Friday Letters: Losing Lucas Museum would be a mistake

I was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago and currently live in the South Loop.

I’m furious.

The Burnham Plan was for the lakefront to be for the benefit of the citizens of Chicago. The Lucas Museum certainly fits that description.

“Friends” of the Parks seems to be claiming that this gift to the city is some sort of private for profit-business taking advantage of the city. That’s preposterous.

If the City of Chicago loses a gift of this magnitude due to the work of a small, pompous special interest group then they should be ashamed of themselves. They’re hijacking the great history of our lakefront plan and bullying us all.

“Make no small plans,”

Raymond Scannell, South Loop

Valuable organizations

Conservation organizations including Friends of the Parks, Friends of The Forest Preserves and Friends of the Chicago River are needed to preserve and protect the city and county’s waning green open spaces, imperiled and displaced wildlife species and pristine nature havens. They merit commendation instead of condemnation for being stalwart friends of the earth.

Brien Comerford, Glenview

Save the elephants

Where is our global society heading when an animal’s body part is far more valuable than the extinction of that animal? This is a volatile time for the wildlife. Elephants are approaching extinction at warp speed. The effects of wildlife poaching is far reaching, entangling intricate webs of transnational crime syndicates and terrorist groups, and involving the U.S. more than we realize.

Those effects can be felt right here in Illinois. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has confiscated ivory in our Illinois ports throughout the years. Our world is vast but yet at the same time, is smaller. What occurs “over there” is occurring over here because realistically and historically corruption always has allies.

We have a responsibility to all beings, not just human beings. Before our eyes, wildlife is disappearing from the landscape. Just last week, Kenya burned elephant ivory worth $105 million to send a message to poachers that ivory has no value if it’s not on an elephant. We can do the same. If we stop buying ivory we have taken a stand to protect animals that do not have a voice. Although extinction is forever, it does not have to be the inevitable future of elephants.

Nicole Rojas, Willow Springs

Fix the primary rules

The Republican primary is over. All the debating about delegate numbers and how confusing the process is needs to be addressed by both parties now before another election. All Republican officials could only say is “it’s complicated”. It really don’t have to be complicated at all. Simply one man, or one woman equals one vote. The candidate with the most votes wins!

For the Democratic Party it’s worse with “super delegates.” The same simple one-man, one-woman vote formula should apply eliminating any shenanigans that all know happen in the presidential primary process. Allowing the voters to truly have a vote that matters! No more fixed elections!

Bob Pritchard, Homer Glen

An apparent tilt

It is fair to say that Donald Trump has caused a “tilt” in the GOP political machine. And the Chicago Democrats who have delivered and received support to and from Trump make this apparent. Democratic Ald. Ed Burke’s $11 million-plus tax relief to Trump and his tower, and Trump’s donations ($50,000 to Rahm Emanuel’s campaign fund) among many others, speak volumes. When Mayor Emanuel was asked a simple question about whether the tax relief should be construed as a conflict of interest, Emanuel refused to answer and instead deferred to Ald. Burke. This is transparency?

Mike Koskiewicz, Portage Park

You don’t get it

I read David Roeder’s article about Gov, Bruce Rauner’s good news/bad news dilemma, and his reference to “a ‘Turnaround Agenda”’that enriches companies and the super wealthy.”

You guys just don’t get it! The PEOPLE elected Rauner. So he’s rich… who else could get elected in this politically rigged state? We just hope he has the tenacity to keep fighting for a fiscal fix for Illinois. This has become a stupid place to own a home, and a stupid place to start a business. It’s only smart to live here if you’re fortunate enough to get paid by the “machine”…and the machine is broke and broken. The spending just has to stop.

Steve Todd, Geneva