Kevin Tajimaroa was excited to return to the area he considers home to play soccer with friends at the new ComEd Recreation Center on the Near West Side.
But an hour into their soccer game, Tajimaroa, 24, said a worker told him the field wasn’t open to the public and the group would have to get a permit to play.
The permit fee is $150 per hour to use the artificial turf field, according to the Chicago Park District.
For Tajimaroa, whose family had to move from Pilsen to Back of the Yards in recent years, being told he needed a costly permit to play in his old neighborhood park seemed like another instance of being pushed out of where he grew up.
“It’s a beautiful facility, but at what price did it come,” he said. “...Now we just have this field that we can’t even play in.”
As he and his friends dug into the facility’s fees, he turned to the online community and created a petition hoping it would prompt the center to drop its permit fees. By Thursday, the petition had more than 500 signatures.
The park sits on the Near West Side in a changing area. It is north of Pilsen, an area where residents have often spoken out about gentrification, and part of the University Village/Little Italy community. It’s bordered by the ABLA/Brooks Home, part of the Chicago Housing Authority, and a co-living building where renters share upscale amenities.
Located at 1434 S. Loomis St., it’s a “special use sports complex,” which means its reserved for Chicago Park District programming and permit use, said Michele Lemons, a spokeswoman for the district.
Residents can access the field for casual use without paying when it’s not rented out and there isn’t a program taking place, Lemons said. But formal leagues and regularly scheduled “meet ups” are discouraged at the field during the causal-use time, she said.
William Ross, the manager of the facility, said in an email that when the field is not rented, the center will facilitate activities for children and adults.
“The Com Ed Rec Center is no different than any other park facility — when members of the community, organizations or teams rent the facility, it needs to be respected — it is no different than softball, soccer (or) football leagues who for years have rented park fields to play their organized events,” Ross said in an email.
On a recent afternoon this week, a group of children played on the field, two people played soccer and another person walked a dog through the field. Tajimaroa and his friends returned to the field this week and were able to play soccer. A worker approached them, but Tajimaroa said they were able to continue playing after he told them about the petition.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/21784028/merlin_92538059.jpg)
Carlisa Thomas, a resident of the ABLA/Brooks Homes, said she signed the petition Tajimaroa started after coming across it online.
She hasn’t walked to the new facility because she’s staying indoors due to the coronavirus pandemic. At least one of her neighbors has regularly used the facility and has a child signed up for the sports programs.
A six-week soccer class at the ComEd Recreational Center costs $19, according to the facility’s website.
The Park District said other similar facilities such as the Morgan Park Sports Center and the McFetridge Sports Center, located in Irving Park, charge similar fees for usage of the facilities.
At McFetridge Sports Center, an hour reservation to use the tennis courts is $25, according to the facility’s website. At the Morgan Park facility, it costs $350 per hour to rent the entire ice rink. There are designated times when the public can skate on the rink for $3, according to the website.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/21784037/merlin_92538069.jpg)
Juanita Irizarry, the executive director of Friends of the Parks, said residents across the city have issues with the fees associated with park amenities.
The organization previously voiced concerns about the ComEd Recreation Center because it seemed like the facility would try to compete with similar private facilities. To Friends of the Parks, it seemed like another project aimed at generating revenue.
“The Park District invests in areas based on what revenue they can generate rather than in terms of supporting the needs of the local community,” Irizarry said.
In 2018, the organization issued a report critical of the Park District, saying their analysis found there were more robust programs in North Side parks than in South Side parks.
In a rebuttal report, the Park District cited the construction of the recreational center at the Jane Addams Park as an example of a capital project in a racially diverse area.
Contributing: Tyler LaRiviere
Elvia Malagón’s reporting on social justice and income inequality is made possible by a grant from The Chicago Community Trust.
