Description
Book SynopsisHow did Chicago, a city known for commerce, come to have such a splendid public waterfrontits most treasured asset? Lakefront reveals a story of social, political, and legal conflict in which private and public rights have clashed repeatedly over time, only to produce, as a kind of miracle, a generally happy ending.
Joseph D. Kearney and Thomas W. Merrill study the lakefront''s evolution from the middle of the nineteenth century to the twenty-first. Their findings have significance for understanding not only Chicago''s history but also the law''s part in determining the future of significant urban resources such as waterfronts.
The Chicago lakefront is where the American public trust doctrine, holding certain public resources off limits to private development, was born. This book describes the circumstances that gave rise to the doctrine and its fluctuating importance over time, and reveals how it was resurrected in the later twentieth century to become t
Trade Review
Kearney and Merrill cogently present all of the complexities, including key doctrinal debates about whether the state owned submerged lands over tidal waters or navigable-in-fact waters. The text is lively, with the authors recounting behind-the-scenes activities in the legislature and incorporating newspaper accounts.
* Natural Resources & Environment *
This highly readable text offers a fascinating story of what happened in courts of law, lawyers' offices, legislative and other official bodies, and offices of major corporations—as well as through the actions of public-spirited citizens—to produce and preserve this wonderful amenity. Lucid prose nearly void of legalese, adequate illustrations, and abundant footnotes ensure a general popularity for this excellent book.
* Choice *
Table of ContentsIntroduction
1. The Lake Front Steal
2. The Lake Front Case
3. The Watchdog of the Lakefront
4. The Struggle for Streeterville
5. Reversing the Chicago River
6. North Lake Shore Drive
7. South Lake Shore Drive and Bridging the River
8. The Transformation of the Public Trust Doctrine
9. The Lakefront Today
Conclusion
