Lack of Money Forces “Newly Established” Humboldt Park Advisory Council to Focus on Community Building Efforts in Latest Meeting

With clouds looming overhead, 15 of Humboldt Park’s most dedicated community members fought the rain last Thursday night and found their way to the Humboldt Park Field House to attend the second-ever meeting hosted by the “newly established” Humboldt Park Advisory Council. Battling rush hour traffic, frigid temperatures, and intense wind(s) to get there, for many, it wasn’t easy.

“I have a metal rod in my leg,” said Orlando Cintron, Lead Community Engagement Specialist for ALSO – Safe Streets Chicago, as he got out of his car and limped his way to the field house. “Every time it’s cold out, it [my leg] starts acting up.”

Like many others concerned about timely issues plaguing the community, Cintron wasn’t going to let bad weather stop him from being heard.

At 6:31 p.m., HPAC President, Amy Vega, officially welcomed attendees to the field house and called the meeting to order. An enthused group of diverse members expecting to hear about repurposed pickleball courts, roof repairs, water pump damage, comfort station (restroom) repairs and faulty air-conditioners (priority requests were submitted for the 2024 fiscal year) didn’t receive the news they wanted. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

“Our financial situation is still the same as last time; we don’t have any money,” said Nona Ethington, HPAC Treasurer, encouraging attendees to scan a QR code to view HPAC’s 2023 financial report (which showed a balance of $0.00). “We had hoped that the former PAC would act in good faith.”

For whatever reason, that hasn’t been the case.

Ethington’s comments are directed at the “old” Humboldt Park Advisory Council, which was shut down in 2022 for “disorderly conduct at [park advisory council] meetings, failure to meet record-keeping requirements and failure to comply with reasonable requests from Park District staff (Block Club Chicago).”

According to Ethington, the former PAC that represented Humboldt Park had acquired $1,396.87 of community-raised funds before they were shut down. The money, along with all HPAC related documents and binders, were supposed to be transferred to the new park advisory council by Sept. 1, 2023.

Needless to say, that didn’t happen.

“We need to remind people this isn’t just a castle standing in the middle of the park,” said Park Supervisor, Jesus Perez, commenting on HPAC’s plans to legitimize itself after last year’s debacle. “We’re still doing events; we should be united together to try to make this a better place for everybody.”

To earn back the community’s trust, HPAC is hosting a series of community related events that will take place right here in Humboldt Park. On that list is a youth boxing program, an after-school program, salsa dancing lessons, muevete aerobic classes, quatro classes and more.

For Halloween, HPAC is hosting a Halloween movie night to “stop the violence,” on Oct. 27, and a Haunted Paseo Boricua on Oct. 31, where HPAC Vice President, Eduardo Arrocho, will be dressing up as “some sort of skeleton.”

According to Cintron, these are all efforts to support the community and “do what we can to give back to the kids.”

While HPAC’s balance [and patience] may be low (proposed park repairs take a long time to process because they must pass through multiple levels of hierarchy), HPAC President, Amy Vega, reminds community members to keep their spirits high.

“I’ve lived here for 21 years, and I still choose to volunteer,” said Vega, expressing her love for the Humboldt Park community. “We really have been neglected… we may not agree on everything, but there’s one common goal: [improving] this park.”

While community members may disagree over small things such as “confusing language” in the bylaws, the number of members required to “do business” at a meeting, or whether to pursue a highly anticipated dog park, one thing is for sure: these people genuinely care about each other, and their park. ###

*If you’d like to be involved in the community, the next meeting is Thursday, Nov. 16 at 6:30 p.m. at the Humboldt Park Field House.