Burnett wants to yank out median planters that cost city millions

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Ald. Walter Burnett (27th). | Ashlee Rezin / Sun-Times

Median planters famously installed by former Mayor Richard M. Daley in the run-up to the 1996 Democratic National Convention should be removed to ease traffic congestion on the fast-growing Near West Side, the local alderman said Friday.

Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) acknowledged that Chicago taxpayers spent millions to install and maintain the 23 median planters along West Madison Street to beautify the route used for express buses that whisked convention delegates from their downtown hotels to the United Center.

But Burnett said Friday the median planters have “served their purpose” and then some—so much so that traffic congestion in one of the city’s hottest neighborhoods is an even bigger problem.

Now Burnett wants to spend even more money generated by the surrounding tax-increment-financing (TIF) district to remove the planters along West Madison Street.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel (center) joins developers and Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) (right) Friday at a groundbreaking ceremony for a new 12-story building at 210 N. Carpenter that will support affiliates of McDonald’s, which is also moving its corporate headquar

Mayor Rahm Emanuel (center) joins developers and Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) (right) Friday at a groundbreaking ceremony for a new 12-story building at 210 N. Carpenter that will support affiliates of McDonald’s, which is also moving its corporate headquarters to the West Loop. The new $47.2 million Fulton Market project will house 960 employees and contribute $2 million to Emanuel’s “Neighborhood Opportunity Fund.” | Fran Spielman for the Sun-Times

“Those planters have served their purpose. They have helped to beautify the area, helped to attract new development, helped to attract more traffic to the neighborhood. But now, it’s a hindrance on traffic being able to flow steadily up and down the street,” Burnett said.

“I go down Madison. When a bus stops, I can’t get home or get where I’m going because a whole line of people are waiting on the bus to move….It holds up all the traffic. The cars can’t get around the bus because the medians are there. It’s become a traffic impediment because we have so much traffic over here now…[Removing planters] will give cars the opportunity to go around the bus.”

Burnett said he’s been talking about removing the median planters for years—ever since motorists “started crashing into them.” That forced the Chicago Department of Transportation to “cut ’em back several times,” he said.

The alderman acknowledged that CDOT remains opposed to removing the planters “probably because of the cost.” But he has an answer for that: the overflowing pot of money generated by the surrounding TIF.

“Those planters have enhanced this community so much and we have gotten so much money over here that our TIF, our increment, has gone up so much, we could afford to take ’em out,” he said.

“I wouldn’t consider it a waste of money. There’s never a waste of money when you’re trying to make traffic better.”

CDOT spokesman Mike Claffey acknowledged that Burnett “brought up this idea with CDOT and the Department told him we are willing to explore it.”

Earlier this week, Transportation Commissioner Rebekah Scheinfeld told the City Club of Chicago that traffic crashes are a “persistent plague” that has created a “true public health crisis.”

Scheinfeld made the public argument that will set the stage for “Vision Zero,” a three-year plan with the ambitious goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries that affect 2,000 people in Chicago each year.

Burnett denied that removing median planters would run contrary to that goal by allowing motorists to go faster on West Madison Street. He noted that several new traffic lights and stop signs have been installed along a Near West Side street once known as “Skid Row” now-bustling with bars, restaurants, office buildings and condominiums.

Median planters were one of Daley’s favorite ways to beautify Chicago, second only to tree planting and wrought-iron fences. He was sold on the idea by his longtime friend, political power broker Oscar D’Angelo.

Before Chicago played host to a 1996 Democratic Convention that buried the ghost of 1968, Madison Street was resurfaced and beautified from Halsted past Western with newly-planted trees, early 20th Century ornamental streetlights and the 23 median planters.

When Randolph Street merchants dared to complain that Daley’s penchant for overgrown median planters was an accident waiting to happen, D’Angelo reportedly told them, “We spent $5 million to put those things in. I don’t care if three or four people have an accident.”

Daley agreed, adding, “This was the greatest thing that ever happened to Randolph Street. Otherwise, Randolph Street would be a desert.”

On Friday, Burnett paid homage to D’Angelo, the self-described “Mayor of Little Italy” who died last summer at the age of 84.

“God bless Oscar’s soul. It did beautify and civilize the area at that time. But this is a new day. This is 20 years later.. As things evolve, everything changes,” he said.

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