After Months of Waiting, Newly Established Humboldt Park Advisory Council is Officially Recognized as Legitimate Park Organization

One month ago, members of the newly established Humboldt Park Advisory Council told us two things: 1) the council didn’t have any money in their bank account, and 2) because of failing to meet certain requirements, HPAC wasn’t officially recognized as a legitimate park organization. Today, as of the council’s latest meeting on Nov. 16, only one of those statements holds true.

“I wanted to see community engagement and it’s happening,” said Amy Vega, President of the Humboldt Park Advisory Council, explaining what’s changed since the council’s last meeting in October. “All communities are actively working together; things look great heading into 2024.”

Vega’s newfound optimism comes weeks after learning HPAC was officially recognized as a legitimate park organization by the Chicago Park District after fulfilling all necessary requirements — a lengthy process which has taken upwards of three months to complete.

After being shut down by the Park District in 2022 for “bitter infighting, a nullified election and an inspector general investigation,” the newly established HPAC was required to complete a bevy of tasks ranging from submitting letters of intent, nominating elected officials, opening joint bank accounts, setting dates for meetings, signing registration forms, submitting volunteer applications, submitting background checks and more.

Although HPAC Treasurer, Nona Ethington, is quick to remind us they “still don’t have any money in their [bank] account,” by virtue of their community-led initiatives, they certainly have plenty to be proud of.

“We’re trying to recreate trust with the community and be as clear and transparent as possible,” said Vega, explaining how they’ve bounced back after being suspended for “years of controversy.” People can say what they want about their approach, but clearly, it’s working.

“One of our guiding principles is we want this PAC to be inclusive,” said HPAC Secretary, Jennie Jiang, discussing the possibility of meeting over Zoom. “We want everyone to be involved; We’re not going to exclude anyone.”

According to Jiang, HPAC currently has 156 active members on their roster, and over 300 people on the community mailing list. Attendance at the event has doubled (literally) since the last meeting (increasing from 15 to 30 people), and community members are more excited than ever to be involved.

“We need to learn from each other to better this park [and this community],” said Karl Kuhn, Landscape & Facilities Committee Member at the Humboldt Park Advisory Council. “We got a bunch of responses [from people who filled out the HPAC survey]. Going through it, we discussed it, and we're like, ‘that's a big list [that] can take a while [to address]. So, let's prioritize it.”

Needless to say, that’s exactly what they did.

According to the recent survey, the biggest concerns right now in Humboldt Park (landscape/facility wise) are paths, walkways, curve cuts, accessibility for bikes, bathroom access and cleaning up a perennial field (which is currently full of trash and litter). “As a group, we feel like these items impact the park experience for everyone,” said Kuhn.

While HPAC wants to tackle these issues head on, they realize it’s likely not something they can address without help.

“We are looking to connect with other groups and organizers [in the community] that use the park to help be our eyes and ears,” said Kuhn, explaining what the landscape committee’s next steps are.

“We can reach out to all the little league teams, the baseball club, fishing crews, the soccer team… I met a sumo club on Sunday. [Can you believe that?] A sumo club uses this park to battle on Sundays. It’s amazing right?”

Amazing is an understatement.

As stated by Kuhn, “[The park] provides a vibrant opportunity to get all these different kinds of concerns [out there] and [find] different people that are using this great public space to find some commonality and work together to better [serve our park].”

While many people have different ideas on how certain things should be handled (specific wording in the by-laws, how many meetings people should be required to attend to be eligible to vote, how long term lengths should be, etc.), at the end of the day, people are working together towards one common goal.

“Whatever your opinion is outside of the park, keep it there,” said Vega, urging community members to think about the bigger picture. “This is about the park.”

Judging by the sheer number of heads nodding in the audience after Vega’s most recent comments, the community is likely to agree.