To the Editor,

Charlotte Adelman wrote a letter explaining the importance of the lawsuit being filed against the City of Chicago in last week’s Hyde Park Herald. She goes into detail to explain the position of the Plaintiffs: rather than being a frivolous lawsuit filed by tree-huggers from distant neighborhoods, as the suit is labeled by opponents, it emphasizes how locating the Obama Presidential Center in historic Jackson Park, will have a long-lasting deleterious effect not only on the immediate neighborhood. Removal of open natural green space, clear-cutting (at least) 300 trees, constructing a 230 foot tower in addition to three other buildings contribute to the reduced ability of the environment to absorb CO2 as well as disturbing the ecology of the area. One need only to look at the rise in ambient temperatures in urban areas of the southwest with the construction of more expressways to see the effect of lessened green space on ambient temperature.

Hyde Parkers, and citizens in general, who care about slowing down climate change and preserving natural environments should heed the warning. There will not be any more public open space available. We must preserve what we have.

Save The Midway continues to urge that public, flexible parkland be preserved as much as possible, and that the hundreds of mature trees in Jackson Park currently planned to be clear-cut by construction and road changes be independently assessed for their significance in the park’s ecology and historic cultural landscape, and that all of the valuable trees be protected and preserved.

Karen Rechtschaffen, Michael McNamee Co-chairs, Save the Midway SaveTheMidway.org savethemidway@gmail.com