Has the Tribune Forgotten Burnham's Vision for the Lakefront?—Marjorie Fritz-Birch

Chicago Tribune Letter To The Editor:

Two years ago the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board defended the protection of Chicago’s lakefront when that protection was being threatened by the Chicago Bears grandiose new stadium plan. As you stated in your editorial, it was Burnham’s Plan of Chicago that enshrined the idea that the city lakefront would be “forever open, clear and free.”  You went on to note that the “The Lakefront by right belongs to the people. Not a foot of its shores should be appropriated to the exclusion of the people.  

Why now has the Tribune editorial board cavalierly thrown out those principles when it chastises the thousands of Edgewater residents who are protesting a massive 600 housing development being built directly on the lakefront that is also adjacent to a public beach at Thorndale and Sheridan?  This proposed development is not only in defiance of Burnham’s vision but also the 1973 Lakefront Protection Ordinance. None of this was mentioned in your ill conceived editorial. Nor was the zoning that was passed 20 years ago limiting any development over 5 stories on Sheridan Rd which has been adhered to consistently. 

Adding insult to injury was imputing antisemitism to the opponents of the development as the source of this controversy. Needless to say this was a reckless and unnecessary accusation.

Marjorie Fritz-Birch