President Barack Obama’s presidential library and museum is coming to sweet home Chicago after all, aided by the transfer of parkland on proposed sites to the city as well as legislation to make potential legal action against the project difficult.
The Chicago-based Barack Obama Foundation will make the announcement on Tuesday, according to the Sun-Times’ Lynn Sweet. While the exact location will not be announced, it will be located on the city’s economically depressed South Side, where Obama served as a community organizer and got his start in politics. First Lady Michelle Obama also grew up there.
Although Chicago was the early frontrunner, the city’s bid ran into trouble when the foundation raised significant concerns over the University of Chicago’s plans to use parkland on all the library’s proposed sites. The strength of Columbia University’s bid exacerbated fears that the institution could end up in New York.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel stepped in, however, and pushed the transfer of parkland in Washington Park and Jackson Park from the park district to the city. The measure passed unanimously in the city council. Recently, state legislators passed and Gov. Bruce Rauner signed a bill that would make legal action against the use of parkland difficult.
Such actions made the decision easy. After the announcement, the next decision will be a site. Some favor the Jackson Park site given its proximity to the lake and the Museum of Science and Industry. Others believe the Washington Park site is better given it’s access to the CTA’s Green Line and the fact that the city and University of Chicago already own several plots of land on across the street from the park.
According to DePaul Professor Larry Bennett, the Washington Park site would probably have the most meaningful impact on the surrounding community.
“The area to the west of Washington Park is a really economically challenged part of the city,” Bennett said. “Woodlawn’s geographic location by the University of Chicago provides more of an institutional anchor.”
DePaul Democrats President Michael Rance, who considers himself an environmentalist, said “sometimes you do have to make sacrifices to the environment for public goods” with regards to the use of parkland.
“In this location, the library presents even more of a good than even a park can,” Rance said.
While presidential libraries have not always lived up to their high expectations, Bennett thinks this one could be different given the president’s historic standing as the first African American president.
“If I were to bet on if it were to make an impact, I would see who is appointed to run the library,” he said. “If it is an ambitious person who engages the community (rather than) a caretaker, it will have more of an impact.”