In today’s news:
During two public forums next week, the Chicago Park District will propose the transfer of several acres of South Side parkland to City Hall control to make way for the Obama presidential library, should the president and first lady choose the University of Chicago as the host of the complex, according to a source close to the city.
Because nothing says honest government like taking land away from one of two historic parks — either Washington Park or Jackson Park, two major city parks, not just a small neighborhood park — to cater to the hometown-hero president. Never mind that there are plenty of brownfield spots in the city, and that siting the Obama museum at one of these parks will detract from its use as, well, a park, even beyond just the impact of the loss of a portion of the land itself. And, this being Chicago, we know that a “public forum” is a formality but public input is no real impediment to Emanuel doing as he pleases, as Daley did before him.
It gets better: according to today’s editorial,
The U. of C. wouldn’t share its proposal with the public before the bids were submitted last month. Guess why? Because the university wants to build the library on land it doesn’t own. Its proposal reportedly named three possible sites, all of them involving land belonging to the Chicago Park District, including a site on the lakefront.
So, in other words, the University of Chicago did things The Chicago Way, too.
All of which is enough to hope that Columbia University, which, according to an earlier report, already owns the land it proposes for the site, comes out the winner of this competition.
(After all, does anyone really believe that Obama is going to return to Chicago ones he finishes out his term? Will he spend any more time here, than the Clintons now spend in Little Rock?)
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