Gigi Pritzker to appear on Chicago Tonight

Gigi Pritzker is slated to appear on Chicago Tonight.......Thursday, September 20 @ 7:00, Channel 11. If you don't catch it then, then seem to rerun at 1AM, 4:30 AM.......also, sounds like there may be some encore rebroadcasts on Friday.

ALso, Comcast On Demand sometimes has it available for a day or two..

I am waiting for it to appear on Comcast on demand, if last night is any indication it should be another half hour or so.

Has anyone seen it yet?

Did she get a chance to explain her comment in a recent interview that the people who are opposing the (so-called) Museum taking over Grant Park land are racially motivated? I hope so. what crap

The O'Neill segment appeared on the WTTW site (Producer's Pick) as of yesterday. Hopefully the Pritzker segment will as well.

Gigi was indeed unapposed an allowed to portray "The World According to Gigi".....

They never did fix the audio on the Gigi Prizker segment on Comcast on Demand... :-( but I realized about half way through it was fixed, so I caught the end of it. The interviewer seemed to ask some good questions and seemed to be annoyed that her answers made no sense, but he wasn't there to debate her so he carried on...

All in all I think she did her cause more harm than good, but why not try?

I still don't see the segment on the wttw producer's picks -

WTTW - Producer's Picks - September 2007 (http://www.wttw.com/main.taf?p=28,7,6) maybe later in the day.

Eric

the Gigi clip is now available on the WTTW site (Producer's pick) with sound.

Also, lots more great stuff at the Beachwood Reporter;

(Beachwoodreporter.com) including this on Gigi's interview:

Gigi Gags
Gigi Pritzker Pucker, chairperson of the museum, appeared on Chicago Tonight last night - solo, without any of the skeptics who appeared on a panel the night before - and for the first few minutes of her interview with host Phil Ponce the sound didn't work.

"Is Daley jamming the TV stations?!" a faithful Beachwood reader said in a voice mail message left for me.

We live under the kind of rule where that sort of joke is possible.

Pritzker Pucker, meanwhile, did her cause no favors, stating:

* That she finds it "disturbing" that the dialogue is about race. Ponce unfortunately let that one go, failing to ask, "So was the mayor wrong? Has he gotten this debate off track?"

* That the opposition is about race. Asked for hard evidence, she unconvincingly cited a meeting with racial undertones and notes received by Father Michael Pfleger. (What does he have to do with this anyway?)

* That "we heard differently, we saw differently" than downtown alderman Ald. Brendan Reilly, who attended nine community meetings and has reported no such undertones.

* That "a lot of kids who come to our museum don't even know there's a lake." You mean the kids who come from Iowa? Because even poor Chicago kids know there's a lake.

* That the demographics of the kids who attend the museum are "pretty diverse." That was as specific as she could get. (A Sun-Times editorial today says the typical visitor to the museum is white, six years old, and accompanied by a parent.)

* That "we have raised money for this location." Aha!

* That clout has nothing to do with it. "The reality is, the mayor listens to a lot of people." All evidence to the contrary - especially this week.

* That this won't set a precedent because "I don't think we'll have a plethora of institutions trying to get into the park." A plethora of institutions have tried to get into the park for 171 years. That's why we have a lakefront ordinance that had to be reaffirmed so many times by the courts.

* That she is trying to "give a gift to the city" and that the museum is "a hidden gem." The Children's Museum, however, is hardly beloved because it is so mediocre.

When do they give up? I imagine when it would it will happen it be gracefully - but they do not give up.. anyone catch the "Chicago Tonight" line-up for tonight? Are they going to continue covering this topic?

Eric

Her comment that she heard about residents in the neighborhood who just didn't want to attend the meeting (boo hoo) because of the anger they thought would be there -- what crap.

Despicable spin.

I saw so many residents with their attendance cards in hand who wanted to go to the "neighborhood meeting" and hear both sides who had to walk back home in the rain because the Children's Museum administration decided to hi-jack the meeting and fill all the available seats with the people they bussed in -- many as many as four hours before the meeting.

When have you heard about a neighborhood meeting being hi-jacked and neighborhood residents not able to attend ? and then smear them and call any complaints racist ?? OMG.

That should have been a big mistake on their part politically which they know but no one has covered... I haven't heard this story represented in the major media at all, just Lynn Becker's blog at : http://www.windychat.com/architecturechicago-plus-327.html

I bored my family to death through the whole WTTW Chicago Tonight program tonight just waiting to hear the explanation about the problems with the audio.. they never did really explain it except to say it was a problem with the transmission and that the segment is available online with the full audio in the Producer's Picks on the WTTW site ( which was already mentioned here ).

They also read a couple letters, the one I liked mentioned how could the interviewer sit there listening to the "vagaries" spouted by Gigi (did anyone catch the full, exact quote?!) and I swear it was the same guy, the host reading the letters who had interviewed Gigi you could tell he enjoyed reading it... I remember him sort of squirming in his chair listening to her answers.. he was not there to debate her, just ask the questions, but you could tell he wanted to rebutt some of her responses..

Anyway, kudos to the person who submitted that letter to WTTW!

Eric

Last night's show is available on Comcast On Demand until app. 7 tonight. (Tuesday)

Here's the quote;

"I have the ultimate respect for Phil Ponce. But PLEASE, when does a top notch journalist let a guest get away with the vagueries that came out of Gigi's mouth in an effort to avoid answering questions? ....Give this issue, which has ignited our city for so many different reasons, one more shot."