Division Street

Children’s Museum officials finally found that misplaced list of other sites they considered for its new home before settling on Grant Park.

It was in a desk over at Jones Lang LaSalle, and it included some 36 alternate locales, all of which were rejected - according to a letter museum CEO Jennifer Farrington sent to the Chicago Plan Commission - because they didn’t meet the “core criteria” of a central downtown location, easy access to public transportation, access to green space, adjacent covered parking, and being in Grant Park.

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“Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) said he believes the list was recently ‘manufactured’ and argued museum executives repeatedly have stated they considered only Grant Park,” the Tribune reports.

“Reilly noted that Children’s Museum vice president Jim Law, Daley’s former special events director, has spent the last year insisting that Grant Park was the ‘only location considered,’” the Sun-Times reports.

Back in the Tribune, Farrington “declined to explain why the museum rejected the the 36 other sites, stating she couldn’t ’speak specifically to each site’ because she is not a ‘real estate development expert.’”

Also, her public relations consultants couldn’t come up with 36 good excuses.

“Farrington has stated before that sites such as Northerly Island and Pritzker Park on State Street, both of which are on the list, were passed over because they did not have easy access to public transportation and adjacent covered parking. Expanding at Navy Pier was ruled out after review because it ‘was not possible,’ she said.”

She didn’t mention that none of the other sites are illegal like the Grant Park site, presumably because she’s not a legal expert.

Ald. Brendan Reilly’s office sent out this e-mail last night about today’s meeting of the Chicago Plan Commission, which will take up the proposal to move the Children’s Museum to Grant Park. So bear in mind that “tomorrow” means “today”.

WE HAVE BEEN INFORMED THAT THE CITY WILL BE CHANGING ALL OF THE PROCEDURES FOR TOMORROW’S PLAN COMMISSION HEARING.

The hearing is scheduled for Thursday, May 15th at 1:00 pm in City Council Chambers on the 2nd floor of City Hall. The doors will open at 12:30. If you would like a seat, of course, arrive ahead of time.

* You must sign in to testify. Signing in consists of filling out a short form supplied by the City at the hearing. THE CITY HAS DESIGNED NEW FORMS AND WILL NOT BE ACCEPTING THE OLD FORMS. You must be present to fill out the form AND speak.

* The City is limiting testimony to 3 minutes. They will be turning off the microphone if you go over.

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While the epic Wal-Mart battle is fading into oblivion, the epic Children’s Museum battle is about to get worse. After laying low for several months huddled with PR powerhouse Hill & Knowlton, museum officials are embarking on a new offensive - and that pretty much describes it - in its unpopular effort to move to Grant Park. Like the Wal-Mart fiasco, this fight also turned racial when the mayor (him again) accused foes of not wanting black kids in the neighborhood.

The controversy has already been a public relations disaster for the Children’s Museum, but for some reason it’s officials stubbornly blunder on like, well, children, even though downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly has suggested a couple dozen alternative sites he could get behind.

In the Tribune article, Reilly derided the museum’s new public relations effort as “an attempt to manufacture public support that isn’t there.” Maybe Hill & Knowlton will have better luck than Barack Obama media maven David Axelrod, who was previously running stealth PR operations for the museum, according to the April issue of Business Week Chicago.

The opposition remains galvanized. In an e-mail sent to supporters earlier this month, Reilly wrote: “This project is NOT on the March Plan Commission Agenda but very likely to be heard at the April 17, 2007 meeting. Thousands of community residents, Friends of the Parks, Preservation Chicago, Save Grant Park and Friends of Downtown all continue to reiterate their opposition to violating the special protections that have preserved Grant Park for 172 years.”

Preservation Chicago, in fact, has put Grant Park on its list of the city’s most endangered, um, buildings.

In an e-mail sent out on Tuesday, the organization asked those opposed to the museum move to attend the Plan Commission meeting in green shirts.

It’s an environmental message, to be sure, but it’s also the only color the Children’s Museum - which would be in line for park-related taxpayer subsidies - seems able to understand. Maybe in the confusion, the museum folk will change sides.

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Mick Dumke and Ben Joravksy at Clout City have some other ideas about how to fill up Grant Park.