09-28-2010, 12:31 PM
Good luck to the city in trying to sell it. :lol:
As it is now, if I want to go to the lakefront, I prefer going up to IL State Beach Park or heading up to Kenosha Harbor. Not to mention the few public beaches in Lake Bluff and Lake Forest make us look pretty bad too.
Other than people who don't know better options exist not too far away, who likes going there? It's got a big asbestos pit being dug up nearby, not much of a boardwalk or park. The part that does have a park isn't maintained all that well. Nobody does much to clean it up. (Compared to Kenosha, where some park landscapers come every other day along with what appears to be volunteer groups). Other than the sand, the Waukegan beach is mostly weeds and garbage. There's a complete lack of pedestrian access along Seahorse drive (I hate to put it this way but it that road also looks like a** for the most part), it really needs a sidewalk with some separation from the road. That would probably involve tearing out the entire road and rerouting it to one side to get the necessary easement. (Already too close to a couple buildings as it is.) Make the beach accessible from the train station at least. And the one area hidden behind the bandshell thing that has a nice sidewalk is hidden and cutoff from the other side of the harbor. It doesn't go anywhere. It's doubtful that they could afford to put in a pedestrian bridge that would clear the barges and connect to the marina side, such that the path could actually go somewhere. Should also do something with that mostly dead strip of land north of the Navy base. (I don't think North Chicago owns it, do they?) It probably had as much thought put in as the Amstutz did when it got started. :roll:
Whoever buys it would have to spend at least 4x as much as they paid for it in order to make it half-decent. And that's if the surroundings properties can be improved to make it accessible and not scare off people before they even reach the beach. (Not that it doesn't ever have potential, but honestly, the city is too broke and borked to do anything.)
As it is now, if I want to go to the lakefront, I prefer going up to IL State Beach Park or heading up to Kenosha Harbor. Not to mention the few public beaches in Lake Bluff and Lake Forest make us look pretty bad too.
Other than people who don't know better options exist not too far away, who likes going there? It's got a big asbestos pit being dug up nearby, not much of a boardwalk or park. The part that does have a park isn't maintained all that well. Nobody does much to clean it up. (Compared to Kenosha, where some park landscapers come every other day along with what appears to be volunteer groups). Other than the sand, the Waukegan beach is mostly weeds and garbage. There's a complete lack of pedestrian access along Seahorse drive (I hate to put it this way but it that road also looks like a** for the most part), it really needs a sidewalk with some separation from the road. That would probably involve tearing out the entire road and rerouting it to one side to get the necessary easement. (Already too close to a couple buildings as it is.) Make the beach accessible from the train station at least. And the one area hidden behind the bandshell thing that has a nice sidewalk is hidden and cutoff from the other side of the harbor. It doesn't go anywhere. It's doubtful that they could afford to put in a pedestrian bridge that would clear the barges and connect to the marina side, such that the path could actually go somewhere. Should also do something with that mostly dead strip of land north of the Navy base. (I don't think North Chicago owns it, do they?) It probably had as much thought put in as the Amstutz did when it got started. :roll:
Whoever buys it would have to spend at least 4x as much as they paid for it in order to make it half-decent. And that's if the surroundings properties can be improved to make it accessible and not scare off people before they even reach the beach. (Not that it doesn't ever have potential, but honestly, the city is too broke and borked to do anything.)