Update:Bears stadium proposal got fans confused: Who’s in charge of Chicago’s lakefront?

Chicago’s Near South lakefront is one of the crown jewels of the city, with its parkland, lake access, harbor and three world-renowned museums, all within a few blocks of each other.

And it deserves better treatment. Consider this:

On the southern end near 23rd Street, McCormick Place’s Lakeside Center threatens to rot in place.

Then there is Northerly Island Park, with all of its potential wasted by a split-personality redevelopment that put a 30,000-seat live event pavilion on its north side, but a nature sanctuary on its south.

Now come the Chicago Bears with plans to shoehorn a giant domed stadium — and maybe even hotels and a sports museum — on the parking lots just south of their current Soldier Field playground.

This editorial board has expressed concerns about the current proposed Bears stadium (we don’t like it) and certainly will again as the team’s plans develop.

Still, in a way, you can’t (yet) fault the Bears for trying. They are a for-profit organization, looking for a stadium deal that makes them even more money.

But that the team can just diesel their way in — Bronko Nagurski-style — and attempt to set the agenda for a critical section of one of the most iconic water frontages in the world is more than a bit troubling.

It points to an even larger question: Who in government is truly minding the store when it comes to mapping the future of this critical area of Chicago’s lakefront?

It isn’t as if the tools aren’t there. Chiefly there is the 51-year-old Lakefront Protection ordinance that keeps private development off the city’s shores and can give the thumbs up or down to public development that violates the long-held and fought-for concept of the lakefront as a public trust.

And there’s the Chicago Park District, an independent governmental body — on paper, at least — which can set the agenda for the lakefront. Then there’s the mayor, through which all big things must (or should) pass.

Advocates such as Friends of the Parks are in the mix too, with the ability to sue to stop projects and policies that might negatively impact the lakefront.

Public land, free for development?

So what’s the problem? For too long, Chicago’s parks and lakefront have been looked at as easily developable land, rather than sacrosanct public places that act as respite from the hurly-burly of the big city.

Until that changes, lakefront and park space will always be under the threat of some sort of attack.

At least on the museum campus, the institutions themselves are doing their part to improve the area. For example, the Shedd Aquarium is pouring $500 million into creating new galleries and programs between now and 2027.

The Adler has spent millions in recent years restoring the dome on that marvelous