Sep 20, 2007 10:36 am US/Central
Children's Museum: We're Going To Grant Pk. Anyway
Mayor Supports Move, Alderman Does Not
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
The president of the Chicago Children's Museum vows to move the center from Navy Pier to Grant Park regardless of opposition.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported Thursday that people living near the proposed site are concerned that children will crowd the area.
But museum president Jean Pritzker said the location is critical, since it has access to public transportation and parking at a lower rate than the current one.
In addition, Pritzker said, the proposed location is near Millennium Park and the Art Institute.
The Children's Museum's plans have created a rift between first-term Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd), and Mayor Richard M. Daley.
Mayor Daley supports the proposed move and said it is a fight that concerns the entire city.
"I think everybody should be outraged, that children can't go to the museum to be educated, whether they are black, white, Hispanic or Asian," Daley said on Tuesday.
But Reilly said Tuesday he does not support the museum's move because he believes it would violate the city's mandate to keep Grant Park open and clear for all. He said what later became Grant Park was declared "forever open, clear and free" in 1836, a vision that was upheld by the Illinois Supreme Court at the turn of the last century after department store magnate Montgomery Ward sued to ensure nothing would be built in the park.
Additionally, some residents of the New East Side don't want the field house and the peaceful park playground turned into a busy tourist destination.
Daley accused Reilly of being against children.
"I think it's a disgrace that a public official would say this is not a kids park, because we're all kids," Daley said.
The institution, originally known as the ExpressWays Children's Museum, began with two rooms in the Chicago Cultural Center in 1982. It was later housed in Lincoln Park, then in the North Pier Terminal mall on East Illinois Street, before becoming an anchor in the redeveloped Navy Pier when it opened in 1995.
The museum's board now wants to use land donated to the Chicago Park District to build a 100,000 square foot museum using the existing footprint of the Daley Bicentennial Plaza in Grant Park.
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