"We met with the mayor's chief of staff and planning commissioner Christopher Hill yesterday," says Bess Demopoulos, spokesperson for the Save Ohio Street Beach campaign. "We want Daley to use his veto power to block the project as it is currently proposed."

Other concerned residents, however, are not convinced that Daley is sensitive to their concerns. "I don't expect him to use the veto," said Rosalind Hecim, president of the Streeterville Organization of Active Residents (SOAR). "He's never done it. I think the last time the veto was used was by Mayor Harold Washington." Both Mayor Daley and Ald. Burt Natarus, in whose 42nd ward the project falls, are strongly behind the project.

Given the likelihood that the Mayor will continue to side with Atlantis Properties, which is developing the 252-unit, 49-story luxury condominium tower, legal challenges are said to be in the works, according to published reports. A group of residents at 540 N. Lake Shore, which is immediately next door to the proposed site, are reportedly talking to environmental lawyers about what impact their independent shadow studies of the project might have in court. Brendan Duffy, a spokesperson for residents at the 540 building, could not immediately be reached for comment.