Count the ways Lucas Museum good for Chicago

Chicago has a unique opportunity to be the home of a new and exciting museum: the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. Unfortunately, a small minority of people, the 28-member board of Friends of the Parks, are blocking it on the assertion that the lakefront must be kept free, open, and clear. Guess what, Friends of the Parks? It will be!

The proposal is to raze the behemoth McCormick Lakeside Center and build a smaller Lucas Museum of Narrative Art on the footprint of the old building surrounded by even more parkland than before. Twelve acres more. Yes, 12 more acres of free, open, and clear park land that do not currently exist. I fear that Friends of the Parks can’t see the forest for the trees.

This proposal is good for the people who live in the city of Chicago. It will bring people to the lakefront and to the beautiful green spaces that Friends of the Parks claims to befriend.

It is good for business. It will drive tourism to our city by the lake. Tourists will stay in our hotels, eat in our restaurants, rent our cars and Divvy bikes, ride in our cabs, buses, CTA trains and water taxis. They will visit not only the Lucas Museum, but also the nearby Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium and Adler Planetarium.

It will be good for children. Children from all across the city and the country will ask themselves “what is narrative art?” and use their imaginations to explore the power of art that tells a story. Children will discover oral, visual, written, and performed art from the maker’s perspective and the viewer’s perspective in varying media ranging from oil paintings and Manga drawings to film.

It will be good for migratory birds and other urban wildlife, who will find more open space along the lakefront to rest, eat, and raise their young.

It will be good for parks. The proposal calls for the planting of 800 new trees and more green space to renew areas that are currently developed but underutilized by the general public.

It will be good for storytellers and artists of the imagination. The Lucas Museum will be the only museum dedicated to Narrative Art anywhere in the world, truly the first of its kind.

It is time for storytellers and the art of their storytelling to have a museum of their own – surrounded by inspirational open park space – that will feature their work and contribute to the growth and exploration of all of the work that is to come. Friends of the Parks, please drop your lawsuit in opposition to the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.

Karen R. Nussbaum, Rogers Park

Many in GOP despise Trump

I thank Paul Ryan for not endorsing Donald Trump at this time. The Speaker of the House should be allowed to remain neutral, since he represents all Republicans. And the majority of Republicans voted for someone other than Trump. No one really knows exactly what Trump stands for; he changes his mind as often as the wind blows. Many Republicans despise Trump for his lack of values and morals. He is a proven habitual, ruthless liar.

Donna Mae Zietlow, Berlin, Wis.

Protect last open spaces

Several years ago I saw the published words “noose around Chicago” used to describe forest preserve land. Those words were used by someone incensed that the forest preserve lands, some of the last open space in northeast Illinois, were not available for development. Recently I have seen at least two articles speculating about public golf courses and their financial stability. Though most of the courses mentioned were paying their own way and some are actually making money, the tone of the articles seemed to be that those open spaces were not being used in the most financially advantageous ways.

There seems to be a movement in America to privatize everything, and thus, provide profits for those involved. The Post Office is in the cross hairs of privatizers, as are education, healthcare and even highways. Are we now going to allow the last bastions of open space, golf courses and forest preserves, to be gobbled up in this wild race to extract billions of dollars for the few while the rest of us have nowhere to enjoy nature while paying the bill?

Karen Wagner, Rolling Meadows

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