Amid heated debate, city approves plan for Obama Presidential Center – By Lolly Bowean (chicagotribune.com) / May 17 2018
After more than seven hours of emotional and passionate testimony from hundreds of residents, community activists and elected officials, the Chicago Plan Commission voted overwhelmingly to approve the Obama Presidential Center on Thursday afternoon.
The decision was a major hurdle for the Obama Foundation, but it is just the beginning of a long process before any construction takes place.
Next week, the foundation will go before the city’s zoning board for more approvals. Then it will have to have a formal long-term lease agreement approved by the full City Council. In addition, the project is still under federal review because of Jackson Park’s status on the National Register of Historic Places.
Still, the vote was considered a major victory for the foundation’s top officials, who represent the former president and first lady.
“We are heartened by the outpouring of enthusiasm and support for the OPC and thank everyone who came today to lend their voice to this important process,” David Simas, chief executive of the Obama Foundation, said in a written statement. “We are pleased with the vote and look forward to continuing to work with our neighbors … to make the vision and mission of the OPC into a reality.”
Of the 22 members on the commission, 15 voted on the matter, all in favor of building the center.
In May 2015, then-President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama announced that they wanted to build a facility on the South Side, eventually selecting Jackson Park as the site for the sprawling complex. The site, they said, would place the presidential center near the Museum of Science and Industry and benefit struggling neighborhoods like South Shore, Woodlawn and Washington Park.
But from the moment the details of the project were unveiled, it has exposed sensitive divisions in the South Side community along both racial and class lines.
Some residents have expressed worry that the sprawling new development will lead to gentrification and displacement. Others didn’t want the facility in park space or complained about increased traffic.
On the other side, supporters said the center will provide a much-needed investment that could lead to a transformation of the South Side and provide jobs, workforce training and opportunities for African-Americans, Latinos and others who aren’t normally considered for large-scale projects.
On Thursday, much of that tension came to a head at the meeting. In the City Council chambers, nearly every seat was filled, and the balcony area was crowded too. Nearly 250 people signed up to speak.
But five hours before the meeting started, in the chilly, darkness of morning, opponents and supporters of the center staged dueling rallies outside City Hall. Carrying signs and banners, they stood across the street from each other yelling chants.
Then, once the meeting started, several residents were removed by security after they disrupted the proceedings.
“It is not unreasonable,” they chanted. “No CBA, No vote,” they said, referring to a proposed community benefits agreement.
At the meeting, the foundation’s application was the only item on the agenda. Details of the plan were presented by Assistant Commissioner Patrick Murphey.
But when it was time to explain the specifics of the center and its impact on the community, the foundation’s chairman, Martin Nesbitt, took the podium.
“President Obama and Mrs. Obama … have pushed us as a team to not limit ourselves with respect to our ability to imagine the possibilities for this community,” Nesbitt said.
“Our vision is that the center is a public campus integrated into the park as a part of it and not apart from it,” he said. “When families and young people come to our campus, we hope to have them inspired to see that they have the power to change the things in their lives and the communities they live in.”
The center also aims to “broaden horizons for kids on the South Side,” Nesbitt said.
He said the contractors hired to build the center are made up of mainly African-American-owned firms.
The foundation has also committed to providing training and career centers so that it can create a pipeline for residents to get permanent, well-paying jobs.
Michael Strautmanis, the foundation’s vice president for community engagement, presented the commission with two binders with more than 400 letters from supporters. He also offered boxes containing more than 3,700 postcards from residents listing their reasons for supporting the center.
“These folks are just a fraction of the folks that played a role in getting us here,” he said.
The center is envisioned as a 19-acre campus made up of three buildings: a museum tower that will reach 235 feet and eight levels, a forum building that contains a 300-seat auditorium and a third building that will be used as a public library branch. There will be an underground garage and athletic center and an outdoor plaza and winding landscape.
Officials want to break ground on the center this year, with the opening slated for 2021.
“Our plan has been strengthened and refined by the input we received from so many,” Strautmanis said.
Still, there are more steps to take — a workforce has to be trained and hired, and formal agreements between the foundation and city have to be drafted and finalized.
There is also opposition: One organization has filed a lawsuit to block the entire development. Others are vowing to continue fighting for an ordinance that would freeze property taxes for nearby homeowners, and reserve 30 percent of all rehabbed and newly constructed housing for lower-income residents.
Thursday’s hearing drew a who’s who of Chicago community icons: media mogul Melody Spann Cooper, the Rev. Byron Brazier of the nearby Apostolic Church of God, activist Jawanza Malone, historian Timuel Black, preservationist Ward Miller, writer Sara Paretsky, developer Ghian Foreman and renowned peace worker Ameena Matthews. There were leaders of cultural institutions like the Chicago History Museum, high school administrators, clergy and activists.
Margaret Schmid of Jackson Park Watch asked the commission to reject parts of the application because her organization does not agree with the plan to close Cornell Drive. Essentially, she and her constituents want the center to be made smaller and retrofit so it doesn’t spill out of the current park boundaries.
On Thursday, she said the group will continue to apply pressure through the federal review process.
“This is a mistake because of all the key unresolved questions about parkland being replaced and the feasibility of road closures,” Schmid said.
Alice Mulberry said she wants the center, but in another location that’s “more urban” and farther from her Hyde Park home.
“I fear that if the center is not moved out of Jackson Park, a lot of people will be deeply disappointed. Young people will go wherever the center is located,” she said.
The Rev. Leon Finney, chairman of the Woodlawn Organization, told the commission that he collected more than 5,000 signatures in favor of the project.
“It is what we need for economic stimulation,” he said. “There is a desperate need for this.”
Sheila Clay, of Hyde Park, said she can understand both sides — lower-income residents don’t want to face rising rents. But ultimately she believes the center is the type of polished development a struggling South Side needs.
“It will be an opportunity we all can be a part of,” she said.
Maya Hodari, of Woodlawn, echoed that sentiment.
“We’ve exposed our children to shootings, homicides, burglaries, drug addiction. It’s time for them to see something else is possible. It’s time for them to see they can ascend to the highest office in the country.”
Hodari said she was saddened that the project, estimated to cost more than $500 million and possibly bringing $3.1 billion in economic activity to the city’s overlooked neighborhoods, has become contentious.
“This is the first African-American president,” she said. “… He wants to make an investment here. How could we oppose it?”
Members of the coalition pushing for a community benefits agreement staged a protest and vigil. Like many others, the representatives emphasized that they are not opposing the center and would like to see it built. But they want lower-income seniors, residents who use housing subsidies and people who currently live around the center to remain.
While they are pushing for an ordinance that would have to be passed by the City Council, most of their demonstrations and public pressure have been on the foundation.
“We want the Obama center, but we don’t want to be displaced by it,” said Parrish Brown, who was one of the disruptors who was escorted out of the meeting.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel did not attend the hearing, but he released a video of support on Twitter.
Most of the City Council members spoke in favor of the center, but they did ask questions. One alderman wanted a more detailed breakdown of just where the economic impact calculations came from. Another wanted to know about the $175 million in infrastructure and roadway improvements: Will the city pay for it? Where will the city get the money?
The Plan Commission is made up of 10 members who are appointed. The other 12 members are elected officials and city leaders.
Ald. Leslie Hairston, 5th, whose ward the facility would sit in, said she’s at work on a community stabilization plan. With excitement, she touted the jobs and boasted about the way the foundation has included voices from a broad swath of the community.
She asked the commission to approve the proposal.
“This has been an exercise of democracy in action,” Hairston said.
“Some people don’t know a win when they’ve got a win,” she said. “We want jobs … we want opportunities for young people to thrive in our communities.”
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