4C
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JULY 8, 2016
PARTING SHOT FROM DANNY MILLER
A weekly snapshot from The Daily Astorian and Chinook Observer photographers
Alex Oppenheim shields himself from windy conditions while watching the Team USA Footvolley qualifying matches in Seaside in June. Oppenheim was visiting Seaside on a
family vacation.
ODDITY
Bye, George
Chicago park defender unapologetic
on Lucas ‘Star Wars’ Museum fray
By JASON KEYSER
Associated Press
CHICAGO — The head of
a small nonproit that stood its
ground and blocked “Star Wars”
creator George Lucas’ private
museum from being built on Chi-
cago’s prized lakefront is unapol-
ogetic in the face of attacks that
its campaign merely protected an
existing parking lot.
The preservationist group
was viliied after going up
against a billionaire Hollywood
mogul and a mayor who was
once a White House chief of
staff. Lucas’ wife accused them
of denying “black and brown
children” opportunities and a
prominent Catholic priest even
compared them to a street gang.
But as crowds ill the rib-
bon of green along Lake Mich-
igan this Fourth of July, Friends
of the Parks Director Juanita
Irizarry urges people not to take
for granted the dazzling open
spaces that generations of activ-
ists have fought to preserve. Here
are excerpts from an Associated
Press interview with Irizarry:
Q: Friends of the Parks’ ight
with Lucas, Mayor Rahm Eman-
uel and other powerful interests
has been cast by some as a David
vs. Goliath story. Some cheered
you as “lakefront-loving ide-
alists,” while the Rev. Michael
Pleger compared your group
to the Gangster Disciples gang.
Who is the Friends of the Parks?
A: “When we got started (in
1975) really Chicago’s parks all
across the city ... were not very
well invested in. And so there
was actually a call for a watch-
dog group to be created to kind
of keep the city accountable.
Then, around 1980, the U.S.
Department of Justice sued the
Chicago Park District for dis-
crimination against minority
communities. And we were
brought in as part of the imple-
mentation team to do the things
that the consent decree called
for. ... Folks have called us elitist
and a bunch of rich white peo-
ple, but the history of the orga-
nization actually is very much
connected to this effort to make
sure that brown and black folks
on the west and south sides got
better served.”
Q: The site is currently a
parking lot for Soldier Field,
yet you say leaving it as such is
preferable to allowing construc-
tion of a private museum even
one that adds acres of new park-
land around it because it would
violate the public trust doctrine
meant to guard public land.
Emanuel, meanwhile, says your
lawsuit and Lucas’ departure last
week cost the city thousands of
jobs, millions of dollars in eco-
nomic investment and count-
less educational opportunities.
Why was this ight so important
to you?
A: “All of those jobs and
economic development beneits
could just as easily have been
brought to Chicago by a Lucas
Museum built on the other side
of Lake Shore Drive. So it was
really the Lucases who would
only accept an East Lake Shore
Drive site who decided that Chi-
cago should not have those ben-
eits. Period.
“... Now the (Emanuel)
administration is blaming us for
there being a parking lot there
AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast
Friends of the Parks Direc-
tor Juanita Irizarry poses
for a portrait in Chicago’s
Millennium Park in June.
Irizarry heads the obscure
nonprofit that stood its
ground and blocked Star
Wars creator George Lu-
cas’ private museum from
being built on Chicago’s
prized lakefront.
when the city has chosen the
revenue (it brings) over living
up to a previous commitment to
turn it into parkland.”
Q: Your predecessor as
director, in announcing the law-
suit in November 2014, said
Lucas’ plan was “an assault to
the shores of Lake Michigan”
and noted Chicago’s lakefront
is the envy of waterfront cities
throughout the world. What are
some examples of cities striking
the right balance, and what cities
have failed?
A: “I think you can look at
any lakefront city and ind that
you don’t have anywhere near
the access that we do. I recently
read an article with somebody
talking about how Toronto has
screwed up their access to the
lake. ... The legislature in Puerto
Rico (recently) voted to sell
eight public beaches to billion-
aires to address their economic
problems. And Puerto Rico for
many years had been unusual in
the Caribbean for keeping most
of its beachfront open to Puerto
Ricans.”
AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast
Tourists walk along Chicago’s Lake Michigan waterfront and near the site where George
Lucas wanted to build his Star Wars museum in Chicago.
AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast
Tourists are photographed next to Chicago’s Buckingham Fountain along the Lake
Michigan waterfront and near the site where George Lucas wanted to build his Star Wars
museum in Chicago.
Q: Relecting on his own
20-year lakefront crusade,
Montgomery Ward told the Chi-
cago Tribune, “Had I known in
1890 how long it would take me
to preserve a park for the peo-
ple against their will, I doubt
if I would have undertaken it.”
Why, a century later, is Chicago
still ighting these battles?
A: “There’s always (going
to be) folks who care about the
environment who think that
open space should be open
space and real estate developer
people who think open space is
space to be built on. ... In Chi-
cago, I think we probably need
a renewed effort ... of educating
people about the history of why
they have this lakefront to enjoy.
... Most Chicagoans probably
(don’t) even have a clue that this
is even special.”
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