George Lucas, you self-important twit | The Barbershop: Dennis Byrne, Proprietor
By Dennis Byrne, June 25, 2016 at 4:46 pm
George Lucas thinks he can jet into Chicago, claim a precious parcel of lakefront land as his own and steamroll a citizen's group that has the law on its side.
Good riddance to you, George Lucas, and take your ugly museum with you, you self-important twit.
From the start, your arrogance and ignorance went hand in hand. If you knew, or bothered to find out about Chicagoans' overarching love of their lakefront you demonstrated no respect for it or for the laws that have protected it for more than a century. You're married to Chicago native Melody Hobson, who either failed to tell you--or you ignored her if she did--that you need to do more than issue an edict from afar that claimed a slice of publicly owned land for your own purposes.
Here's the topper: On your way out, you issue a proclamation, illustrating the depth of your ignorance and impertinence by calling your coveted lakefront plot little more than a "parking lot."
You rejected an attractive and common sense alternative close to the lakefront. You would have polluted our lakefront with a blob that had no redeeming architectural value, as if you alone could determine what is suitable for our public property. You couldn't be bothered to come to Chicago to put your own energy into making the case with the public, as if you were too good to bother with the peons. You acted as if all you had to do was clout your way onto our lakefront, by lining up the usual bunch of elites and loudmouths, such as Jesse Jackson.
Your wife brought race into it, as if those who opposed the monstrosity would yank your goodness and kindness out of the lives of black and brown children. We've got enough problems with race mongers in Chicago, without your help.
You didn't bother to tell us what would be so wonderful about the contents of the museum that it would, we suppose,
George Lucas (John J. Kim, Chicago Tribune)
make your personal collections of this and that more popular than the Museum of Science and Industry (ever been there, George?) or Navy Pier. It might have been a great collection; I would have gone just to see the Norman Rockwell pieces. Somewhere else.
You disparage Friends of the Park as some kind of whacked-out radical group that didn't have the larger public good in mind by standing up to your own selfish and unbending demands. There was some sentiment within Friends to negotiate a compromise, such as replacing McCormick Place's somewhat obsolete lakeside center with your museum. But you showed no sign of a willingness to compromise.
You might have noticed that Chicago is the second city that has turned down your rigid, egotist demands. Does that tell you something?
Darkness does not become you, George. You probably don't see it, but you've turned yourself into the kind of loathsome figures sometimes found in your movies.
Filed under: Art, Chicago, Chicago politics
Tags: Chicago lakefront, George Lucas, Jesse Jackson, McCormick Place, Melody Hobson, museum
Jill Marie said June 26, 2016 at 12:00 am
I am so glad I don't live in Chicago...Rahm is really pissed and his revenge will be something to see
PatHickey said June 26, 2016 at 12:00 am
In the words of the late Det. Martin J. Tully, CPD and Vietnam Veteran Army Special Forces SOG. - Alpha Mike Foxtrot, Little Man.
Bob Condren said June 27, 2016 at 12:00 am
Gee, Mr. Byrne, why are you so angry? You got what you wanted so I would think you would be happy! I understand not being in favor of the museum, I was very much in favor of it, but to be so angry towards Lucas is puzzling. And, I'm not sure that Lucas was against the McCormick Place site, but it would never have happened because funds would have had to have borrowed from that state and that was not going to happen.
And, George, don't let the door hit you on the way out.
George Lucas, you self-important twit | The Barbershop: Dennis Byrne, Proprietor
By Dennis Byrne, June 25, 2016 at 4:46 pm
George Lucas thinks he can jet into Chicago, claim a precious parcel of lakefront land as his own and steamroll a citizen's group that has the law on its side.
Good riddance to you, George Lucas, and take your ugly museum with you, you self-important twit.
From the start, your arrogance and ignorance went hand in hand. If you knew, or bothered to find out about Chicagoans' overarching love of their lakefront you demonstrated no respect for it or for the laws that have protected it for more than a century. You're married to Chicago native Melody Hobson, who either failed to tell you--or you ignored her if she did--that you need to do more than issue an edict from afar that claimed a slice of publicly owned land for your own purposes.
Here's the topper: On your way out, you issue a proclamation, illustrating the depth of your ignorance and impertinence by calling your coveted lakefront plot little more than a "parking lot."
You rejected an attractive and common sense alternative close to the lakefront. You would have polluted our lakefront with a blob that had no redeeming architectural value, as if you alone could determine what is suitable for our public property. You couldn't be bothered to come to Chicago to put your own energy into making the case with the public, as if you were too good to bother with the peons. You acted as if all you had to do was clout your way onto our lakefront, by lining up the usual bunch of elites and loudmouths, such as Jesse Jackson.
Your wife brought race into it, as if those who opposed the monstrosity would yank your goodness and kindness out of the lives of black and brown children. We've got enough problems with race mongers in Chicago, without your help.
You didn't bother to tell us what would be so wonderful about the contents of the museum that it would, we suppose
,
George Lucas (John J. Kim, Chicago Tribune)
make your personal collections of this and that more popular than the Museum of Science and Industry (ever been there, George?) or Navy Pier. It might have been a great collection; I would have gone just to see the Norman Rockwell pieces. Somewhere else.
You disparage Friends of the Park as some kind of whacked-out radical group that didn't have the larger public good in mind by standing up to your own selfish and unbending demands. There was some sentiment within Friends to negotiate a compromise, such as replacing McCormick Place's somewhat obsolete lakeside center with your museum. But you showed no sign of a willingness to compromise.
You might have noticed that Chicago is the second city that has turned down your rigid, egotist demands. Does that tell you something?
Darkness does not become you, George. You probably don't see it, but you've turned yourself into the kind of loathsome figures sometimes found in your movies.
Filed under: Art, Chicago, Chicago politics
Tags: Chicago lakefront, George Lucas, Jesse Jackson, McCormick Place, Melody Hobson, museum
Jill Marie said June 26, 2016 at 12:00 am
I am so glad I don't live in Chicago...Rahm is really pissed and his revenge will be something to see
PatHickey said June 26, 2016 at 12:00 am
In the words of the late Det. Martin J. Tully, CPD and Vietnam Veteran Army Special Forces SOG. - Alpha Mike Foxtrot, Little Man.
Bob Condren said June 27, 2016 at 12:00 am
Gee, Mr. Byrne, why are you so angry? You got what you wanted so I would think you would be happy! I understand not being in favor of the museum, I was very much in favor of it, but to be so angry towards Lucas is puzzling. And, I'm not sure that Lucas was against the McCormick Place site, but it would never have happened because funds would have had to have borrowed from that state and that was not going to happen.
And, George, don't let the door hit you on the way out.