YOUR VOICES MATTER!

PROTECT WELLES PARK

60-foot LED lights would’ve towered over existing lights and overpowered them with brightness.

Thank you to the Chicago Park District for listening to the Welles Park neighbors!

Welles Park baseball games will stick to daylight hours

Welles Park is our gem — a small public multi-use park in the heart of Chicago’s Lincoln Square and North Center neighborhoods. The private youth baseball organization Welles Park Parents Association (WPPA) wanted to install 60-foot LED lights and introduce an extended game schedule at Welles Park. The proposal was DENIED on Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2023.

This would have had a significant impact on PARKING, TRAFFIC, LITTER, NOISE and LIGHT POLLUTION in the neighborhood. We called for this proposal to be rejected by Ald. Matt Martin and the Chicago Park District in favor of a BETTER SOLUTION for expanding day games to more Chicago kids.

257 NEIGHBORS — including staff from 63 LOCAL BUSINESSES — spoke out in opposition. Thank you, neighbors!

Join us in keeping our Welles Park clean, safe and enjoyable for all our neighbors.

Latest news

Park District says “NO” to WPPA lights proposal

JANUARY 11, 2023 - Noting strong community opposition, the Chicago Park District on Tuesday rejected the Welles Park Parents Association’s proposal to install 60-foot LED lights on the park’s ballfields.

In her letter announcing the decision to the WPPA, Park District Superintendent Rosa Escareno wrote that the “large community opposition” was “especially concentrated to residents who live near the park.”

Escareno added that “the Park District is committed to working with [the WPPA] to explore other solutions to meet [the WPPA’s] goal of expanding programming opportunities for baseball and softball. With over 700 ballfields across the city, our team is committed to working with [the WPPA] to identify other parks open to your program and to collaborate on upgrades to diamonds if needed to support additional play on those fields.”

As more neighbors learn about the WPPA's proposal to install 60-foot LED lights at Welles Park, opposition to the plan is growing. More than 240 residents in the Welles Park area, including staff members from 63 Lincoln Square and North Center businesses have expressed their opposition to the proposal for 60-foot LED lights and an expanded nighttime game schedule.

Add YOUR name to our petition today by emailing protectwellespark@gmail.com  

Neighborhood opposition is growing!

A dozen Welles Park neighbors who are opposed to the 60-foot LED lights plan attended Wednesday’s meeting of the Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners. Two were given time to speak during the Public Comment period. A Friends of the Parks speaker also noted to the Commissioners that the proposal process at Welles Park was being handled without sufficient public input and transparency.

December Park Board meeting

Former 47th Ward Ald. Gene Schulter, surrounded by concerned neighbors including Monsignor Jim Kaczorowski of Queen of Angels, reports on the Levy Senior Village’s opposition to the lights plan. Above, resident Lara Weber proposes the WPPA money be used to refurbish more parks for an expanded daytime game schedule.

WBBM NEWSRADIO 780 covers the Welles Park lights controversy.

Listen or read HERE.

Letter to the Editor, Chicago Tribune, November 20, 2022

Read it HERE

What’s going on at Welles Park?

More than a decade ago, the private youth baseball league, Welles Park Parents Association (WPPA), started lobbying the Chicago Park District and Alderman of the 47th Ward to install 60-foot LED lights around the five baseball diamonds at the park. It was an effort to expand the league’s game time well into the night.  Ald. Gene Schulter rejected the request, as did his successor Ald. Ameya Pawar. Now, 47th Ward Ald. Matt Martin appears to be letting a proposal for lights around two diamonds move forward, against the wishes of most neighbors within a few blocks of the park. The alderman and the Welles Park administrator have indicated that a decision may be made in December 2022. 

Neighbors who oppose the lights are now urgently raising awareness of this proposal. Community canvassing is revealing that most neighbors were unaware of the proposal and knew little about any of the details. To date, there have been zero in-person community meetings to discuss this proposal. The very few virtual meetings (Zoom or Teams) have been poorly publicized and extremely difficult to access for anyone but the most tech-savvy and connected neighbors. 

Considering the vast impact that 60-foot LED lights and an extended game schedule will have on PARKING, TRAFFIC, LITTER, NOISE and LIGHT POLLUTION in the neighborhood, and considering the INSUFFICIENT COMMUNITY INPUT process by the 47th Ward alderman and the Chicago Park District, neighbors are calling for this proposal – and any current work to start installing equipment for the 60-foot LED lights – to be rejected.

Let’s have rainbows, not bright LED lights over Welles Park.

Why 60-foot LED lights are problematic

Welles Park is a small PUBLIC park, effectively covering the space of just a couple of city blocks. It’s a gem of a multiuse park, accommodating picnickers, walkers, exercise groups, neighborhood pickup games, dog owners, children, families, etc. Its beauty is that it is not dominated by any single group – until baseball season starts. 

Currently, the neighborhood welcomes the WPPA and its steady influx of youth baseball and softball players and their families. We all love baseball! And we all love seeing kids happily playing baseball! But the reality is this: Starting in the spring, and running through the summer, baseball, which often starts as early as 8am, dominates our gem of a park. 

Yet, it works well enough as it is now because by 7pm, most of the baseball games are over and the kids, families, coaches and refs are heading out of the neighborhood, JUST IN TIME to clear out parking and traffic space for the terrific people who come to our neighborhood for classes and concerts at the OLD TOWN SCHOOL OF FOLK MUSIC or movies at the DAVIS THEATER, among other draws in our lovely neighborhood. 

For those who live within a couple blocks of the perimeter of Welles Park and don’t have their own garage or parking space, this balance BARELY works, but it does. Parking can get tough, but it’s usually possible because of the rhythm of that inflow and outflow of baseball, music, movie and restaurant goers. 

6 reasons to reject the 60-foot LED lights plan

  • Lights will lead to PERMIT PARKING

  • Private $$$ control of Welles Park is WRONG

  • MORE PARKS for day games - not night games

  • 9:30 “CURFEW” is NOT guaranteed

  • ENVIRONMENTAL impact study is needed

  • TRANSPARENT community involvement needed

A BETTER SOLUTION

The WPPA says its primary reason for wanting 60-foot LED lights at Welles Park is that the league has a long waiting list and they want to expand to accommodate more kids. 

A BETTER SOLUTION: The WPPA could easily shorten its waitlist and allow more kids to play by expanding its league into more parks – particularly parks that would greatly benefit from the generous resources of a well-funded organization like the WPPA. The WPPA currently plays in Welles Park, Winnemac Park, Legion Park, Green Briar Park, Mather Park, Hollywood Park, River Park and Athletic Field Park. 

We urge the WPPA to drop its costly and unnecessary 60-foot LED lights idea and consider more beneficial ways to expand its reach through an expanded daytime game schedule across the city.

Lights will lead to permit parking

IF the WPPA gets its way, it will have games going until at least 9:30pm many nights (and baseball families around the city tell us 11pm is more likely). 

The impact on traffic and parking will be immediate.  

Imagine the Old Town School of Folk Music students and teachers – many who are seniors and come to the Old Town School from the suburbs – trying to find parking in time for a 7pm or 8pm class. Imagine the movie goers hoping to support the charming Davis Theater by coming to our neighborhood for a 7pm screening needing to park farther and farther away. Imagine the people who come to enjoy our wonderful neighborhood restaurants searching for parking.

And then consider the residents in our neighborhood, coming home now to find it impossible to park near their homes. 

How soon after lights go up will there be a very reasonable call for RESIDENTIAL PERMIT PARKING in our neighborhood? And what impact will that have on our local businesses and their many workers and customers? 

Two previous aldermen understood the greater need to keep the balance of use at Welles Park – for the good of the entire neighborhood and our business / residential ecosystem. 

The WPPA is touting proudly that it has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in private money to fully pay for the installation of the 60-foot LED lights in a public park. By boasting that no public money is needed, the insinuation is that no (or extremely little) public input be allowed.

Private money control of a public park is wrong

What about a ‘curfew’?

The WPPA says it agrees to turn off the lights at 9:30 pm, but this rule isn’t codified anywhere. Furthermore, the WPPA and Chicago Park District have indicated that, once installed, lights would be available for all users of the park – which opens up other concerns and questions. Will there be late concerts and other events under the lights? Will adult sports leagues fill late-night slots?

The Welles Park Advisory Council (WPAC) gathered this information from the WPPA and the CPD:

WPAC: We understand that once installed, these lights will be available to all users of the park. We request that any proposals; including a curfew time, league arrangements, or the codified permitting process, be shared with the PAC to consider the full impacts. We ask that the CPD and Alderman would seek and consider our position before allowing additional use of the lights beyond the WPPA.

WPPA response, July 25, 2022: We defer to the CPD, but we understand that the CPD is in the process of developing a process that would allow organizations other than WPPA to use the lights.  As we have said from the beginning, the WPPA will enforce a strict, 9:30p curfew when we use the fields and ultimately CPD is in charge of when the lights are on or off.

WPAC to park district: WPPA has provided a curfew of 9:30 and the dates they would use the lights but what would CPD’s process be for other groups (adult softball leagues, football, special events) requesting to use the lights and would the PAC have any role?

CPD response, Aug. 26, 2022: The Park District can establish a rule applying to all uses of the lights at the park if a 9:30 curfew is what the PAC and community members are requesting.

Nothing is codified and current “hand-shake” agreements can easily dissolve under a new Welles Park administrator.

Light pollution can destroy ecosystems

Without a thorough environmental impact study, it’s difficult to say exactly what will happen to the birds, butterflies, bats and other wildlife that call Welles Park home and depend on the darkness that envelopes the park each night.

But “PROTECT WELLES PARK” supporter Angela Bowman, an ecological garden designer, has gathered important research that shows what could happen if 60-foot LED lights are installed. The big takeaway: Nighttime light pollution is devastating to wildlife and harmful to humans. Read her report here.

The world’s top climate experts and global leaders just gathered in Egypt for COP27 to tackle this planet’s climate crisis. Urgent calls are being made to reduce our carbon footprint and shift to smarter energy sources.  This is hardly the moment for Ald. Matt Martin and the Chicago Park District to give its stamp of approval to a park full of 60-foot LED lights. 

Instead, Ald. Martin and the Chicago Park District could help the public debate over this proposal by ordering an independent environmental impact study. Let’s find out what 60-foot LED lights mean for migratory birds, for the wildlife that coexists with us in and around our tiny park. 

What happens to fireflies when there’s too much light? Find out what we discovered.

‘Friends of the Parks’ is watching

The advocacy group Friends of the Parks is supporting neighbors’ efforts to keep the lights out of Welles Park – just as it has successfully fought to keep private development plans out of other Chicago public parks. FOTP included discussion of the WELLES PARK LIGHTS proposal at its 2022 PARKS AS DEMOCRACY? conference Dec. 9 and 10. Go to www.fotp.org for a recording of the conference and for more information!

Join us, your neighbors, in persuading the Chicago Park District that there are more equitable ways for the WPPA to expand its game schedule — primarily by investing in more parks that need well-tended ballfields. 60-foot LED lights at Welles Park will do little to expand sports opportunities across Chicago’s neediest neighborhoods.

Contact the decision-makers with your feedback:


Take Action

Who we are

We are your Welles Park neighbors who care about keeping our public park a true multiuse space that is not dominated by one private organization.

Contact us at protectwellespark@gmail.com to find out how you can help.

Or:

GENE SCHULTER, former 47th Ward Alderman, Gene_Schulter@yahoo.com

LARA WEBER, neighbor, chicagolara@gmail.com

DAVID deBOER, neighbor, ddeboer1963@hotmail.com