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.

The Tribune editorial page wrapped up it series today exploring options besides Grant Park for the Children’s Museum to consider for a new facility, ending with . . . staying on Navy Pier.

“Why are donors, patrons and officials of the Chicago Children’s Museum walking away from Navy Pier - the Midwest’s top leisure destination, with 8.6 million visitors a year?” the Trib editorial board asks. “[Museum president Jennifer] Farrington told the Plan Commission that, six years ago, the museum began pursuing expansion at Navy Pier. Tribune editorial board interviews and records of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, a.k.a. McPier, suggest that nothing other than collisions of difficult personalities ultimately quashed that superb notion.

“The museum presented McPier’s board with a gorgeous architectural model for expansion - but also made a play for financing from McPier. Then a stubborn McPier official essentially refused to work with the museum’s representatives. One player sadly recalls the expansion plan drowning in ‘a perfect storm’ of acrimony.”

1. Let’s see those plans!

2. Why is it not surprising to learn that even back then the museum “made a play for financing from McPier” - you know, tax dollars - just like it would become eligible for city subsidies should it locate in Grant Park?

3. Name that McPier official! Let’s find out if he - or she - should be commended or chastised.

Elsewhere in its editorial, the editorial board says it calls the Chicago Plan Commission every day to get the list of sites the museum says it has considered - and which Farrington has promised to provide. Unsurprisingly, no list has been forthcoming.

Only two members of the Daley-appointed Chicago Plan Commission had the brains and the guts to vote last night against the Children’s Museum’s Grant Park land grab: Doris Holleb and Lyneir Richardson. I’ve got more over at the Beachwood today, including why Leon Finney Jr. is today’s Worst Person in Chicago.

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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I’m totally behind the continuing efforts of the Tribune editorial page to oppose what it calls today “The Grant Park Land Grab,” and I commend it’s bold-face list of members of the Chicago Plan Commission, which will vote on the land grab on Thursday, but I think the Trib fell one step short in failing to call into question the very legitimacy of the “Chicago Plan Commission.”

The Chicago Plan Commission is not, as citizens may reasonably assume, an independent board of experts passing sage judgement on the building proposals that come before it. Instead, the Commission is part of the city’s Department of Planning and Development. It’s members are all appointed by the mayor. In fact, the mayor is one of the Commission’s members. And its decisions are non-binding. Just call it the Potemkin Planning Commission.

As Mick Dumke reports at Clout City, the members who aren’t named Richard M. Daley might as well be - including six aldermen, current and former Daley staffers, Daley campaign contributors, and Daley’s chair of the CTA who also happens to sit on the board of the Children’s Museum.

How will the Plan Commission vote? The tension is killing me.