CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- On the eve of a key vote in the City Council to rename Outer Lake Shore Drive for the man regarded as the city’s founder, Jean Baptiste Point Dusable, the Lightfoot Administration was looking for a compromise.
Aldermen were briefed Wednesday on a plan by Mayor Lightfoot to finish DuSable Park, in the Streeterville neighborhood, and to build a DuSable exhibit along the Riverwalk.
The Mayor, according to aldermen, “doesn’t like the idea” and has "concerns" about renaming the outer drive for DuSable, in part because of “marketability", and also there’s reportedly been some push-back.
Alderman also said the Lightfoot Administration posed the possibility of renaming the Chicago River after DuSable; but that would require approval from the U.S. Department of Interior.
The sponsor for the renaming, 17th Ward Alderman David Moore said the mayor’s suggestions about ways to honor DuSable are good, but he considers those plans a complement” to renaming the Outer Drive — not a replacement for it, according to the Sun-Times.
It appears the votes are there to advance the renaming out of the Transportation Committee, and the votes to win approval in the full City Council, Moore told the Sun-Times.
“We’re still going forward with our vote [on Thursday]. It’s not an either-or. … We can do both. A man of his magnitude should have both recognitions," he said.
Whether Wednesday’s briefings changed any minds, time will tell.
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