CITY HALL — Aldermen sparred jokingly over whether the proposed Obama Presidential Library should land on the South Side or the West Side Wednesday, but agreed it belongs in Chicago as they moved to grant city parkland for the project in a joint City Council committee meeting.
"I'm biased toward the West Side," said Ald. Walter Burnett Jr. (27th), backing a University of Illinois at Chicago proposal to place President Barack Obama's library and museum in North Lawndale.
Yet he he also supported the University of Chicago proposal to place the library either in Washington Park or Jackson Park. "We need to put ourselves in a competitive position," Burnett added. "Chicago has to win."
"Ald. Burnett, with all due respect, I'm partial to the South Side," said Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th).
Yet she echoed Burnett in agreeing, "The opportunity here is tremendous," for the city to gain if it's placed at any of the Chicago sites. Hairston said it would "do much to uplift our communities," adding, "We've built up the North Side. Let's build up the South Side."
Ald. Natashia Holmes (7th) joked that the former U.S. Steel Lakeside site would have been better.
"The Pullman site was the ideal site," added Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) to laughter in the Council Chamber.
Ted Cox talks about how the transfer will impact the selection process:
Yet all agreed the opportunity was not to be missed, and the ordinance to allow the transfer of park property to the library, already approved by the Chicago Park District and the Plan Commission, passed without opposition from aldermen. The measure also endorsed the transfer of city property in North Lawndale to the library if the UIC site is selected.
The two sites are in competition against fellow finalists Columbia University in New York City and the University of Hawaii in Obama's native state. Mayor Rahm Emanuel has argued the city has to make its bids as strong as possible to win the library.
Yet the use of park property for the University of Chicago bid continued to draw flak from Friends of the Parks.
"This transfer of public land sets a dangerous precedent," said Cassandra Francis, president of the group. "The parks are irreplaceable public assets worth fighting for," she said, adding a thinly veiled threat to file suit against the transfer, as the group has with the proposed Lucas Museum of Narrative Art on the lakefront between Soldier Field and McCormick Place.
"I feel I shouldn't have to choose between the park and the president," added Melanie Moore, a Woodlawn resident and policy director of Friends of the Parks.
Yet aldermen were tantalized by the economic and cultural opportunity. Andrew Mooney, commissioner of the Department of Planning and Development, estimated that the library would attract 800,000 visitors a year with projected spending of $110 million. He added that it would create up to 2,000 jobs, with an overall economic impact of $220 million a year on the local economy.
Mooney called it "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
"We very much support this ordinance," said Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd). "This proposal has overwhelming support in the community." She added it would produce "much-needed jobs and economic development."
Michelle Boone, commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, testified it would "add to the growing economy of the creative sector in Chicago," while also fulfilling a proposal in the 2012 Cultural Plan to foster a "museum campus south" to complement the main Museum Campus in Grant Park.
While qualifying that "swapped isn't quite the right term," Mooney said the city had 40 acres of available property in the area that could be transferred back to the Park District to compensate for what it might potentially give up.
Longtime South Side activist Timuel Black backed the Washington Park site, pointing to Obama's regular presence in the Bud Billiken Parade in the early stages of his political career.
The Rev. Leon Finney of the Woodlawn Organization said, "Bring it on home."
Ald. Bob Fioretti (2nd), who opposed the transfer of park property for the library while a candidate against Mayor Emanuel, attended the meeting, but did not stick around for the vote.
Ald. Ameya Pawar (47th) abstained, citing his wife's employment with the University of Chicago.
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