Posting Date: April 18, 2008
Daley’s Proposal Is No Kid-ding Matter
I hope Southwest Side aldermen consider what might happen in their wards in the future before approving Mayor Daley’s new pet project: relocating the Chicago Children’s Museum from Navy Pier to Grant Park over the objections of the local alderman and his constituents.
It looks like Daley is trying to run roughshod over freshman Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd), whose ward includes Grant Park.
Apparently not used to hearing opposition from aldermen, the mayor “got his knickers in a twist” as they say in Ireland, when Reilly and others voiced objections to the plan.
He was quoted saying, “it’s a disgrace that a public official would say this is not a kids park, because we’re all kids,” and “I think everybody should be outraged, that children can’t go to the museum to be educated, whether they are black, white, Hispanic or Asian.”
First of all, race and ethnicity have nothing to do with the argument and bringing up such red herrings only riles people up. No one is advocating keeping anyone out of the park. Plenty of people from all over go there now.
Nearby residents just don’t think it is wise to bring more cars and buses into an already congested area. And community groups such as Friends of the Parks want to retain Grant Park’s open character.
While proponents note that much of the $100 million museum would be built underground, beside Millennium Park where Daley Bicentennial Plaza now sits, the above-ground section would include a 20-foot glass entryway at Randolph Street that the museum would share with a new $15 million Park District field house that would be built beside it to replace an existing underground facility. Much of the project is being financed by Allstate Insurance Co., which will have naming rights.
Supporters say there would be no loss of green space and, because the museum would be mostly below grade and feature a green roof at street level, it would blend into the park.
But as nice as it may be, it is a slippery slope. Already the Harris Theatre and Pritzker Pavilion are in Millennium Park, and if this is allowed, we can only expect more development.
What if a children’s hospital wants to build a high-rise building there? What could the mayor say? Surely he is not against sick kids?
Grant Park, called “Chicago’s front yard” on the Park District Web site, dates back to 1835, when citizens fearing commercial lakefront development lobbied to protect the open space.
The park’s original area east of Michigan Avenue in 1847 was designated “public ground forever to remain vacant of buildings.” And businessman Aaron Montgomery Ward filed lawsuits to protect the park’s open character when construction was proposed in the early 1900s.
And in 1911, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled in Ward’s favor. Ward did agree to the building of the Art Institute, and the Field Museum and Shedd Aquarium are built on landfill outside the original park grounds.
So while the court ruling did not prevent the recent buildings in Millennium Park, a line needs to be drawn somewhere.
And surely this corner of Grant Park is not the only suitable location in the city for the museum? Why does everything nice have to be downtown anyway? Why not build it in one of the underserved “diverse” neighborhoods that the mayor is always talking about, so the children don’t have to come downtown for everything?
I would suggest fixing up a vacant piece of property in a forgotten corner of the city, where parking doesn’t cost as much as $25, as it does on the lakefront.
Despite hearing eight opponents for the project and two in favor, Chicago Park District officials last week signed off on the Grant Park plans, and the issue will be taken up in hearings before City Council committees before the full City Council votes, probably in June.
But customarily, it would not have even gotten this far without the local alderman’s approval. So Daley is disregarding something even more sacrosanct than a 97-year-old court ruling: “aldermanic prerogative.”
I asked Ald. Frank Olivo (13th) about the issue recently and he just said he didn’t think it would be voted on for a long time. And I am sure he and the other aldermen want to hear the pros and cons before offering an opinion on the subject.
But Chicagoans who know how the system works expect the aldermen to rubber stamp the park proposal, just as they do most things Daley puts in front of them.
As one woman said, “He’ll get what he wants. He always does.”
And that is sad, because while many of his ideas are good, this sets a bad precedent. In the future, if a friend of this mayor or the next one wants to build something in a Southwest Side ward that residents don’t want, he could force that upon us as well.
(Dermot Connolly can be reached at (773) 476-4800, ext. 240, or dermotconnolly@att.net.)