About 50 Chicago Park District landscapers Wednesday picketed the Park District’s McFetridge Drive headquarters to protest the awarding of $3 million in contracts to private landscaping firms.
The contracts, described by Park District officials as part of pilot program, were awarded to three firms at Wednesday’s board meeting.
“It’s another attack on the working people,” said Jose Guerrero, 60, a landscaper at Riis Park.
Guerrero, a member of the Service Employees International Union Local 46, the union representing Park District landscapers, said he feared the Park District planned to privatize the landscaping jobs.
But Chicago Park District General Supt. Carolyn Williams Meza said: “We are not laying people off. This is not about saving money.”
Williams Meza said the private contractors would work with the staff “to raise the bar” on the quality of landscaping in city parks and provide the existing staff with new training.
Park District officials said that the contracts will cover only about 150 acres out of the Park District’s 4,300 acres.
Under the measure, The Brickman Group Ltd. of Chicago received a three-year contract for approximately $850,000 for landscaping service in Ogden Park.
Clauss Brothers Inc. of Streamwood received a three-year contract for roughly $2.25 million for partial landscaping of Grant Park and Union Park.
The third multiyear contract was awarded to Glenview-based Moore Landscapes Inc. for $1.3 million for landscaping of Auburn, Bixler and Portage Parks.
In other business, the board approved an increase in parking fees at the Grant Park North and South Garages and East Monroe Garage, effective Sept. 1.
The fee increases are projected to add $2 million in revenue to the Park District budget, officials said.
Commuters who park up to 10 hours a day–a group that accounts for half the Grant Park North Garage’s annual parking users–will see parking fees raised 75 cents, to $10 from $9.25, an 8 percent increase.
The Grant Park South Garage currently has an all-day rate of $8. Under the increase, the fee for parking one hour to 12 hours will be raised to $9, a 12 percent increase.
The East Monroe Garage now has a 24-hour rate of $5.74, which will be raised to $7 a 22 percent fee increase.
Park District officials also announced the formation of a task force to study parking at Waveland Park, where residents and park users have clashed over parking spaces.
