Your editorial “No turning back for the parks” (Sept. 1) focuses on our efforts to cut costs and streamline a bloated bureaucracy. You also note that our ultimate stewardship of the parks will be measured by the services we deliver.
We agree. That’s why we’ve improved services and launched new programs this summer to get more people into our parks, including:
Parks Partners. More than 100 groups, ranging from the Goodman Theatre to the Chicago Academy of Sciences, brought exciting, free family programs-from live theater to environmental workshops-to neighborhood parks.
Mayor Daley’s Sports Clinics. Thousands of Chicago teens at nearly 70 sites were provided free professional sports clinics.
Dancin’ in the Parks. Paid for entirely with donations from foundations and private citizens, this unique program provides up to 1,000 teenagers with free dance instruction from Chicago’s premier professional dance companies.
Extended day camps. We gave thousands of working parents the opportunity to send their children to our summer day camps, extending hours and weeks to provide better service. We also added hundreds of new supervisors to increase safety and quality of instruction.
Information on these and hundreds of other programs in the parks is now available at all parks through quarterly schedules we introduced this year. Also new this year: a comprehensive, free directory of Chicago’s parks. Just call 312-347-PLAY.
