It is ridiculous that a city that sits right on Lake Michigan restricts its citizens to getting their ankles wet in the middle of summer. Help open the beaches year round for non-motorized sports!
Here is our statement-
I hereby support the creation of Green Zones on designated Chicago beaches where people may engage in non-motorized activities from Labor Day until Memorial Day. Non-motorized activities include such activities as surfing, kite surfing, wind surfing, kayaking, and open water swimming. I support the concept that individuals pursuing these activities are responsible adults and may engage in such activities at their own risk.
Lake Michigan is monsterously huge…in most places you really can’t see across it…and it’s cold even in summer…and a lot of times the wind comes and can blow out to “sea”. The prohibitions are generally for this safety reason. It can be serious water. I have a brother in law who lives on the lake in a Milwaukee suburb who did his PHD in Chicago, former lifeguard, long-time bodysurfer and he explained the basics to me some years ago. Windsurfers get blown out, get hypothermic, drown etc.
The thing is knowledge and technology for water sports has been a bit more dialed in than when the regressive law was written, and gets more dialed in every year. There ought to be some serious adjustment. Hopefully there are the numbers of people to support it. Making change back there is like, well, making waves.
signed. i’ve got a large group of friends in chicago too so maybe this will help them out.
i agree though, you’re definetly not using the best form of petition. i know online politics and petitions are the in thing right now (whole cnn youtube debates and all), but i dont think it’ll be taken as serious as a large stack of papers filled with citizens of chicago’s signatures. if you get 2,000 sigs online, and 1/4 of them don’t even live in chicago…i’d think you’d be laughed at. i’d shoot for a paper petition and more signatures. just an opinion to try and help you out. good luck!