Friends Of The Parks Claim City Uses "Parks As Construction Sites"
By Rachel Cromidas in News on Apr 7, 2015 2:00PM
Friends of the Parks has added the new restaurant at Maggie Daley Park to the growing list of public parks projects the group has a problem with.
The advocacy group's president Cassandra Francis accused the Emanuel administration of "[looking] at parks as construction sites," in a statement Monday. Francis was particularly critical of the Park District's deal with Four Corners Tavern Group to build a restaurant in Maggie Daley Park, as well as unrelated plans to put a high-rise development at Pritzker Park at 310 S. State St., according to DNAinfo. The pocket park, across from Harold Washington Library, is the only park in the Loop.
The restaurant, dubbed Maggie's at the Park, could cost more than $1 million dollars to construct and would likely require the Monroe Street side of the recently-opened, lakefront park to experience several more months of construction.
Friends of the Parks have also staunchly opposed plans to use public land for Chicago's bid for the Obama Presidential Library and it is suing the city over the lakefront location of the proposed Lucas Museum.