By Ben Joravsky
“This would be a devastating loss–you’d be talking about 67,000 residents without any indoor gym or activity center,” says Ken Brucks, executive director of the Edgewater Community Council. “Maybe the governor’s not familiar with the issue, so our job is to get him to understand how important this is.”
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
As the National Guard began scaling back its operations in the late 70s, the community asked the Park District to take it over and convert it into a recreational center. Although there were no parks or playgrounds west of Lincoln Park between Foster and Devon, the Park District balked, saying it couldn’t afford to rehab the armory. So ECC called on U.S. representative Sidney Yates to win federal funding, and in the early 80s the armory was rehabbed and turned over to the Park District with the stipulation that about a third of its space be reserved for the national guard. Today the guard stores trucks and equipment there and occupies a few offices.
“We’ve got classes in aerobics, arts and crafts, ballet, ballroom dancing, chorus, drawing, fencing, writing, weight lifting–you name it,” says Sonya Krey, a Park District physical education instructor at the armory. “You see everyone walking through these doors: moms, tots, teenagers, young men and women. There are literally thousands of people who pass through here every night; for volleyball alone we’ll have games going on all six courts.”
So ECC swung into action, calling on their political allies (particularly Yates and state senator Arthur Berman) to lobby Edgar. At first they were confident of Edgar’s support. After all, they’re the sort of community activists Republicans say they like. They’re not known for rabble-rousing tactics, and over the years they’ve built strong relationships with Mayor Daley, Alderman Mary Ann Smith (who used to be a key member of ECC), and other mainstream politicians.
Colom Won’t Play Ball
On May 3, 50 or so basketball backers marched to Colom’s office chanting “Be like Mike” and demanding she change her mind. It didn’t work. “I told the group, as the Park District told the group, let’s wait a year to a year and a half to see how things calm down in this area, then we will revisit this and see if it’s conducive for us to do this or not,” Colom told a reporter from the Tribune after the rally.
