Stop parker from destroying our neighborhood!
Help preserve our historic, residential, peaceful community.
Why should you care?
For the past 12+ years, East Lincoln Park has fought to protect our community from a predatory, expansionist, non-tax paying private institution that adds NOTHING to our neighborhood or city.
Francis W. Parker School WANTS to:
- TAKE tax-paying homes out of our neighborhood and our tax base
- RUIN the quality of life of its neighbors and everyone who visits Lincoln Park and the zoo by adding 60-foot stadium lights and evening events to its playing field
- FORCE 34 families from their homes, remove those homes from the property tax base in perpetuity and force the tax burden (over $500,000 per year) on the rest of us
- DESTROY the 100% residential 300 block of W. Belden Ave., creating an unwelcome institutional presence on a third of the block
In the words of the great philosophers The Rolling Stones, "You can't always get what you want!"
We are tired of Parker's WANTS being prioritized over community NEEDS.
Our community NEEDS:
- eyes and ears on our streets;
- shoppers in our local stores;
- children in our public schools;
- neighbors who contribute to the vibrancy of our neighborhood.
Can you believe Parker has the nerve to take more from our community while leaving us with less?!
- Parker already has one of the largest private school campuses in Chicago with 6+ acres on which it hosts just 940 students. In comparison, Lincoln Elementary has 850+ students on just 1.4 acres; and, Lincoln Park HS has 2,175 students on 3.5 acres in a 125 year-old building in desperate need of repair. The nerve!
- Parker already enjoys a large, private, artificial turf playing field, while most city private and public schools share public fields. Now Parker wants to use 60-foot stadium lights for the field year-round, from 6am to 9pm, for games and events knowing full well that these lights will shine bright through living rooms, bedrooms, and animal habitats. The nerve!
- Parker already has more school than they have the students to fill. Yet, in the face of Chicago's $1 billion budget deficit and an erosion of public services, Parker is asking our community to compromise our safety, harm our local businesses, weaken our public schools, shoulder the increased tax burden, and reduce the vibrancy of our neighborhood in exchange for NOTHING. The nerve!
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. WE MUST STOP PARKER!