By Ed Lowe
Senior writer
The focal point for a number of dissenting groups has been at the construction site of Millennium Park. The controversial park, located at Michigan Ave. and Randolph St., has been the subject of delays and excessive cost overruns.
Mayor Richard Daley has vowed to have Millennium Park completed and, as the gateway peristyle’s series of columns nears completion, protesting groups are trying to focus public attention on the city’s priorities, particularly as they relate to essential services and the needs of the city’s less fortunate citizens.
Cost overruns are estimated at over $200 million now, and have been the flash point for protesting groups who want to know why money has been made available for the park while needed infrastructure repairs within the city have been delayed or canceled.
The Park, still incomplete, has yet to construct the music pavilion designed by famed architect Frank Gehry. This facility will seat an estimated 7,000 people for concerts and other events. However, when masses of people descend on the park for July 4th celebrations or for the annual Venetian Day, the space is walled off from the rest of Grant Park. The Pavilion has been described by critics as the world’s most expensive pigeon roost because its unique curled steel roof design offers a perfect pigeon roost.
Among those groups protesting is one led by activist Dave Williams, a librarian with the Chicago Public Library. Williams coordinates a group called “Library Employees United.” He wants to know why money is being poured into the Millennium financial sinkhole — money that is diverted from the needs of vital human services. Williams contends that the city “uses creative accounting” to explain the sources of the money for the park while the same money could be spent in other budgetary gaps.
“If the city wanted to find money for fair housing programs or the library system, it would be there. When they can find $63 million to bring Boeing corporate headquarters into the city, and spend hundreds of millions of dollars for the Chicago Bears’ renovated stadium, the city should be able to fund needed programs for the people,” Williams said.
Williams said his group is reaching out to the public to point out the needs of the library system regarding staffing and the book budget. “The book budget has been cut by 20 percent and has not been increased in the past ten or more years in spite of increases in the average prices of books and the availability of so much additional material. There is no clear accounting from the library or from City Hall regarding the book budget,” Williams said.
The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Union (AFSCME) includes Local 1215 of the Library Employees Union, of which Williams is an executive board member. AFSCME is defending their members positions.
Another protesting group is represented by John Bartlett, program director of the Metropolitan Tenants Association, a tenants’ rights group. His group is one of 22 separate organizations who comprise the “Coalition For Fair Community Development.” The group focuses on working with community organizations to encourage reasonably priced housing for underprivileged Chicagoans. The group opposes neighborhood development that displaces current residents.
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