July
23, 2013
My
first day back at the house since returning from a whirlwind trip to Alaska and
Portland. It is good to be back among this familiar clutter. The news that I
received when I got back was that the public meeting regarding the proposed
deal to develop the Evanston Art Center and lakefront park as a boutique hotel
was a win for we the people. The Art Center is an historic building adjacent to Grosse Pointe Lighthouse that is also known as the Harley Clarke Mansion. The scheme was concocted by a triumvirate of the
city, the Pritzker oligarchs that own Hyatt hotels, and as a third silent
partner Northwestern University, the tax guzzling safety school that always
gets sweetheart deals from this town. According to Jean, who helped mobilize
the turnout last night, the politicos were all backpedaling, ass-covering, and
disavowing all knowledge of ever having supported the project. The transcripts
of closed door Council meetings with hotel executives were erased.
I
was expecting to be personally traumatized if the project ever broke ground
because of how much I loved going to that park as a youth. My first experiences
of "nature" were in that place, and they have motivated to seek
outdoor solitude and wonder throughout my life. So gratitude goes to everyone
that helped steer this meteor away from smacking into the earth.
People
dispersed from the council chambers, a Tribune reporter asked someone what they
thought about the result. "The result is what it should have been,"
was the reply, "but the fact is that these politicians shouldn't have dragged
us down this ugly road in the first place."
