www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/1789597,6_1_NA25_BESTPLACES_S1-090925.article
Phillips Park is better than this?Aurora attraction beats Riverwalk, Naper Settlement
September 25, 2009
By ANDRE SALLES asalles@scn1.com
AURORA -- What's the best public neighborhood spot in Chicagoland? Well, there are 1,330 people out there who say it's Aurora's Phillips Park.
The park won a months-long "What Makes Your Place Great?" contest put on by the Metropolitan Planning Council to find the best public place in the region.
Naperville's gorgeous Riverwalk at dawn, or any other time, HAS to be prettier than anything in Aurora. But voters for "What Makes Your Place Great," a contest of the Metropolitan Planning Council, didn't see it that way. Sun file
More than 50 gardens, parks and public plazas were submitted for the competition, and voters were allowed to cast their ballots online. Submissions were grouped into two categories: photos and videos.
Four Fox Valley places were submitted: Phillips Park, Geneva's RiverPark and Naperville's Riverwalk and Naper Settlement.
Winners were announced Thursday night on WTTW, and according to planning council officials, Phillips Park ran away with the vote in the photo category.
More than 8,000 individual votes were cast online at
www.placemakingchicago.com, according to planning council officials.
City spokesman Amy Roth submitted her photo of Phillips Park, which underwent a complete renovation between 2001 and 2003. She rallied voters through the city's Facebook page and Web site.
"It's a beautiful park that needs to be appreciated by more that just our own citizens," Roth said. "People should come from all over to visit it."
The Shops in Long Grove won the competition in the video category. A committee of experts assembled by the Planning Council selected two Chicago locations -- Drake Garden and Bush Community Garden of Hope -- as winners in a separate category.
All winners will receive a prize package containing gift certificates to local businesses, as well as passes to the Art Institute of Chicago. The winners of the online vote will also get a membership in the Active Transportation Alliance and tickets to a lakefront bike tour.
Additionally, winners will get to participate in a roundtable discussion at the planning council's Chicago office Oct. 28.
"I have nothing but praise for Phillips Park," Naperville Mayor A. George Pradel said. "They have a little zoo and that really draws the people. It's good recreation and I'm really proud and happy for Aurora." Pradel said he went to the park himself when he was a kid.
Pradel went on to suggest, however, that Phillips Park visitors should also visit the Riverwalk.
"When people are done going to the zoo and playing golf, then they can come over to Naperville and walk the Riverwalk and have some ice cream and enjoy Naperville," he said.