Could the old Edgewater Medical Center become "Edgewater Park"?


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According to our social media manager Tony Ham, several Edgewater residents are promoting the idea of converting the defunct Edgewater Medical Center at 5700 N Ashland Ave into a public park. They’ve taken their message to an online petitioning site, where they’ve collected a little more than half of the 300 desired “signatures” for their cause.

“There is no park in the proximity. West Edgewater, or as I hope it will be called EDGEWATER PARK, does not have a park within a mile of this site. This is not at all convenient for our residents,” the petition states. “A park will increase our property values by 5% minimum…The park is the sustainable and green thing to do. Our neighborhood suffers storm water damage every year. The foundation of the EMC site will make a terrific French Drain returning thousands of gallons of storm water back to the environment.”

This probably isn’t happening anytime soon — the site may still be tied up in a morass of litigation resulting from the hospital’s collapse, and I gather from skimming posts and comments at the Edgewater Community Buzz blog that some neighborhood residents anticipate (if not exactly support) new residential development at the site sometime in the future. I’m also not too sure whether online petitions have much sway among aldermen, although this push may be coupled with other efforts.

Anyone from the neighborhood care to share your thoughts on what should (or will) be done with the old hospital?

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