Earlier this week, demolition and removal of the illegal construction began.

The delight of having restored the Receptory and Stables building's reign over the majestic landscape in which she is situated soon turned bittersweet.

After the dust cleared, it became painfully obvious that demolition had stopped short of completion, and that the concrete footings remain.

Based on statements that the president & CEO of the museum made in official documents, there are plans underfoot to construct a permanent "OUTDOOR ENTERTAINMENT STAGE". We only discovered his statements after viewing hundreds of pages of documents obtained through requests made to various state and city departments and agencies via the Freedom of Information Act.

Why would any part of a structure, built without permits and without oversight, built on public land would be allowed to remain? 

How can public land be taken from the public without public input? FOIA helped reveal that secret plans had been put in motion in May of 2020. Why was the Humboldt Park Advisory Council shut down just months before, and why did the residents not find out about this until the structure was partially constructed?

How can the Commission on Chicago Landmarks allow their own ordinance to be violated?

Why has the Chicago Park District remained silent for 558 days about their tenant that built without permission and in violation of the lease?

Why has the museum remained silent for 558 days, except for the CEO to publicly admit in October "Well, you caught me"?

I implore each and every one of you to copy this link address https://chng.it/PH7kmCLn and email and text it to everyone possible and ask them to do the same.

We have to stop the taking of parkland from the citizenry. We have protected rights to the views of this property, construction and development is prohibited, and the use of the property is restricted to passive recreation. 

It is time to give the park back to the people and let the community start to heal. This has been a violation and breach of trust. Close the wound. Remove the foreign materials. Restore the landscape. Replant the trees that were cut down. 

We have repeatedly asked the Park District, the DOB, and the Commission on Chicago Landmarks for answers. Even those crickets we hear are endangered by concrete.