CHICAGO | Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

[the urban politician]

^ I don't think it's unreasonable to wait a few days for aftermath-type discussions?

Just my 2 cents

[GregBear24]

If I hear "make no small plans" or "the city that works" ever again, I may throw up. When has this city done anything innovative and world-class in the past half-century? Can't think of anything. Even when a complete gift drops into our laps, our city manages to screw it up. Don't care about loopholes in the laws, when something good comes around you need to just make it happen. Pathetic. What's next? Someone offers to donate $10 billion for mass transit and some group of turd sniffers sues? This situation is so f'n weak. Rant finished.

[J_M_Tungsten]

"A parking lot for all of eternity to enjoy"

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by GregBear24

If I hear "make no small plans" or "the city that works" ever again, I may throw up. When has this city done anything innovative and world-class in the past half-century? Can't think of anything.

Millennium Park, the new Riverwalk, rerouting LSD and creating the museum campus, the Deep Tunnel Project (not sexy, but look it up), ongoing O'Hare expansion (including rerouting runways while still keeping the airport active), Navy Pier (original and current redo), bringing a major airport (Midway) back from the brink and into a successful modern airfield, the Art Institute Expansion (it was a damn big one), construction of the Museum of Contemporary Art, creating train routes to its major airports, rounds out bigger ones, and these don't include the huge amount of private development still going on. Hopefully in 20 years we can look back and add CREATE to this list.

[urbanpln]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Millennium Park, the new Riverwalk, rerouting LSD and creating the museum campus, the Deep Tunnel Project (not sexy, but look it up), ongoing O'Hare expansion (including rerouting runways while still keeping the airport active), Navy Pier (original and current redo), bringing a major airport (Midway) back from the brink and into a successful modern airfield, the Art Institute Expansion (it was a damn big one), construction of the Museum of Contemporary Art, creating train routes to its major airports, rounds out bigger ones, and these don't include the huge amount of private development still going on. Hopefully in 20 years we can look back and add CREATE to this list.

Thank You!

[chrisvfr800i]

I had the opportunity to work on a similar project in another state...mega wealthy benefactor...architecture out of character for the area...lots of hurdles along the way, etc. From concept to opening day was like TEN YEARS, and the benefactor owned the property 100%.

My point is that while I think Lucas was earnest in the desire to build it in Chicago, the relatively quick throwing in of the towel...2 years??...makes me think the whole idea of Chicago was just a big "Plan B" to the plan A of somewhere in California. They had to know a project like this in a city like this on that specific site was gonna be difficult. How much money was actually spent by Lucas to pursue this plan B? Architects and general contractors were stumbling all over each other to get involved. A hundred grand to the architect for pre-construction work?

It's not conspiratorial....it's shrewd business sense by the Lucas people.

It's probably a small net loss to the city, but Jesus H. Christ, the sun will surely rise over the lake tomorrow. When I bring out of town visitors into the city they are BLOWN AWAY by how wonderful Chicago is....without a Lucas Museum.

[braun06]

Is NIMBYism in Chicago at a new found peak? I have heard people complaining about projects before in the City but it seems as of late that a lot of projects that cannot please everyone run into a wall. Landscape architecture in Chicago is inspiring but architects and developers seem to be getting told by community groups what their job is and what their design should be far too often. Expert opinions mean jack to "Chicago Stubborn." Everyone in Chicago is the expert on things that some know nothing about. I have seen far too many people misrepresenting Burnham's work when the things they say are not even true, as if quoting the bible through their personal relationship with God. There is far better cooperation in other cities between all those involved that Chicago would be embarrassed to be compared to. Chicago is no longer the city that works and people cannot defend the fact before swallowing the bitter pill that things need to change. The world is full of Chicago's in this global economy. Stop trying to convince the city its McDonalds serve something different than from a town of 5,000. Make a mark or move on.

[nergie]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Millennium Park, the new Riverwalk, rerouting LSD and creating the museum campus, the Deep Tunnel Project (not sexy, but look it up), ongoing O'Hare expansion (including rerouting runways while still keeping the airport active), Navy Pier (original and current redo), bringing a major airport (Midway) back from the brink and into a successful modern airfield, the Art Institute Expansion (it was a damn big one), construction of the Museum of Contemporary Art, creating train routes to its major airports, rounds out bigger ones, and these don't include the huge amount of private development still going on. Hopefully in 20 years we can look back and add CREATE to this list.

Great list, I would also add the Loop Link, "606", Navy Pier Flyover, and miles of protected bike lanes as other large scale investments into the city.

[denizen467]

Originally Posted by Tom Servo

Fixed it.

And yeah, totally agree, what an odd site choice.

I refer you to the top picture that JMTungsten just posted. The site is sandwiched between a football stadium, convention center, and a railyard. It doesn't even have an actual direct view of the lake (though the harbor would look nice during the three months that boats are moored there), nor of the skyline. Then mix in the rowdy revelers on any day of an event at the stadium, and their stream of cars, parkas, tailgating paraphernelia, etc.; there is not much cultural or romantic about this site. Just 2000 feet north of there it's a totally different story near the Field and Shedd, but sadly they didn't seem to be able to pursue siting ideas there, like the Adler parking lot.

But if you have the choice of different areas of the city, why force people to trek all the way out to the Museum Campus?

Currently, the Museum Campus effectively shuts down by 6 p.m. The Field shuts at 5 p.m. The Adler even shuts around 4 p.m. except in summer. Clearly they are not relying on interest from adult patrons.

So the 3 museums are to a large degree child-oriented and well sited for school buses from the suburbs or parents happy to avoid the hectic Loop area. If Lucas's programming was to be targetted at adults as well as children it would've made sense to be located adjacent to other urban cultural attractions, more along the siting paradigm of the MCA, Art Institute, Museum of Broadcast Communications, etc. Just being nearer to Broadway in Chicago activity would be an obvious synergy and provide an automatic pool of visitors. In other words, in the same environs where adults are spending the other parts of their day.

As a citizen about to receive a $700m gift from uncle George, I would've been happy for him to put the museum out past the stadium, and it would've enhanced the Museum Campus and the city. But from Lucas's point of view, I don't see why he would refuse to consider the urban location. I can only guess that he doesn't appreciate the amazing and prominent architecture achieved on large street grid museums across the US and the world in recent years.

[chiphile]

Originally Posted by denizen467

I refer you to the top picture that JMTungsten just posted. The site is sandwiched between a football stadium, convention center, and a railyard. It doesn't even have an actual direct view of the lake (though the harbor would look nice during the three months that boats are moored there), nor of the skyline. Then mix in the rowdy revelers on any day of an event at the stadium, and their stream of cars, parkas, tailgating paraphernelia, etc.; there is not much cultural or romantic about this site. Just 2000 feet north of there it's a totally different story near the Field and Shedd, but sadly they didn't seem to be able to pursue siting ideas there, like the Adler parking lot.

But if you have the choice of different areas of the city, why force people to trek all the way out to the Museum Campus?

Currently, the Museum Campus effectively shuts down by 6 p.m. The Field shuts at 5 p.m. The Adler even shuts around 4 p.m. except in summer. Clearly they are not relying on interest from adult patrons.

So the 3 museums are to a large degree child-oriented and well sited for school buses from the suburbs or parents happy to avoid the hectic Loop area. If Lucas's programming was to be targetted at adults as well as children it would've made sense to be located adjacent to other urban cultural attractions, more along the siting paradigm of the MCA, Art Institute, Museum of Broadcast Communications, etc. Just being nearer to Broadway in Chicago activity would be an obvious synergy and provide an automatic pool of visitors. In other words, in the same environs where adults are spending the other parts of their day.

As a citizen about to receive a $700m gift from uncle George, I would've been happy for him to put the museum out past the stadium, and it would've enhanced the Museum Campus and the city. But from Lucas's point of view, I don't see why he would refuse to consider the urban location. I can only guess that he doesn't appreciate the amazing and prominent architecture achieved on large street grid museums across the US and the world in recent years.

In that regard, a site at the intersection of Roosevelt road and the river would have been good (across from Roosevelt Collection). There's water, and plenty of green space which could have become a nice park.

Random thought: I think the city should troll FOPL and give permission for another museum or other half-baked plan to to be built on the parking lot (museum of NIMBYism in some cheaply built structure), just to continue the lawsuit, force FOPL to spend the money, and ultimately lose the lawsuit so we have some good legal precedent on the books. Once that precedent is established, hold that parking lot for the next big idea. Sure, these things are once in a generation but something might come around eventually, and with the legal issue out of the way, it'll be a prime spot in the future.

[a very long weekend]

again, i'd just like to add that this is the sort of astonishing stupidity that we get almost every year in SF and, really, all across california, so... welcome to the big leagues, i guess?

[Tom Servo]

Originally Posted by GregBear24

If I hear "make no small plans" or "the city that works" ever again, I may throw up. When has this city done anything innovative and world-class in the past half-century? Can't think of anything. Even when a complete gift drops into our laps, our city manages to screw it up. Don't care about loopholes in the laws, when something good comes around you need to just make it happen. Pathetic. What's next? Someone offers to donate $10 billion for mass transit and some group of turd sniffers sues? This situation is so f'n weak. Rant finished.

This. This x100000000

This city is stuck in a 1983 frame of mind. New York City, Portland, all of Europe, all of China, etc... this is where Modern Architecture and grand ideas flourish, not here. This is the land of Jimmy Johns and pre-cast PoMo. We are an embarrassment to our own legacy and we've allowed political corruption and suburban home owner groups to completely dictate our place in the architectural world.

[Tom Servo]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Millennium Park, the new Riverwalk, rerouting LSD and creating the museum campus, the Deep Tunnel Project (not sexy, but look it up), ongoing O'Hare expansion (including rerouting runways while still keeping the airport active), Navy Pier (original and current redo), bringing a major airport (Midway) back from the brink and into a successful modern airfield, the Art Institute Expansion (it was a damn big one), construction of the Museum of Contemporary Art, creating train routes to its major airports, rounds out bigger ones, and these don't include the huge amount of private development still going on. Hopefully in 20 years we can look back and add CREATE to this list.

LOL GTFO

What a weak list. Also, Millennium Park is total corporate trash. Navy Pier??? Wow... get out of here with this silly shit. Chicago hasn't been a major player in anything besides murder since the 70s.

Originally Posted by nergie

Great list, I would also add the Loop Link, "606", Navy Pier Flyover, and miles of protected bike lanes as other large scale investments into the city.

Loop Link is a fucking waste of money JOKE that will be torn out within ten years just like the stupid State street bus lane. The bike lanes do nothing but allow real Chicago drivers an express route through traffic. And the 606 is a PATHETIC attempt at NYC's world class High Line. Also, good luck riding it at night. Good luck not getting robbed.

[the urban politician]

^ You know nothing, all I'm hearing here is whiny drivel. The list I put forth is awesome, it's great stuff and it's part infrastructure, part city-building, and Chicago is doing way more of this than most cities. To say otherwise is ignorant and stupid, which is highly unusual for you. Now I'm not talking about design necessarily but in typical Tom Servo fashion you are off in left field because what you are complaining about is largely private development, very different from what we are discussing. How does expanding O'Hare or CREATE fit into your whiny narrow view about design? How about the Deep Tunnel project? Get your lazy eyes up this page and read what we are discussing, I'm not defending design, I'm defending big plans and innovation. These all qualify, even Navy Pier does--like it or hate it, you took a rotting old military pier and turned it into one of the most money making cash cows in the Midwest, drawing millions of people to Chicago. And now we are redesigning it into something 100 times better.

Also, every time the city tries to spend money on a large project you open up that whiny mouth again and bitch that we're broke and shouldn't be spending money.

Make up your mind what philosophy you stand by around here, because you make no sense whatsoever to me.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by a very long weekend

again, i'd just like to add that this is the sort of astonishing stupidity that we get almost every year in SF and, really, all across california, so... welcome to the big leagues, i guess?

LOL "welcome to the big leagues" - Chicago is over 3X the population of San Francisco (the city) and has a 50% higher GDP than the San Francisco MSA. SF is a juggernaut especially when it comes to the economy in the last handful of decades - The bay areas GDP (SF + SJ) is almost the same as Chicago's. But please - spare us with this "welcome to the big leagues" bullshit. If you really think that, then you need to learn more about Chicago.

[VKChaz]

Originally Posted by marothisu

LOL "welcome to the big leagues" - Chicago is over 3X the population of ....

I doubt the comment was intended as a slight. Frankly, I suspect most people would prefer a city not be in the big leagues of stupidity.

[The Pimp]

It's over. Those idiots at the Friends of the parks screwed all of us. A beautiful gift was flushed down the toliet so we could keep a stupid parking lot. I'm really really pissed off.

[UKVGuy]

Originally Posted by The Pimp

It's over. Those idiots at the Friends of the parks screwed all of us. A beautiful gift was flushed down the toliet so we could keep a stupid parking lot. I'm really really pissed off.

Small consolation, I realize, but I think FOTP is going to have a REALLY hard time coming back from this -- much tougher than they realize. Every milestone in the Lucas Museum's eventual construction will be another reminder of what they did, and when the museum eventually opens and proves to NOT just be a Star Wars gift-shop or whatever people thought it would be, old wounds will again be opened.

They won the battle but lost the war. Too bad the citizens of Chicago had to be collateral damage.

[Pilton]

^ The federal courts would have had the final say if Lucas hadn't bolted. Federal judges are appointed. The SCOTUS created the public trust doctrine more than a century ago in a situation where the State of Illinois tried to hand over part of Lake Michigan for use by the IC RR. SCOTUS said that couldn't be done.

This one was badly bungled by Rahm. First, he overpromised that he could clout this one through without considering of the public trust doctrine (land initially under public waterways cannot be given away or sold to private parties).

Then, when FOTP raised the public trust doctrine, Rahm failed to realize that the federal courts would take a close look to see if the Lucas museum was sited on property subject to the public trust doctrine. Like it or not, the public trust doctrine gives standing and a cause of action to the public to enforce the doctrine.

Negotiation, not clout, machismo or arrogance, was in order from Rahm. There were plenty of other park sites, some on the Lakefront, where the public trust doctrine would not come into play to prohibit building the truly unique and beautiful proposed museum structure. It's a shame that other alternative sites were never seriously considered.

But, this is not the first time Lucas has petulantly moved the location of his homeless museum. http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfranci...francisco.html

[pilsenarch]

^ thanks for the redundancy, jarta....