What We Heard

Paying attention to feedback from the engagement process across all the activities, we found several key themes. Here we provide an overview of community stakeholder preferences around a vision for 35th Street and the larger McKinley Park neighborhood. See Appendix for complete data report.

Housing

AFFORDABILITY The theme of affordable housing came up repeatedly in several activities. Many residents noted that the McKinley Park’s housing affordability initially drew them to the area and that preserving this feature remains a top priority. Over 20 percent of Community Design Survey respondents voted for affordable housing as one of their top three neighborhood improvement priorities. TYPOLOGY Roughly half of people preferred 2-3 flats over large scale housing (10+ families). About one-third of Community Design Survey respondents preferred additional housing closer to transit facilities. MIXED USE About 95 percent of people preferred housing with community spaces over structures with only housing when polled at our charrette, and community spaces were one of the top four priorities for neighborhood improvement in the Community Design Survey.

Housing spectrum board. Housing boards. Housing visual preference board.

Beautification and Preservation

GREEN SPACES Over one-third of people surveyed said that creating more green space is one of their top three neighborhood improvement priorities. In our “third place” exercises, participants preferred bigger green spaces for outdoor third places and lots of windows on indoor third places. GREEN THE STREET When asked their top three priorities for neighborhood improvement, landscape improvements was the top-voted option.

Neighborhood design survey results Asset map.

Neighborhood design survey results Third place board.

Accessibility and Mobility

SAFER TRAVEL During our travel route activity, many participants indicated they frequently traversed the intersection of Leavitt and Archer (by the Orange Line train station) by foot, bike, and car. At the same time, this intersection was also noted as one of the “stress” areas where residents don’t feel safe traveling. Promoting safer vehicular traffic and reducing the presence of large trucks along 35th Street were repeatedly mentioned by community members. MULTIMODAL STREETS Over 70 percent of participants preferred to maintain parking spaces when playing our street design game. Over 80 percent of participants chose to have a two-lane road in the game, and nearly 70 percent chose to design new bike lanes. Nearly 50 percent of Community Design Survey respondents favored developing bike lanes in the neighborhood.

Feedback from travel boards.

Better Streets

SMALL BUSINESSES Nearly 80 percent of survey respondents voted for filling vacant storefronts when asked how to beautify the neighborhood (see Appendix). 75 percent of survey respondents said that attracting small businesses is one of their top three priorities for neighborhood improvement. IMPROVED PEDESTRIAN EXPERIENCE Over half of the participants in our street redesign game preferred wider sidewalks (15’ or wider). Over a third of Community Design Survey respondents selected improved walkability as one of their top three priorities for neighborhood improvement, and about 1 in 5 voted for pedestrian safety improvements when asked about where they would invest money in neighborhood improvements (see Appendix).

Neighborhood design survey results. Street redesign board.

Culture

PLACES TO EAT, DRINK, AND HANG OUT Food was one of the top preferences for future “third places” in the community. A “third place” is a place that is not someone’s home and is not their workplace, but is a place where they spend time outside of these two primary environments. When asked their current third place, most respondents said that the namesake park– McKinley Park– is their third place. In our community design survey, over 70 percent of respondents said that restaurants were one of the top three things they would like to see or visit on 35th Street, while 65 percent voted for coffee shops/cafes and 36 percent of respondents preferred bars or pubs (see Appendix). CULTURAL EXPERIENCES Over 20 percent of the people who took the survey prioritized neighborhood events and cultural programming when asked where they would invest money in neighborhood improvements. Farmers markets were mentioned as additional ideas sixteen times throughout our engagement events. PUBLIC ART Over half of survey respondents selected public art as one of their top ways to beautify McKinley Park (see Appendix) and over a third of respondents selected public art as a preferred way to improve walkability in the neighborhood.

Third place boards.