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Bessie Coleman Park and Council

This page is presented by Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference, its Parks Committee (contact chair Gary Ossewaarde) and its website www.hydepark.org. Support our work, join the Conference.
Bessie Coleman, pioneer aviator

A report on major success

The park at 54th and Ellis (which goes back to urban renewal times,) was renamed in 2004 after pioneer aviatrix and African-American community activist Bessie Coleman, following a public comment process. The District has been naming previously unnamed parks for women important in Chicago life and history. (Did you know there is a Bessie Coleman Society of African-American female aviators? And a biography on sale at local bookstores, Dare to Fly.)

Bessie Coleman park council was formed in 2005 as one of many responses to a serious increase in crime, shootings and disorderly loitering in and near the park, at 54th and Drexel. The council has worked with police and the Chicago Park District (regional and downtown staff) to increase policing and find structural solutions to discourage said loitering and criminal activities. Current council president is Peter Cassel, 773 619-5449 or via e-mail at peter.cassel@gmail.com.

A children's book on Bessie Coleman has the heart of the story: Nikki Grimes, Talking About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman. Available at 57th St. Books. Coleman was cameo's on a PBS program in The History Detectives series, sleuthing who built Lindbergh's engine.

The council met on 4th Thursdays 7 pm, at Nichols Park Fieldhouse, 1355 E. 53rd Street--in the BC park in summer w. good weather.

Next meeting tba (last was Dec. 4) at a residence with local block club. Sharing info from CAPS part of the agenda. Check with Peter for details.

Peter Cassel reported at the Nichols Park general meeting with park district officers on communications and work order issues, that the work that was supposed to be done in 2006, and for which funders gave money expecting the work to be done in 2006, was not done and that only recently was a status update sent him.

May 2006. This is indeed a council of "no small plans," going after grants of $25,000 and more. Bessie Coleman has as its aim, this park as anchor and lynch pin of a strong neighborhood sector. BC will participate strongly in an HPKCC HP Area Small Parks Summit in the fall. The reconstruction plan was submitted at the September 26 South parks district budget hearing.

From the April meeting

The Council joined HPKCC.
BCP received a $10,000 grant from SECC and $500 from Friends of the Parks, as well as a grant towards new play equipment through Children's Memorial Hospital.
Other inquiries for funding are being pursued.
Park walk throughs were scheduled with staff and experts.
A small meeting that included Mayor Daley boded well for getting a camera in the vicinity [Note: funding has to come through aldermanic menu per aide to Ald. Hairston.]

 

The council also held a meeting May 8 with newly-appointed Commander Lodding, reported to go very well.

Next regular Council meeting Thursday, November 23, 7 pm, Nichols Fieldhouse unless moved to park. Please contact peter.cassel@gmail.com as meetings are not held every month.

Agenda:

 

Note that our CAPS beat is 2131, which meets 3rd Thursdays 7 pm in the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club, 5480 S. Kenwood.

Council activities and goals

The Council continues its very active fundraising and outreach and continues to work with the park district and other public officials and agencies and institutions and community groups for park improvements.

Right now the council has done/is doing the following:

Key current issues observed and documented during March 24 park walk through:

- Replacement of sod after underground work on fountain
- Repair/replacement of broken/missing play equipment
- Landscaping
- Replacement of broken benches with iron/composite decorative benches
- Replacement of fencing with decorative iron.

Right now the council seeks:

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Following are recent coverage of the council and the HPKCC's version of letter to Police Superintendent Cline asking the Hot Spot designation.

See report on successes, crime reduction.

Hyde Park Herald, March 1, 2006. By Tedd Carrison

The newly-formed Bessie Coleman Park Advisory Council is hoping park renovation and the assignment of a community policing sergeant will prevent another flare-up of violent crime after nine people were shot near the park last summer.

Though one of the smallest parks in the neighborhood, this green space at 54th Place and drexel avenue anchors an area that last year saw more gang-related shootings than any other part of Hyde Park/Kenwood, according to statistics released by the South East Chicago Commission.

The advisory council organized in October to combat the gunfire just as these often-seasonal crimes were tapering. This year, to "take all of the energy in west Hyde Park and channel it positively," advisory council President Peter Cassel said at a meeting last week that his group is working to make Bessie Coleman more hospitable to traditional families and less so to criminal ones.

Following a survey taken last fall, the advisory council will center its effort on landscaping (to eliminate gun hiding places), replacement of park benches and the installation of wrought-iron fencing to provide greater security and attract law-abiding users.

The Chicago Park District quoted these projects in the $42,000 to $50,000 range and told the advisory council that it must raise at least half, said Cassel. To do this, the council is applying for grant money and soliciting donations from neighbors. Cassel said they are "just getting star tedd" but have already applied for funds from the Friends of the Parks and the SECC. Members also plan to go door-to-door and ask for help.

On the policing front, the advisory council is calling for a new Community Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS) sergeant to replace Sgt. Scott Oberg, who was promoted out of the neighborhood last year.

According to police, much of the area's violence stems from two competing street gangs, one based near Bessie Coleman Park and another based around 49th Street and Drexel Boulevard. Cassel said the park's CAPS beat ends north of Hyde Park Boulevard, dividing resident communication between these two neighborhoods. He said a CAPS sergeant could share information with the beats, making the CAPS meetings more effective. "I understand it's hard to find people," said Cassel regarding the six month interval between promoting Oberg and replacing him. "But no people is just bad."

Then-Cdr. Adrienne Stanley of the 21st police district said Feb. 22 that she has a candidate in mind and the new sergeant should be named this month.

Since August, neighbors have also been asking to have the block designated a gang/narcotics loitering area by the Chicago Police Department. At the time, Stanley said she had applied for this distinction in the past and each time been denied. She said police brass feel the situation is no severe enough to warrant it.

"That's like if a doctor says 'you are sick but you should see the heart transplant I just did," said Molly Day. Last wee, Stanley said of the designation "it is something we are considering" but usually police keep these areas confidential. A block of Drexel Boulevard from 48th Street to 49th Street received the "hot spot" designation last October. According to SECC data, that area saw four shooting in which a victim was struck and one homicide over the same period that west Hyde Park experienced nine such shooting and four homicides.

Residents interested in donating to the Bessie Coleman Park improvements should contact Cassel at 773 619-5449 or via e-mail at peter.cassel@gmail.com.

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From Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference, based on letter sent by the Council.

February 2, 2006

Philip J. Cline
Superintendent
Chicago Police Department
3510 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60653

Dear Superintendent Cline:

The Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference, its Safety, and its Parks Committees join the Bessie Coleman Park Advisory Council in asking that a sustained elevated police presence--specifically a Hot Spot designation, be established for 54th Street and adjacent Drexel, Maryland and Cottage Grove Avenues (detailed below) including Bessie Coleman Park in Beat 2131 of the 21st Police District.

In addition, we ask for prompt appointment of a Community Policing (CAPS) Sergeant, able to work with the Coleman Park Council, to replace deservedly promoted Scott J. Oberg.

In the past year, the area between South Drexel, Maryland and Cottage Grove Avenues, from 55th to 53rd streets, , has gone from being a relatively quiet residential street to a zone dominated by drive-by gunfire, targeted shootings, open drug sales, and loiterers.The daily and nightly loitering tends to occur in Bessie Coleman Park, at the southwest and northwest corners of Drexel and 54th, at 5439 South Drexel and 5425 S. Drexel, at the southwest corner of 53rd and Drexel and at the northwest and southwest corners of 54th and Maryland. The loitering involves disruptively noisy yelling and car-horn blowing. Finally, 14 shooting episodes in West Hyde Park from May through December 2005 have resulted in deaths and severe injuries. Please see the attached listing of West Hyde Park shootings compiled by the South East Chicago Commission.

Since the violence started, the community has organized residents, participated actively in Beat 2131 (not less than 20 of the area’s residents consistently attend beat 2131 meetings), and regularly called both the 21st District Police and the University of Chicago Police when any action occurs.
The community has also formed the Bessie Coleman Park Advisory Council, working with the Chicago Park District to improve the local play lot and to take it back from the drug dealers and gang members. The area aldermen have held well-attended community meetings where residents voiced their concerns and offered ideas to stabilize the neighborhood.

The residents and businesses in the area have demonstrated their concern and willingness to work with the police for the security of their neighborhood. They and the Conference need your help. Again, specifically we need a CAPS Sergeant, an elevated, sustained police presence in west Hyde Park, and to have the area designated and effectively patrolled as a Chicago Police Department “Hot Spot.”

The Conference appreciates designation of the area around 48th and Drexel a Hot Spot. In order to effectively clean up west Hyde Park, the associated problem area surrounding 54th and Drexel needs the same.

Respectfully yours,

George W. Rumsey
President Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference


Cc: 1st Area Commander, 21st Distr. Cdr. Adrienne Stanley, Alderman Leslie Hairston (4th), Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (5th), Park Supervisor Rick Shaheen, Kevin Ryan (Park District police), Peter Cassel (Bessie Coleman Council), Bob Mason (SECC), Hyde Park Herald, Rudy Nimocks (UC Police)

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From the Council's appeal to neighbors and the neighborhood

The Bessie Coleman Advisory Council is seeking your help to revitalize the Bessie Coleman Park, located on Drexel Avenue at 54th Place. The park primarily serves children and adults who live in the area from Cottage Grove on the West to Ellis on the east and to 51st on the north.

Our Advisory Council was formed in the summer of 2005 in response to the rise of violence surrounding the park starting in May. The Council works collaboratively with the Chicago Park District, which provides basic services and maintenance to the park. The Advisory Council is responsible for raising additional funds for capital improvements to the park. The Park District provides matching funds.

The Bessie Coleman Advisory Council is working with Alderman Leslie Hairston, the South East Chicago Commission, University of Chicago and the Chicago Police Department through the CAPS program to bring additional resources to the neighborhood and park. We also collaborate with Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference.

We want to revitalize this park in order to:

Through a comprehensive planning process, the Bessie Coleman Advisory Council has identified thee critical capital items for improvements in 2006:

  1. Landscaping the park to eliminate hiding places for guns and drugs
  2. Replacing the dilapidated and broken benches with new decorative benches
  3. Replacing the broken chain link fencing with secure wrought iron

We have already been awarded funds from the Friends of the Parks Foundation through its Seed Grant program. In addition, neighbors and council members have committed money.

Your gift is greatly needed. All contributions are tax deductible. The donations are processed through our 501(c)3 fiscal agent - the Parkways Foundation - that holds the funds and ensures all monies are spent on appropriate activities. For more on the Parkways Foundation, visit www.parkways.org.

Make checks payable to Parkways Foundation- Bessie Coleman Park.

Checks should be sent to Luke Brown, Treasurer, 5403 S. Maryland Avenue, Chicago, Ill 60615.

For more information, please contact Peter Cassel, Chair, Bessie Coleman Advisory Council at 773 619-5649 or peter.cassel@gmail.com.

On behalf of the entire Advisory Council, I thank you.

Sincerely,

Peter Cassel

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Success: Crime down

Hyde Park Herald, March 21, 2007. By Kathy Chaney

Crime down near Bessie Coleman Park: Reports of "shots fired" reduced from 52 to 10 in one year

The two blocks in west Hyde Park that crime had a stranglehold on in 2005 saw quieter days in 2006 as a result of community involvement, the alderman's offices and local police.

Calls to the Chicago Police Department reporting "shots fired" reduced dramatically in 2006 in the 5300 and 5400 blocks of South Drexel avenue after the police stepped up patrols and monthly meetings between building owners in the area and the 21st district police department was initiated.

In 2005 there were 52 "shots fired" calls; in 2006, there were 19. The 5399 block of South Drexel Avenue is in the 4th Ward and the 5400 block of South Drexel Avenue is in the 5th Ward.

The crime surge in that two-block stretch, near Bessie Coleman Park, 5445 S. Drexel Ave., was attributed to a conflict between two gangs, the "Titanic Blackstones" and the "Mickey Cobras." The gangs competed for drug sales in the area.

Peter Cassel, the advisory council chair for the park and the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club's executive director, said a myriad of factors--increased police presence, improved street lighting an community organizing--helped bring the area back to a safe state. "They [police] get out of their cars, speak with the kids on the street," Cassel told the Herald. "The area received a great deal of assistance from Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th)."

Keeping the area well lit, the addition of speed bumps to slow down traffic and the presence of the police camera at 53rd Street and Drexel Avenue, he said, also added a sense of security.

Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th) said discussions between police and local property owners through a series of monthly meetings, called "Drexel Corridor," started at her ward office in April 2005 to combat loitering and other activities that promote crime. Months after the meetings started, a new commander for the 21st District, Howard Lodding, took over.

"At the meetings, we discuss problems in the buildings on Drexel, calls we receive service on and problems called into the alderman's office," Lodding told the Herald. Lodding said managers of the buildings were also instrumental in keeping the area quiet and safe. "Management [at the monthly meetings] gets to tell us what we're not doing as a police department and the camera seems to be doing well," he said.

Another integral part of driving crime down in the area is the assignment of two tactical officers, Lodding said. "Their main focus is on the management companies, problems in the buildings and things of that nature," he said.

Officers Janean Ormond and Jeff LaPorte said they have noticed an improvement in the area. The biggest difference, they said, has been the cooperation among building owners, management companies and the aldermen.

"Everyone is there. There are a few residents that come from one of the high-rises, by mainly it's for the management to come with us with their issues," LaPorte said. The system has worked. New building owners have reached out to the commander and the tactical officers.

"They come to us with ideas and we let them know what works and what doesn't. They want to make sure they don't have a problem in their buildings and they want to know how to spot the behavior that breeds problems," Ormond said.

The officers recommend that residents take a more proactive approach and attend the regular Community Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS) beat meetings and always call police when they see suspicious activity.

The tips from the officers, Cassel said, were implemented by the community. "Things got out of control very quickly and the community really organized itself fast and got right back at it. We all came together and said that this couldn't happen and it stopped," Cassel said.

The CAPS beat that encompass the patrol area near Coleman Park are 2123, 2124 an 2131.... Call 312 747-2930. [These meet respectively:

The CAPS beat that encompass the patrol area near Coleman Park are 2123, 2124 an 2131.... Call 312 747-2930. [These meet respectively

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