-3- 
SURURRSERAE Teenie 
SEND YOUR 1962 BIRD NESTING REPORTS TO ILLINOIS STATE MUSEUM HEN COMPLETED--BY 
APRIL 15th OR EARLIER. IF YOU NEED FORMS FOR REPORTING COOPERATIVE MIGRATION 
STUDY, SPRING 1963, WRITE U. S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, PATUXENT WILDLIFE 
RESEARCH CENTER, LAUREL, MARYLAND. - 
EI SS eer et estates 
CHICAGO'S LAKE FRONT 
By Alderman Leon Despres 


Our basic lake front need is to establish a general plan for use and development, 
acquire for the city all portions of the lake front still in private hands, campaign 
steadily to get rid of existing encroachments and forbid them in the future, and 
make the entire lake front available for the use and recreation of all Chicagoans. 
An excellent NBC television program on Chicago's lake front on October 8 ,1962, 
did more than any other Single recent communication to express the problem of the 
lake front and carry it to Chicagcans. The program showed the beauties and assets 
of the lake front, also the gradual encroachments that have been permitted. The 
enormous filtration plant, a convention and restaurant hall with asphalt-covered 
parking lots which consume the very lake front itself, a relatively little-used 
airstrip in a prime recreation area, and several unsightly, Superannuated missile 
sites, have squandered many choice areas, 
Fortunately, we now have an Opportunity to adopt a meaningful lake front pro~ 
gram. Although Chicago has lacked any comprehensive general plan since the Burnham 
Plan of 1909, the city's Department of Planning is now working on an imposing pro- 
gram for preliminary release in 1963. Under the direction of Larry Reich, who came 
here from his work on the general plan for Philadelphia, an expert staff is prepar- | 
ing a series of statements, supporting data, and tables which will provide a new 
concept for Chicago. In June 1963, the preliminary general plan is to be released 
for discussion, and by the end of 1963 or the beginning of 1964 the complete plan 
Should be presented to the City Council for formal action. Citizens should make 
sure that the Mayor releases the plan in June 1963 and that it does include a good 
lake front program, 
Drafts which have already been circulated among consultants and some aldermen 
contain strong statements of positive goals for Chicago's lake front. Our problem 
now is to make sure that these goals stay in the plan, that they gain strength as 
the plan progresses, that they gain support from public discussions, and that in 
their augmented form they win adoption as the official policy of the City of Chicago. 
Although Chicago's general plan is progressing very well at this time, private 
groups need to be wary. There is always the chance that the plan may never be com- 
pleted, never released, or if released, never adopted, or if adopted, watered down, 
If the general plan should be withdrawn, private groups may have to take the 
initiative in enunciating a program and offering it to the city, just as private 
groups did fifty years ago with the Burnham Plan; and even if the city does finally 
adopt a satisfactory plan, the lake front will continue to need defense against 
exploiters in and out of the governnent, 
All in all, however, the present holds out the hope that the city government 
itself will soon announce the principle of acquiring, treasuring, and protecting 
the lake front for all; adopt the principle as part of the city's new general 
comprehensive plan; and formally assume the responsibility for enforcement, 
--City Hall, Chicago, Tllinois 
BUSHES FOR THE BIRDS 
Do not forget to plan for some new bushes in the yard which will attract the birds, 
Cliff Wolters, Dutch Mountain Nursery, R. #1, Box 167, Augusta, Michigan, will be 
glad to help you select the proper kinds, 

