Daley and Eastwood probably didn't know about "Latin Field"

I have to revise what I wrote earlier: I sat in on the LPAC meeting Wednesday, Jan. 9, and Chuck Eastwood was there. At the meeting, everyone in the group -- with a good deal of sincerity and feeling -- explained how they were duped as well about the soccer field.

They said that Jim Chronis of the Park District came to them in September, 2006 -- three months before the clandestine agreement was signed -- and gave an apparently benign dog-and-pony presentation about five new soccer fields that the district was planning citywide. Asked directly by LPAC whether one of these fields was contemplated for Lincoln Park, Chronis emphasized very clearly that Lincoln Park was not currently on the list. That, Chuck and other LPAC members stated, was the last they heard of soccer fields until after the election. The only public notice ever made was a small ad in the back of the Sun-Times, that only mentioned a Park District meeting (where, we now now, the vote was quietly passed) -- and nothing else. I spoke with Chuck after the meeting and he really was sincere.

But this is not to let Vi Daley and Chuck Eastwood off the hook. They are still responsible. They could have changed things, even after the fact. They could have, and should have, stood up to the clandestine deal, just as Brendan Reilly is doing with the Children's Museum. They had three avenues of authority at their disposal, and a moral obligation. But they are politically fearful of both Mayor Daley's people and powerful Latin School parents. That is the worst possible excuse.