Show Love To Our City - Ping Tom Memorial Park Cleanup

Be inspired to a call to act on behalf of others.

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Here’s how you can help our city this month.

Event: Ping Tom Memorial Park Cleanup
Date: Saturday, August 10th
Shift Times: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM 
Location: Ping Tom Memorial Park, 1700 S Wentworth Ave, Chicago, IL 60616, USA 

Task: Beautify the park 

In Brief:  In the 1960s, Chicago’s Chinatown neighborhood lost its only public park to make way for the Dan Ryan Expressway. The community banded together to work with the City to find a way to build a new park along the Chicago River. Ping Tom Memorial Park, now spread over five acres, includes features such as traditional Chinese gardens, a playground, rolling green space, a 300-linear-foot boardwalk with stunning red Chinese ornamental railings, a boathouse, field house, and a community plaza, which serves as a stop on the popular Chicago Water Taxi’s route.

Transportation: There is limited parking at the park, please carpool or, better yet, consider our environment and take CTA {5 minute walk from Cermak-Chinatown station (red line)}.

For the adventurous: After the event, join a group traveling back to the loop by water taxi - https://www.chicagowatertaxi.com/ - {purchase your ticket in advance}

If you plan to attend, please mark "Attending" above and then contact Griffin Smith at griffinmariesmith@gmail.com or 708.560.6477 for more details. Griffin will follow up with meet-up details for the CAPCA crew! 

Trust for the Public Land -  https://www.tpl.org/our-work/illinois

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) creates parks and protects land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come. Since 1972, TPL has preserved more than 3.5 million acres, created or transformed close to 2,000 parks, playgrounds, and gardens, and developed more than 2,000 miles of trails across the United States. TPL has also helped states and local communities generate over $74 billion in new public funds for parks and open space. With over twenty-five offices across the country, The Trust for Public Land’s vision is an America where every community can connect with nature near and far. For cities throughout the United States, the organization’s goal is to ensure that everyone in urban America has access to a quality park within a 10-minute walk of home; more than 200 mayors, including former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, have endorsed the 10-minute walk campaign.

Trust for the Public Land and Ping Tom Memorial Park

At the request of the Chicago Parks District, TPL helped acquire a parcel of abandoned railroad land owned by Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad that was easily accessible and suitable for active recreation. Leading negotiations to secure the land, TPL brought the railroad to the bargaining table and secured grant funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the initial environmental assessment work. 

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As James Baldwin once wrote, "Everything now, we must assume, is in our hands; we have no right to assume otherwise."