Starting off with city planning!
SAM: Before we visited Woodson Regional Library, we stopped by the 95th Street Corridor Plan Open House.
BEN: This is a community-driven plan for development on 95th St. between Halsted St. to the west and Cottage Grove Ave. to the east, anchored by the recently remodeled 95th St. Red Line station in the center.
SAM: After listening to the presenter share about the goals, plans and implementation of the red line extension plan, I found myself simultaneously gleaning a better understanding of the project itself, as well as recognizing that Daniel’s interest in public transportation goes beyond maps and geography. After our visits to the Altgeld branch and spending time at the open house, I am better able to see the connections between the development of the red line extension and advocacy for equity in terms of community development, access to transportation, and housing development.
BEN: After we heard a brief presentation, Daniel had a chance to share some of his suggestions for improvement of transit-related elements of the plan with Commissioner Boatright of the Chicago Department of Planning and Development. She was a fantastic listener and agreed with many of Daniel’s ideas.
BEN: I also learned a new term at this event: “placekeeping”, or the act of bringing together community resources toward long-term planning and preservation of a place’s history and identity, with a particular focus on public spaces. I love that there’s a word for this concept!
To the library!
SAM: After grabbing a quick lunch, we headed to Woodson Regional Library, right around the corner from the open house. We were very fortunate to get the opportunity to listen to the stories of two librarians, Kim and Quin.
BEN: Kim told us that she’s actually a CPS teacher at a nearby school and stumbled upon the library as a part-time second job. She enjoyed it so much that she will soon transition to a school librarian position after completing a highly selective CPS-sponsored library science certificate program. She also shared about Woodson’s programming for kids, including a book-themed escape room!
Quin shared a similarly non-traditional path to library work. She landed at CPL after being laid off from the Chicago Department on Aging 16 years ago during a round of budget cuts. She shared her passion for serving the neighborhood, including folks experiencing homelessness who sleep right outside the back door of the library.
SAM: I am grateful that this family project is opening my eyes to inspirational stories of individuals whose backgrounds are vastly different from mine. Our local branch has been an integral piece of our family’s life since our children were born. I have come to appreciate the roles that librarians play in their communities. They meet their patrons wherever they are in their journey and offer tremendous support and resources at different levels.
NATHAN: There was a pumpkin game, which was very nice and very hard. Pumpkins were hidden everywhere in a small toy house. There were even pumpkins in the small backyard and the bathroom. I played with a few other kids that were even nicer. What was great about the space was that there was a big lego table, which was very impressive! There was also a space where you could cook fake food.
BEN: Woodson is named for Carter G. Woodson, prolific proponent of Black history and founder of what would eventually become Black History Month. Appropriately, the library houses the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of Afro-American History & Literature, the largest collection of its kind in the American Midwest. The Collection was closed when we visited, but we found a fantastic view from the second floor of sculptor Richard Hunt’s piece, Jacob’s Ladder. Another of Hunt’s pieces will be featured in the new CPL branch at the Obama Center (which will be #82 on our list once completed!).
DANIEL: The Woodson Regional Library has many great ways to get to those nice books it has. The CTA Bus Routes 108, 8A, 9, 95, and 112 all stop within walking distance of the library. If you don’t mind walking 1 mile, you will reach 95th Red Line, which has a lot of other bus connections, of which there are too many to list.
For Pace and Metra, a good amount of options. Pace routes 381, 395, and 352 are all outside the library. Metra has its 95th Street Station, on the Rock Island Line’s Beverly Branch, situated 0.4 miles away from the library.
For now, let’s look ahead to the future. Pace is planning to install Bus Rapid Transit lines, which will be called the Pulse Halsted Line and Pulse 95th Line, on both Halsted and 95th Streets. Metra is going to improve a Metra Electric Station on 95th further east. The CTA will extend the Red Line to 130th Street. These projects, along with others, form the 95th Street Corridor Plan.
I gotta go, but first I have to put a rating on this:
CTA Bus: ✅
CTA Train: ✅
Metra: ✅
Pace: ✅
Parking: ✅
Overall: 5!
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