Protect Our Parks files brief appealing lower court's decision on OPC
Richard Epstein (Herald file photo)
HERALD STAFF REPORT
Protect Our Parks (POP) filed its brief with the federal appeals court in its suit against the city and Chicago Park District to block the establishment of the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park.
The plaintiffs argue that the OPC, which will not be a traditional presidential library, serves no public function and that no city officials "exercised due care and independence in choosing a location and design of the OPC," "ran any studies about the costs that the OPC would pose to the design, use and aesthetics of Jackson Park and surrounding areas" or "ever (examined) alternative sites to determine what was actually best for the city and its constituents."
"This is not an ordinary negligence case," said POP's attorney, Richard Epstein, a professor at the University of Chicago Law School who said the OPC has an "imbalance of enormous proportions that was known by everybody at every time" and alleged that city officials had exercised a "disregard of the obligations of office."
"The only thing we're trying to do is to get a fresh trial based on the full range of evidence in this particular case," Epstein said, adding that the OPC's "costs are wholly apparent and the benefits are largely illusory."
POP is asking the appeals court for a new trial, not a summary judgment. The City and Park District have around a month to respond to the brief. The judge will rule after the response is filed.
herald@hpherald.com
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John Weis Loftus
We wish the best of luck to Protect Our Parks in the fight to, well, protect our parks !
The OPC is a brilliant project for Chicago, and when the appropriate site is found, outside of parkland, it will begin its inspiring mission.
Many potential sites await.
Abel Jeuland
More delays by pop and others! How long will this last? I have walked and biked in Jackson Park for years (have lived in Hyde Park since 1975). This park is in poor shape and badly needs the obama center as designed to make it a destination.
SLF
Herb Caplan, Protect our Parks
Herb Caplan, & Attorney Richard Epstein, Protect Our Parks
THANK YOU, and again THANK YOU! I wish you success in the Federal Appeals Court. OPC belongs only to and in Chicago. However, the proposed location in a major, treasured and historical parkland is a terrible backroom land grab and will place a (currently unrecognized) black mark on Obama's legacy.
Effie Santee Riggle
Good luck Richard Epstein, do whatever you can to KEEP ALL OF OBAMA STUFF OUT OF OUR PARKS; let him go to where he was born or grew up to put "his stuff" !
Keith Harrison
I hope they lose this too.
Are you in favor of opc with its sensitive and still evolving design (for the better) in Jackson Park? I am.
Thank you professor Epstein!
J. Romero
New Yorkers would NEVER allow any ex-president to grab & privatize 20 acres of Central Park.
NOR would New Yorkers ever allow any ex-president to clearcut up to 600 existing trees, excavate 20 acres of Central Park for a 450 car parking lot, build a concrete complex with a looming enclosed tower on precious scarce urban public parkland.
The Protect Our Parks lawsuit transcends political parties. Our public parks belong to ALL of us.
In Chicago, Rahm Emanuel already took away 50 of our public schools. The Jackson Park land grab is another shortsighted betrayal of the public interest.
Jackson Park serves its surrounding neighborhoods, the entire southside as well as the Great Lakes Region.
This land grab sets a precedent that should be of local, regional, state and National concern. New Yorkers would never allow a takeover of 20 acres of Central Park for any reason.
We cannot allow this to happen in Chicago either.
Herb Caplan
This is a beautifully clear and succinct summary of what the Jackson Park land theft is all about, It is also an embarrassing observation of the corruption of Chicago politics. You will note that the issue is the public interest and not whether one likes or dislikes former president Obama whose name is never mentioned because it is irrelevant, and the park protection principle applies to anyone who may try to manipulate political power to steal and misuse public property for private personal uses.
Carol Hitchie
For over 5 years, I was a Chicago Greeter and gave tours of our city for the Office of Tourism. Most of my tourists were from outside of Illinois, half from outside the country. Out of all the many things remarkable about our city, two stood at the top of the list of amazements from my tourists: the beauty and freedom of our lakefront from private building and the immense amount of open green space that was set aside by our founders for the use of the people.
Now, however, with the Obama Presidential Center being allowed to build in Jackson park, a precedent will exist to allow for future endeavors by those endowed with enough money and enough political clout to force their way into our parks. This is a very sad day for Chicago.
I have a question for Carol: did you bring your tourists to Jackson Park?
1- who above the commenters are regular users of Jackson Park like me. I have used it infrequently since 1975 because it is not great, unlike going north from Hyde Park on the lake front that has been upgraded in the past few years (bike and pedestrian lanes).
2- one thing i dread most about Jackson Park is crossing Cornell Drive to go east: its car trafic is always light thus way above the speed limit. Opc will get rid of Cornell Drive: great benefit including new park land.
3-let's make Jackson Park a destination with museum of science and industry, opc, oriental institue, smart gallery on a new south side museum campus tour.
Ross Petersen
Mr.Abel, I bring tourists to the park all the time. The wooded island, an old growth oak savanna. The Osaka garden, still cool in spite of Yoko's stab at public art. The Bob o'link meadow, the 63rd St. beach house – there is so much there, I don't know what you are talking about. 2. I suggest you familiarize yourself with what are called cross walks, white lines / signals where you can safely cross the street. Why should we plow up Cornell, because you have a problem crossing it? Finally, why don't we put the OPC at 5600 S. Stony Island. This would expand the park. Museum Campus South. What you are suggesting, this takes the park away from the people.
November 8, 2019 @ 10:18 am
The Obama Center will not affect Wooded islands and the Osaka Garden. OPC will be between the current Cornell Drive and Stony Island. This section of Jackson Park is not special. I doubt tourists currently come to that section of Jackson Park just south of 59th and west of Cornell Drive.
Cornell Drive is not needed. It duplicates Lake Shore Drive South and Stony Island. Let's replace Cornell Drive with more park land: The OPC plan. Jackson Park (JP) is huge and the OPC will have a very small footprint (small % of JP).
Let's create a south side museum campus with OPC and Museum of Science and Industry as anchors. I alluded to this in an earlier comment. Michele Obama may like the idea (see Nov. 6 issue of the Chicago Maroon that quotes her): "…what it would be like to have the vitality of a museum campus, like the one in Grant Park…".
I have biked or walked at least 100 times since 1975 in JP east of Cornell Drive: it strikes me how few people use it. Do your want to keep it as is for the .001% who use it? A very exclusive group indeed. I would like to broaden the appeal of JP and bring more people to our rich south side, particularly Hyde Park. Hyde Park is an engine of opportunity for the south side that has gained momentum recently. Let's build on that momentum.
Make no small plans!
The Obamas are great people who are very sensitive to social needs. Their plan does not deface JP. It greatly enhances it. The social welfare of the south side will greatly increase under their plan.
Abel Jeuland – What?
"I have biked or walked at least 100 times since 1975 in JP east of Cornell Drive: it strikes me how few people use it."
We can do the math – 100 in 44years = approximately 2.2 times a year.
This hardly gives one the expertise or authority to make decisions for the rest of us on Jackson Park. This 'funny math' is merely misleading the public to win an argument.
There are far better solutions than building a tower in Jackson Park. Across the street from Jackson Park there are several locations that should be considered.
North west side of 5600 block on Stony Island is a possibility.
Alternatively, it would be a far better use of land to site the OPC at the north west side of the 60th block on Stony Island which is currently a parking lot. The latter would offer spectacular views not only of Jackson Park & the Lake but also the fabulous Midway & U of C campus west towards Washington Park on the horizon.
Yes, there could be a much better plan that serves the public interest.
Mr. Abel, the OPC tower will be visible, will loom, large as nearby Vista Homes. It is a mid-rise building, 23 stories, unlike any museum we have seen in the city. It takes up 20 acres of formerly open, free park land, park land that does see lots of use. It is dramatic open space, the work of America's greatest landscape designer, F.L. Olmsted. Why you would want to build this windowless eyesore of a building, 235 feet tall, inside of the park is beyond the sensibilities of most Chicagoans. We are all park advocates.
This is more second rate planning from Rahm, the city. If they want to pay respect, buy him some land, adjacent. Don't take up our park with this. This is just wrong.
Jaye Els
Abel Jueland writes:
I respond:
I note that the Obamas "were" great and nice people who USED to live in our Hyde Park Kenwood community. I sadly note that the Obamas chose to leave our community and now live in an exclusive, very expensive place in Washington DC and have just closed on a $15 million estate on Martha's Vineyard. The average income of Martha's Vineyard is over $125,000 a year, the population is over 94% White and less than 2 % Black African America. These are the communities the Obama's have chosen for themselves. Like Oprah, they have dined and dashed from Chicago – chosen not to have much or anything to do with struggling Black African Americans on our South Side, certainly nothing as in NADA to do with poor Black AA west of Cottage Grove. And now the Obama cult of personality has chosen to take a large part of our historically open, public and free Lakefront Jackson Park to build a 23 story high rise with lots of parking garages to build… build exactly what?
It's not any kind of a library – everyone now admits that. It's not a performing arts center like Lincoln Center in NYC or the Kennedy Center of Performing Arts in Washington DC, it doesn't seem to be a museum of any kind – more like a temple where we're all supposed to honor and worship this.. Obama cult.
Here's a very realistic alternative that should please most everyone:
We cancel the OPC obamination. We rename "Jackson Park" (not named for Jessie Jackson) to "Obama Park" and then ex President Obama makes a few phone calls to the social media oligarchs who are both:
His political supporters and
The richest men in the entire world!
His fundraising will be used to make "Obama Park" the best lakefront park in Chicago – with well maintained nature sanctuaries, ball fields, tennis courts and an affordable rate golf course. This well maintained, best ever Chicago lakefront Obama Park will be used by members of the community especially poor and working class Black AA who will greatly benefit by finding nature in our city, which has always been the Olmsted plan.
Wouldn't that be great – a beautiful, well maintained, free and open Lakefront Park – Obama Park to be used by South Side residents of all races and classes. Wouldn't that be a great way to honor the Obamas who were once, very nice, well respected members of our Hyde Park-Kenwood-South Shore-Woodlawn community who have sadly…. dined and dashed and completely abandoned us.
Dear Editors Hyde Park Herald-
Could you please explain why it take 5 days to POST my comment, yet A. Jeuland is posted same day?
Is there some reason?
Randall Weissman
I apologize if it took 5 days. I must have overlooked it on my initial pass through the comments.
It took several days for my initial comment to post.
In response to Abel Jeuland's comment:
I am one of the above commenters. Well, since you asked…….
Jackson Park has been an incredible destination for my entire life . I grew up next to Jackson Park and have continuously used it regularly and frequently to this day. My first full-time summer job was working at the Museum of Science and Industry in 1966, at 14 years I was the MSI's youngest employee. I graduated from high school in Hyde Park in 1970, five years before you even moved here.
Sorry you don't appreciate this incredible urban park resource. Please don't disparage one of our greatest assets. No, we don't want to privatize Jackson Park or build a 235′ tower in it.
Even if you have only "used it infrequently since 1975", please don't suggest spoiling it for the rest of us who do use it and love it. Thanks. J. Romero
Phillip Dixon
Hey Romero, my family and I live directly across the street of the proposed location for a combined 125 years. Seen highs and lows and this location in the park is beyond in need of revitalization. The trees in this very location are mostly infected with this weird disease that kind of looks like a fungus. The grass is litered with trash. How do I know, well I still live directly across the street. While you may have enjoyed the park in your past. We're still here and I jog it every other day. The park is not what it used to be and the neighborhood's population was greatly declining in the area over the years. The museum of science and industry recently was struggling to find funding and through a relatively small donation was willing to change its name. The park needs a major change to get back to it's glory days. When was the last time you came back? It's not the same at all. The center brings the possibility of a sustainable park that all ages can enjoy.
Mr. Dixon, the litter is there because the park district no longer picks it up. The trees don't get maintained, and, the Ash trees are under attack from the green ash borer. Still, ninety percent are perfectly healthy. That part of the park is used, and there are vacant lots, across the Street, that aren't. There are family picnics, reunions, Church groups that use the park, and, non organized users, too. Why you would suggest taking up the park for this, when there are sites, adjacent to the park, is beyond me.
Do you know where the Plaisance Hotel used to be? What's wrong with that site? Entire block of 60th St. How about the Gateway Garage site? 5600 block of Stony. For someone who has lived in the neighborhood for so many years, you don't seem very familiar with it. What you are seeing is park land being taken away from the people, while U of C sites sit vacant. This is just wrong.
Phillip Dixon-
Perhaps you didn't bother to read my comment before you wrote your reply.
"I grew up next to Jackson Park and have continuously used it regularly and frequently to this day."
Jackson Park is already a sustainable beautiful public urban nature park. It will continue to be sustainable as long as the OPC tower & 400+ car garage is built in a more appropriate location rather than in the park, perhaps across the street.
I will say though that the city/park district could modify all access points to Jackson Park to make them more pedestrian friendly. That would be the least adverse & most cost effective improvement.
I am with you, Phillip. Jackson Park (JP) needs lots of help!
A major intervention like OPC in JP is an opportunity that it is unconscionable to block. Otherwise, where is the investment going to come from to prevent the slow further deterioration of JP?
I moved to Hyde Park in 1975 from France. Hyde Park and Chicago are my adopted home. We have raised three children here, with the help of the public schools and the Lab School. I have had a routine of walking, jogging or biking most days. It's 44 years x 200 trips per year (at least) or about 8800 times. I stated in an earlier comment that I have used Jackson Park infrequently (relatively, maybe 100 trips). The reason is the poor condition of the park. I usually bike north from Hyde Park along the lakefront. Most sections of Jackson Park are not competitive with going north. Wooded Island with the Japanese garden is the best part of Jackson Park (and is on par with the nearby Point). OPC would not touch or deface that area at all.
On my last bike ride in Jackson Park (about two weeks ago), I encountered many large potholes in the paved paths, large pools of water, a huge dead tree that had fallen on the path, making it impassable. Luckily, my bike is a mountain bike that has allowed me to handle the dangers of the paths in Jackson Park. For a biker, Jackson Park feels like an obstacle course! On that bike ride, I also saw many plastic bottles and other containers abandoned near the water. Some people who use Jackson Park do not care, and the Park District and volunteers seem to rarely clean up there.
On my 100 trips, I usually saw at most about 6-12 people/bikers In Jackson Park. I usually bike in the afternoons for an hour and a half. Estimate that my 12 encounters (over-estimate) in 1.5 hours are typical of the use of Jackson Park from 6AM to 10PM: 16 hours. Thus, Jackson Park has 120 visitors per day. Compared to the population of Hyde Park, Kenwood, Woodlawn and South Shore (about 120,000 people?), this is maybe .1% per day of the nearby population—very small! A destination park of course should draw more than from these neighborhoods. If we just get .1% of the existing market of 57 million people who visit Chicago each year that's .001 x 57,000,000 = 57,000 visits thus 57,000/300= 190 people per day. I assume January and February weather are too much for most people including me! With OPC we should do much better than 190 (190 already beats my casual head count of 120).
OPC would greatly help move Jackson Park to a "destination status". A great Jackson Park could help solidify Chicago's status as a world-class city. Let us make no small plans. The status quo is no plan at all! Maybe OPC would become an icon of Chicago like the Eifel Tower is for Paris. (By the way, there was a lot of opposition to the Eifel Tower being built: a steel structure that would deface Paris! But that is another topic!)
I would love a great restaurant near OPC like "Le Pavillon Montsouris" in Parc Montsouris in Paris: a branch of our Hyde Park "La Petite Folie"? What about a music venue for our local jazz and blues artists, for gospel singers, etc. I would love a great bookstore (a branch of the Coop Bookstore?). Those amenities will help make JP a destination.
Also, I will repeat my earlier comment that Cornell Drive should be replaced with new parkland (The OPC plan). It duplicates Lake Shore Drive South and Stony Island. Even at the crosswalk that I usually use just west of the northern part of Wooded Island I feel intimidated whether on foot or on bike by the fast moving cars that barrel down Cornell Drive. By the time I have crossed half or two thirds of Cornell Drive a car has arrived as an immediate threat! There are no traffic lights at that crosswalk. When Cornell Drive was originally built, there were no powerful cars like the ones of today, in particular the highly polluting SUVs, that can go from 0 to 60 miles an hour in about 10 seconds. A park is not a place for a four-lane highway like Cornell Drive.
Funny, I didn't see any of what you describe on October 26 when we were tying ribbons on all the endangered trees and walking around on the grass. Mr. Dixon must be looking at the park with OPC colored glasses ?
Speaking of disease and fungus, should his toes ever get infected with a fungus, or he become infected with any kind of weird disease, my I suggest to Mr. Dixon the recommended treatment is not to cut them off his toes or commit suicide.
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