Clout City

A week after its completion, the new leg of the Riverwalk is almost done

by Deanna Isaacs on October 28, 2016 at 11:49AM

It also has a fine view across the river of the Merchandise Mart and the Sun-Times building. The latter, where the Reader offices reside, is, for now, only partially obscured by one of the towering new residential buildings going up all along this western leg of the Riverwalk.

Let’s celebrate the loss of the Lucas Museum

by Zachary Siegel on June 28, 2016 at 1:24PM

Truly, though, the most hilarious bit to emerge from this entire situation was when Father Michael Pfleger compared Friends of the Parks to a notorious street gang. "Where I live, a self-appointed group that starts making calls for the neighborhood, they're called a gang," the reverend said.

Mayor Emanuel tries to sink CHA accountability ordinance that would force him to share power

by Marc Daalder on June 13, 2016 at 4:30PM

is really committed to dispersing those dollars and operating in a much more transparent fashion, and I think he ought to be given the chance to prove himself," Moore says. The Reader's Ben Joravsky previously reported on the way committee chairs like Moore are pulled in two directions and often have a hard time opposing the mayor.

National museum group head slams Friends of the Parks

by Deanna Isaacs on May 31, 2016 at 6:01PM

"As Chicago and Illinois face their own budget struggles, a small but vocal group is coming perilously close to blocking a golden opportunity for the community," Lott writes in a statement posted on the Lucas Museum website. "Most communities around the country would love to have a new institution such as the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art open its doors within their borders.

Lucas Museum to Chicago: We're looking elsewhere

by Deanna Isaacs on May 4, 2016 at 10:06AM

Crain's, for example, reported that "Friends of the Parks today flatly rejected Mayor Rahm Emanuel's latest plan to save the Lucas Museum." The Sun-Times wrote that Irizarry told them, "Mr. Lucas and the city only wanted a lakefront site and we do not believe that is acceptable."

Lois Weisberg: Rest in peace doesn't cut it

by Deanna Isaacs on January 14, 2016 at 3:50PM

Weisberg headed the city's Department of Cultural Affairs in its various incarnations for Mayors Harold Washington and Richard Daley over a three-decade span that stretched from the 1980s to an abrupt departure in 2011. She brought us Cows on Parade, the Block 37 Arts program (now After School Matters, founded with Maggie Daley), and numerous free public music and art festivals, and instituted the original Chicago Cultural Plan.

Matthew Miklavcic's I Can't Breathe When You Hover Over Me

Arc Gallery's 'I Can't Breathe' tackles police violence with art

by Deanna Isaacs on December 4, 2015 at 12:30PM

There's an opening reception Friday from 6 to 9 PM at the gallery. Also, a jurors' talk from 4 to 6 PM, Saturday, December 12. Gallery hours are noon to 6 PM Wednesday through Saturday, noon to 4 PM Sunday.

Judge delays Lucas Museum decision until February

by Deanna Isaacs on November 10, 2015 at 4:30PM

Get out the calendar for next year: the next decision in the Friends of Parks court battle to keep the Lucas Museum off Chicago's lakefront parkland won't come until February.

The Chicago City Council's Progressive Caucus wants to apply the amusement tax to Lyric Opera and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Tax on tickets to Lyric Opera and the CSO? Not for now.

by Deanna Isaacs on October 30, 2015 at 1:45PM

And the paragraph they had in mind was a particularly irritating one. It opens with what looks like a special interest clause, written to benefit those two organizations, by exempting opera companies and symphony orchestras from the amusement tax that the city collects on everything from movies and boat rides to baseball games.

Cassandra Francis explains her departure from Friends of the Parks

by Deanna Isaacs on May 1, 2015 at 8:31AM

Friends of the Parks president Cassandra Francis inspired some creative speculation last week, when she abruptly left her job. Francis, who'd been there only a year, was in the midst of two high-profile battles on behalf of FOTP—attempts to keep both the Lucas Museum and the Obama presidential library off Chicago parkland.

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