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Oh, sweet, sweet irony. Part of the controversial plan to move the Chicago Children's Museum to Grant Park will involve removing the playground there. A playground that's free for all to use as opposed to paying admission to a museum, currently $32 for a family of four. For the kids that live in the surrounding high rises, that playground is their backyard and the only convenient place for them to play outside. And now their nannies are pissed that they might have to schlep the brats 8 blocks north. Won't somebody think of the nannies?
"If not here, where will we take them?" Nanny Marta says. "All we have is the water park and one playground on Chicago and Michigan. That is too far."Besides, as Nanny Ashley points out, there are only so many days you can spend at a museum.
"They shouldn't ruin this great space for something we can't use all the time," she says. "If Ines didn't have this place, she'd go crazy."
What, Mayor Daley, you don't want children from the city playing in Grant Park? You don't want children? [S-T]
Photo by RUNFAR
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That Children's Museum is stupidist idea
Last month, I hid behind a couch on the fifth floor of City Hall and overheard this conversation involving one of the Alderman, usually one of the Mayor's lapdogs, who surprisingly voted AGAINST the Children's Museum plan.
ALD. VI DALEY: Can I meet with the Mayor?
DALEY STAFFER: Beat it.
ALD. VI DALEY: I will wash your car and pick up your dry cleaning if you give the Mayor this message.
DALEY STAFFER: I'll think about it. What's the message?
ALD. VI DALEY: Well, um, I am really going to get the crap beat out of me in the next election because I went along with the Latin School land grab in Lincoln Park.
DALEY STAFFER: Who gives a f--k about your problems?
ALD. VI DALEY: Well, since I rolled over about the Latin School soccer field, I need to show my independence. Could you please find out if I could vote against the Mayor on the Children's Museum plan? You guys don't even need my vote. He's got this thing locked up no matter what I do. Please ask him, will you?
DALEY STAFFER: I'll think about it. And make sure they don't put no starch in my shirts. I don't need no f--king starch.
Okay, I think I've got it figured out now. I'd been troubled by the motivation behind this whole thing. Why would the museum want to leave Navy Pier, the perfect site for the kind of traffic that is their target demographic? Why would Daley be so adamant that it go to this location? What would happen with the big, empty hole at Navy Pier once the museum was gone? What would all the families that make the place the busiest tourist attraction in Illinois do now?
The answer is Chicago conspiracy theory simple. Daley wants a casino. Specifically, he wants a casino in the city, preferably downtown, so the city gets the tax revenue. Navy Pier would be the perfect location for such a casino, as it's separated from the rest of downtown, and it already looks gaudy enough to be a casino. But maybe the museum liked the traffic it got and didn't want to move. So Daley says, "Hey ... how about I give you this pretty little section of one of the prettiest parks in the country, right next to a garden already named after one of your most powerful board members? I'll trade you Grant Park for Navy Pier." The museum is suddenly all over that, because that's the only site remotely as good as its current one. Daley gets an empty space for his casino, and everybody except the people of Chicago walks away happy. It's a win-win.
You just now figured out that there's going to be a casino at Navy Pier? That's been rather obvious for the past few years, hasn't it?
Fucking museum should be free. Imagine all the extra traffic and just plain people congestion this is going to bring to this area of the park.
Fucking museum??? Now that, I could get behind.
I'd be certain that one exists somewhere blue. Amsterdam?
www museumofsex.com
www sexmachinesmuseum.com
www amsterdam-museums.com/museums/sex_museum.html
ask and ye shall receive.
by the way, i didn't actually click on any of those links. so, type them into your browser at your own risk.
Ald. Robert Fioretti (2nd) showed his true colors with his "Yes" vote in support of the Children's Museum land grab.
He had strung everybody along, promising a "No" vote. Now, he claims that the lastest rendering swayed him.
Baloney. There was no reason for Fioretti to switch after the latest rendering. Why, then, did he NOT do what he said he would do? Backroom deal? Promises of future donations or future political support? We'll never know. What we do know, as of this vote, is that Fioretti feels free to ignore the will of the people who voted him into office. As a separate issue, he has shown that he is not a man of his word.
Residents in the second ward should remember this "Yes" vote when Fioretti comes up for reelection.
I'm not for this museum at all, but you guys do know that the whole area has to be razed anyway, right? When the garages were leased, everyone knew Daley Bi would be removed (to allow repairs to the leaking garage below) and replaced with a newly designed area, which will probably include a playground.
As for conspiracy, I'm sure the company that leased the garages wanted a guarantee that the space would be used and make money. And how? With a new, adjacent museum of course.
I am not really a fan of the Children's Museum plan to move to Grant Park, however the playground razing is not a major concern. There is a brand spanking new playground in the park at Lakeshore East approximately two blocks from this playground. In fact its probably closer to most of the high rises there than the one that currently sits in Grant Park.