EDITORIAL: Should parks boss Mike Kelly go? Follow the facts, not a crummy report

On Thursday, when asked if she will retain or replace Park District Supt. Mike Kelly, Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot said she has “a lot of questions about equity when it comes to programming and resources that are devoted to parks, particularly across the South and the West sides.”

Lightfoot, in an interview with Fran Spielman of the Sun-Times, clearly was referring to a thoroughly rebutted report released in December by the Friends of the Parks. The report was written by Daniel La Spata, who has since been elected alderman of the First Ward.

With insufficient evidence to support its claims, the report charged the Park District with failing to provide equal services to the city’s black and Latino neighborhoods. But the study was poorly done, cherry-picking and misrepresenting the facts.

In response to the report, Kelly issued a persuasive 44-page rebuttal. He pointed to the new $19 million La Villita Park serving Little Village and Lawndale; the $17.5 million Ellis Park Community Arts and Recreation Çenter serving Douglas and Oakland; the $16 million Big Marsh Park in South Deering; the $56 million Gately Indoor Track Facility in Roseland, and the $28 million Addams Sports Complex in the Near West Side. These were all investments made over the past three years in predominantly African American and Latino communities.

As another example, in response to the Friends’ claim that South Side parks of similar size and class to those on the North Side have significantly smaller budgets, the Park District demonstrated that its operating budgets are equitably allocated among its Central, North and South regions.

Lightfoot is of course free to appoint whomever she wants to key posts, and we take no position on whether she should stick with Kelly. But we hope that decision will be based on the merits of the case, not on a crummy report by an organization that usually adheres to higher standards.

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