Rahm not worried about Lucas museum court fight
Mayor confident he’d win court fight over Lucas museum
CEO of Friends of the Parks says she will do ‘‘what it takes’’ to keep the Star Wars director from building along the lakefront.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Wednesday he’s confident his plan to give movie mogul George Lucas free lakefront land to build an interactive museum would survive a court challenge from lakefront protectionists.
“We feel very comfortable from a legal perspective . . . That’s why you’re paying for that high-priced advice up on the 10th floor . . .You always check to make sure you’re on solid legal ground. Anything we’ve done . . . we do with the Law Department sitting there,” the mayor said.
“[Corporation] Counsel’s been there the whole way. And we think we’ve come up with, what is a sound process. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be taking the steps we’re taking . . . It’s an incredible addition to have that type of educational and cultural opportunity, let alone the economic development. And it is done in a way — in fact the Sun-Times editorial page noted — this is consistent with the lake protection act that exists.”
Cassandra Francis, president and CEO of Friends of the Parks, said Wednesday she’s prepared to do “what it takes” to block Lucas from building along the lakefront.
“If that means a lawsuit, we are prepared to file a lawsuit,” she said.
“The grounds will be it’s in contradiction and violation of the Lakefront Protection Ordinance. It is new private development east of Lake Shore Drive. It’s currently public open space. The public controls how that site is accessed. That will no longer be the case. At some point at night, it’ll get locked up. That to me says private development. You’ll have to pay to get in. There will be days that are free, but that is not open clear and free for use of the public.”
Francis said she is also wary of the mayor’s claim that there will be no public subsidy for the museum beyond the free land.
She noted that the parking lots now functioned as “engineered barriers for the containment of contaminated soil underneath” left behind from the Soldier Field renovation project that will be costly to remove.
It will also be a “very expensive proposition” to move 3,000 parking spaces underground, at a cost of $45,000-aspace, especially considering the “highwater table” that will require “permanent de-watering,” she said.
“That eats up close to half of his $300 million budget for the building,” she said.
“No one knows what the costs are. I am very concerned . . . that the public will need to bear some of these costs.”
That sets the stage for a legal and political donnybrook akin to the one that preceded former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s ill-fated plan to build a new Children’s Museum in Grant Park.
Former Chicago Plan Commission Chairman Reuben Hedlund opposed the Children’s Museum project. But he’s all for the idea of giving Lucas the 17-acre, 750,000-square-foot site between Soldier Field and McCormick Place East for $1-a-year in a leasing arrangement similar to the city’s other lakefront museums.
“That parking lot has been a real liability for the city for a long time. We need to do something more inventive there,” Hedlund said Wednesday.
As for the threatened court fight, Hedlund said he’s confident Emanuel would win it.
“Are you going to build hotels on Northerly Island? No. Private development means in the traditional sense. Hotels, restaurants. Can it be argued this is a private development? Sure. But I would argue this is not a private development in the sense that phrase was meant when [the lakefront plan] passed the City Council. This is a gratuitous, notfor-profit development that will go through the process, and I think it will succeed.”
All but a handful of aldermen appear to support Emanuel’s plan. Notable exceptions are Ald. Bob Fioretti (2nd) and Scott Waguespack (32nd).
“It’s like the Children’s Museum. There’s this push to get the lakefront property all the time. I don’t see why the vision of City Hall can’t be out in the neighborhoods or further out from downtown. There’s plenty of other places,” Waguespack said Wednesday.