McGuane Park women finally get new lockers
By April Galarza
The men’s
lockers were installed in 2004 at McGuane Park, 2901 S. Poplar Ave., and the
women’s lockers were supposed to follow shortly after. The lockers finally
were installed last month.
At a 2005 park advisory board meeting, attendees were told the money needed for the project had been obtained and lockers would be installed in January 2006. When new women’s lockers still had not appeared by mid-2006, patrons began to complain.
Jessica Faulkner, media representative for the Chicago Park District, could not give specific information regarding ongoing projects at McGuane, such as why the locker installation took so long. She did explain that out of the $30 million annually set aside for 600 park projects, prioritizing and distribution are decided by two factors: how much additional funding for individual capital improvement projects is available from grants and donations and how immediate the need is for a given project.
Emergency repairs take precedence. For example, when the roof blew off the Davis Square Park field house during a heavy storm in 2003, that project took priority over all others.
Projects receiving matching or leverage funds from a private or civic contributor also get priority treatment. Budgeting mostly occurs in a five year capital plan that is updated annually. Recently, the park district sold some unused storage garages, and the proceeds have increased the funds available for the 2007-2008 year.
Wherever the money and impetus came from, regular users of McGuane Park’s ladies’ locker room are ecstatic the new lockers have arrived.
“They look great and are a big improvement on the old lockers,” said Debora Bandera, who has used the park’s lockers for three years. “A third of the old lockers didn’t close or lock before the improvements.” On one occasion, Bandera’s daughter’s sandals where stolen and damaged while the family swam—an incident she is confident will not be repeated. “It’s a relief,” she said.
“Conditions are great” at McGuane Park now, said Claudia Hajdas, another regular swimmer. “It’s clean and friendly. They keep the graffiti down and the counselors are great.”
“The lifeguards are real nice,” said Ruth Longoria.
Patrons have seen significant improvements over the past couple of years but believe more needs to be done. Bandera said the locker room generally looks good but the changing area needs to be refurbished.
One of the changing stalls lacks a door and paint is peeling in many places. The new plastic shower heads, although efficient, are not firmly fastened to the shower and are often missing, Bandera added.
“The thing we really need is an attendant, especially when the kids are in here during family swim,” Longoria added. “They need supervision.”
