The board finally agreed to open the landscaping contract to a competitive bidding process. My neighbors and I can finally breathe easier knowing our maintenance fees are being handled with actual transparency. Thank you for staying with me through this long fight.
August 17, 2020
Final supporters
The LakeShore East Park was completed by Magellan Development in 2005. Magellan then donated the park to the City of Chicago’s Park District. After 3 years the City’s Park District was not maintaining the park to the community's standards. In response to that, in 2008 or 2009 the Master Association created a budget to privately maintain the park. All the Associations for the new buildings in LakeShore East then began contributing to this budget on an annual basis. Magellan’s rental properties also pay into this annual fund. Collectively, in 2020, we will contribute over $860K to this fund.
In 2015, Marquis Landscapes, LLC, a company with no prior landscaping or corporate history, was awarded the contract to maintain the park. Marquis has held that contract until now, currently estimated at over $500,000/year ($681,000 in 2019 not including the $350,000 spent on the children's park). We have no evidence that this contract was ever competitively bid, or any information on what the scope of that contract contains. That means in 2019 we spent more than $100,000 an acre.
The 2020 Park Project Presentation shows the deteriorated park we have today. All the questions posed in the presentation have been presented to the Master Association via Magellan. Their executive management has responded "The Declaration only requires us to provide this information to a Voting Member”. Those “Voting Members” are our Association Boards, and we are all members through our Associations’ Declarations and Bylaws.
By signing this petition, you are asking Magellan's master association to please respond to our questions and give us transparency on how our funds are being spent and how the park will be maintained. While we may have pretty flowers in the summer, the foundation of the park has had little to no maintenance and deteriorates more each year.
We are also asking the Master Association to remove Marquis for lack of performance. We ask that the park contract(s) be competitively bid with reputable contractors in a formal bid and review process.
We also need an assessment on how much the required repairs to both the landscaping and hardscaping cited will cost, and a budget and plan to make the park safe as well as beautiful.
If you agree that you want answers to how our funds are being spent, and a plan to ensure that the park is properly maintained for our future, please sign this petition. Each person in your household is allowed to sign.
Thank you for your time, the 2020 LSE Park Project coordinators.
Updates
Reached 500 supporters
May 30, 2020
May 5, 2020
I have been hearing from so many of you who are just as frustrated as I am about how our hard earned money is being spent on this park. It is clear that we deserve full transparency regarding these contracts and where our contributions are actually going.
Reached 100 supporters
April 18, 2020
April 17, 2020
I look out my window every day at this park and know we deserve better than what our maintenance fees are currently funding. We are just a few names away from hitting our first hundred signatures so please send this link to your neighbors right now.
6 Comments
Enough waste. find a new landscaping company that actually knows what they are doing.
who exactly is approving these numbers?? way too much money being thrown away for bad service.
Finally someone is asking the right questions. We deserve to see the books.
100k per acre? are you kidding me?? thats insane. open it up to competitive bidding already.
Ridiculous amount of money for sub-par work. We need real transparency on where our dues are actually going.
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The board finally agreed to open the landscaping contract to a competitive bidding process. My neighbors and I can finally breathe easier knowing our maintenance fees are being handled with actual transparency. Thank you for staying with me through this long fight.
August 17, 2020
Final supporters
The LakeShore East Park was completed by Magellan Development in 2005. Magellan then donated the park to the City of Chicago’s Park District. After 3 years the City’s Park District was not maintaining the park to the community's standards. In response to that, in 2008 or 2009 the Master Association created a budget to privately maintain the park. All the Associations for the new buildings in LakeShore East then began contributing to this budget on an annual basis. Magellan’s rental properties also pay into this annual fund. Collectively, in 2020, we will contribute over $860K to this fund.
In 2015, Marquis Landscapes, LLC, a company with no prior landscaping or corporate history, was awarded the contract to maintain the park. Marquis has held that contract until now, currently estimated at over $500,000/year ($681,000 in 2019 not including the $350,000 spent on the children's park). We have no evidence that this contract was ever competitively bid, or any information on what the scope of that contract contains. That means in 2019 we spent more than $100,000 an acre.
The 2020 Park Project Presentation shows the deteriorated park we have today. All the questions posed in the presentation have been presented to the Master Association via Magellan. Their executive management has responded "The Declaration only requires us to provide this information to a Voting Member”. Those “Voting Members” are our Association Boards, and we are all members through our Associations’ Declarations and Bylaws.
By signing this petition, you are asking Magellan's master association to please respond to our questions and give us transparency on how our funds are being spent and how the park will be maintained. While we may have pretty flowers in the summer, the foundation of the park has had little to no maintenance and deteriorates more each year.
We are also asking the Master Association to remove Marquis for lack of performance. We ask that the park contract(s) be competitively bid with reputable contractors in a formal bid and review process.
We also need an assessment on how much the required repairs to both the landscaping and hardscaping cited will cost, and a budget and plan to make the park safe as well as beautiful.
If you agree that you want answers to how our funds are being spent, and a plan to ensure that the park is properly maintained for our future, please sign this petition. Each person in your household is allowed to sign.
Thank you for your time, the 2020 LSE Park Project coordinators.
Updates
Reached 500 supporters
May 30, 2020
May 5, 2020
I have been hearing from so many of you who are just as frustrated as I am about how our hard earned money is being spent on this park. It is clear that we deserve full transparency regarding these contracts and where our contributions are actually going.
Reached 100 supporters
April 18, 2020
April 17, 2020
I look out my window every day at this park and know we deserve better than what our maintenance fees are currently funding. We are just a few names away from hitting our first hundred signatures so please send this link to your neighbors right now.
6 Comments
My association fees keep going up but the park looks worse every year. Something is definitely fishy with this contract.
Enough waste. find a new landscaping company that actually knows what they are doing.
who exactly is approving these numbers?? way too much money being thrown away for bad service.
Finally someone is asking the right questions. We deserve to see the books.
100k per acre? are you kidding me?? thats insane. open it up to competitive bidding already.
Ridiculous amount of money for sub-par work. We need real transparency on where our dues are actually going.
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My association fees keep going up but the park looks worse every year. Something is definitely fishy with this contract.