Jackson Park/Jackson Park Advisory Council website homepage. www.hydepark.org Parks home.

A proposal has been introduced by Athletes Committed to Excellence*, represented by Tyrone Mason, to construct a 40-foot sculpted and transparent 58,000 square feet dome and 8,200 square foot club house over/ at the current 3 tennis courts southeast of Hayes Drive (6300 S) and Cornell Drive. The proposal has the support of the local alderman and is in discussion with the Jackson Park Advisory Council (which gave provisional acceptance a few months ago, but since found serious flaws in the expanded proposal) and apparently with Chicago Park District. It is a private enterprise which may have some room for park programs. A general public meeting is scheduled by Alderman Hairston for September 8, 2008, 7:30 pm at South Shore Cultural Center.

The proposal was presented to the Friends of the Parks board, which rejected it.

*Has also been titled Athletes Committed to Education. No website found for either by this writer. Mr. Mason (as well as others) conducts tennis camps in the park.

Hyde Park Herald article of June 25, 2008 contains most of the information and discussion. By Crystal Fencke

Dome to be added to Jackson Park courts

Continued discussion about a proposed athletic complex to enclose and enhance tennis courts in Jackson Park moved along Monday evening June 16, at the Jackson Park fieldhouse 6401 S. Stony Island Ave. [Tyrone] Mason, who is spearheading the project, fielded questions from the Advisory Council (JPAC) and some interested neighbors, while Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th) voiced her unconditional approval of this venue that woudl be unique to the South Side.

The bubble, as it is currently being called, could break ground in February of 209 and opne in October of the same year. But the process will include some scrutiny under a JPAC study the group is about to undertake in accordance with the lakefront protection ordinance.

Mason said the bubbel would benefit South Side sports enthusiasts year round, especially young people and senior citizens. Tennis enthusiasts could play all months of the year. Baseball clinics held at the facility would afford opportunities for profesional scouts to watch young players. Golfers who have to stop when it gets dark could continue to play indoors, he said.

The bubble would be a freestanding building located at 63rd adn Cornell Avenue by Hayes Drive at the same location as the existing tennis courts. It would house six courts, some baseball batting cages and golf simulators.

According to architectural blueprints, the edifice would be 40 feet high. The entire building would span 65,200 square feet, including and 8,200 foot club house. Teh curved roof would be made of a clear material to make the most of solar energy. A new garden would be installed outside the clubhouse.

With an initial cost o $3 million and an annual operating budget of $1.1 million, the plan is for the funding to come from a combination of not-for-profit organizations and usage fees. Mason, of the organization Athletes Committed to Excellence, has been teaching tennis for more than 25 years, including at Bally's Sports Club at 1301 E. 47th Street. The Hyde Park resident also gives lesssons to the daughter of presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Mason believes that sports are a way to give young men and women focus, especailly in the violent climate the South Side has been suffering. "I play and I know what it did for me," he said. "My main focus is to keep kids from going to the dark side," he said. "too maany kids are getting killed." "In order to deal with kids you hve to hava an organization," he said. He laments that the South Side has had a void since the Hyde Park Athletic Club closed and made way for the Bally's twenty years ago. "You have to hook young people on tennis or golf. You'd be surprised, given the opportunity, the interest they have in these sports," he said.

The Jackson Park Advisory Council is cautiously optimistic in giveingt its approval. Gary Ossewaarde of the group said via email that the proposal is a "great good" and he hopes it can pass certain tests. At the same time, the group is treading lightly. "We have to be careful about new facilities," especially those that "could become eyesores or pose hazards, and [we have to take] the finances [into consideration], he said.

Ossewaarde pointed out that historic parks, such as Jackson Park, can change. But "significant changes must be backed by need and benefit" to people, and should not deflect from the park's "key characteristics and historic benefits or public uses."

The changes also need to be in accord withthe principles of the Lakefront Protection Ordinance, which seeks to "maintain and enhance the ... landscaped, spacious and continuous character of the lakeshore parks," among other tenets.

One of the main points of contention is whether the vistas of the park will be interrupted. Mason said that wouldn't be an issue. "If you were in the middle of the park, you'd be blocking views," he said. He says at its proposed site on 63rd and Cornell, the proposed facility wouldn't be blocking anything.

Hairston believes strongly that the facility would help her constituents, as there is no other venue like it on the South Side. "I have a community that wants more activity in the parks," she said.

The next meeting will be at a yet-to-be-identified location in September 2008 to attract a potentially large gathering of neighbors, where Mason will provide a PowerPoint presenttion and more details.

 

From the July Jackson Park Newsletter, minutes of the June 9, 2008 JPAC meeting, excerpt:

The principal discussion item was presentation and query on the proposed added tennis-golf-baseball-fitness programming and teaching facility for the tennis court area northeast of Hayes and Cornell Drives. Presenter was Tyrone Mason of Athletes Committed to Education (ACE). A large book was available to be examined and Mr. Mason patiently answered many questions. Alderman Hairston agreed to convene an advertized community meeting in September to hear a Power Point presentation and discuss the project. Meanwhile, ACE would look with its architect at having the facility as low to the ground and non-intrusive, including to vistas, and as “green” as possible, and perhaps 2 or 3 options.

Key elements: The 40-feet high flexible material bubble and attached clubhouse, would be entirely paid for and endowed by ACE at 3.1 million, have a staff of 30 and a budget of $1.1 million a year from gate and not for profit organizations. They said their business model and research is fully done. It would be a new, permanent and attractive structure with normal expectancy 25 years. A contractual arrangement would be signed with the Park District (which had not yet committed to signing). This would require ACE to operate the facility and pay the Park District. This is not the same as sequestering of part of the park for private, non-park uses. There will be fees, but some free hours, training. It would be a draw for and unique to the whole south side. The area is visible, with current ample parking, and will be policed 24-7. A similar facility can be viewed at 87th and Harlem.

ACE said they had explored all other possible sites in the Fifth Ward and this site is at an ideal juncture of park facilities and schools and would provide what is needed short of a major new or addition to the field house to bring back these key sports as part of the experience of South Side youth. They noted that there is demand for the sports but not acceptable facilities in our parks.

Members said JPAC has to be judicious about adding new features to an historic and open space park, avoiding disrupting the vistas that were so important to park designer Frederick Law Olmsted, or having something that calls attention to itself as “non park.”

A community meeting will be convened in a suitable venue, as per above.