Editorial: Chicago's Lakefront Deserves Better than the Lucas Museum

The Chicago Tribune editorial board has some strong words about the smooth political path tread by the proposal for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. The editorial opens thusly:

"One by one the public bodies answerable to Mayor Rahm Emanuel are approving the city's de facto donation of Lake Michigan shoreline for the museum that billionaire George Lucas wants to build. The Chicago Park District, having negotiated a $10 fee for a 99-year lease, was the first to deliver for Emanuel. Maybe you think $10 is a lot to ask of Lucas for a century's claim to some of the most prized land on Earth. But the 'Star Wars' creator has to be relieved; Chicago's opening bid was to charge $1 every year."

The editorial goes into more detail about the special protections afforded the site by the public trust doctrine before suggesting some alternatives for the museum proposal. One would be to move the museum to the site of the James R. Thompson Center, which Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner is already shopping. The editorial also supports a proposal presented by Chicago Tribune Architecture Critic Blair Kamin: to build the Lucas Museum on the site of the Lakeside Center of McCormick Place. Finally, the editorial makes the larger point about the city's need to create and adhere to a larger vision of reclaiming this part of the shoreline.