Greetings, all!

Mayor-elect Lightfoot wants your ideas

Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot and her transition team are soliciting citizen ideas for a better Chicago.  JPW has learned that this input is taken seriously, responses are reviewed, and numbers tallied.  If you have not already submitted your views about critical issues facing us –the current proposal for the Obama Presidential Center, the costly and problematic road changes, the proposal for an expanded, PGA-level golf course in Jackson  and South Shore Parks –  please be sure to do so as soon as possible.

Some possibilities:

· In the Good Governance section, ask Mayor-elect Lightfoot to institute a legitimate community review of the proposals for the OPC, road changes, and golf course expansion and merger; note that to date “community input” has been limited and manipulated; ask her to ensure that the federal review process is careful and complete, without cutting corners or by-passing key steps.

· In the Environment section, question what the impact of the proposed OPC and its campus would be on the existing character of Jackson Park, its natural features, and its renowned birds; ask whether it makes sense to cut down hundreds of existing mature trees for the OPC campus, and thousands more for the proposed “professional level” golf course; ask for a careful analysis of the impact of the OPC on the surrounding neighborhoods as well as on Jackson Park.

·In the Transportation section, note your concerns about the likely adverse impacts of the proposed road changes throughout the South Side; ask for a complete review of the unanswered questions about the feasibility of the CDOT traffic plan; point out that the taxpayer funds that would be used for this discretionary set of road changes could be better used for many other projects in the Chicago area.

As a recent Sun-Times editorial noted:  “Lori Lightfoot campaigned on this. She argued as a candidate for mayor that ordinary Chicagoans — the people of the neighborhoods most likely to gain or be hurt — should have a greater say in the development of megaprojects like the Obama Presidential Center, “The 78” and Lincoln Yards.”   Have your say now.

New administration, new faces, new possibilities?

Each new Mayor brings in new faces in key positions.  Three top officials have been key to aggressively moving ahead Rahm Emanuel’s plans for the OPC, road changes, and golf course expansion:

· David Reifman, head of the Department of Planning and Development, ensured that the OPC and CDOT road proposals would experience smooth sailing at both the City Plan Commission and City Council, no questions asked, and also has contributed a key staffer to “manage” the federal review process that has proven opaque, rushed, and controversial;

· Rebekah Scheinfeld, CDOT Commissioner,  ensured that the CDOT would develop a roads plan narrowly focused to accommodate the Obama Foundation’s desire to close parts of Cornell Drive and the Midway Plaisance, and also contributed a key staffer to help “manage” the federal review process.

· Michael Kelly, Park District CEO, falls into a different category.  The Park District is nominally an independent agency, although all members of the Park District’s Board of Commissioners are nominated by the Mayor and its actual independence is questionable.  Kelly’s role in the flawed process of planning for Jackson Park has been outsized as well, and Emanuel thinks highly of him for it:  “There’s not a single thing I’ve asked him to do that doesn’t get done.”

JPW will be among those watching to see Mayor Lightfoot’s appointments after she is officially in office.  Perhaps along with some new faces there may be new openness and new views in some key positions.  That would be warmly welcomed.

Golf Course Project Gets Renewed Critical Attention

While formal plans for the golf course expansion have yet to be finalized for submission to the Plan Commission or other official review and while the cost problems mount, the project continues to prompt controversy.  As reported in the Herald, the debate at the First Unitarian Church of Hyde Park’s April 28 forum about the golf course proposal evidenced the strong feelings on each side.  A Tribune editorial, headlined “Give Chicagoans more details about the planned Tiger Woods golf course,” better captured the prevailing sense of frustration about the lack of straight answers and full information from the Park District and the Chicago Parks Golf Alliance. 

For additional useful information and perspectives on the options for improving the golf courses, we recommend two recent on-line commentaries by Bill Daniels, Jackson Park golfer and golf industry expert:   an  entertaining  summary of 9 holes in Tiger’s plan, and a comparison of Tiger’s plan with one drawn up earlier by renowned course architect Tom Doak (commissioned by the University of Chicago for its bid to the Obama Foundation, but made public only recently by the POP lawsuit)

Update on  POP lawsuit.

On May 3 Protect Our Parks submitted its Motion for Summary Judgment to Federal Judge John R. Blakey.  It asks the court to rule in POP’s favor and require the Obama Center to be relocated to another South Side location. The City and Park District also submitted their joint Motion for Summary Judgment, asking the court to rule in their favor. 

There is tight schedule for the subsequent steps in the case:

·   May 17 for the responses to these motions;

·   May 24 for the replies to those responses; and

·   May 30 for a hearing on the motions.

We will continue to report on progress in this important case, raising as it does key questions concerning the responsible safeguarding of invaluable public assets such as Jackson Park.

Sad news on Darrow Bridge

According to an April 24 article in the Hyde Park Herald (not available on-line), renovation work on the much loved – and much needed – Darrow Bridge continues to lag. The Darrow Bridge is the sole link between the west and east sides of Jackson Park for the six-block-long stretch from 57^th Street to Hayes Drive.  It has been closed to pedestrian traffic since 2015, leading to far less utilization of significant parts of the northeast segment of the Park. 

Greetings, all:

IMPORTANT CORRECTION!

In the Jackson Park Watch Update sent out yesterday, we erroneously stated that 5th Ward Alderman Leslie Hairston, who has recently announced her support for a Community Benefits Agreement, had been re-elected.  However, as of this moment, the 5^th Ward  race has not yet been resolved, and William Calloway (who is a long-time supporter of the CBA initiative) is challenging the vote count.

We apologize for the error.

Brenda Nelms and Margaret Schmid
co-president, Jackson Park Watch
jw

Greetings, all!

Mayor-elect Lightfoot seeks citizen input,  shows openness on key issues

In a welcome change of pace, Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot is asking Chicagoans for ideas!  We urge you all to share your suggestions, questions, and concerns, in particular in relationship to the proposed Obama Presidential Center, the costly related road changes, and the proposal to merge and expand the Jackson Park and South Shore golf courses.   

Your ideas will matter as the Mayor-elect is already aware of the issues affecting Jackson Park. In another major change of mayoral tone, the day after her historic win, Lightfoot stated that she looked forward “to meeting with both sides, or multiple sides, to sit down and understand the nuances that have not been reported in the media” in relationship to the OPC.  

In a subsequent interview with the Sun-Times, Lightfoot reiterated her long-stated support for a Community Benefits Agreement that would provide for affordable housing, job training and local hiring in conjunction with the OPC development.  In an additional boost for the CBA, recently re-elected 5^th Ward Alderman Leslie Hairston now says she supports a CBA and newly elected 20^th Ward Alderman Jeanette Taylor has long been a CBA supporter.

On yet another related issue, Lightfoot also noted in the same interview that she “not wild about” the proposed golf course merger, saying “It feels like it’s not a well-thought-out-plan.”  

Golf Course forum set for April 28

Community attention to the golf course merger/expansion proposal continues to be essential. The engineering firm hired by the Park District in January is proceeding with the development of design and bid documents for the golf course expansion/merger project, even though at the same time top Park District officials have stated that no construction work on the golf course project will occur this summer.  

On Sunday, April 28, between 11:45 am and 1 pm, the First Unitarian Church (5650 S. Woodlawn Ave.) will host a forum presenting the cases FOR and AGAINST creating a professional golf course in Jackson and South Shore Parks. The forum follows the regular morning church service and is open to the public.  We hope many of you will want to attend.

Al Debonnett, Chair of the Jackson Park Golf and Community Leadership Alliance, will present the case FOR the pro golf course.  Anne Holcomb, Chair of ETHOS (Environment, Transportation, Health and Open Space), a non-traditional block club with about 90 members from Southeast-side neighborhoods, will present the case AGAINST the pro golf course.  Following a 15-minute presentation by each side, each presenter will be able to ask three questions regarding the other’s presentation.  After that the forum will be opened to questions from the audience.  

Discovery, depositions taking place in POP lawsuit

Despite the obstacles created by the City’s stable of lawyers, documents have been released to the Protect Our Parks legal team through the discovery process and depositions have been occurring as the POP lawsuit progresses.  While POP supports having the Obama Presidential Center on Chicago’s South Side, it is contesting the City’s decision to allow it to be sited in Jackson Park.

As we have previously reported, Federal Judge John R. Blakey set April 19 as the close of discovery, a very tight timeline.  He set an equally demanding schedule for the next steps in this case:

• May 3 as the date for the parties to submit motions for summary judgment, each asking the Judge to rule in its favor
• May 17 as the date for the responses to these motions;
• May 24 for the replies to those responses; and
• May 30 for a hearing on the motions.

We will continue to report on progress in this important case, raising as it does key questions concerning the responsible safeguarding of invaluable public assets such as Jackson Park.

PayPal new way to support JPW  

As always, we welcome your contributions.  You can now contribute in three ways:

• You can contribute via PayPal here.  You will have the option of using a PayPal account or using your credit/debit card. 
• You can contribute via checks made out to Jackson Park Watch and sent to directly to Jackson Park Watch, P.O. Box 15302, Chicago 60615. 
• You can contribute from donor-directed funds via checks sent to our fiscal sponsor Friends of the Parks at FOTP, 17 N. State St., Suite 1450, Chicago 60602.  Such checks should be made out to FOTP with a note stating they are intended for Jackson Park Watch. 

Regardless of the payment method, you will receive an acknowledgement and receipt from JPW.

We thank you!

Brenda Nelms and Margaret Schmid
Co-presidents, Jackson Park Watch
www.jacksonparkwatch.org
jacksonparkwatch@gmail.com

Greetings, all!

There have been a variety of interesting developments.  We note them below.   

Major grant to Protect Our Parks

Of great interest is the $100,000 grant given to Protect Our Parks by the Reva and David Logan Foundation to help fund its lawsuit against the City of Chicago and Chicago Park District.  That lawsuit concerns the siting of the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park.  The fact that this was described as an “initial” grant makes it even more significant.

In the statement announcing the grant, Logan Foundation board chairman Richard Logan commented “We believe that this ‘land grab’ is both legally and morally wrong, and that the City of Chicago, the Obama Foundation and their partners need to reconsider their choice of location for this project.  There are so many sites in the city that could benefit from the kudos, the opportunities for employment and the neighborhood regeneration without taking public land and destroying historic city parklands.”

The Logan Foundation funded the construction of the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago (915 E. 60^th St.)  The architects who designed the Logan Center, Tod Williams and Billie Tsein, were chosen by the Obama Foundation to design the OPC.

POP lawsuit progresses

Despite prodding by federal Judge John R. Blakey, wrangling between the Protect Our Parks’ small legal team and the City’s stable of lawyers about the release of documents and the taking of depositions continues as the City has employed the classic technique of “running out the clock” on the period allowed for discovery.  In the last week, however, the City has produced several sets of documents, now under review. 

JPW is assisting with document review.  One fun find:  the City and Obama Foundation have repeatedly asserted that Cornell Drive was originally designed by Olmsted as a “bridle path,” with the implication that it was narrow and the pace slow. To the contrary, in the Sam Schwartz Engineering traffic studies conducted for the Obama Foundation in 2015, we found this: “The streets within the park were originally designed to allow horse and buggies to easily traverse through them. This design provided excess space for modern vehicles, which has led to vehicles using these streets to speed through the park.”

Obama Foundation documents reviewed

Because of the discovery requirements set forth by Judge Blakey, the Obama Foundation has also released a new set of documents relating to its selection of the Jackson Park site under the not-too-subtle banner of “Jackson Park: The Right Choice.”

We encourage you to take a look at the 2014 analysis of the proposals received by the Obama Foundation as it ramped up preparations for the Obama Presidential Center (then Library).  Even more interesting is the 2016 analysis by U3Advisors of the economic impact, risks, and opportunities of locating the OPC in either Washington Park or Jackson Park/Woodlawn. 

Both analyses demonstrated that the Washington Park location was at least as favorable as the Jackson Park/Woodlawn location.  They also make it clear that one decisive difference was the relative risk and difficulty of the task:  The Jackson Park location was the safe choice, with well-established partner organizations ready to help out (MSI, Apostolic Church of God, for example, in addition to the University).  On the other hand, while the Washington Park location was considerably more aligned with the Obama Foundation’s claim to be engaged in community development and transformation, no such partner organizations were already on hand and having to serve as the main engine of change single-handedly posed a far more difficult set of challenges. One might suggest that, rather than the “right” choice, Jackson Park was the “safe” choice.

Also of interest is the economic impact study  completed in 2016 but now released in full for the first time.  Relying on projections of visits to the OPC as well as potential developments and events that may or may not materialize, it can best be considered aspirational.

Interesting commentary

For those inclined to more reading and a more measured assessment, we recommend the fine Next City commentary on the likely impacts of the Obama Presidential Center on Chicago’s South Side.  It takes a somewhat new and very useful look at the voices and issues involved.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATIONS!

Thanks to all who have recently offered financial support.  As always, we welcome your contributions.  Checks made out to Jackson Park Watch can be sent to directly to Jackson Park Watch, P.O. Box 15302, Chicago 60615.  Checks from donor-directed funds should be sent to our fiscal sponsor Friends of the Parks at FOTP, 17 N. State St., Suite 1450, Chicago 60602.  Such checks should be made out to FOTP with a note stating they are intended for Jackson Park Watch. 

As always, we thank you.

Brenda Nelms and Margaret Schmid
Co-presidents, Jackson Park Watch
www.jacksonparkwatch.org
jacksonparkwatch@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/jacksonparkwatch

JACKSON PARK WATCH UPDATE – March 12, 2019

Greetings, all:   

City stonewalling in Protect Our Parks lawsuit?

The Protect Our Parks lawsuit hearing originally set for Thursday, March 7, was cancelled as POP’s attorney continued to exchange communications with the City and the Park District while pushing for discovery documents that Judge John R. Blakey has directed them to produce. Protect Our Parks has sued the City and Chicago Park District over the siting of the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park.  POP supports siting the OPC on Chicago’s south side, but not in a public park. 

At the February 27 hearing, Judge John R. Blakey had granted most of the POP’s requests related to discovery.  The City was directed to produce documents related to projected costs of the OPC, to traffic and environmental analyses, and to an analysis of the financial benefits to the Obama Foundation deriving from the OPC. Over objections from the City, Judge Blakey also told the defendants to identify a City official to be deposed by the plaintiffs with regard to the discovery documents.  He also left open the possibility of additional depositions in the future.  

To date the City has not produced any documents and continues to insist that all POP requests are unreasonable, beyond the scope of what the Judge directed, immaterial and irrelevant, and the like.  Likewise, the City is stonewalling POP’s request to name an official to be deposed. The Park District positions echo whatever the City says.

Stonewalling is a classic tactic, especially in a David v. Goliath situation such as this.  We might expect that the City will withhold documents until the last possible minute and will then deliver them all at once in a massive data dump, making it extremely difficult for the receiving legal team to review them in a timely manner.  Resistance to the court-approved deposition is also par for the course. 

We will continue to follow the situation and will keep you posted.  In the meantime, Judge Blakey has not changed the previously set date of April 19 for the close of discovery, a very tight timeline in any case.  Hearings in the lawsuit are now scheduled through May.

Push for OPC-linked Community Benefits Agreement advances

As reported in the Sun-Times, voters in parts of the 5^th and 20^th wards on Chicago’s South Side voted overwhelmingly on February 26 for a referendum to support a community benefits agreement in connection with the Obama Presidential Center.  The non-binding measure backed by close to 90% of the votes cast calls for a CBA along with a 30 percent set-aside for affordable housing, a property tax freeze, and funding for local jobs and affordable housing in the area surrounding the planned OPC.

While 5^th ward incumbent alderman Leslie Hairston does not support a CBA, William Calloway, her opponent in the April 2 run-off, does.  Both of the two finalists in the aldermanic election runoff in the 20^th ward, Jeanette Taylor and Nicole Johnson, support a CBA.

Additionally, both finalists in the hotly contested race for Chicago’s next mayor, Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle, support a CBA.  Further, the Chicago Tribune editorialized in support of a CBA on March 1.

We’ll see whether other hard and fast positions start to change in the coming weeks and months.  As usual, stay tuned.

Obama’s self-curated story

Following up on the recent article in the New York Times examining the implications of the fact that the OPC would not be a presidential library, NPR’s On the Media series last week devoted an 18-minute segment to the further implications of this precedent-setting separation of the OPC from the National Archives Research Administration (NARA) – what it could mean for future museum-goers, future historians of the Obama presidency, access to unbiased accounts of presidential administrations, and future presidential museums (think Trump). We recommend it.

Interviews with Tim Naftali, former director of the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, and Louise Bernard, director of the OPC museum, highlight the challenges of having the OPC single-handedly curate its own story.  Naftali points out that numerous existing presidential museums, operated in tandem with NARA-managed libraries, have moved beyond focusing only on positives to examine controversial issues such as the internment of Japanese-Americans under FDR, Harry Truman’s decision to drop the hydrogen bomb on Hiroshima, and the Vietnam War under LBJ, raising questions as to whether the self-curated Obama Museum would discuss such issues as drone strikes and the “red line in the sand” edict to Syria.  Given the Obama Foundation’s lack of transparency on so many issues, Louise Bernard’s polished assurances may not seem reassuring. 

Update readers will recall that the documentary archives of the Obama administration, rather than being housed at the Obama Presidential Center and overseen there by NARA, will be held by NARA elsewhere, most likely in Kansas.  In a move hailed by some as reflecting a general trend toward electronic communications of all sorts, the Obama documents will be digitized at the Obama Foundation’s expense and made available online free of charge. Not incidentally, the decision to abandon the original plan for a customary presidential library, one subject to NARA regulations, saved the Obama Foundation significant amounts of money.

Intriguing suggestion

At a time when plans for the OPC are stuck in gridlock due to community resistance, the POP lawsuit, and the required federal reviews, a creative suggestion for breaking the deadlock was put forth in a recent letter to the Chicago Tribune: rename the Park for former President Obama; put up an Obama statue in the Park; relocate the OPC to the near neighborhood but off of public parkland; and let construction begin.  Kudos for out-of-the-box thinking on this!  We need more.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATIONS!

Thanks to all who have recently offered financial support.  As always, we welcome your support.  Checks made out to Jackson Park Watch can be sent to Jackson Park Watch, P.O. Box 15302, Chicago 60615.  Checks from funds that need to be processed by our fiscal sponsor Friends of the Parks can be sent to FOTP, 17 N. State St., Suite 1450, Chicago 60602.  The checks should be made out to FOTP with a note indicating they are intended for Jackson Park Watch. 

As always, we thank you.

Brenda Nelms and Margaret Schmid
Co-presidents, Jackson Park Watch
jacksonparkwatch@gmail.com

Greetings, all.   

Today’s Protect Our Parks federal court hearing – City drags feet again, Judge to “micro-manage” the discovery process as a result

Today was the latest federal court hearing in the David v. Goliath saga of the small non-profit Protect Our Parks’ lawsuit against the City and Park District.  The lawsuit challenges the siting of the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park.

Today’s hearing focused on issues related to discovery, that is, the kinds and amounts of information that the City and the Obama Foundation will have to turn over to POP as a part of the case.  This is a key issue: back-room decision making and the absence of meaningful community input have been hallmarks of the process of siting the OPC in Jackson Park from the beginning.  This includes the related plans to close and realign roads at taxpayer expense, construct a 235-foot  museum tower, clear-cut the site, and obliterate all traces of the current Olmsted design.  The discovery process in the POP lawsuit is an important chance for the public to get information on just what has occurred.

Judge John R. Blakey began by questioning both POP and the City attorneys about the status of discovery.  It was readily apparent that the City, which has not yet produced any documents beyond those that are already publicly available, was once again dragging its feet.  Saying “We will have discovery,” Judge Blakey ultimately directed the City to produce a variety of documents including those concerning projected costs to the city and state of the proposed OPC plans and road changes; traffic and environmental analyses; and an analysis of the financial benefits to the Obama Foundation of the proposed OPC plans. He directed the City to identify an official  to be deposed by POP concerning those documents, leaving open the possibility of additional depositions later on.

Judge Blakey concluded this section of the hearing by setting April 19 as the close of discovery, a very tight timeline.  He went on to set an equally demanding schedule for the next steps in this case:

• May 3 as the date for the parties to submit motions for summary judgment, each asking the Judge to rule in its favor
• May 17 as the date for the responses to these motions;
• May 24 for the replies to those responses; and
• May 30 for a hearing on the motions.

As the hearing seemed to be drawing to a close, the City’s outside attorney from the firm Mayer Brown raised a new round of questions as to what documents the City was to produce.  After a brief exchange with the attorney, Judge Blakey announced “I will have to micro-manage your discovery,” and set another hearing for next Thursday, March 7, at 11 a.m. to review progress on discovery.

Other top news:

Also today, Preservation Chicago released its 2019 Chicago 7 Most Endangered List, identifying the most threatened historic buildings and sites in the city.

For the third year in a row, Jackson Park, the South Shore Cultural Center, and the Midway Plaisance were ranked in first place, with plans for the Obama Presidential Center and a PGA-style golf course judged to be the current most significant threat to historic buildings and landscapes in Chicago.  Presentation Chicago specifically noted that parceling off these public lands for private use would have devastating impacts on these historic sites and landscapes and would establish extremely negative precedents.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATIONS!

Thanks to all who have recently offered financial support.  We continue to welcome your donations.  Checks made out to Jackson Park Watch can be sent to Jackson Park Watch, P.O. Box 15302, Chicago 60615.  Donations that need to be funneled through our fiscal sponsor Friends of the Parks can be sent to FOTP, 17 N. State St., Suite 1450, Chicago 60602, with a note indicating they are intended for Jackson Park Watch.

We thank you.

Brenda Nelms and Margaret Schmid
Co-presidents, Jackson Park Watch
www.jacksonparkwatch.org
jacksonparkwatch@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/jacksonparkwatch

Greetings, all.  

Another POP hearing this Wednesday- stay tuned!

This Wednesday, February 27, at 10:30 a.m., Federal Judge John R. Blakey will preside over another hearing in the Protect Our Parks lawsuit against the City and Park District. The suit challenges the siting of the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park.

Why is this Wednesday’s hearing important? Following Judge Blakey’s ruling last week that POP has standing and is entitled to bring its case to federal court, the next key issue is how much information the City will be forced to reveal to POP in order for POP to make its case. The City has consistently argued against being required to share such internal information, and in fact not long ago argued that the Judge should make his decision based solely on three public documents – the Planned Development Ordinance adopted in May 2018, the OPC Ordinance in October 2018, and the yet-to-signed Use Agreement appended to the OPC Ordinance. While Judge Blakey did not buy the City’s argument, his decision on the contested issue of “discovery” this Wednesday will determine how much information on a host of issues the City will be required to share.

The extremely contentious nature of the “discovery” issue, one that continues to be rooted in the City’s habits of secrecy and opaqueness, has been demonstrated once again. The parties were directed by Judge Blakey to confer and submit a single joint report on what information the City would provide to POP. POP had streamlined its requests for information, but the City remained adamant. As a result, separate reports were submitted to the Judge. The Judge has now rejected them both, directing the parties to submit a single joint report by 5 pm tomorrow.

Wednesday’s hearing will be a case management conference. Judge Blakey will rule on the disputes over discovery, will set a 45-day or longer period for finalizing discovery, and will also set a firm six-week schedule for the final briefings and ruling. A trial may follow.

On other matters

Judge Blakey’s ruling that the POP lawsuit could continue was followed by some incisive commentary on various aspects of the dispute:

City Lab, an on-line affilate of the Atlantic that covers urban issues worldwide, put the OPC project in the context of other land-use battles in New York, Toronto and Washington, all grounded in controversies and concern about public trust and the lack of governmental transparency in how economic development decisions are made.

The New York Times explored the background story and import of “The Obama Presidential Library That Isn’t.”

The Tribune’s architecture critic Blair Kamin noted that the issue of using lakefront parkland is always problematic and that “‘No Drama Obama’ is in a legal box of his own making.”

The Sun-Times, editorializing on “Rahm’s last big favor for the Obama Presidential Center,” noted that “we have never liked this feeling that the fix is in.”

THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATIONS!

We appreciate all those who have offered financial support in recent weeks. This kind of work is intensive and expensive since it requires frequent consults with our legal counsel, and thus we continue to welcome (and in fact need) additional financial support. Checks made out to Jackson Park Watch can be sent to Jackson Park Watch, P.O. Box 15302, Chicago 60615.

We thank you.

Brenda Nelms and Margaret Schmid
Co-presidents, Jackson Park Watch
www.jacksonparkwatch.org
jacksonparkwatch@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/jacksonparkwatch

Greetings, all.  

Judge rules against City’s motion for dismissal of POP lawsuit

Today was the long-awaited federal court ruling on the motion to dismiss the Protect Our Parks lawsuit against the City and the Chicago Park District. The POP lawsuit challenges the siting of the Obama Presidential Center in historic Jackson Park. POP strongly supports a South Side location for the OPC, but opposes a site in a public park.

Federal Judge John R. Blakey, who is hearing the case, had the options of dismissing the suit for lack of subject matter standing, or granting standing to POP on some or all of the charges and allowing the suit to continue with further discovery (that is, court-supervised gathering of evidence for POP’s use).

Fortunately, Judge Blakey chose to grant standing to the majority of the charges filed by Protect Our Parks, meaning that the lawsuit can continue. He also allowed POP to engage in further discovery. At the case management conference already set for February 27, Judge Blakey will rule on any discovery disputes, set a 45-day period for finalizing discovery, and also set a firm six-week schedule for the final briefings and ruling; a trial may follow.

JPW is pleased with Judge Blakey’s ruling today for two major reasons:

• The rulings will allow the full range of issues included in this complex and controversial case to be aired, including:
  • alleged denial of due process related to this highly controversial grant of invaluable historic public parkland to a private entity;
  • the issues raised in the lawsuit that allege a failure by the Defendants to comply with a host of statutes;

• • the “bait-and switch” involved in converting the Obama Presidential Library to a Presidential Center, altering the site, and insisting on road closures and realignments;
  • the requirement that taxpayers foot an unspecified part of the bill, not only for roadwork, but also for uncapped costs of environmental remediation work related to OPC construction.
• Importantly, the rulings send the message that public parkland cannot readily be conveyed to a private entity by Chicago City Council legislative fiat without judicial review and scrutiny.

Judge Blakey denied POP standing on two points. First was POP’s claim related to aesthetic and environmental harm to Jackson Park, which Blakey denied on the grounds that POP did not present any plaintiffs who use the Park and alleged such personal harm. Second, Blakey denied POP’s claim that the Plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights would be violated if municipal funds were used to support possible political activities with which they might disagree, ruling that this claim was “unripe” – i.e., premature – but might be resurrected at a later date.

For more information, you can read Judge Blakey’s ruling and early media coverage in the Tribune .

Looking ahead to other fronts

At some point, the federal Section 106/NEPA reviews of the OPC/road plans will resume. We continue to believe that the current plans negatively affect Jackson Park and the surrounding communities. We look to those federal reviews as another venue to address the adverse impacts of those plans on the historic fabric of the park and on the social, economic, and ecological condition of the park and its surrounding communities, and we will continue to participate actively in the federal reviews to develop solutions to those problems.

We also note that the upcoming City elections will provide an opportunity for a new Mayor and new City Council to revisit the key problematic features embedded in the OPC ordinance proposed by Mayor Emanuel and rubber-stamped by the current City Council.

WHAT WAS MISSING FROM OUR LAST UPDATE?

Yes, we are in need of funds! If you would like to support JPW’s efforts, checks made out to Jackson Park Watch can be sent to Jackson Park Watch, P.O. Box 15302, Chicago 60615. Checks that need to be funneled through our fiscal sponsor Friends of the Parks can be sent to FOTP, 17 N. State St., suite 1450, Chicago 60602, with a note indicating they are intended for Jackson Park Watch.

We thank you.

Brenda Nelms and Margaret Schmid
Co-presidents, Jackson Park Watch
www.jacksonparkwatch.org
jacksonparkwatch@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/jacksonparkwatch

Greetings, all.    

POP hearing intense, outcomes as yet unclear

The long-awaited hearing on the Protect Our Parks lawsuit against the City and Park District, challenging the siting of the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park, took place Thursday morning, February 14, at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse.  The courtroom was full, media representatives were in attendance, and Judge John Robert Blakey devoted a full hour to the case, focused first on the issue of “standing” (that is, do the issues POP has alleged belong in federal court) and second on the issue of “discovery” (that is, what documents does the City have to provide to POP to allow it to build evidence).

On standing

The City brought in outside counsel to argue vigorously that Protect Our Parks should be denied standing on a wide variety of counts and that the case should therefore be dismissed. In response POP reiterated why its charges merit federal review.  Judge Blakely then announced that he will issue a ruling on the issue of standing by Tuesday, February 19.  At that time he could deny standing and dismiss the case; he could grant standing and allow the case to proceed; or he could deny standing on some of the counts but let others stand, thus also allowing the case to proceed. Given the importance of many of the issues central to the case, we are cautiously optimistic that the judge will grant standing on at least some of the counts.

On discovery

As has been true with virtually all things related to the Obama Presidential Center from the beginning, the City is trying to cloak its actions in secrecy.  POP has asked for numerous documents and the City has produced only a very few.  At yesterday’s hearing, Judge Blakey asked POP to list the information it seeks, and asked the City to respond on each request.  In almost every instance, the City’s response was that the information requested is “categorically irrelevant” and “outside of the corners” of the case.  The City’s position is that the only documents that are relevant for deciding the suit are the Planned Development Ordinance, the OPC Ordinance of October 31 drafted by the Mayor and rubber-stamped by the City Council, and the Use Agreement appended to the OPC Ordinance.

(Importantly, the OPC Ordinance noted above consists largely of 93 “Whereas” clauses to justify approval of siting the OPC in Jackson Park. These statements are a mix of fact, fiction, falsehood, and undocumented promotional claims, yet the City’s position is that, because the ordinance was approved by the City Council, these are legislative findings of fact and must be given unfettered judicial deference.)

After this call and non-response, Judge Blakey ordered the parties to confer and try to come to agreement on which of POP’s requests for discovery would be honored, and to report the outcome to him by February 22.  He then set a hearing for February 27, at which point he will rule on the remaining disagreements, set a schedule for final discovery, and move the process forward.

Reports on the hearing have appeared in the Tribune, Hyde Park Herald, Sun-Times, and nationally via Associated Press.

On other matters

Golf Project Status Check

When the plan to merge and expand the South Shore and Jackson Park golf courses into a single PGA-level course was announced by Mayor Emanuel and Park District Superintendent Kelly in December 2016, they projected that construction on the project would begin in 2017.  That didn’t happen, so what is the schedule now?

Craig Bowen, a representative of  the Chicago Parks Golf Alliance, the quasi-private entity created by the Park District to make the golf course project a reality, announced at the February  meeting of the Jackson Park Advisory Council that all is well, ground will be broken this spring at the South Shore segment, local golfers will definitely be protected, and more.  The catch?  When asked for documentation of the plans, Bowen responded only that  “they will be available soon.”

To the contrary, however, Park District staff have since indicated that the only ground to be broken at South Shore this year will be for the a long-awaited new beach house  (perhaps in the summer, after plans have been completed and fully vetted by the community – yes, they are promising community input).  Beyond that, construction on the golf course project cannot proceed until the preparatory engineering and planning work by Smith Group JJR is completed, until the current and additional federal reviews are concluded, and until funds (private and public) are obtained for all aspects of the project.

Meanwhile, the key issues about the golf project – local access, loss of non-golf recreational features, high cost, funding sources – are laid out in a recent article in SwingU.com by Bill Daniels, golf industry expert and avid golfer (in Jackson Park as well as everywhere else).    Daniels notes the many financial, logistical and political obstacles that poke holes in the current CPGA plan, and envisions a more realistic possibility of renewing and improving  the courses in their current footprints for a tenth of the cost.  He promises to address that option in future articles.

The schedule and overall status of the golf project remain in flux.  We will track its course in future Updates.

The Saga of the SSCC     

A central issue of the golf course project is its impact on the role of the South Shore Cultural Center as a community center for arts and recreation.   An informative history of the SSCC can be found in the recent South Side Weekly.  “A Palace for the People” traces the story of what is now named South Shore Beach Park from its first incarnation as an exclusionary country club  through the community activism of the 1970s that saved the building from demolition and transformed it into a mecca for jazz concerts and other arts programming to its current status as a Park District events center in the crosshairs of new development.  Recommended reading.

Promontory Point on National Register

Update readers on Chicago’s South Side may remember the successful effort to “Save the Point” of some years ago.  One year ago, Promontory Point Park was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Now the Promontory Point Conversancy is planning to put a commemorative National Register plaque in the park.  For more information or to support the effort, go to www.promontorypoint.org.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!  PLEASE DONATE!

Having tallied up the tab for the intense work of the last two months, we need your support.  With the help of our legal counsel, we submitted the amicus curiae brief co-authored with Preservation Chicago, and we provided considerable technical assistance to the POP lawsuit. Please give generously. If you have questions, please feel free to direct them to JPW co-president and treasurer Margaret Schmid at jacksonparkwatch@gmail.com.

We thank you.

Brenda Nelms and Margaret Schmid
Co-presidents, Jackson Park Watch
www.jacksonparkwatch.org
jacksonparkwatch@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/jacksonparkwatch

Greetings, all.   

Despite all the distractions offered by cold weather and local and national politics, the myriad questions surrounding the controversial plans for the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park, along with all the related discretionary, tax-payer-funded roadwork, continue to be out there and in need of attention.

The federal review process appears to be on deep hold.  Nothing has happened since the September 17, 2018 meeting hosted by the National Park Service.  No more meetings are scheduled until “early 2019.”

The Protect Our Parks federal lawsuit, meanwhile, is alive and well.  The defendants, the City and the Chicago Park District, are doing everything possible to get the suit dismissed at the next hearing, February 14.  We continue to believe that the lawsuit raises key issues about the propriety of using historic public parkland for what is, in the end, a private venture, and hope that the POP charges will be given a full review.  To that end, we partnered with Preservation Chicago to submit a friend of the court brief to make two points:  first, that the argument put forth by the City and Park District (and Obama Foundation) that there is a Chicago tradition of building museums in public parks is factually inaccurate; second, that the status of the eleven museums now situated in Chicago parks is not threatened by the POP challenge to the OPC.

You can review the contents of the Preservation Chicago/JPW brief plus two other important briefs supporting the POP suit in this good summary by The Cultural Landscape Foundation.  The full texts of the briefs are accessible via the JPW website.

You may also enjoy the coverage of the lawsuit in the recent issue of the Chicago Reader.

DONATE!

Even if the lawsuit were to be dismissed on February 14, the federal review process is far from over and key issues remain to be resolved.  We are in need of funds to continue our work. Checks made out to Jackson Park Watch can be sent to Jackson Park Watch, P.O. Box 15302, Chicago 60615.

We thank you.

Brenda Nelms and Margaret Schmid
Co-presidents, Jackson Park Watch
www.jacksonparkwatch.org
jacksonparkwatch@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/jacksonparkwatch