Read all about it at Sun-Times.
Our alderman is quoted as saying, "I'm very respectful to my fellow aldermen. It is not lightly that I say this. But when we're talking about the heart of this downtown park system, we're talking about a citywide asset," said Ald. Helen Shiller (46th).
Update: A reader writes in:
"Please let your readers know that Save Grant Park is working hard in
Uptown to knock some common sense into Helen Shiller's head.
People can sign the petition at www.SaveGrantPark.org and learn other
ways they can help.
In addition, Save Grant Park continues to solicit ideas for alternative
locations. Many people I've talked to have suggested Uptown, perhaps
even Wilson Yards.
If people like that idea, they should register their support here:
http://savedaley.blogspot.com/2008/03/plenty-of-options.html
Save Grant Park has argued that the Children's Museum of Indianapolis
proves that Uptown, Logan Square, Garfield Park, Washington Park, and
other neighborhoods throughout the city are viable alternatives to
building in Grant Park.
The Indianapolis museum - the largest, best attended, and most acclaimed
Children's museum in the country - is located six miles from downtown in
a racially diverse neighborhood, where it generates $60 million a year
in economic development."
Was there ever any doubt she would do otherwise? Talk about a lap-dog.
ReplyDeletewoof woof...SLURP! Woof!...rub my belly..good dog!
ReplyDeleteThere are too many racists in Chicago. It is a good thing we have our aldermen and the mayor to introduce measures in city council that make these people reveal themselves once and for all. I say, anytime someone goes against Daley or Shiller's policies, we should go after these racists. The good citizens who follow what the mayor and the aldermen want shouldn't have to put up with these people. I say, round them up and throw them in jail.
ReplyDeleteWell I don’t know much about the rest of the City but instead of messing up a great park how about putting the new museum right next to a train line in the middle of a big hole in the ground just waiting for something to be built there. I guess that would require some to notice that the corner of Montrose and Broadway has been blighted and empty for over 10 years.
ReplyDeletethe children Museum's big bucks PR firm has an internet practice that jumps on every mention online and plays the race card
ReplyDeleteOf COURSE Shiller agrees with Daley. She's so bought and paid for that she should come with a price scanner attached to her belt.
ReplyDeleteThe vote on the big box / living wage thing proved that she's nothing but Daley's little puppet, dancing and smiling when he pulls the strings.
Helen's To-Do List:
ReplyDelete1. Screw over the citizens of the 46th Ward. [ check! ]
2. Screw over the citizens of the 48th Ward. [ check! ]
3. Screw over the citizens of the City of Chicago. [ Nice beginning, let's take away their parks and put buildings there. Then we can convert them to homeless shelters. ]
Back to the Wilson Yards debate...Does anyone else believe that affordable housing is a code word for section 8? We have enough CHA Scattered Site Housing in Uptown. Hull House and Up With People, who currently manage properties for CHA, can't even manage the properties they currently have. Garbage everywhere, sidewalks never shoveled, tenants loitering in front and properties not maintained like the rest of the neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteShe is probably vying for some sort of cushy appointment when she retires. G-d help us all when she is appointed to some health and social service commission. On the other hand, then everyone else will get a taste of what we have been talking about lo these many years.
ReplyDeleteI like your idea, uptown vegetarian. BRING THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM TO UPTOWN! Have children from all over the City ride the train to this location...steps from the lake! It would be such a convenient option for the children of Uptown! It would spur economic development! The community would give all of the TIF money for it! It would be a win-win for everyone. (Oh, except for the Pritzkers who wouldn't deign to come into a neighborhood like this and for Daley who wants to hide the homeless people he warehouses here only to put them out to work to the lowest bidder.) I guess it was a bad idea afterall.
ReplyDeleteAlderman Shiller: If Grant Park is a citywide asset, then how come homeless people are not allowed to sleep there?
ReplyDeleteNo, she was Dorothy Tillmanned. Daley owns Shiller now. Same deal, different Alderbeast. "Shut up and you can keep your office, which you will otherwise lose in this election without me, now that your constituency has changed."
ReplyDeleteBut so what? Helen would have screwed the parks anyway. Just look at how she's taken care of ours. Where they look good at all, its because the block clubs and individuals have put in all the city service requests, despite her. However, that does not stop her from showing up to claim all credit.
Daley fumbled the race card last year. Does this mean he's bringing in his specialty team to play it for him this year?
ReplyDeleteUptown Museum? Don't even joke about that. We just had another child raped up here yesterday.
ReplyDeleteOops! That is supposed to be a highly guarded, juvenile police secret. Poor kid.
I wouldn't mind have more section 8 if they were run properly. It's not the tenants or the housing stock. It's the management.
ReplyDeleteFor years that management company has been a mess. How hard is it to evict people from a town house when they aren't on the lease? They've been selling drugs out of the same town house for years now and they don't even have the right to be living there and nothing gets done about it. Years ago we had a gang living in a one. Is the management getting paid off to look the other way?
BTW. There are some very nice scattered site tenants who want change also. Shiller treats them badly also.
ReplyDeleteShiller jams them by towing their cars out of their legitimate backyard parking spaces and forcing them to pay a fortune to get their cars back from the tow company. That shuts a poor person up for awhile.
It is the tenants that are part of the problem. Drive by any CHA site and notice all the new cars. Maybe they can afford these apartments because they are only paying $35.00a month. Also, in my 7 years of working in Uptown I have NEVER seen a tenant out shoveling, picking up trash or doing anything to improve this property. Maybe they do it when I'm not around...doubt it! And they should treat these places like their homes because we know they are never moving out.
ReplyDeleteTo anonymous posters 9:06 and 9:15.
ReplyDeletePLEASE follow up with more information about whatever happened to that child. I keep trying to document violence, sexual violence and exploitation against children here in Uptown. We are not doing all we can to help these kids and it is everyone's responsibility. People need to know what is happening and what can be done. More prevention can happen.
To 9:15: We need to build a coalition between low-income residents who want change and wealthier residents. If people are being shut up for lack of funds, that can be stopped. Funds can be found. People will help if they only know how to.
Why would you move out if you were paying so little for rent. There is little if any incentive for these people to do anything. Meanwhile, they sell drugs out of these houses and most of the kids belong to gangs. In my opinion any person who gets arrested or is to be a known member of a gang then they should be thrown out of these houses. At this point the government (or us because the government doesn't pay for anything) is subsidizing the gang kids to live in these houses. If there is such a lack in subsidized housing then we need to prioritize who gets to live in them.
ReplyDeletePLEASE follow up with more information about whatever happened to that child. I keep trying to document violence, sexual violence and exploitation against children here in Uptown. We are not doing all we can to help these kids and it is everyone's responsibility. People need to know what is happening and what can be done. More prevention can happen.
ReplyDelete*****************************
Would you expect anything less in Uptown. See how many sex offenders reside at the Salvation Army Tom Seay Center, 1025 W. Sunnyside. Just a hop skip away from Gramie Stewart Elementary School.
When 42nd Ward residents elected Brendan Reilly, he got there by making a commitment to his voters that he would be a better advocate for them. It wasn’t a citywide election that got him in office. It was the residents living in the 42nd Ward.
ReplyDeleteAld. Reilly held 9 community meetings to get input from stakeholders from both inside and outside the ward so that he could make an informed decision and when all was said and done, it was clear to him that the will of the people was to keep Millennium Park an open space and have the Children’s Museum in another alternative location. Two dozen other locations were suggested as an alternative.
I’m disappointed that Ald. Reilly is not being allowed to represent his constituents. I’m also disappointed that one of the best community processes to help a community make a really tough decision is ignored.
What Alderman Reilly is doing is incredibly brave. He should be commended and supported.
ReplyDeleteThey are going to go after him so badly in the next election. He should probably just face it down head-on and run for mayor. I don't know what it would take to topple the Daley machine but something coming from that area of town Uptown & Rogers Park might be a good start.
I am really concerned by what is happening in Chicago. There is too much power concentrated and the checks and balances of government are not working.
Daley is putting too much energy into this and that's why I believe his real intent is to show everyone he's the man. He wants to make an example out of any alderman who dares to be an independent. It's okay to pretend to be an independent (as in Helen's case), but don't you dare go against him. He's sending a message to the rest of his homies that they better stay in line, and Helen, of course, is one of the first one to jump in line. That woman is more desperate than ever now that Wilson Yard is falling apart and she needs to be rescued.
ReplyDeleteInteresting theory, Deep Throat. But what if in doing that he galvanizes regular citizens against him?
ReplyDeleteI am not afraid to stand with the residents of that ward because I am a member of the Children's Museum and I am not a racist. I love democracy, the environment and free speech. What happens when Daley tries to flex some muscle and pisses off very nice people like me who just want to obey the law, pay their taxes and go for a walk in the park from time to time?
“The lakefront by right belongs to the people. It affords their one great unobstructed view,stretching away to the horizon, where water and clouds seem to meet…Not a foot of its shores should be appropriated by individuals to the exclusion of the people. On the contrary, everything possible should be done to enhance its natural beauties, thus fitting it for the part it has to play in
ReplyDeletethe life of the whole city. It should be made so alluring that it will become the fixed habit of the
people to seek its restful presence at every opportunity.”
Daniel Burnham, 1909.
What is the block club in the 42nd ward? Are they rapid bloggers like us up on the northside?
ReplyDeleteSaskia, the Mayor doesn't mind pissing off citizens. They have no influence on whether or not he gets re-elected. You have the misperception that our city elections are all about citizens selecting their favored candidate. It's the Machine that does the real work. Shiller learned that and that's why she's rolling over for Daley and making a fool of herself in the process.
ReplyDeleteOn rare occasions, the Mayor doesn't get his way, like with Matlek. That pissed Daley off, so like any alpha dog, he's going to piss on the fence of any supposedly independent alderman and bite if that alderman barks back. He is sending a notice to all the new dogs in City Council that he's alpha dog.
Daley senior has nothing on Daley junior. Nothing.
City Parks are public assets unless you are talking about Challenger Park in Shiller's Ward which was vitually given to the Cubs for use as a private parking lot because they need it much more than the poor people of Uptown.
ReplyDeleteHey, aren't the Cubs getting a free parking lot at Truman College paid for out of our new TIF also? Exactly.
BTW, Daniel Burnham's final resting place will soon be facing the ass side of Truman College's (The Cubs) new 9-story parking garage paid for by our TIF.
ReplyDeleteAnd the City said it didn't know how it was going to honor him next year!
One of our child sex predators was spotted hanging on the fence at the Wilson Avenue Skate park this afternoon eyeing this year's new meat.
ReplyDeleteThat little bush fucker better stay out of the bird sanctuary this year.
Does anyone beside me find it a little disingenuous - a little two-faced - a little too political - and very calculated for Daley to play the race card on Grant Park neighbors while he implores us to support Obama, his chosen one, the uberman whose campaign is run by Daley's longtime campaign manager, David Axelrod? Mr Daley are we putting our racial divide behind us or not? Or just when it's useful?
ReplyDeleteAnd, isn't Obama going to be the moneyman, the administrative arm that Daley needs in Washington to force the U.S. Govt to cede control of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Controlled lakefront to the Chicago Park District for Daley's planned expansion through Rogers Park?
A man with a plan and an ego legacy to build. Creepy.
This has NOTHING to do with race. The Children's Museum has already admitted that two-thirds of their visitors are from the suburbs.
ReplyDeleteBut Uptown Vegetarian raises a good point.
The Indianapolis Children's Museum, the largest and most successful in the country, is located six miles from downtown in a racially diverse neighborhood, where it generates $60 million a year in economic development.
(Of course, if they built the museum here, they'd have to get rid of the mentally-ill wandering the streets, and then who would vote for Helen?)
I called Shiller's office six months ago to talk to her about the issue and she never called me back, but that shouldn't stop us from bombarding her with calls anyway.
Maybe, MAYBE if we bombard her with calls asking her why she's voting to provide a $100 million tax subsidy to a private entity just months after voting to raise our taxes by $245 million because the city was supposedly broke, she'll come to her senses or atleast get scared shitless.
BTW, I'm getting lots of calls from people who are interested in running against Shiller right now, atleast four solid potential candidates. Are there any other names out there?
Yellow dog, how can people get ahold of you for this process?
ReplyDeleteMaybe someone who has the time can publish the process of getting onto the ballot in '11.
"The Indianapolis Children's Museum, the largest and most successful in the country, is located six miles from downtown in a racially diverse neighborhood, where it generates $60 million a year in economic development."
ReplyDeleteAs a former development officer at TCMI I can tell you that the neighborhood is very diverse now, since the interstate system came through the middle of Indianapolis in the 50's/60's and chopped the city in half cutting people off from their churches, groceries and other neighborhood amenities.
When it started out at this location it was in a MANSION on one of the wealthiest streets in the city. It had high profile patrons (inlucding several from the family of Eli Lilly) who supported it, and the Junior league of Indianapolis is still the next door neighbor in a mansion of their own!
While I am all for the idea of the Chicago Children's Museum coming to Uptown, it is an entirely different institution, and lacking the 100+ years of history that TCMI has.
That being said, TCMI is very involved in their community, spearheaded their own TIF initiative, rebuilt the neighborhood fire station as a community center, has after school programs from neighborhood children, has a youth orchestra of neighborhood kids (which they recently closed down) and has a branch of the Indianapolis Public Library in their space that specializes in books related to the exhibits featured in the museum.
Anything is possible if people put their minds to it, but I'm not holding my breath for this to happen.
It seems they have their mind set of Grant Park, just like the powers that be had their mind set on Northwestern for Children's Memorial, when all the staff wanted to go to the YMCA site at North and Clybourne. It's all about the Executive Director/President and when he/she wants to move their museum. We should have seen this coming after the Harris and Pritzker pavilion.
Oh, please please pretty please bring the Childrens Museum to Wilson Yard!
ReplyDeleteCan you IMAGINE how fast all the registered sex offenders at the shelters would suddenly relocate once Mr. Image-Conscious Daley hears about them?
anonymous 12:23
ReplyDeleteif an interested candidate is relying on a blogger to show the steps to get on the ballot, there's already a serious problem.
Anon 5:52:
ReplyDeleteOr maybe, it would might be helpful for the rest of us to understand the process in order to be helpful.
... just a thought.