The decision to build Barack Obama’s presidential library in Chicago’s lakefront Jackson Park rather than a nearby impoverished neighborhood has left some residents anxious the museum will deliver less of a boost to the South Side.
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Grimshaw, a longtime resident of the area who grew up playing in Washington Park, said building the library there could have reversed population decline and created more economic opportunity.
The Barack Obama Foundation chose to build the library in Jackson Park, near the University of Chicago, where President Obama taught constitutional law and where he worked as a community organizer before embarking on his successful political career.
It is expected to be a different sort of presidential library: the Obama Foundation selected as its architects husband and wife team Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, who “believe that architecture is the coming together of art and use, and can bring a sense of grace to life”.
Officials say the Obama library, with a planned opening in 2021, would benefit far more than just the Woodlawn community. A controversy over a lakefront site east of Lake Shore Drive caused George Lucas to pull his planned museum out of Chicago in June.
In June, Lucas announced he was abandoning his plan to build the museum, which would focus on narrative and digital art, in Chicago because of the Friends of the Park’s lawsuit. “Of course we all know the South Side is a historical place with vibrant institutions such as the DuSable Museum, the University of Chicago and the Museum of Science and Industry”, Obama Foundation Chairman Marty Nesbitt said.
Much of the land Barack Obama’s presidential library will occupy was once a part of the famous 1893 World’s Fair. “Friends of the Parks’ analysis suggests that there is no realistic legal remedy at this time to protect this public open space from this development”.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity”, said Emanuel, who dismissed the group as “friends of the parking lot” during the battle over the Lucas museum.
The group urged the Obama Foundation to actively minimize the center’s impact on the parkland.
“The design of the Obama library should maximize the use of available vacant land and underground space, and be truly “park positive” by adding parkland to the surrounding community”, Irizarry said. “Friends of the Parks similarly has a deep commitment to the protection and preservation of the public’s use of and access to open space”, Friends board Chairwoman Lauren Moltz said.
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The two parks Barack Obama considered for his presidential library are only a mile apart in Chicago.
