Emotions ran high Wednesday during the second round of debates on the future of the Obama Presidential Library potentially coming to Chicago.
While many seem to side with doing whatever it takes to bring the presidential library to Chicago’s South Side, others say they want no part of it.
Tuesday night’s similar meeting drew about 1,000 people. Wednesday’s meeting, which was part public hearing and part pep rally, drew so many attendees that gathered organizers had to scramble to find overflow room.
“Think about what the Obama Presidential Library has the potential to create,” 4th Ward Bill Burns said addressing the room. “Hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity, hundreds of jobs.”
Mayor Rahm Emanuel also added his voice to the call to put the Barack Obama Presidential Library on the city’s South Side.
“The Presidential Library has come only once,” Mayor Emanuel said. “I don’t think Chicago should miss on this unique opportunity educationally, culturally or economically. It’s a unique investment wherever they pick and they are going to pick the city of Chicago.”
But what is at stake in this debate is about 20 acres of park land in one of two historic parks that bookend the University of Chicago, a contender for the library.
The proposed library's foot print for the university affects either Washington or Jackson Park, much to the dismay of some community members.
“We owe it to our children to pass these parks on,” said Laura Moltz, president of Friends of the Parks. “They are not the city of Chicago’s, the Park District’s, or the university’s to break up and give away.”
Moltz and her contingents said while they support the Obama Library coming to Chicago, land that is already vacant should be used instead of valuable park space.
“[There is] too much vacant land on the South Side,” Moltz continued. “Which could be creatively utilized to build a dynamic presidential library befitting a truly urban President.”
