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Maybe somebody ought to pick up a phone?

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Dropping previous objections, Friends of the Parks now appears ready to negotiate with the city on a grand bargain that could bring the proposed Lucas Museum of Narrative Art to the South Side lakefront. […]

1 “A legally enforceable agreement to protect the lakefront from development (other than park recreation-related uses) for the next 100 years.

2 Unspecified changes in Lucas’ ground lease on the publicly owned site “to conform to that of the other public museums in Chicago.”

3 Development of DuSable Park, near the once-proposed Chicago Spire project just north of where the Chicago River enters Lake Michigan.

4 Creation of a “neighborhood parks fund” that would get 5 percent of museum revenues and be used to pay for capital improvements “in disinvested neighborhoods.”

5 Agreement on a community benefits deal in which “a significant number” of the jobs at the Lucas Museum will go to low-income and minority residents.

6 Conversion of that parking lot which was to turn the original proposed site of the museum into “a green event space” suitable for tailgating by Chicago Bears fans, among other uses.

* Sunday…

The Chicago Park District on Sunday accused Friends of the Parks of issuing an “outrageous” list of demands that is “nothing short of extortion” and will likely be the “final nail in the coffin” of efforts to keep movie mogul George Lucas’ museum in Chicago. […]

The demands stunned City Hall for their audacity. The list was leaked to the press and has yet to be shared with either the Park District or Emanuel, who met privately with Irizarry, Board Chairman Lauren Moltz and key board members last month. […]

First and foremost is the demand that Emanuel abandon the Soldier Field site and return to his costly and controversial plan to tear down McCormick Place East.

That plan is clearly going nowhere in Springfield because it relies on $1.2 billion in new borrowing and extending the life of five tourism taxes to replace the lost convention center space. […]

Ruiz branded the demand for 5 percent of Lucas Museum revenue “completely outrageous and totally unrelated” to the “stated opposition” that prompted Friends of the Parks to file a federal lawsuit challenging the mayor’s original site on Soldier Field’s south parking lot.

Etc.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 12:55 pm

Comments

actually those all seem like good ideas, maybe with some tweaking…..

Comment by Ghost Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 12:59 pm
Hard to decide which image to use to illustrate Chicago politics best to Mr. Lucas — “a wretched hive of scum and villainy” or a giant Sarlacc pit.

Comment by Ron Burgundy Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 1:05 pm
They came up with a last minute Turnaround Agenda that they know will not be approved.

Comment by DuPage Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 1:12 pm
The news story I heard was that FOP would negotiate if the Lucas Museum was on the McCormick Place site. Regardless, seems like a non-starter.

Comment by Huh? Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 1:14 pm
I thought it was funny they tossed in the Bears on point 6. It is almost as if someone said, “hey we can battle Rahm all day, but don’t push the NFL or we lose…”

Comment by Downstate GOP Faithless Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 1:18 pm
So now we know this whole fracas isn’t about maintaining the beauty and access to the lakefront, it’s about money and whose pockets it winds up lining.

Welcome to Chicaguh, Mr Lucas!

Comment by illinois Bob Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 1:38 pm
Seems to me that the Mayor and his friends have gotten FOTP and FOTP was trying to save face. Now that MRE has them on the ropes they aren’t going to let them of them easily.

Comment by Wizzard of Ozzie Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 1:41 pm
The McCormick Place ‘alternative’ - another misstep by Rahm. As though floating enough bonds to tear down the Lakeside Center and build a new massive complex was ever going to fly.

None of FoP’s demands seem terribly extreme. I think item 2 is probably where the Park District is losing it’s mind. No details are there, but the Devil is in the details. Why wasn’t the Lucas Museum following the rules for other museums on Lakefront land from the beginning? What kind of special deal is Lucas getting that Field and Adler and Shedd aren’t getting? Seems to me like a big part of the problem is in the whole “public benefit” thing and why the other museums qualify as such, but Lucas doesn’t.

Comment by jerry 101 Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 1:49 pm
=So now we know this whole fracas isn’t about maintaining the beauty and access to the lakefront, it’s about money and whose pockets it winds up lining.=

Yes, 5% of museum revenue to dis-invested neighborhoods. That lobby is so powerful. It’s the same thing they do with the teachers. They ask for improvements to the schools and their told contract negotiations need to be about money, not that stuff. They then come back and ask for money and they’re told-Hah! See, it’s all about greed.

Comment by Carhartt Representative Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 1:58 pm
The MPEA has maxed out their borrowing limit with the State and then they also borrowed from the banks.

The MPEA debt ramp payments, courtesy of the man behind the Edgar pension ramp, Jim Reilly will double in the next five years as MPEA revenues continue to drop.

14 trade shows have left McCormick Place since the 2011 “reforms”. Workers are now paid less while exhibitor pricing has doubled, tripled and quadrupled.

The MPEA operating deficit is over $1.4 billion and they have been deferring maintenance and repairs for over 5 years now.

Allowing the MPEA to borrow more money that won’t be paid back in 30 years without any additional revenue sources is insanity.

But they keep do the same things that didn’t work before and somehow they expect different results.

Comment by Chicago 20 Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 2:18 pm
@Carhartt

C’mon, Carhartt. You know how this works in Chicago. It’s the “Jesse Jackson” model. You extort an annual amount from a business concern, and you administer it as you see fit and to WHOM you see fit. Funny thing. The most “worthy” recipients always seem to be people who support your causes and candidates. No one ever asks what you accomplish with this spending in “disinvested” communities.

With more folks beholden to you for paychecks and grants, you get more support for your agenda. Supporting your agenda makes it easier to extort more money from businesses, and the beat goes on.

This isn’t about the needs of the “poor”. It’s about who gets to decide who amongst the “poor” gets the money, and what they have to do to get it….

That’s the CHICAGUH WAY!

Comment by Illinois Bob Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 2:22 pm
How dare the commoners question the integrity and Leadership of the Great panjandrums like Lucas and our mayor!!!
They will tell us what we should think and we should be happy for them wasting their precious time on common citizens.

Comment by Chungas revenge Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 2:22 pm
The problem we should be trying to solve: Licas demanded the bldg site be on lakefront. Chicago is a big city, they could put it anywhere. Its not like its a troupe of trick waterskiiers or anything? The only barrier to putting it on different site was Mr. Lucas. He can still change his mind about his demand. If not….. let him walk, we are out nothing, because we dont have that museum now. A foregone opportunity is not a loss. Its a choice between priorities.

Comment by Team Warwick Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 2:47 pm
Geez, and I thought someone said that FOTP didn’t think it could win its case. So how come they seem to have “leverage”?

Comment by JackD Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:08 pm
Awful tired of the efforts to depict FOP as a group of elites with racist motives.

Sort of hypocritical for Ruiz to call out FOP for leaking to the media while the players backing Rahm and Lucas have been spinning to the press for months. Spreading rumors that FOP was going to drop its lawsuit was simply untrue.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:13 pm
I say go for it FOP. You’re the only thing around protecting the parks from Rahm & his venture capitalist friends.

Comment by Emily Booth Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 3:30 pm
Using public money to turn DuSable into a real park would be a waste. Eventually a development will go where the Spire hike is and they’ll need that area for staging, then make the developer pay to turn it into a real park.

Comment by Not It Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 5:00 pm
Friends of the Park will never get a percentage of the gate .. ever.

Rich folk do not want the public to know the gate amounts.

It is the rich folks money don’t ya know.

Just give us the lakefront for FREE!

Comment by gg Monday, Jun 20, 16 @ 7:42 pm