CHICAGO | Obama Presidential Library

[thegoatman]

the less roads in parks the better

[Klippenstein]

The main building is starting to rise above ground it seems

Today





Credit Doug Shaeffer

[pullmanman]

Really loving the zoomed in picture, it's got that faux-miniature diorama look. Very cool effect.

[Busy Bee]

^ Tilt-shift?

[BVictor1]

09.25.22

[Klippenstein]

Passed by this morning and the core is definitely above ground. Excited to start to see this rise.

[Klippenstein]

From this weekend. Credit Doug Shaeffer



Are they possibly assembling the outer walls of the tower? You can see them ^at the bottom^ of the last picture.

[thegoatman]

Very excited to see this rise up. All the idiotic activists who opposed this are fools. A presidential library of arguably the most popular and well liked president of our time will be a major attraction for the southside. Plus I think this will bring more development to the south lakefront area which is great. Good all around.

[BuildThemTaller]

Gee, I guess they found the funding for this after all.

[Tombstoner]

Originally Posted by thegoatman

Very excited to see this rise up. All the idiotic activists who opposed this are fools. A presidential library of arguably the most popular and well liked president of our time will be a major attraction for the southside. Plus I think this will bring more development to the south lakefront area which is great. Good all around.

It's not a presidential library--those are maintained by the USG and are official federal repositories. This is for a private foundation--the Obama foundation--which is why many people are upset that public land was taken for private purposes. I'm a fan of the ex-president, but I can see why some would see this as emblematic of Chicago corruption. I'm sure this has been discussed earlier in this thread...

[west-town-brad]

Originally Posted by thegoatman

Very excited to see this rise up. All the idiotic activists who opposed this are fools. A presidential library of arguably the most popular and well liked president of our time will be a major attraction for the southside. Plus I think this will bring more development to the south lakefront area which is great. Good all around.

FOOLS!

also your frame of reference for "our time" is clearly very limited.

[gebs]

Originally Posted by west-town-brad

FOOLS!

also your frame of reference for "our time" is clearly very limited.

I don't think he's wrong. US News and World Report's ranking (as of 2018) of the popularity of recent presidents places BO at #3 behind Ronald Reagan (dead) and JFK (dead).

link

[r18tdi]

Originally Posted by west-town-brad

fools!

Also your frame of reference for "our time" is clearly very limited.

reeee

[nomarandlee]

Originally Posted by gebs

I don't think he's wrong. US News and World Report's ranking (as of 2018) of the popularity of recent presidents places BO at #3 behind Ronald Reagan (dead) and JFK (dead).

link

I find this view distasteful. Even the best of Presidents will have tens of millions of detractors, if not more.

The idea that ANY of the merits of the Obama Center being placed in Jackson Park should be based on subjective notions of "popularity" either locally or nationally shows disdain for process, law, and planning. We otherwise wouldn't do X but if such a person is "popular enough" then let us upend what we typically would do in order to appease a megalomaniac personality (ALL POTUS have a megalomaniac personality of sorts).

I subjectively think on the whole Obama was one of the better Presidents of the last 100 years or so. That said due to his "choice" the public is now paying 200million dollars in tax money to needlessly rearrange a park. A rather odd way of showing a lasting commitment to the virtue of good thrifty governance that I had hoped Obama would have prioritized.

[gebs]

I'm not saying I agree with the idea that a popular former president should get to do what he wants. I'm just saying, by most accounts, he's an undeniably popular former president.

[Busy Bee]

This whole issue of public land public expense blah blah blah is such an enormous eye roll. Does anyone think anyone is gonna give a shit about any of that in 20 years, hell even 10 years, once this thing is operating and bringing gobs of visitors and $$$ ? I get how someone could conflate peripherally how this has parallels of "sports socialism" but this has such a higher purpose and civic benefit than any stadium or attraction brought about with TIF givaways, incentive shenanigans or publicly financed infrastructure upgrades.

[bhawk66]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

This whole issue of public land public expense blah blah blah is such an enormous eye roll. Does anyone think anyone is gonna give a shit about any of that in 20 years, hell even 10 years, once this thing is operating and bringing gobs of visitors and $$$ ? I get how someone could conflate peripherally how this has parallels of "sports socialism" but this has such a higher purpose and civic benefit than any stadium or attraction brought about with TIF givaways, incentive shenanigans or publicly financed infrastructure upgrades.

Excellent post. Such short sightedness by some. 200 million of taxpayer money? That will easily be three fold returned by tourism, jobs, and, well, taxes on stuff before a half a century has passed. The city moved some roads?? Really? What a tremendous reconstruction. smh. This thing is a gift and a half to the city and especially this area.

[glowrock]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

This whole issue of public land public expense blah blah blah is such an enormous eye roll. Does anyone think anyone is gonna give a shit about any of that in 20 years, hell even 10 years, once this thing is operating and bringing gobs of visitors and $$$ ? I get how someone could conflate peripherally how this has parallels of "sports socialism" but this has such a higher purpose and civic benefit than any stadium or attraction brought about with TIF givaways, incentive shenanigans or publicly financed infrastructure upgrades.

I completely agree. Besides the obvious influx of visitors and tax dollars, most of the public finding is going towards actually restoring a good portion of the freaking park! Removing streets, adding pedestrian underpasses, interesting overall green space. I honestly fail to see the problem here.

Aaron (Glowrock)

[nomarandlee]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

This whole issue of public land public expense blah blah blah is such an enormous eye roll. Does anyone think anyone is gonna give a shit about any of that in 20 years, hell even 10 years, once this thing is operating and bringing gobs of visitors and $$$ ? I get how someone could conflate peripherally how this has parallels of "sports socialism" but this has such a higher purpose and civic benefit than any stadium or attraction brought about with TIF givaways, incentive shenanigans or publicly financed infrastructure upgrades.

Nothing to disagree with anything you said. The matter of the location will be barely an afterthought in ten years. Heck, it is already an afterthought. Also, it will bring in $$$ as you say. We have an apathetic public that lets political elites make bad choices with our money and land because they are "popular".

That in itself doesn't counter that in modern times we ought to expect more than wasteful spending for road relocations and tens of millions/new acre of "park" which is just a horrible ROI, especially when other sites were just as good if not superior. It is only due to Obama's ego that this site HAD to be chosen. It's a sorry state of affairs to effectively surrender to the idea that we ought to avoid how much egoism doesn't matter, how the community wanted it at any cost (debatable), or how the city/UC had to offer anything could to win Obama's affection. I just don't think we ought to ever normalize it as the way things OUGHT to be done. This was already "green space" that was not destined to be a 10-acre parking lot, unlike the Lucas Museum. There would have likely never been a priority to remove Cornell Drive if not for the assistance of the location for the OPL.

It's an effective modern-day castle surrounded by a green mote paid in part at taxpayer expense. All the while other high-profile quality lots that would have been more financially and logistically feasible were spurned by the Obamas.

Why the insistence of the charade regarding how normal and reasonable it all is because we subjectively deemed a politician "popular" and deserving of circumventing federal review and shunning best planning practices because effectively ONE man's ego (be that an ex-POTUS or not) wanted his monument where he wanted it.

[galleyfox]

Originally Posted by nomarandlee

Nothing to disagree with anything you said. The matter of the location will be barely an afterthought in ten years. Heck, it is already an afterthought. Also, it will bring in $$$ as you say. We have an apathetic public that lets political elites make bad choices with our money and land because they are "popular".

That in itself doesn't counter that in modern times we ought to expect more than wasteful spending for road relocations and tens of millions/new acre of "park" which is just a horrible ROI, especially when other sites were just as good if not superior. It is only due to Obama's ego that this site HAD to be chosen. It's a sorry state of affairs to effectively surrender to the idea that we ought to avoid how much egoism doesn't matter, how the community wanted it at any cost (debatable), or how the city/UC had to offer anything could to win Obama's affection. I just don't think we ought to ever normalize it as the way things OUGHT to be done. This was already "green space" that was not destined to be a 10-acre parking lot, unlike the Lucas Museum. There would have likely never been a priority to remove Cornell Drive if not for the assistance of the location for the OPL.

The whole point of the Obama Center was to improve Jackson Park and showcase the best of the South Side with an attraction that millions of people will visit.

To be frank, a useless strip of lawn between two egregiously dangerous roads was worse than the Lucas Museum parking lot. Because the parking lot actually gets used by several thousand people throughout the year.

Just because a vacant lot is covered with turf and romanticized as “green space”, doesn’t actually make it a worthwhile public space.

Good riddance to Cornell Drive.

It destroyed Jackson Park. With the Obama Center, it might actually be pleasant to stroll in a circle around the park again.

In the future, the city will probably have to spend billions to remove the other highways through the city parks anyways. Might as well get a billion dollar unique museum in exchange for this one.