Community engagement continues to be an important part of the process of developing the Bloomingdale Trail. The Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail has been engaging with the community for many years as they campaigned to raise awareness of the Trail. Now, the Trust for Public Land, the Chicago Park District, the City of Chicago and its agencies have also committed to robust community engagement as the engineering and design phases move the project forward. Below are descriptions of community engagement activities to date; visit the News and Events page for information about upcoming meetings.

At 6:00 PM on October 4, more than 150 residents of the Bloomingdale Trail community and Chicago, City officials, and representatives of Bloomingdale Trail project partners gathered at the McCormick Tribune YMCA in Humboldt Park to discuss the results of a recent four day charrette (design workshop). Attendees heard from representatives of the engineering, architecture, landscaping, and art organizations working on the Bloomingdale Trail Framework Plan, as well as representatives of Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail, the City of Chicago, the Chicago Park District, and the Trust for Public Land. A question and answer session followed the presentation, giving community members the opportunity to react to and discuss the outline of the Bloomingdale Trail Framework Plan.

Community input is critical to the Bloomingdale Trail design process. Two public events have been held to date (a public meeting on September 8th, and the charrette on October 1-4), and at least two additional meetings will be held in the months ahead (targeted for December 2011 and March 2012).

View the design team's final presentation here, or explore our Archive for more details.