Edgewater/Andersonville - Tap Into Your Community

• http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=688497969 Mark Anast

  I don’t really “get” the People Spot. We have benches and planters on every corner already. Why remove three parking spaces only to put more benches and planters in the street??
  The bike racks however, are actually smart and necessary.

• fran

  I think the extra bike parking is excellent and reflects a legitimate need — there is too little parking for bikes especially since the meters disappeared a few years ago. The “people spot” however just seems a little much and not very useful and the “mural” seems very haphazard and uninteresting. More park benches, or little mini-parks at the corners where the enormous planters are could serve this purpose well enough if they were improved.

• Anthony Chacon

  It was a good idea, but not fully thought out. The location was wrong. It was placed in front of a clothing store? It should have been in front of or set between coffee shops. There was no shade except for late late in the afternoon. In the morning and afternoon it was too hot and no relief from buildings for shade. The seats were indeed very uncomfortable. They should have lowered them to a height that a regular non-Giant person could sit there without feet dangling. The seats were too deep as well, no back support. At best they were a hand place to stop and tie my shoe laces. I am not sure what purpose the “grassy knoll” was either. It was angled such a way that if you tried to sit there you would slide down the bank and get grass stains on your booty-us-maximus. And who knows what might have done its business there….

  My recommendations for next year….
  Remove the benches and block out the space and replace them with standard park benches with curved backs. Raise the Grassy Knoll and level it off. If its about 2.5 feet off grade then it will keep Dogs off it and doing their business on it and could be a nice place for people to sit. Install the whole parklett near to Urban Orchard or that other coffee shop in Aville with all the hipsters… I forget what its called… the ones that are snotty about their coffee….Coffee Studio! yes.. that place. Lastly, SHADE. Either in the form of an umbrella, awning or maybe situated in a way that a larger fuller or more numerous trees give shelter from the sun. There are a lot of pasty people in Chicago!

• Mike

  No disrespect to the artist who painted the nice mural, but this thing looks like a pile of junk that was dumped on the street. I haven’t noticed many people using it.

• http://www.facebook.com/joe.canup Joe N Canup

  So you have taken away 3 very needed parking spots in a shopping district so people can sit? Perhaps to watch cars try to find parking in Andersonville?

• Jon

  Holy crap. I didn’t think this thing could get any uglier but it did!

• Sarah

  I’m personally thrilled with the addition of the People Spot and the bike corrals. I live in the neighborhood, just down the street from the People Spot. I own a car, I ride my bike, and I walk throughout the neighborhood. People who complain about the loss of “parking spots” at this intersection need to stop whining. There is plenty of parking available on Farragut and other streets, I park on the street and I see it every day. If you are not willing to walk an extra half a block to get to Clark then that is unfortunate. People who complain about the aesthetics of the People Spot and the mural are missing the point of the whole project. The purpose is to provide a new type of public space in a community where gathering space is sorely lacking. What it represents to me is a place where I can pause in between browsing the neighborhood and supporting the local businesses. How is this different than a bench and planter on any corner? It completely alters your orientation with the community. Before the People Spot, I wouldn’t give a second thought to completely ignoring the storefronts around me. Since it has opened, I have been able to sit and take in the beauty and character of the neighborhood. It has given me a place to stop and talk with familiar faces I run into on the street without blocking the sidewalk. Sitting there has given me the chance to look at the businesses around me, especially those I’ve never patronized and see them in a different light. Sometimes the People Spot is bustling, other times its empty. This is true of any public space. Think the People Spot is ugly? Great — don’t use it! I don’t want to sit and be surrounded by your negative energy anyway! As for me, I will happily use it, and the bike corrals, and continue to support the businesses in the neighborhood. I know plenty of other people who will do just the same. It may not be a park, but its the closest thing we can get for the time being. For that I am grateful.

• georgia

  Like the bike racks, but the People Spot was dumb. No shade, not child-friendly, I just don’t see the purpose. I checked it out a few times and it was either empty or occupied by homeless or mentally ill “neighborhood regulars” who most likely drove people away.

• JeffO

  The complaining about parking is so 1950s America, get over it.

• Andyville Stud

  I think the People Spot is a great idea. I also agree with some of the responders regarding the comfortability of the seats and their heights. One thing I noticed when we received a substantial rainfall: The base of the People Spot is so well built that it blocks the storm water from draining into the storm sewers. Could someone trim the plantings so that they don’t poke visitors in the head and neck? That would be a great thing to have done. The new mural certainly grabs one’s attention, but I wondered how that design was determined by the Andersonville Chamber or whatever authority that selected it. I like the blue bike racks……and the red racks down near Hopleaf. Perhaps we could get another primary color like yellow up near the Brown Elephant and Hamburger Mary’s.

• cor

  I love the idea of the people spot but agree with others who said the design doesn’t welcome people to use it. I understand a second people spot could be placed outside the coffee studio, I hope the design is more “people friendly”. I’ve seen other spot designs that make more sense…

• Mary

  Why did they make the parklet so uncomfortable to sit on?!!
  I thought this was a good idea before it was built.

• Steve

  If it was designed to provide an alternative type of environment to experience the neighborhood… it didn’t do it for me. After my initial disgust with the esthetics (Worn Out Carnivalesque) I did enter and experience the space. I felt like a fish in a very ugly fishbowl. A fish in a very unsafe and ugly fishbowl. Cars zoomed by quickly snickering at me (yes, only me, because know one else dare enter). Providing more benches and chairs on the sidewalk would have done the trick for me.

• zygote

  $20,000 for plywood and some paint and a few green plants? Are you KIDDING? Each corner has the space to accomodate more green space as well as benches which are more comfortable than sitting on a box! On another note….. It seems that a number of the respondents don’t know how to spell.