The Children’s Museum has scheduled meetings at many of the buildings in the neighborhood to present plans for the Children’s Museum along the south side of East Randolph at the site of the present Daley Fieldhouse. The first meeting was held last night at North Harbor Tower (175 N. Harbor Dr.) and additional meetings are scheduled as follows. More meeting times at other buildings to be posted later.

360 Randolph, Wednesday, July 18 @ 6 pm

195 Harbor, Thursday, July 19 @ 6 pm

155 Harbor, Monday, July 23 @ 6:30 pm

400 Randolph, Wednesday, July 25 @ 6:30 pm

Local residents had expressed concerns about the Children’s Museum locating along Randolph last year so the museum considered moving to a location at Monro and Columbus, however this location was opposed by the Friends of the Park and the Grant Park Conservancy Council.

Now the Children’s Museum is looking back at their originally proposed location at the site of the Fieldhouse much to the ire of those who thought the plan was dead last year. Be sure to attend your buildings meeting to see the detailed proposal and presentation and have a chance to express your opinion to the new Alderman who will be in attendance at each meeting.

In the past week a bunch of planters have appeared along Randolph St.

On the east end of the street on the south side across from Outer Drive East this presents a problem as the sidewalk was not very wide to begin with and now more than half the sidewalk has been claimed by the behemoth planters. 

Click on the thumbnail to view the full photo.

I just missed it in this photo but picture the “weave” pedestrians must now engage in when passing others along the sidewalk. Our family’s double stroller barely fits on the remaining strip of sidewalk. You can imagine with passing groups or during special events such as the Fourth of July fireworks how sidewalk traffic will have to spill out into the streets potentially causing obstacles for drivers.

Also, in this photo you can see a city worker or contractor picking up a beer can that has already been attracted by the planter. Not only do they block the sidewalks, but they also serve as garbage bins by passers-by.

Click on the thumbnail to view the full photo. 

In talking with several other residents about the poorly planned decision to place planters on this sidewalk, one person mentioned “where’s Natarus when you need him?” Well, we do have an Alderman who the majority of voters in the Ward voted for in the last election - Ald. Brendan Reilly who just recently took office.

You can call his office @ (312) 642-4242. Tell him to look at the photos at http://blog.new-eastside.com or come out and watch the “Randolph weave” himself. By the way, Mayor Daley’s office number is (312) 744-3300. I’m sure it would not hurt to call his office as well.

The Sun-Time reports on how Reilly’s win could change the landscape for development projects downtown –

“Jack Guthman, a zoning attorney for leading developers, said he has met Reilly and thinks “he’s a balanced and thoughtful person” who will entertain reasonable discussions.

“Natarus, Guthman added, didn’t deserve the charge of being too project-friendly. “He was always upfront and straight-forward, even on things we didn’t like to hear,” Guthman said.”

http://www.suntimes.com:80/business/278172,CST-FIN-nat01.article 

Alderman Ward 42 — 68 of 69 precincts reporting (99%)
City of Chicago
42nd Ward Alderman - Chicago

From the Sun-Times – “Natarus, 73, lost to AT&T executive Brendan Reilly, who had 54 percent of the vote to Natarus’ 46 percent with 81 percent of the precincts tallied. “I just hope the change is for the better,” Natarus said. “I said this before, I hope the public doesn’t miss me. I did my job. For your information I missed five City Council meetings in 36 years.”

http://www.suntimes.com/news/elections/276015,CST-NWS-wrap28.article

“Those who didn’t vote for me, I can understand their feeling. I’ve been the alderman for a long, long time,” Natarus, 73, told a crowd of supporters Tuesday night at the swanky Bella Lounge on the Gold Coast. “And there are some people who feel there ought to be a change. . . .”

http://www.suntimes.com/news/elections/276012,CST-NWS-north28.article 

From the Chicago Tribune – “42nd Ward (Loop, Near North and West): Organized labor is pouring great sums of money into a campaign to defeat Ald. Burton Natarus. There’s only one reason: to claim a high-profile victory over someone who stood with Mayor Richard Daley to oppose the job-killing “big-box” ordinance.”

More information at –

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0702160309feb16,1,1838254.story

They continue the endorsement by saying that “Now here’s the odd thing: he agrees with Natarus that the big-box ordinance is a bad idea. So why would labor pour thousands of dollars into his campaign? To punish Natarus. That would be bad for Chicago. Natarus is endorsed.”

Alderman Natarus and challenger Reilly appeared on Chicago Tonight last night.

Two clips were posted to YouTube by “WeLoveBurt”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLQCHF_xrgc (10 minutes)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZROWVhyv4Ww (5 minutes)

There was a comment that the neighborhood does not have bus service to Ogden school. Free bussing existed in the past, but just this year the school district stopped providing bus service to the New Eastside neighborhood. New Eastside is in a big hole with no public school, also there is no local magnet or private school.
 
Natarus insisted that no one has “done more than me” in advocating for local eductional issues. He noted that the bond issue is done and they only need to let the contracts out to float the bonds to fund the Ogden school reconstruction and the construction of the new school in the New Eastside. Natarus insisted that the neighborhood will get back bus service.
 
Reilly stated that the bussing issue is a perfect sort of opportunity for the Alderman to step up and talk with the Chicago Public School system.
 
There was a question about whether the proposed pedway could introduce problems with flooding or attract homeless. The proposed pedways would be elevated, underneath the upper roadways, it would not be underground so there would be no issue with flooding. Regarding security, both candidates mentioned that keycards or other means could be used to restrict access to the buildings or to the pedway itself.
 
There was a suggestion that Northerly Island may be suitable for the Children’s Museum location. Natarus felt that the location is too remote. Reilly mentioned that the Museum Campus is probably a preferable location but that doesn’t work out, “why not?” consider Meigs Field (Northerly Island).
 
Someone commented about the noise levels at this past year’s Lollapalooza festival. Natarus said that he will try to keep a clamp on this; the city has noise laws and the environmental inspectors have to watch each event. The problem is that the department is small, it needs more inspectors who are able to come out at night. It was noted that the Lollapalooza festival was approved for four more years.
 
Finally, there were some more discussion about the neighborhood school. A charter member of GPAC said that according to a past meeting or meetings of GPAC, it was stated that the very first building of the Lakeshore East development would be the school. Natarus said that Magellan’s check is not enough for the school and that is has been in the CPS and City of Chicago’s court. However, now that Natarus has passed the bond issue, we can move forward with floating the bonds and getting the government portion of the funding to start construction.

Natarus has been 42nd Ward Alderman since 1971 and has served in no other public office. Prior to 1971 he lost three times while running for 42nd Ward Alderman. He has lived in the 42nd Ward for 47 years.

He is running now for the 10th time and each time has had goals. In the last term the Ward has added 32 acres of parks including the Lakeshore East park and the Ward is continuing to plan more parks such as the DuSable Park where the river meets Lake Michigan.

In this term he had two main goals: Ogden school must be rebuilt. This will be done by building a new school on the existing playground and then tearing down the old school building replacing it with a park. The second goal is to build the Lakeshore East school. Both schools are listed on a bond issue which was passed a few months ago.

In his closing statements, Natarus said he has lived in the same townhouse in Sandburg Village for 35 years. He has raised two children and is very cognizant of education needs. The usual means of funding school construction is bond issues such as the one just passed for the New Eastside school and Natarus said Daley is very interested in building this school. The bond issue has been passed, the city now just needs to float the bonds.

Natarus went on that he is working on the DuSable Park and funding, he is a member of the Chicago Plan Commission as well as the Landmark Committee.

In the New Eastside neighborhood one issue he is working on is the need to re-do the intersection at the entrance to 175/195 North Harbor Dr. and N. Harbor Dr. (Upper). Natarus is on-the-ball on all of these issues.

In other developments he is working on “Fish Hotels” to improve the aquatic habitat of the river along with the group Friends of the River. He is working on renovating Navy Pier to include a small expensive hotel to generate revenue for Navy Pier. Finally he is working to attract a permanent installment of Cirque du Soleil in downtown Chicago.

www.Natarus.com

The summary below is our write-up up from a NEAR meeting held last week which hosted two alderman candidates - Natarus and Reilly. We will publish the Natarus summary in an upcoming installment.

Reilly served with the state legislature for several years with the environment and energy committee in the hours. He is currently on unpaid leave of absence from AT&T where he is an executive. Reilly has lived in the 42nd ward for three and a half years and prior to that lived in River North for three years.
 
In his closing statements Reilly acknowledged Natarus’ long and distinguished career and that Natarus may have more powerful friends than he has.
 
He stated that the Alderman’s responsibility is the repond to all consituent concerns with specific answers. He promised to have regular office hours and said that he doesn’t believe phone calls to the Alderman’s office are currently being returned consistently.
 
He said that as part of his campaign he did not accept any contributions from developers, a challege he says that his opponent did not accept. Reilly believes he has creative ideas and further stated that he has won the endorsement from both the firefighters and police.

www.ReillyforChicago.com 

Last question posed to candidates for alderman at last week’s NEAR meeting. 

What is your position on the extension of the pedway which was approved by the city council in 1969 and reapproved by the council in 1979, 1993, and 2001?
 
Ward outlined several documents including ammendments to Planned Development #70 over the years, perhaps the most important of which was the Lakeshore East development which stated that it is not responsible for connecting the pedway to the existing buildings. However, according to Ward, the previous documents are binding and require that the LSE build the pedway for the entire neighborhood.
 
Natarus stated that Chicago’s Corporate Counsel does not agree with Ward’s interpretation. Natarus recommended that Ward or advocates in the community get an independent legal opinion and the Natarus would himself introduce an ordinance if he can get a legal opinion agreeing with Ward’s interpretation.
 
Reilly agreed with the Alderman about wanting a legal opinion. He went on that it happens all too often that a developer is allowed to change language. He said that in meetings the the Alderman is responsible for advocating for the average citizen. Reilly said that he is willing to work with the neighborhood to explore some possibilities and believes that Corporate Counsel should produce an opinion.

Fourth of five questions posed to Aldermanic candidates at a recent NEAR meeting. 

What actions will you take to ensure construction & opening of the new elementary school in the New Eastside and how do you see our community involved in the process?
 
Ward outlined three possible locations within the Lakeshore East development. The first was what was originally approved in 2001 as part of the PD #70 ammendment. This location is in the northeast corner Lakeshore East park.
 
The other two locations are just north of the park. The school could be placed in the lot between the Lancaster and the Shoreham buildings. However, there are walls on all four sides which would limit the light and windows, especially at the lower levels. The final proposed location could be next to the Tides building currently under construction. It would be just west of the Tides between the parking structure and the fire station.
 
It was Reilly turn to respond to this question first. Reilly explained that the developer has agreed to put up half of the money to build the school, which has roughly a $5 million dollar price tag. He noted that people have moved into the neighborhood in anticipation of a new school and that the Chicago Public School system depends on the state for funding. He said that the new school should have been taken care of a long time ago and that the community will be involved in questions such as where to site the school and what it should look like.
 
Natarus mentioned that he had insisted that Lakeshore East put in the requirement for a school. Three months ago the City of Chicago passed a bond issue that has money for the school. He said that the state is not funding the school, the city is funding the school. It is his opinion that the original location, in the northeast corner of the park is the best location. He said that building against the garage (either of the other two locations) is “ludicrous”. He assured attendees that the school will be built and that he is very much in favor of the school and supported the bond issue.

Third of five questions presented to the Aldermanic candidates at a NEAR meeting last week. 

What plans do you have with the Chicago Park District to secure funding to improve the physical condition of they Daley Bi-Centennial Plaza Fieldhouse and do you have any timetable for the improvements?
 
Reilly recommended that he would try to get money from the state for the renovation and mentioned that he has a good relationship with our State Representative.
 
Natarus was careful not to make promises he could not keep but pomised to be creative about finding a solution for this. He suggested that the developer of the next high-rise that is put up in the area could be asked to chip in with a contribution for the renovation. He mentioned that the Park District does not have a good funding mechanism. He said that this is a top priority but that he will make no false promises.

This is the first of five questions presented to the Aldermanic candidates last week at a meeting hosted by NEAR.

If the Children’s Museum relocates from its current home at Navy Pier, do you have any locations you support or oppose?
 
The Chicago Children’s Museum (CCM) originally planned to move to the Daley Fieldhouse location; however the proposal met fierce opposition from local residents. Ward showed photographs of the Fieldhouse and the new proposed location at the NE corner of Columbus and Monro. The mentioned that concern has been expressed about having the CCM move into Grant Park would open the floodgates to more museums moving into Grant Park. Ward outlined however how only one other location in Grant Park, also along the north side of Monro Dr. could be suitable for a “below-grade” building.
 
Natarus mentioned that the Monro Dr. location was recommended by Daley. A number of organizations oppose putting the museum on Monro Dr. such as the the Grant Park Advisory Council (GPAC) and Friends of Grant Park. Natarus says he sees two possibilities: they could try relocating the Children’s Museum down to the Museum Campus by the Shedd Aquarium or they might stay put at Navy Pier.
 
Reilly agreed with Natarus that the Museum Campus is a good location and that he does not like the Monro Dr. location.

This is the first of five questions presented to the Aldermanic candidates last week at a meeting hosted by NEAR and moderated by NEAR President Richard Ward. Stay tuned this week as our complete report is posted. 

What plans do you have to minimize disruption of the neighborhood during the Monro Street garage renovation?

Richard Ward presented photographs of the state of the garage’s deterioration and reported that from his observation it was his opinion that there is a need to rebuild the garage. The garage was originally constructed back in 1976 or 1978. The garage is rectangular and encompasses the entire block bounded by Randolph St., Columbus Dr., Monro Dr., and the walkway where Lake Shore Drive used to be twenty some years ago, i.e. the Cancer Survivors Plaza. The northeast corner is approximately where the playground is next to the skating rink and the Daley Fieldhouse.

It is a large area and during the construction all of the following will likely be disrupted at one point or another: the children’s playground, skating rink, tennis courts, the BP/Gehry bridge and possibly access to the Daley Fieldhouse.

Reilly noted that the Fieldhouse will not be torn down or displaced as part of the garage reconstruction. His suggestion was that he would recommend to phase in reconstruction of the garage if financially feasible.

Natarus stated that the reconstruction will be done in phases under the supervision of the transportation department and that he will do everything he can to minimize the dust and debris caused by the construction.

A NEAR meeting was held in the hospitality room on the seventh floor in Outer Drive East (400 East Randolph) Wednesday night, January 31st.

NEAR invited the three candidates for 42nd Ward Alderman to attend and answer questions regarding neighborhood issues. Mike “Libby” Libert could not make the meeting as he was not feeling well. Brendan Reilly and current Alderman Burton Natarus did make the meeting and were the center of attention for most of the evening.

The three candidate’s web sites and their position on the ballot are listed below:

Brendan Reilly - http://www.reillyforchicago.com/ #51
Ald. Burton Natarus - http://www.natarus.com/ #52
Mike Libert - http://www.libby2007.com/ #53

NEAR president Richard Ward prepared five key questions, introduced the issues and presented slides and photographs, and moderated the evening’s discussion. In a series of upcoming posts we will recap the questions presented to the candidates as well as their opening and closing statements.

Also, an annoucement was made that Howard Adlin is moving to Florida and will leave his position as NEAR treasurer, a position in which he has served for many years.

The New Eastside Association of Residents will be hosting a meeting to review neighborhood events in the past year. The meeting will be helpd Wednesday night at 7 PM in the 400 East Randolph Hospitality Room.

The three candidates for 42nd Ward Alderman will also be present and will address questions on the following topics: Monroe Street Garage Renovation, Chicago Children’s Museum Relocation, Daley Bi-Centennial Fieldhouse Renovation Plans, and the Pedway Extension.

See more information in the Announcements board –

http://forums.new-eastside.com/index.php/topic,98.0.html

Alderman Naturus will be hosting a meeting regarding downtown mail delivery problems.

Representatives from the Post Office as well as the Chairman of the United States House of Representatives Postal Caucus, Congressman Danny Davis have been invited to attend.

For more information see Chicago Mail Delivery Meeting.

Elections are coming up for Chicago Mayor, Clerk, Treasurer and Alderman. It is a Municipal General Election to be held on February 27th. A full list of candidates can be seen on the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners web site at
http://www.chicagoelections.com/docs/CandidateBalOrder.pdf. (If this link above does not work you can view Google’s cache of the document in html format by going to here and clicking on View As HTML).

There are a few challengers to Richard M. Daley for Mayor including William Walls, III; Syron M. Smith, and Dorothy A. Brown.

Alderman Burton F. Natarus of the 42nd Ward which includes the New Eastside neighborhood and much of downtown and Grant Park faces two challengers: Brendan Reilly and Mike “Libby” Libert.
You can verify that you are registered and also find the forms to send in to register on the Chicago Elections website. See: http://www.chicagoelections.com/voter_registration_form.htm

This morning, Comed roped off a portion of area that has been boarded up for the past week or so, that is in the new “Lakeshore East” (or whatever they will call it) park. The park will be turned over to the Chicago Park District for maintanence in the coming years, not sure yet changes that may entail for park users.

At the last NEAR meeting Natarus ranted/talked for a while about dogs on leashes and picking up after them. I hope the dogs on leashes idea never gets enforced in the new park, I love to see 5 to 8 tiny dogs running around in circles and my daughter playing with them in the open field.

The larger or problematic dogs (or just dogs with cautious owners) can go to the fenced in area.

From the Chicago Tribune — “$563 million plan would let private firm take over 4 facilities and perhaps raise their parking fees”

“$35 million would go to rebuild Daley Bicentennial Park after the reconstruction of the East Monroe garage, which lies beneath it”

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0610140215oct14,1,2248865.story

According to Natarus who spoke at the recent NEAR meeting, there are presently no plans to reconstruct the Fieldhouse at the Daley Bi Plaza which will be torn down as part of the reconstruction of the East Monroe garage.