New folks that have moved into the area recently may not be aware that an extensive Pedway system allows us to walk in dry warm comfort from the AON concourse to one block west of City Hall (including Red and Blue lines). After almost two years of re-construction under the new Heritage Condominium building, where the Mayor will live, the growing system is now open again. The remodeled parts under the Heritage and the Metra Station are clean and modern, with the new stores still being finished. This picture under the Heritage was taken on December 22, 2004.
We now must again focus on completing the Pedway system that would provide resident-only direct access from our five existing buildings (360, 400, 155, 175, 195) as well as the new Lancaster, Shoram, 340, and Regatta.
Some facts to remember:
1) Direct access to the Pedway has been included in the City Council approved Planned Development #70 since 1969.
2) Pedway access for the 5 existing buildings was confirmed in the City Council approved amendments in 1979, 1993, and 2001.
3)For 32 years, from 1969 to 2001, the city required all successive developers to pay for all planned Pedway extensions, as their original and amended negotiated financial responsibility.
4) In 2001, the developer was allowed to write the amendment that shifted financial responsibility for funding to “others”. Amazingly, that one word saved them an estimated $11,000,000, and the complex 91-page amendment was unknowingly passed by the City Council.
5) Under a recent Illinois Freedom of Information Request by this website, the City finally admitted there are no documents, memos, studies, or agreements that shift the financial responsibility for completing the Pedway, other than the developer-written reference on a graphic: to “others”.
6) Fortunately, the 400 Randolph Condominium Association, negotiated a covenant in 1979 that never expires. A confirming land covenant was negotiated in 1993 that binds all successive developers (that would include Lake Shore East), to completing the Pedway. The covenant was required to be disclosed in the land purchasing contract.
7) Please review the 1993 covenant that can only be altered by judicial order, because the public having beneficial interests, have relied on that covenant to make significant purchasing and lifestyle decisions. That is why covenants are so important. Any party with beneficial interests affected by non-performance in a covenant can enforce a covenant. The 400 Condominium Association has an even stronger position because they were a direct party to the covenant.
