Horner Park Advisory Council
Meeting Minutes
Anne Rozmin, as president, called the meeting to order at 7:40 p.m. Larry Brown acted as secretary for this meeting.
June Minutes: Larry Hodak moved to accept the June minutes as presented. The motion was seconded by Susie Novak and was passed unanimously.
Treasurer’s Report: Ann Rozmin on behalf of Elaine Taylor delivered the Treasurer’s report. The balances are as follows:
- Checking Account: 3,118.12
- Savings Account: 1,921.01
- Buffalo Park Mon. CD’s 2,190.66
- Totals $ 7,229.79
Elaine Taylor will be instructed to send an invoice to the Illinois Historic Society for the Henry Horner Monument Garden grant.
Announcements: An article from the Chicago Sun Times was presented reporting that the Field Museum will be receiving $ 800,000 for a garden from the Chicago Park District’s Soldier Field reconstruction budget. The Manor Garden Club’s Garden Walk will be held on Sunday July16, 2002. Maps will be available at Manor Park. This will be followed by the Manor Garden Club sponsored performance of Bopology.
Garden Committee: No Report
Concert Committee: John O’Connell as Chairperson presented.
Park Briefs: Terry Sweeney, Horner Park Supervisor, Dale Marie Grandys, Area Supervisor and Barbara Wood a landscape architect with the CPD Green Deeds Program were in attendance representing the Horner Park Staff and CPD.
Horner Park: The tire swing in the play lot has been removed for repair. A work order has been put in to restore the west side retaining wall at the play lot which is starting to fall down. The tree south of the play lot has died. Barbara Wood representing the CPD’s Green Deeds Program was aware of this and will have a replacement “soon”. In response to the meeting held with David Doig on the handicapped baseball field being located at California Park instead of Horner Park, Anne Rozmin suggested that a follow up letter should be drafted and approved for mailing to David Doig. The content of this letter should impress upon him the need to keep Horner Park a high priority in making all the parks handicap accessible. In an effort to replace the destroyed Crab Apple trees near the Henry Horner Monument it was discussed if the Illinois Historic Grant monies could be donated to the CPD to pay for the new trees. The recently installed species identification labels in the wildlife garden have been already lost or destroyed. Dale Marie Grandys is looking into having labels made that will withstand normal “Chicago” wear and tear. We at the council would like to give Mark Hebert a huge congratulation on his recent promotion to Playlot Supervisor at Touhy Park. Mark has been a major influence on our neighborhood children at Horner Park. Mark will be dearly missed. Terry Sweeney has been instructed to find someone of equal caliber to replace Mark. Good Luck Mark.
Ravenswood Manor Park: The new Green Deed trees in the park are under stress from the current drought conditions. Barbara Wood explained that each tree has a watering bag attached to it. It was determined that any of the council members or any CPD employees who find them empty should fill these bags. Any new trees will be accompanied with these watering bags. Anne Rosmin brought up the fact that the watering of the new sod is exposing the new wildlife garden to too much water. Nic Acciari, who has been watering the new lawn, has agreed to direct the sprinklers to the lawn area only and also agreed to put away the hoses after they are used. Terry Sweeney reported that the drinking fountain has been fixed. The buffalo box will be evaluated and fixed next. Terry is to also provide new buffalo box keys to the council along with the reducers that fit our garden hoses. Barbara Wood from the CPD recommended that the drainage problem on the southeast side of the park, adjacent to the play lot, can be solved by boring several holes down through the clay hardpan and back filling with gravel. This will allow the current standing water after rains to properly leach into the soil. A section of fence along Manor Ave. may need to be removed temporarily to allow construction equipment to get into this area. The dead Spruce tree will be removed as soon as possible. Many of the damaged park benches will be refurbished hopefully by the Garden Walk on Sunday July 28th. A date to dedicate the memorial trees planted for Joan Smith and Maureen Bristol was discussed and Ann Rozmin volunteered to talk with their families to set this date. Jeff Levine presented a plan to erect a memorial sun dial in honor of his late wife Mimi Levine. Several locations were discussed and Jerry Giese motioned to locate this sun dial near the Lady Diane Rosebush near the fire hydrant and Manor Ave. fence. This was seconded by John O’Connell and was passed unanimously. Mr. Levine agreed to this as long as some sort of planting would screen the fire hydrant.
Buffalo Park: No report
Horner Park Riverbank Initiative: It was reported that a letter to be sent by Mary Van Haaften of the CPD was never sent to the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineering (USACE). Anne will follow up with the CPD on this letter. Elaine Taylor explained the USACE’s cost-benefit ratio that is part of the Ecological Restoration Report (ERR), the next step that the USACE will take. She recommended that no work take place on the riverbank until this report is completed. John O’Connell motioned the council to seek additional funding for the project to further lessen the burden of the CPD portion of sponsorship. By this action the council hopes to make the project more attractive to the CPD. Jerry Giese seconded the motion and it passed by acclamation. Larry Brown then moved to end further discussion on the HPRI. John O”Connell seconded and it passed with acclamation.
Adjournment: Anne Rozmin thanked all those in attendance and the meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted, Larry Brown
Roster of those in attendance: Anne Rozmin, President; John O’Connell; Nic Acciari, Vice President; Susie Novak; Jerry Giese, Co-Secretary (off duty); Barbara Wood; Larry Brown, Co-Secretary (on duty); Laurene von Klan, FOCR; Elaine Taylor, Treasurer; Jeff Levine; Terry Sweeney, Horner Park Supervisor; Anne Sylvan; Dale Marie Grandys, Area Supervisor, CPD ;Larry Hodak.
