ALMA MATTERS
An aerial view shows cyclists entering the western end of Chicago's The 606 at Ridgeway Avenue on the 2.7-mile elevated trail's opening day last June. EXTRAORDINARY ALUM Urban trailblazer
A passion for transforming cities fueled Beth White’s 10-year effort to create one of Chicago’s most innovative spaces • BY DANIEL P. SMITH
Last June, more than 50,000 people turned out for a daylong celebra- tion recognizing the launch of The 606, one of Chicago’s most heralded public projects. For Beth White (MA ’83), that summer day provided a mix of joy, satisfaction, and relief. As director of The Trust for
Public Land’s Chicago office, White spearheaded the $95 million project
that birthed the innovative park space—part urban playground, part alternative transportation corridor, part work of art—from a dormant freight line touching four Northwest- side neighborhoods. Over a decade, White guided the project from its infancy to completion, leading a coalition of city leaders, community organizers, artists, engineers, and
more. As the ambitious effort’s de facto project manager, White—who earned a master’s in urban stud- ies from The Graduate School at Loyola—led the team through land acquisition, a $40 million fundraising effort, design, and civic engagement. “This became the 800-pound
gorilla in our office and I was in the catbird’s seat,” she says. “We all knew
we had to pour passion and persis- tence into it and create an inclusive, collaborative process because if people didn’t believe it was their park, then it wouldn’t be well used and well maintained.” Since its debut, the 2.7-mile trail
has earned more than a dozen local and national honors. Among them is the National Planning Excellence Award for Urban Design from the American Planning Association, which hailed The 606 for setting “a new standard for [U.S.] park plan- ning.” Along the way, White has earned her own reputation as one of the country's leading urban park
40 LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND
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