University of Chicago faculty members aren’t too happy with the Obama Presidential Center
Over 150 faculty members at the University of Chicago have signed an open letter criticizing the placement and design of the Obama Presidential Center in the South Side of Chicago.
While the open letter said that they were in favor of the building the center in the South Side, they criticized the choice of Jackson Park.
“Jackson Park, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, is on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of the most important urban parks in the nation,” the letter reads. “At a time of increasing complexity and pressure in urban life, Chicago should be dedicated to preserving our public parks as open areas for relaxation and play for all its citizens.”
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What’s more, according to the Chicago Maroon, the faculty members questions whether the center wouldn’t be more helpful to a different community. After all, the Jackson Park area already has the Museum of Science of Industry and the University, so the community wouldn’t be as economically helped as an area with fewer such sites.
“We are concerned that these are not the best ways to use public funds to invest in the future of Chicago,” the letter says.
However, the Obama Foundation has argued against the faculty members’ accusations that the center is going against the original vision of Frederick Law Olmsted.
“Olmsted was an influential advocate for social causes in his day. It is fitting that a cultural attraction that celebrates the significant accomplishments of African Americans, which will become a global destination for civic activism, would be located in one of his parks,” the Obama Foundation said.
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Criticism for the center
The faculty members aren’t the only ones expressing their frustration.
In one angry letter to the editor at the Chicago Tribune, resident John Deal called the artist’s rendering of the center “ugly.”
“A 225-foot tower and associated buildings are garish monstrosities that ruin the aesthetics of the surrounding parkland stolen from the taxpaying public,” the letter read, in part.
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“This is just a play by Chicago’s elite to curry the favor of a narcissistic liberal Democrat. With Chicago politics, all of these public meetings are just smoke and mirrors; this nightmare is a done deal,” the letter continues.
Deal even goes so far as to suggest a different location: “A better and less controversial location would have been the vacant land that was U.S. Steel South Works. It has beautiful views of the lakefront and Chicago skyline and has U.S. 41 running through the center and has mass transit nearby. This part of the city needs economic development.”
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