{"id":118112,"date":"2021-02-04T16:18:43","date_gmt":"2021-02-04T21:18:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=118112"},"modified":"2021-02-04T16:42:56","modified_gmt":"2021-02-04T21:42:56","slug":"500m-obama-presidential-library-will-finally-break-ground-in-chicago-in-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/500m-obama-presidential-library-will-finally-break-ground-in-chicago-in-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"$500M Obama Presidential Library Will Finally Break Ground In Chicago In 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2F500m-obama-presidential-library-will-finally-break-ground-in-chicago-in-2021%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=118112&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/obama-2.jpg?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>The Obama Foundation is finally breaking ground on the Obama Presidential Library in Chicago after years of waiting, litigation, and complaints from residents who say the library will change the character of a historic park while failing to provide a benefit to the surrounding community.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/chicago.suntimes.com\/2021\/2\/3\/22264869\/obama-presidential-center-groundbreaking-set-early-fall-jackson-park\">Chicago Sun-Times reports<\/a> that \u201cthe first pre-construction utility relocation work for the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park will start in April, with preliminary roadwork and site preparation to begin as early as August.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know that by working together, we can unlock the South Side\u2019s fullest potential \u2014 and help set up our city, our country, and our world for even better years still to come,\u201d former President Barack Obama said in a statement on social media.<\/p>\n<p>The center is expected to cost $500 million, most of it shouldered by private donors to Obama\u2019s presidential foundation. But Illinois residents will be on the hook for $174 million for \u201croadway changes\u201d so those select streets now crossing through Jackon Park can reroute around the massive, 20-acre Obama library campus.<\/p>\n<p>Obama, of course, left office in 2016, and construction was supposed to start in the fall of 2018, but there were issues with the library\u2019s location \u2014 specifically that Obama was building a permanent structure in a protected, historic park, and that the state of Illinois allowed the construction with a minimal financial contribution from the foundation.<\/p>\n<p id=\"oUTKdB\">\u201cThe federal review was mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act because Obama decided to locate his center in Jackson Park, a site of the 1893 Columbian Exposition. The park was designed by famed landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux,\u201d the Sun-Times reported Wednesday. \u201cThe park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Illinois extended the Obama foundation a 99-year lease on its area of the park for <a href=\"https:\/\/chicago.suntimes.com\/news\/city-council-poised-to-approve-obama-presidential-center\/\">just a dollar<\/a>, and a number of groups objected to the easy transfer. They also objected to the city\u2019s and state\u2019s decision to allow the Obama Foundation to dig up areas of the park for the oversized library.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA nonprofit group called Protect our Parks has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that this violates state law,\u201d the Wall Street Journal reported in 2018. \u201cThe suit calls the Obama Center a \u2018bait and switch,\u2019 since the \u2018public purpose\u2019 of a presidential library no longer exists.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Protect Our Parks noted, as others have, that the Obama\u2019 presidential \u201clibrary\u201d will not be a \u201clibrary\u201d in the traditional sense since, unlike past presidents, Obama\u2019s records are mostly digital. Instead of his archives, then, the Obama Center will feature community activities, a \u201cvirtual\u201d research center, and plenty of green space.<\/p>\n<p>Protect Our Parks says it may file a new lawsuit before construction on the project officially begins.<\/p>\n<p>Although Obama selected Chicago for his presidential library, he did not move to his adopted hometown after leaving the White House. The Obama family, instead, purchased a home in New England.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Obama Foundation is finally breaking ground on the Obama Presidential Library in Chicago after years of waiting, litigation, and complaints from residents who say the library will change the &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1892661,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[5324,5321,5318,5315,3849,4719],"class_list":["post-118112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-break","tag-finally","tag-library","tag-obama","tag-presidential","tag-will"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1892661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}