Children's museum plan has adults trading barbs

Nestled between Lake Michigan and downtown skyscrapers, Grant Park is the crown jewel of Chicago's lakefront -- a mile-long ribbon of green that draws local residents and tourists alike.

It's where nearby resident Peggy Figiel brings her 4- and 7-year-old sons almost every day to run, swing and bicycle in a small playground at the north end of the park. And where people from all over the world stroll among mature trees and landscaped gardens.

But a proposal that would bring even more people to the park -- a new $100 million Chicago Children's Museum near the playground -- has erupted in controversy, pitting the mayor against a rookie alderman, powerful and wealthy benefactors against local residents.

Neighbors say the public park is no place for a private pay-for-entry museum and argue its open space should be protected, citing 1836 language that declares the area should remain "forever open clear and free."

"It's a huge loss of park space," Figiel said recently as her sons played nearby. "The question is why give up protected park space? People come from all over the city to Grant Park and they play in this playground."

Supporters say a museum for small children is a good use of public land, and that it would not affect the park because the structure would be mostly underground. They also say moving the museum from its current location at Navy Pier would allow it to expand and put it closer to public transportation and more affordable parking.

"The location is certainly premiere," said Jennifer Farrington, the museum's chief operating officer. "Being at the center of the city with good access to public transportation is very practical. We feel from a philosophical standpoint it also allows us to literally be at the center of the city alongside the other great cultural institutions and elevate the position that we think children should have."

But as the dispute heats up, it's taken on a nasty tone.

Mayor Richard Daley has lashed out at opponents -- including Alderman Brendan Reilly, whose district includes Grant Park -- implying they don't want kids and minorities there and are trying to claim a city park as their own.

"You mean you don't want children from the city in Grant Park?" the mayor said earlier this month when reporters asked about the campaign against the museum. "Why? Are they black? Are they white? Are they Hispanic? Are they poor? You don't want children? We have children in Grant Park all the time."

Richard Ward, president of the New Eastside Association of Residents, which represents about 12,000 people, said Daley's accusations are "diverting from the issue of the openness. We very jealousy guard that openness."

Meanwhile, some opponents have accused museum officials, including billionaire board chairman Jean "Gigi" Pritzker Pucker, of exerting undue influence with the city.

"No doubt she would enjoy having the museum next door to one of her family's other prominent Chicago landmarks, Millennium Park's Jay Pritzker Pavilion," wrote Cate Plys, a columnist at the local Web site beachwoodreporter.com. "Perhaps the real narrative here is: well-connected institution and its ultrawealthy backers versus anyone who stands in their way."

Pritzker Pucker, whose late father founded the Hyatt Hotel chain, did not immediately return phone messages seeking comment. Schools and libraries in the Chicago area bear the Pritzker name, as does the Frank Gehry-designed music pavilion at Millennium Park.

Reilly said a lawsuit certainly would follow if the city council approves the museum in Grant Park.

"This is not about the Children's Museum," he said. "It's not about race. It's not about children. I want to make sure Grant Park is here for future generations of children from every corner of the city."

But experts say the city's dedication to preserving the park's open space and public areas has been inconsistent. Some private institutions, such as the Field Museum, were denied, but other private buildings, including the Art Institute, built for the 1893 World's Fair, were allowed.

The city's development choices over the years have been murky, said Dominic Pacyga, a history professor at Columbia College in Chicago, but "the courts really have held up that it should be forever free and clear."

Reilly and Daley agree on one thing: The park belongs to everyone in the city.

"To me when you bring children from all racial backgrounds together at the age of three, four, five, six, seven years old, many people don't have this opportunity in America, but we can do this," Daley said.

But Reilly said allowing a private institution to build in the park takes something away from the public and sets a bad precedent.

"If we open a door to this project, I think the city needs to be prepared to say 'yes' to many other wonderful institutions that want to claim their own piece of Grant Park," he said. "I think that by saying 'no' today, as we have for 150 years, it allows us to keep saying 'no' for eons."