WSJ: Obama Wins Another Victory Against Community Organizers
-
Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama participate in a ceremonial groundbreaking for the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago’s historic Jackson Park on Tuesday.
On the other hand, such a moment can also mean elation for the erector of a 235-foot tower, which when completed will feature an adjacent complex with meeting spaces, an auditorium, a broadcast and recording studio, and a restaurant.
The elated man on Tuesday in Chicago was our 44th president, who was no doubt savoring a hard-fought triumph in his battle to convert a historic green space into stone and glass. Alice Yin reports for the Chicago Tribune:
As former President Barack Obama took the podium during his presidential center’s long-delayed groundbreaking, he looked back on his first taste of the city that would forever shape him: driving up the Chicago Skyway in a rickety car, slowing to a cruise upon entering the marvel that he considered Jackson Park.
But as another former president might say, what’s better to do with a marvelous piece of land than develop it? The Tribune’s Ms. Yin continues:
On Tuesday afternoon, standing before four shovels and a mound of dirt in Jackson Park, Obama said the next chapter will be inspiring today’s young leaders through the future Obama Presidential Center.
This is not to be confused with a presidential library, a repository of official records. The Obama Presidential Center will instead serve as a museum—and one that will feature panoramic views of the Chicago skyline, plus a whole lot more.
Nevertheless some locals have been angered by the impact on people at ground level. Ms. Yin notes:
The ceremony went on despite an enduring legal battle against the Obama Foundation’s use of parkland and as local activists planned a protest outside the future site of the presidential center to call for more affordable housing protections... park preservationists determined to get the Obama Foundation to relocate the campus remain confident in their latest pending lawsuit.
At the same time, the Obama Community Benefits Agreement Coalition, a group of activists demanding more protections for residents they fear will be displaced by the project, said they haven’t given up their fight either. The coalition held a protest next to the Jackson Park site at noon Tuesday...
Nonetheless, the 44th president said his excitement prevails in the face of the local pushback, insisting that the complex, despite fierce opposition to its location from park preservationists, will “preserve and enhance Jackson Park.”Kudos to the former president for maintaining his good cheer, because local community organizers seem to have done everything in their power to spoil his big day. According to the Tribune report:
Before the start of Tuesday’s ceremony, a small aircraft carried a banner reading, “Stop cutting down trees. Move OPC” in the sky above the small gathering of Obama Foundation and city officials. Hours later, Protect Our Parks, the group that is suing to stop the project, tweeted that the Obama Center will bring “devastation” to the park and the community.
“The homecoming of the former President and the first lady should be a moment of pride for Chicagoans. On this visit, though, we hope they will mourn the devastation of the initial clear-cutting of the mature trees and the destruction of the Women’s Garden in Jackson Park, in addition to the long-term environmental and public health dangers that will ensue,” the group wrote.
Speaking of the long term, Rachel Hinton writes in the Chicago Sun-Times:
Former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama returned to Chicago on Tuesday for the official groundbreaking for the Obama Presidential Center, promising it will be a “university for activism and social change.”
Sounds like it already is. Thanks to the intense opposition generated by Mr. Obama’s big dig, count this as one presidential promise that will be kept. And if the former President likes his contractor, he will surely get to keep his contractor.
-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_Park_(Chicago)
Because this will fit into Olmsted and Vaux's vision of landscape architecture just perfectly:
-
