. The plants and flowers in these plots enrich Margate Park and give the residents a sense of pride in their park.

Pending your approval, our commitment to this effort will be steady and long-term. We have a core group of 5-6 individuals from different condo buildings in the neighborhood that volunteer for watering and special planting or weeding projects during week days. Other individuals from our mailing list can be called upon to help on the weekends. Both Condo Buildings on the (NW, SW) corners at Carmen and Marine support our efforts and provide watering facilities. A Garden Club-purchased extension hose allows us to stretch across Marine Street and water the Margate Park strip.

When we began working on this plot last summer we did so with the encouragement of Ernie Constantino, Aide to Alderman Mary Ann Smith. During the winter, however, Mr. Constantino informed us that the Park District was working on general policies with respect to community gardening on their land, and advised us to seek approval for our continued gardening efforts there.

On the Gardening Club page of our web site we list the goals:

To work on public gardening projects in the neighborhood
To learn from one another
To boost community spirit
To add beauty

We have taken a risk this spring to work on the plot in question while we waited for a policy determination. We would be very pleased to receive your approval and to be able to continue our community gardening work there now and in future years.

Thank you for your consideration of this request.
Sincerely,

Adrian Paul, President, Carmen-Winona Garden Club

Edward Read, Secretary