Obama defends his presidential library against criticism that it infuriates Chicago’s south side

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Former President Barack Obama defended the decision to choose Chicago’s Jackson Park neighborhood as the site for his Obama Presidential Center legacy project ahead of the inauguration scheduled for Tuesday.

The 44th Presidential Center sits on 19 acres of Jackson Park and will include a museum, forum, public plaza, sports center, playground, and a branch of the Chicago Public Library. He had been mired in controversy over gentrification issues as well as those surrounding environmental damage.

“The truth is, every time you do a big project, unless you’re in the middle of a field somewhere, you know, and it’s on private property, there will always be people going to say, well, but we don’t want change. We were worried about it. We don’t know how it’s going to turn out, Mr. Obama told ABC News.

This is why we have followed such a comprehensive process to encourage and elicit comments, concerns, criticism and suggestions from the community, ”he said.

Construction on the project officially began last month along Lake Michigan near the Obama family home where the former president began his political career. The location is also of particular significance to the Obamas as it is where the couple married and raised their two daughters. It will probably take about five years to complete it.

Mr. Obama, who is to attend the groundbreaking ceremony with former First Lady Michelle Obama, said: “With your help we can make this center a catalyst for economic opportunity, a new class destination. global on the south side and a platform for young people to lead change. “

The initial cost of the project was estimated at $ 500 million, but according to recently released documents the price is likely to increase by an additional $ 330 million.

Earlier last month, the federal appeals court denied an effort by conservation group Protect Our Parks, which sought to block construction of the project on the grounds that it would lead to the cutting of hundreds of trees and the destruction of the project. ‘environment.

The court challenge came even as a four-year federal review concluded in February that the new Obama center would have no significant impact on the human environment.

The federal review, however, found that the center would reduce the overall integrity of Jackson Parks by altering the historic internal spatial divisions designed as a single entity.

The 551.5-acre park was designed by renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted to host the 1893 World’s Fair and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

“When it came time to plan for the Obama Presidential Center, we wanted to give something back to this place that has given us so much,” Michelle Obama said in a video ad.

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