Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday said she will move forward with plans to direct $40 million toward developing a park named for Jean Baptiste Point DuSable and hold yearly programming in his honor, even after aldermen voted to rename Lake Shore Drive for the Haitian explorer known as Chicago’s founder.

       “I really do believe it’s very important not just to have a name out there,” Lightfoot said at an unrelated news conference. “We’ve got to teach our residents and particularly our young people about the history of Chicago. It’s way past time that people understood the importance of DuSable to this city’s founding.”

       Mayor Lori Lightfoot, reads the City Council's vote to change LSD to Jean Baptiste Point du Sable Lake Shore Drive, on Friday, June 25, 2021. The bill passed with a large majority. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)

       Lightfoot unveiled a plan late last month to honor DuSable by spending $40 million toward developing DuSable Park, a small parcel near Navy Pier, renaming the Riverwalk downtown for DuSable and creating an annual festival in his honor.

       The plan was an attempt to fend off a competing proposal to rename Lake Shore Drive for the Haitian explorer. But Lightfoot’s counterproposal was unsuccessful at preventing the name change as the City Council on Friday renamed the iconic lakefront roadway after DuSable.

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       Lightfoot did not say if she still intends to push for renaming the Riverwalk in DuSable’s honor, and a spokeswoman for her office did not provide an answer when asked later Monday if that remained part of the mayor’s plan.

       But Lightfoot was explicit about having statues erected for DuSable, creating the $40 million park and “year-round programming so that people understand who DuSable is and his importance (to) our city.”

       The mayor said she expects her plan to potentially be up for a vote by September. It’s not clear how much appetite aldermen will have for more projects honoring DuSable.

       Lightfoot’s comments came as a surprise since she criticized the effort to rename Lake Shore Drive on Friday by saying the council has more important things to deal with.

       The protracted street rebranding fight came as Chicago faces many pressing problems, from rising violent crime to crushing financial shortfalls coming out of the pandemic.

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       Lightfoot and her administration also argued the name was iconic and renaming Lake Shore Drive could hurt tourism.

       But in a city where symbolic representation has long been a measure of political strength, Ald. David Moore and supporters of the change saw winning as a point of pride for Black Chicagoans and others who think DuSable hasn’t gotten his due. Capitulating to opponents would have been another indignity in what they see as long-running under-appreciation of African Americans’ contributions.

       “It’s been argued not to change the name Lake Shore Drive because it’s so iconic,” said Ald. Sophia King, 4th, who co-sponsored the ordinance. “I argue just the opposite. Let’s rename it because it’s so iconic.”

       In Lake Shore Drive, backers of the change chose a particularly contentious target for the DuSable name. It’s one champions say befits the Black man who became the area’s first nonnative settler when he set up a trading post along the Chicago River in 1779, but which opponents argued would besmirch an emblem of the city as beloved as the Sears Tower or Marshall Field’s.

       If Lightfoot’s plan is successful, it would become the latest of several honors bestowed upon DuSable.

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       There’s DuSable Harbor in Lake Michigan east of Grant Park, DuSable Museum of African American History in Washington Park and a bust of DuSable along Michigan Avenue just north of the DuSable Bridge downtown.

       The DuSable Leadership Academy high school in Bronzeville operates out of a landmarked building that for decades housed the larger DuSable High School.

       gpratt@chicagotribune.com

       After losing battle over renaming Lake Shore Drive, Mayor Lori Lightfoot says she will still move ahead with plans to honor DuSable that include $40 million park

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       Politics After losing battle over renaming Lake Shore Drive, Mayor Lori Lightfoot says she will still move ahead with plans to honor DuSable that include $40 million park

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