What are the benefits of Chicago’s Lakefront Parks?
Parks and beaches provide open space for recreation and scenic beauty, as well as protection against flooding and the force of Lake Michigan. Lake Michigan is a powerful and fluctuating force. No one can predict what the future lake levels will be. There are many variables at work: climate change, regional precipitation and commercial and industrial dredging of the St. Clair River, which drains into the St. Lawrence and the Atlantic Ocean, to name a few. Second, for safety and the well being of all Chicagoans, citizens need the expansion of the lakefront bike trail north from Hollywood to Evanston and south from 71st Street to the city’s border. People take their lives in their hands trying to walk, run or bike on Ardmore and city streets north to the border or on South Shore Drive to the Indiana border. The completion of the lakefront pedestrian path along the lakefront is essential for the health, safety and quality of life for this and future generations of Chicagoans.
