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Our resources show the toboggan slides are down.

Sledding replaces toboggan slides at Swallow Cliff

PALOS PARK, Ill. - The beloved toboggan slides that were a winter fixture for generations at Swallow Cliff in Palos Park are gone now, but residents of the southern Chicago suburbs say the hill still has its thrills.

Swallow Cliff, which is part of the Cook County Forest Preserve, was recently converted to a sledding site, and hundreds of sledders have been using it since the first snow.

On Tuesday, April 8, 2008, as the local ABC news affiliate camera rolled, over twenty Palos area residents, including the Palos Park Mayor, John Mahoney, boarded a school bus to pay a visit to the Cook County Forest Preserve District in an effort to Save Our Slides, the toboggan slides at Swallow Cliff. In a departure from Forest Preserve District procedure, Commissioner Elizabeth Gorman motioned to permit the Palos Park Mayor to speak regarding the proposed letting of a contract to demolish the toboggan slides at Swallow Cliff in nearby Palos Township. The Mayor urged the Forest Preserve District to, in the words of Daniel Burnham, "make no little plans", to save the toboggan slides and to work to once again restore Swallow Cliff to a regional recreational attraction. The full text of the speech may be viewed through the following link:

• SPEECH TO FORREST PRESERVE BOARD

Although the Forest Preserve District voted to approve the contract to demolish the toboggan slides at Swallow Cliff, Mayor John Mahoney and the area residents who boarded the bus left with the hope that they will be given the opportunity to shape a plan that will once again restore Swallow Cliff as a major regional recreational attraction for all in Cook County and beyond to enjoy. Mayor John Mahoney is asking that those interested in providing ideas or input or who just would like to be kept informed of the status of plans e-mail him at the following address: swallowclifftobogganslides@palospark.org. The Mayor would like to thank especially the Palos Orland Conservation Committee and the Palos Historical Society for the herculean effort to collect and assemble nearly 1000 petitions in support of the cause, as well as the many residents who boarded the bus to support the effort, including former Mayor Rosemary Kaptur.