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
