Tag Archives: lucas museum

Mayor, Friends of Parks, Working on Lucas Compromise

Jun 10, 2016 | WLS-AM Staff

By Bill Cameron, WLS-AM news

(CHICAGO) Getting the Lucas Museum is apparently no longer a lost cause. Mayor Rahm Emanuel is trying to make a deal with the Friends of the Parks to end their lawsuit that’s blocking the big project.

Emanuel is reportedly trying to negotiate a settlement. Friends of the Parks would drop their lawsuit and the mayor would push their “Last Four Miles Plan” to extend the ring of lakefront park land all the way from Evanston on the north to the Indiana line on the south.

Emanuel is not denying it.

“I believe and I’m committed to to try and find a way that all of us in the city, that love this city, people of different views, can work together and have a situation where Chicago’s cultural plans and open space, which are part of who we are as a city, work together in enriching the city economically, culturally and educationally,” Emanuel said.

And the mayor was very careful not to say too much.

“I’m not taking questions. I have one answer for all the questions.”

So it’s unclear whether they’re negotiating to put the Lucas Museum back on a Soldier Field parking lot or trying to raise more than a billion dollars to re-purpose the McCormick Place Lakeside Center.

Listen to Bill Cameron’s report for WLS-AM 890 News here:

In a statement released shortly after the mayor’s comments, Friends of the Parks says it is still committed to preserving the lakefront and says they are not dropping the lawsuit.

@ 2016 WLS-AM News

Lucas Looking At San Francisco, Again

May 16, 2016 | WLSAM Staff

By Nick Gale, WLS-AM 890 News

(CHICAGO) “Star Wars” creator George Lucas is again looking at San Francisco to play host for his museum.

A report Sunday in The San Francisco Chronicle says that  Lucas is considering a site on Treasure Island.  And there is word that he has already discussed the plans with the city and the site has already been approved for development.

That means far fewer legal hurdles for Lucas. A plan to host the museum in Chicago has been stalled because of a lawsuit filed by Friends of the Parks.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has been fighting to locate the museum in Chicago. Originally a site was proposed near Soldier Field and later at McCormick Place East, but Friends of the Parks rejects any lakefront site.

Lucas’ hometown is San Francisco. His wife is from Chicago. So far there has been no comment from Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Friends of the Parks fights Rahm motion to dismiss Lucas museum lawsuit.

May 12, 2016 | WLS-AM Staff

By John Dempsey, WLS-AM 890 News

(CHICAGO) The good government group trying to keep the George Lucas museum from being located on Chicago’s lakefront, is responding to Mayor Emanuel’s latest legal maneuver.  Last week the city filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit the group Friends of the Parks has filed.     The group wants to keep the Lucas museum from any location on the lakefront.

Now, Friends of the Parks attorneys have filed their response, saying they deserve their day in court.  The parks group says the Lucas plan violates laws restricting development along Lake Michigan, and the group says if it’s federal lawsuit is dismissed, it will take it’s case to state court.

However Emanuel says if that lawsuit goes forward, it increases the chances  that George Lucas could run out of patience and locate his museum in another city.   Emanuel wants to place the museum in the Bears parking lot south of Soldier Field, where he says it would be a massive shot in the arm for Chicago’s tourism industry.

​The Mayor briefly proposed tearing down the portion of McCormick place east of Lake Shore Drive to locate the museum there, but Emanuel then returned to the original parking lot site when Friends of the Parks said it would oppose any location on the lakefront.

@ 2016 WLS-AM News

Emanuel to Court: Throw Out Lucas Museum Lawsuit

May 4, 2016 | WLS-AM Staff

By Bill Cameron, WLS-AM News

(CHICAGO) Mayor Rahm Emanuel is going to court to try to save the Lucas Museum for Chicago.

Emanuel is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals to throw out the Friends of the Parks lawsuit that’s been blocking the Lucas Museum on a Soldier Field parking lot.

With George Lucas seriously looking at offers from other cities, the mayor is telling the court that time is off the essence.

Emanuel is also trying to isolate Friends of the Parks as the bad guys trying to spoil a billion dollar gem for the museum campus and shame them into making a deal to drop their lawsuit.

But if he loses, Emanuel told reporters it’s not a blow to him.

“I can’t stop you because you’ll say, in your way, this is my loss. Go ahead. I don’t really care how you do it,” Emanuel said. “Guess what? When your a mayor or an elected official, you’ve got to walk and chew gum. You’ve got to do them all. You don’t get to choose and pick and if you have an opportunity for nearly a billion dollars of economic development, you don’t just kind of be willy-nilly about it.”

@2016 WLS-AM News

Greg Hinz Explains The New Plan For The Lucas Museum

Apr 19, 2016 | WLSAM Staff

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration on Monday unveiled the details of its last-ditch plan to put “Star Wars” filmmaker George Lucas’ museum along the lake. Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration on Monday unveiled the details of its last-ditch plan to put the museum along the lake. Greg Hinz the Political Writer and Blogger for Crain’s Chicago Business joined John with details on the new plan.

Latest Local News