Apr 10, 2009 5:54 am US/Central
Plans Scaled Back For Post-Olympic Stadium
Friends Of The Parks Group Wants Nothing At All Left Behind In Parks
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An artist's rendering of the proposed Chicago 2016 Olympic stadium. The 2016 Olympic bid committee is scaling back plans for what would be left once the stadium is gone.
Chicago 2016
The committee working to
bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago may be quietly scaling back its plans for the amphitheater in Washington Park that would be left behind after the games.
The temporary Olympic stadium would seat 80,000 people, and the stadium that would remain afterward was always intended only to be a small fraction of that capacity.
But while Olympic organizers had been talking about a 7,500-seat amphitheater but during the meeting they suggested one that would hold 2,500 to 3,500 people.
Organizers made their suggestion during a meeting with Friends of the Park and other community groups this week about the amphitheater that would be left after they take apart the temporary Olympic Stadium.
For some time, bid organizers have touted the "legacy" of the games: In Douglas Park, a planed velodrome for track and BMX cycling would be converted to a fieldhouse with offices; in Washington Park, an 80,000-seat Olympic Stadium would be broken down into a small amphitheater.
But Friends of the Parks say they want no structures left behind in city parks at all.
"Right now a stadium residual would harm the park -- the park needs to be restored," Friends of the Park President Erma Tranter said Thursday during a panel discussion with Chicago 2016 bid organizers.
Tranter said she is concerned a scaled-down amphitheater in Washington Park may be costly to maintain while taking away recreational fields. Already she's worried the park's natural meadow will be damaged.
"The goal is not to have [construction] affect the meadow," Arnold Randall, Chicago 2016's director of neighborhood legacy, said.
The proposed Washington Park amphitheater could be used for sports. Future maintenance would be up to the Chicago Park District, Randall said.
Some of the venues and resulting "legacies" materialized after aldermen complained neighborhoods were being left out of early Olympic planning.
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