BRONZEVILLE — Community groups are writing their list of demands if the Barack Obama Presidential Library is to be built on the South Side.
On Tuesday, eight community groups from neighborhoods around the two potential sites for the library said they would demand protections for housing, wages and locally hiring and are asking more groups to join them.
“We see ourselves facilitating a robust dialogue, a clear process and a rigid community benefits agreement,” said Naomi Davis of Blacks in Green. “We believe that only a process that is inclusive, transparent and accountable can produce the positive economic impacts that the first family and their partners intend.”
The coalition of local chambers of commerce, community development groups and business associations, together called the Bronzeville Regional Collective, has already started its list.
The group is calling for high standards in local hiring and support for locally owned businesses and strict monitoring and reporting on those goals.
The group also is asking the library to create a fund that would support senior homeowners, community start-ups and nonprofits, and is asking the library be included in and support the formation of the Black Metropolis National Heritage Area.
The group is asking the library to promote more middle-income housing around the final site, be it Jackson or Washington Park, and a feasibility study for starting a trauma center on the South Side for the most seriously injured patients.
And they want in writing.
“A written community benefits agreement is where the rubber meets the road,” Davis said.
The Obama Foundation, so far, isn’t opposed to signing a benefits agreement.
“We believe the entire development is for the community, and we look forward to getting community input as we move forward with our development plans,” said a foundation spokeswoman. “With respect to a community benefits agreement, we have made no decisions as to whether or not we will consider such an agreement.”
The collective of neighborhood groups is asking for more people to join and bring their ideas at the first of a series of public meetings.
Organizers are asking those interested to come to Legends South, 4448 S. State St. at 6 p.m. on July 23 and to bring a written idea to be added to the benefits agreement.
The group said they hope to have a draft completed before the final site for the library is announced, which is expected to be in late 2015 or early 2016.
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