Obama Library

Mayor Rahm Emanuel submitted the proposal at Wednesday's City Council meeting.

Joseph Bowden said it would be hard to find the 20 acres of private property U. of C. says it needs.

North Lawndale leaders had a message for the Obama Library Foundation Thursday: "We're here."

Residents said they're worried about gentrification with U. of C. leading the process.

Speakers were all in favor of the South Side, but still divided over whether parkland should be used.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel echoed that the park land was necessary to provide 25 acres to be competitive.

Rev. Anthony David O'Neil said church was open to moving, but no one from U. of C. has approached him.

Aldermen supported using park land for the library Wednesday as Olmsted groups panned the proposal.

The Obama Foundation praised new transparency from the University of Chicago on the Obama library.

The University of Chicago identified an arboretum and baseball diamonds as sites for the library.

K.A.M. Isaiah Israel is helping R.T.W. Veterans Center dream of growing their garden into a forest.

The city scheduled public meetings to discuss the Obama library locating at two South Side locations.

The U. of C. proposal could endanger the city's first arboretum and 143-year-old oak trees.

The south lakefront saw battles over a shuttered Dominick's and huge investments in Jackson Park.

The park advisory council will talk Jan. 12 about being a potential site of the presidential library.