A public park for private interests?

Here’s an interesting little story: over in Lincoln Park, the Latin School, a prestigious prep school, is paying for a soccer field on public grounds.  Fine.  The problem is, they get exclusive rights to use the "public" park.  A writer at Crain's picked up this story (subscription required) when the contract was first drawn up last year,

For its money, Latin gets first dibs on the field almost every ice-free day in Chicago for 10 years. Specifically, between March 1 and Oct. 31, Latin will be allowed exclusive use of the field 20 to 49 hours a week...

Latin's cost works out to less than $100 an hour over 10 years — not bad, considering nearby DePaul University has spent years fruitlessly seeking land it can afford for a new soccer field. Latin also gets to renew the lease for a minimum of 10 years if it resurfaces the field. It gets to install advertising signs from corporate backers. And it gets to "sponsor" its time to others, a clause that some (not the district) say means Latin may be able to effectively sublease public land...

Latin isn't saying much about all this.

Not surprisingly, the neighbors aren't too happy about an affluent, predominately white school being given such priority over a culturally and socially diverse population.  A band of residents has filed a lawsuit against the city and the school to try to keep the public park, well, public.  Read the latest details in this Tribune story.