Mon 3 Jul 2006
Neighborhood Activists Battle Children’s Museum Plan
Posted by Eric Frost under Grant Park , Daley , Natarus , Daley Bicentennial Plaza , Children's Museum , New EastsidePetitions distributed by network of volunteers yields thousands of signatures from area residents
The Chicago Children’s Museum (CCM) is considering a move from Navy Pier to Grant Park to accomodate expansion of the museum. The CCM drafted plans and studied the Daley Field House and the Daley Bicentennial Plaza location as the potential location for the new museum. As the plans were unveiled in Oct. 2005 and began to be discussed at community meetings, a strong opposition began to be formed by many New Eastside residents and users of the current facilities.
The Friends of Daley Bi (originally 4Kids) group was formed in Spring to help organize the opposition. Although the plan promises to replace the field house and skating rink for local use, the CCM would bring hundreds of thousands of additional visitors each year into the neighborhood which has already experienced a tremendous increase in both vehicular and pedestrian traffic with the ongoing Lakeshore East development and recent completion of Millenium Park including the Pritzker Pavilion and the Frank Gehry-designed BP Bridge which leads into the Daley Bicentennial Plaza.
The group helped to organize a neighborhood meeting with Alderman Natarus on May 10th to discuss the move. Flyers were passed out and delivered throughout the neighborhood and hundreds turned out for the meeting. At the conclusion of the meeting the Alderman promised to oppose to the plan. In recent weeks, the Alderman has appeared in interviews on both WBBM and Fox TV voicing the neighborhood’s opposition to the plan.
Petition Presented to Mayor Daley
The group’s next step was a petition drive to present to Mayor Daley. The drive netted almost 2,100 signatures by late June and was delivered to Natarus who said he would see that the Mayor would get them.
The CCM issue was originally on the agenda for the Chicago Plan Commission Meeting on Thursday, June 15. However, Natarus talked with Peter England, CEO of CCM, on June 6th and expressed that he would not like to see the CCM move to East Randolph. During the conversation, England mentioned that the CCM is also now considering a location just to the south along Monroe St. between Columbus Lake Shore Dr. This is the site of “The Green”, a mini-golf and restaurant open during summer months. England now plans to meet with Natarus to show new plans when they are ready and the issue will be brought before the Plan Commission at a later meeting. Opposition may come from boaters using Monroe Harbor who park close to LSD in the garage and might not be happy to lose those spaces to a museum.
Meta Brown, a local resident for over 20 years, started a blog entitled “Save Daley Bicentennial” ( http://savedaley.blogspot.com ). She estimates that the proposed 100,000 sq. ft. underground structure is equivalent to three full floors of a large high-rise building. The architect’s plan to use as much natural lighting as possible in an underground structure could involve a significant above ground structure in either of the proposed locations.
The CCM hopes to open at a location by 2009 and keep the construction period brief to minimize disruption. Additional meetings are to be held with community groups and the Grant Park Advisory Council.
2 Responses to “Neighborhood Activists Battle Children’s Museum Plan”
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July 5th, 2006 at 5:30 pm
Nice article. Do you have any other information or know of other information online about this?
July 10th, 2006 at 7:22 pm
There is this article from the Chicago Tribune –
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Chicago Tribune
Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah
The Chicago Children’s Museum may be backing away from its plan to relocate to the northernmost end of Grant Park, Ald. Burton Natarus (42nd) said Tuesday.
The museum, a major attraction on Navy Pier, had proposed tearing down a fieldhouse in the Daley Bicentennial Plaza and replacing it with a three-story structure near Randolph Street. A museum spokeswoman said Tuesday that was still one option under consideration.
But with neighbors becoming more vocal in opposition to the Randolph Street site, Natarus said museum president Peter England told him last week of interest in a location farther south in Grant Park, near Monroe and Columbus Drives.
England was unavailable for comment Tuesday.
“They listened to me and the neighbors,” Natarus said. “I was relieved to know they were not going on Randolph.”
He said he was told museum officials would show him architectural renderings for the new site in a couple of weeks.
The museum’s earlier bid to move to the site of the fieldhouse drew fire from residents living in high-rises north of Grant Park. They collected about 2,100 signatures opposing the proposal.
In a public meeting they organized last month, Natarus, who sits on the powerful Chicago Plan Commission, said he would not support the museum’s plans because traffic problems would be exacerbated by a new residential development to the north. Natarus said he would support the Monroe plan.
The museum, which attracts 500,000 visitors a year, has outgrown its current location at Navy Pier. Last fall, museum officials announced they were interested in moving to Grant Part.
Earlier this year, they unveiled plans for a building that, like the fieldhouse, would be subterranean. It would occupy some of the Monroe Street garage below it.
Bob O’Neill, Grant Park Advisory Council president, said a museum official told him Tuesday that executives are exploring the south end of Daley Bicentennial Plaza upon the alderman’s suggestion, but have not dropped the previous proposal.
Museum spokeswoman Breelyn Pete said Tuesday officials were still excited about moving to the north end of Daley Bicentennial Plaza.
“We took the alderman’s recommendation and are continuing to explore many options,” she said.
The community might lose the opportunity to rebuild the fieldhouse with outside funding, O’Neill said. Chicago Park District officials estimate that rebuilding the current fieldhouse would cost $9 million. The project is not high on the district’s list of capital improvements, officials have said.
“That’s a very serious issue,” O’Neill said.
And if the museum were to move to the south end of Daley Bicentennial Plaza, that would also put it diagonally across from a new addition under construction by the Chicago Art Institute and directly across the street from Millennium Park.
“So you would have on one corner three major buildings,” O’Neill said.
Peggy Figiel, one of the residents who has organized opposition to the museum, said she was told by the alderman last week of the new site plan for the museum.
“We’re very happy,” she said.
http://www.chicagotribune.com