From our advocacy director, Adolfo Hernandez:
Open Streets proved to be an amazing day of exploring beautiful communities on Chicago's West Side. We saw people of all ages and abilities riding bicycles, running, jogging, skateboarding, dancing, creating art, knitting, playing or just sitting and chatting with neighbors. The one thing they all had in common were their smiling faces. It's amazing what can happen when you open streets to people.
For me, the most memorable moment was the amount of people form the community who were out enjoying their streets and their neighborhoods in a new way. The most common question I heard was,"When can we do this again?" or "Are you doing this next week?" Chicago's West side often gets left out in terms of major events; most of those things usually happen closer to the lake or further North. Community residents and our community partners were excited about bringing a world class event and experience to these great communities of Logan Square, Humboldt Park, Garfield Park, North Lawndale, and Little Village.
We saw that there is a demand for more places to play, be physically active in a safe way and to meet with friends and family. Active Trans and our community partners are committed to bringing more Open Streets to Chicago. Tell us about your favorite moment and where you would like to see Open Streets.