We, the undersigned stakeholders of Chicago’s McKinley Park neighborhood, demand all assistance and consideration to keep our community within a single City of Chicago ward through the upcoming ward redistricting process.

Whether through Chicago City Council action or voter referendum, our community should be represented by a single ward office and elected official, no matter who may serve in this role. We ask this because:

• McKinley Park is a distinct, discrete community: one of Chicago’s official Community Areas; well-defined by natural and man-made boundaries; with a strong community identity buttressed by our namesake park and neighborhood organizations, institutions and enterprises; and recognized by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) through successful development of a detailed neighborhood plan.
   
• McKinley Park has suffered greatly being subdivided into multiple wards, distanced from assistance, consideration and prioritization by our city’s elected officials, as seen through harm that ranges from past destructive down-zoning of the West 35th Street retail corridor to gang activity flourishing within distant ward tendrils to more than a decade of blight from the former, abandoned Wrigley Co. factory at West 35th Street and South Ashland Avenue.
   
• Ward boundaries that chop up our neighborhood make no sense outside of servitude to selfish political ambition. Neighbors in our community who are right across the street from each other – as well as businesses and families who reside side by side – should be represented by the same elected city official, receiving equal attention and consideration for our entire neighborhood’s best interests.

We ask that the entire McKinley Park neighborhood be included within a single ward, including both the McKinley Park Community Area and the Central Manufacturing District fronting West Pershing Road, as this historic area is intractably connected to, and only accessible from, McKinley Park.

Whether keeping McKinley Park whole involves a Chicago City Council-supported ward map, or voters choosing a ward map in a referendum, our community’s best interests are to keep the McKinley Park Community Area and Central Manufacturing District within a single ward.