“See, in Logan Square people would flip out to get a major cultural institution like that – I suspect lots of neighborhoods would also appreciate the jobs, tourism, etc.”
— Carter commenting on our post that included a headline about Mayor Daley’s proposal to build a facility for the Chicago Children’s Museum in Grant Park
I think that anywhere along the Milwaukee Ave. corridor (which is also accessible to Blue Line and I-90) would be an ideal “central” location, especially if some existing parkland could be used.
The northwest side definetely needs something of a boost in terms of a cultural institution. I think the Children’s Museum in Logan Square, Avondale, or Irving Park would be terrific. Isn’t there going to be available land once the Mega Mall is torn down in Logan Square? That would be an ideal location. I think the Northwest side would benefit greatly.
Sure I think it would be great if we put the Childrens Museum in the middle of Logan Square. No one ever goes to that stupid monument in the middle of the intersection. Obviously Logan Square has more than enough green space to spare. I bet 99% of the residents of Logan Square don’t even know who Logan Square is named after!
I’m in favor of deep-sixing the Children’s Museum 5 miles out in Lake Michigan.
Chicago already has enough under-attended institutions sucking tax subsidies.
This one, in particular, strikes me as something that would not be missed were it gone.
There’s no need for this museum, and no reasonable justification for continuing it.
Let’s put the money and the attendance into freshening up the Field, Science and Industry, etc.
Or, perish the thought, let’s put the money into educating children in the Chicago public school system.
And, to honor an under-appreciated nationality in Chicago (mine), let’s rename Logan Square to Lugan Square.
Pertaining to Logan Square, the museum could theoretically be built on private parcels including the McDonald’s an the CTA owned land where the current bus bay and station escalator house sits. That large lot area bounded by Milwaukee, Kedzie, Sawyer and Emmett would be a perfect size for a children’s museum. The bus bay traffic could be reconfigured and the Logan Square station house could be incorporated into the base of the museum.
It could be great in Logan Square – although it might be better at the South end of Logan Square. Tear down the bank at the intersection of Armitage/Western/Milwaukee and build Margie’s Children’s museum around Margie’s.
Leave the museum where it belongs downtown in the center of the city where the rest of our famous museums are. The problem is our newly elected NIMBY alderman and a few people who who live along Rndolph who think they still live in Lake Forest and Grant Park si THEIR front yard! We are gaining a great piece of architecture and a world class museum for all children!
Joe, have you seen how many people actually attend the children’s museum? There is a place for it. Field and MSI are appropriate for a school-age crowd that is different from the pre-K to primary aged crowd targeted by the children’s museum. Also, cultural institutions help to define Chicago as a world-class city.
I haven’t been to the Children’s Museum recently, and I’m sure pre-schoolers enjoy it as much as they did when I was there.
I’m questioning our civic priorities and our allocation of scarce resources.
We were a world-class city before the Children’s Museum’s brief existence, and we’ll be one without it.
An indivdual pre-schooler isn’t going to derive any lasting benefit from the existence of this museum. There are so many other ways the money could be spent to provide lasting benefits!
I see this as just another welfare program for the upper-middle class, and that offends me, traitor to my class that I am.
Anyone who wants to grub around in what this operation actually costs and where the money goes can read the tax returns and financial statements (pdf file).
OK, on page 32, they received $1.7 million in government grants in 2005. They received $225,000 in 2004. I suspect there are way more significant money pits and handouts in the city. How much has it cost the city to redevelop Block 37? How much has did it cost to rebuild Soldier Field? Do you consider tax breaks for for-profit entities (developers, corporations, businesses) welfare programs?
While I despise Navy Pier as much as any Chicagoan, you cannot ignore its attraction to tourists and others. This encourages people to come and spend – sales taxes, accommodations taxes, rental car fees, etc.
John Logan was a Civil War hero, born in Jackson County, IL. The official Illinois state song has a reference to “Lincoln…Grant and Logan…”in its second or third stanza.
OK, history lesson over…now on to the business at hand.
What really kills me about this kids’ museum, that the mayor and pals are so keen on, is that it would be, of necessity, in the “Basement” of Grant Park, and the city! Oh joy – gosh, can’t you just see all the kiddies getting excited about going to this beautiful park…and playing in its basement? With no windows or natural light? This – from an administration that’s supposed to be so into ecology, “green” architecture, etc. An above-ground facility with ample windows, solar light panels, etc., would be far more attractive and “educational” for the kids and their elders.
Then again, maybe it’s just me…when I was a kid, going to the basement meant Mom was cleaning upstairs and didn’t want us underfoot, or as an alternative punishment to being sent to one’s bedroom. Going out into the sun to play, however, was a treasured treat.
I’d love to see this museum downtown, but just not in the park. I don’t believe we should be giving away public green space for private institutions, and this proposal along with the Latin School’s soccer field are TERRIBLE intusions into our already limited public green space. As more people move into condos downtown, Grant Park will be used–especially on the edges. Urban Parks are best when the edges are contained by buildings, and it’s exactly the contrast between the dense built envioronment and the immdiate transition to open space that makes them magical. If anything, they should narrow upper Randolph and extend the park further north.
“I’m questioning our civic priorities and our allocation of scarce resources.”
Thank you. When we can’t afford half-way modern computers and equipment and books in the public schools, to pretend this is “all about the children” is cynical and in very poor taste.
I think Daley is about to find just how far he crossed the line here – I’ve been saying for years, the undoing of many of these machine types are going to be the very constituencies they fell over backward to bring in the City with zoning/TIF schemes. Exhibit A is Matlak, Exhibit B is Natarus, etc.
If we are going to start questioning use of scarce resources, how $450,000,000,000 being spent in Iraq? See what you can buy with that money at http://www.costofwar.com.
Of course, but people have a hard time grasping how much money a billion is, much less when you get into those kinds of amounts.
otoh, everyone ought to be able to do the math that if the City is kicking in $3 million a year to the CTA, but has countless millions for these TIF projects, that something is not right. shoot, there was a story in the Chicago Journal that they are currently thinking of spending $20+ million just to put an underpass at Fullerton, Damen & Elston.
Now, the intersection is a disaster. But howabout trying, I dunno, an ELSTON BUS, or making the Fullerton and Damen buses more reliable, etc., etc
The amount of money spent on the Children’s Museum is barely a drop in the bucket when you look at what is needed for CPS. A decent Children’s Museum (along with a science museum, art museum, aquarium, etc.) is important for any city’s educational system. Good museums do a lot to get kids interested in learning.
Aside from benefits to residents it’s also good for tourism, and again, has become part of the whole package a city must have to be a cultural hub.
I don’t see it’s being underground as being a problem at all. Look at some of the most popular museum exhibits for kids in the city – at the MSI the coal mine, submarine, and Zephyr are all underground (not to mention the “Underground” exhibit they had that was very popular), The Field has the Egyptian Tomb. Other than the MCA and parts of the Shedd I don’t think of most museums as being open airy places, there more like enclosed black box spaces that are made into artificial environments.
They’re, not there….doh.
Attrill,
Your $5 million “drop in the bucket” would provide a lot of school supplies and books for CPS students who don’t have them.
It might fix some leaking roofs in schools. It might make it possible to keep every school heated in the winter. It might repaint some peeling walls and ceilings. It might repair some broken windows.
But, hey, we don’t want to mislead poor kids around the city into thinking that we care as much about them as we do about subsidizing people like me.
And, without those taxpayer subsidies the Chlidren’s Museum might have to deplete the bloated ranks of six-figure VPs it employs.
If this thing needs to be somewhere (and I won’t concede that it does), why not Garfield Park, where the conservatory and fieldhouse appear to be radically underutilized most of the time? It has good access from much of Chicago and the suburbs – better than Grant Park.
the point being, downtown we already have museums with major exhibits geared towards kids (something like 400,000 schoolkids a year go to the Field Museum alone).
Garfield Park might be nice, I just see no reason to continue cramming every cultural institution downtown under this “save the children” nonsense (ironically, I’d wager downtown has the least kids-per-capita of all neighborhoods).
I don’t live downtown and have no axe to grind regarding congestion, but who are these City children who allegedly are going downtown for their educational experiences? It’s too expensive for most people to bring their kids downtown regularly; you go to your local park, and btw, those could use some funding as well, drops or droplets.
For what it’s worth, I never cared much for the basement exhibits at those other museums either. Maybe I’m just claustrophobic or something. My favorite MSI feature was the Doll House and the only time im memory that I went to the Field was for the Jackie O. dress parade.
On the other hand, several years ago I visited a day-care and community center (can’t remember the name) on Ogden Avenue, near Giordano’s, across from Douglas Park, which was one of the most kid-friendly environments I’ve ever seen. Large rooms arranged in a circle around an open playground, floor-to-ceiling glass doors and windows (reinforced, of course) leading to said playground, well-designed restrooms and eating areas, bright colors in eye-catching patterns…maybe the powers-that-be of the C.M. could create a “twin” to this building, and put it in Douglas or some other centrally-located park. Sunshine trumps basements IMHO!