Area teenager leads effort to build park

by BRIAN NADIG

A local teenager recently spearheaded an effort to build a small park in the 4300 block of West Peterson Avenue between the Sauganash mural site and the new Sauganash Glen home development.

The approximately 30-foot-by-30-foot space includes concrete benches, pavers, bushes and trees, and wood chips are being placed throughout the park, which was designed so it requires little or no maintenance.

"It’s for people to sit down and eat, read, and meet neighbors," said Boy Scout Troop 973 member Max Finch, who partnered with the Sauganash Community Association as part of his Eagle Scout Project to create the park.

Finch said that at the association’s annual Fourth of July picnic, association president David Seglin recommended that he consider the small lot on Peterson for the project. "I told him that I wanted to build something for the community," Finch said.

The association later helped secure permission from Commonwealth Edison, the lot’s owner, to create a park there.

Troop members, relatives and other volunteers cleared the lot of debris and overgrown vegetation, and one member used a blow torch to remove a portion of a pipe which was sticking out of the ground, Finch said. A bush was planted to cover the remaining portion of the pipe, he said.

At the association’s May 16 meeting, Seglin praised Finch, a high school freshman, for his initiative. He said that when Finch went to buy tools and gardening materials for the project, businesses donated everything because they were impressed with his plan for the project.