Two quick things to do today.

Now is the time to tell our city council to stand up and support Alderman Brendan Reilly’s efforts to save Grant Park.

Things really got hot last week. Our dear, sweet mayor said a lot of really nasty things about opponents of the Chicago Children’s Museum’s proposal to build a new 100,000 square foot building in a protected area of the park known as Daley Bicentennial Plaza. His comments were so outlandish that they sparked editorials opposing the proposal to be published in both the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times. The papers have been flooded with letters calling for the preservation of Grant Park’s green space. Suddenly the local TV stations are taking notice.

Alderman Brendan Reilly has stated his opposition to to this proposal. So Mayor Daley is calling for a vote of the entire city council, all fifty aldermen. Alderman Reilly is now in the process of seeking support from each of his forty-nine peers.

All this excitement has led many of my friends and neighbors to suggest clever strategies for building community support. Here’s my favorite, suggested by a Venezuelan-born Chicagoan (try to imagine his charming accent as you read):

Saving the Park::

Put all the parents naked in that place. It always
brings a lot of attention. And if you bring the famous
photographer who is doing naked shots all over the
world...well, even better.


Although the image this conjures up is rather amusing, conventional approaches should suffice.

So, what to do now? Every alderman must hear from his own constituents. Each alderman’s phone must ring again and again with calls from constituents asking them to support Alderman Brendan Reilly’s efforts to save Grant Park.

Reach out to friends, family and colleagues throughout Chicago and explain the importance of preserving Grant Park open space. Let them know that this isn’t just a neighborhood issue - if Daley gets away with taking over this protected park land, parks throughout Chicago are up for grabs. Tell them they can do two things - in less than five minutes - to help.

First - call your alderman’s office, state your name and address and ask the alderman to support Alderman Brendan Reilly’s efforts to save Grant Park. This takes only a minute.

Second - ask others to do the same.

Don't know the ward? Look it up here: http://www.chicagoelections.com/voterinfo/

Find the alderman's phone number (lookup by ward or name) here: http://www.chicityclerk.com/citycouncil/alderman/find.html

Spread the word! Do it today, it only takes a minute to get started.