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Last Friday, during day one of the proceedings, it was revealed that no one had even acquired a building permit for the project. A lawyer for the city claimed that the Park District and Latin didn’t need one to build a large Astroturf field with bleachers, a scoreboard, and drainage pipes. Of course, a back porch would be another matter.
Yesterday Judge Kinnaird expressed disbelief at the city’s seeming reluctance to enforce its own lakefront protection laws. “I’ve never known the city of Chicago to be shy,” she said. “If somebody out there is doing something they shouldn’t be doing, you guys are usually in court.”
But wait, there’s more. As yesterday’s hearing wound down, a lawyer for the Park District asked Judge Kinnaird to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that only the city has the right to block projects that violate the lakefront protection ordinance.
