Thursday, June 7, 2012

Cool Off At Buttercup Park

Thank you to our reader who has provided so many great shots of Buttercup,
including this one.  Hat tip for all his help!
In addition to all the other cool features at the new and vastly improved Buttercup Park, there's a water feature, too.  It's about to get hot again (Tom Skilling is predicting the 90s for the weekend), so take your kids to cool off at Buttercup.  Buttercup Park Advisory Committee has really done a boffo job on the renovation.

BPAC has posted the details of the Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting on its Facebook page.  Some highlights:

"Let us entertain you! The ENTERTAINMENT LINE-UP for Buttercup Park’s OFFICIAL GRAND OPENING and RIBBON-CUTTING CELEBRATION, to be held on Saturday, June 16, is as follows:

10:00 to 10:30 a.m.:  Ribbon-cutting celebration and recognition of local community leaders and other announcements. Community leaders include 48th Ward Alderman Harry Osterman, 46th Ward Alderman James Cappleman, former 48th Ward Alderman Mary Ann Smith and representatives from Chicago Park District.

John T. McCutcheon Elementary School Principal, Dr. Carol Ann Lang will also speak about her plans for retirement and introduce the first two performances of the day.

10:30 to 11:30 a.m.:
  • McCutcheon Elementary Choral Group performance
  • McCutcheon Elementary Dance Team performance
  • Connect Force performance
  • People's Music School performance
  • CircEsteem performance
Margate Park Block Club will provide face-painting and other goodies at their booth.

Meet the team of Buttercup Park Uptown volunteers!  Buttercup Park Advisory Council (BPAC) is governed by President P.C. Gooden-Smiley, Vice President Michael King, Treasurer Craig Foley and Secretary Judith Samuel. BPAC works with the Margate Park Block Club, Temporary Public Art, Aldermanic offices, Uptown residents and other volunteers to promote ways for the community to better utilize the Chicago Park District’s programs and facilities at Buttercup Park Uptown. Temporary Public Art is led by Eden Unluata. BPAC's Communications Committee includes: Communications Chair and BPAC Treasurer Craig Foley; BPAC Secretary Judith Samuel; Photographer Ananias Samuel; Press Contact, Editor and Contributing Writer Elaine Smith; Contributing Writer and Facebook Administrator Gayle Blakely; and Graphic Designer Darlene Wright.

BPAC is currently exploring opportunities to partner with local chess enthusiasts, martial arts instructors, and other activity leaders to host upcoming events. If you are interested in volunteering and/or coordinating an event, please contact the BPAC team at buttercupparkuptown@gmail.com"

6 comments:

  1. I wonder if this photo was taken by the guy who stood and took pics from this exact spot last week and who we eventually had the police come to speak with. Bottom line is, if your kid is not in the park or nearby, dont take pictures of other people's kids. Very creepy.

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  2. only in uptown will there be such capability to for negative thoughts! uptownism, if you read the text you would have seen the photo credits! read twice before you cut someone down!

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  3. I'm sorry, but I read the text again and it says that the photos were sent from a reader. Having just gone through this strange event, at this same park, with the guy taking photos standing at the exact same place where this photo was taken made me feel disturbed. If being protective of my children and the children of the neighborhood from a strange man with no kids taking photos of them in their bathingsuits makes me negative, then I own that. The cops seemed to agree with me and encouraged me to call the cops if I ever see anyone taking photos at the park again.

    That having been said, I am sorry if I jumped to conclusions and if in fact each of the parents of the children in these photos signed a photo consent release, etc.

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  4. I do want to say that I LOVE this park, will be there all the time and am incredibly grateful to all of the people who worked to make it happen. It is a true gem of the neighborhood and the kids clearly love it.

    Thank you!!!!

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  5. A few points:

    - Uptownism, yes -- sometimes pedophiles go to public places and take photos of children. However, this is clearly not the case here. While of course I don't know who you called the cops on, and I don't know this photographer except in email, he was there to photograph the water feature. He has taken many previous photos of the park in progress, none of them with children in them, for the purpose of sending them to us so our readers could see what a wonderful place it is. We've used his photos in three separate articles now and I very much appreciate his generosity. If people first found out how cool the park is because of his photographs, then they should be appreciative of his efforts as well.

    - Photo releases? Not unless the person being photographed was on private property or the photos were being sold. Generally, the laws say a person has no presumption of privacy if they are on public property (and being in a Chicago city park is pretty much the definition of being out in public). If you are walking down the street and someone takes your photo, then they are within their rights. You and your kids are photographed hundreds of time a day without your knowledge -- by ATMs, by private security cameras, by public security cameras, by red light cameras, by Google Streetview, by satellite cameras, the list goes on. And it's all done without photo releases as long as you're out in public.

    - Having said that, the faces of the children in this photo are obscured. That's not an accident, both on behalf of the photographer and UU.

    - Since you are a protective and caring mom, you should be relieved that now you know why this photo was taken: to show that there's a water feature for kids to use on hot days like today. That's the purpose of it -- to show our readership another feature of a very nice park, one that wasn't readily noticeable before it was open to the public.

    That's all. It's not "very creepy."

    I hope you and your kids continue to enjoy the park and the water feature, and I am very grateful to the readers and photographers who send tips and photos in so that we can help show what's going on in Uptown.

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