Daley’s Park, For Better Or For Worse

Millennium Park will be many to things to many people, but to Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley, it will be his legacy. “When Mr. Daley took office 15 years ago, the site, north of the Art Institute and east of Michigan Avenue, contained old railroad tracks and gravel parking lots.” Mr. Daley’s vision for a useful public space became the biggest civic art project in the city’s history, and depending on whom you ask, it is either a testament to the skill and vision of the designers and fundraisers who brought it together, or an overpriced boondoggle spearheaded by a mayor who cut the public out of the process.