Chicago: After five years of legal battles, concerns of gentrification, and federal review, Barack and Michelle Obama dig up the shovel to the ground on Tuesday during a breakthrough celebration on their inheritance project in the Chicago LakeFront Park.
Construction at the Obama presidential center along Lake Michigan, near the Obama family house and where the former president began his political career on the south side of Chicago, officially started last month.
Standing near the excavator and other heavy equipment, Obama described how the south side of the city formed it, first as a community organizer, then as husband, father and elected official.
He said the center was one way to give back and he hoped it would bring economic boost to the area and inspired future generations of leaders.
“We want this center to be more than a static museum or archive research source.
It is not only a collection of memorabilia campaigns or ballgown Michelle, even though I know everyone will come see them,” he joked.
“It’s not only exercising in nostalgia or looking back.
We want to look forward to.” Chicago Mayor Liori Lightfoot, Governor of Illinois JB Pritzker and several Aldermen members among several people who were allowed at the event, which streamed online to limit the crowd in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The center of the President will sit in 19 hectares (7.7 hectares) from the Jackson 540-hectare park (291 hectares), named for the seventh president of the nation, Andrew Jackson.
This will be unique among the presidential library.
President Obama’s paper will be available in digital form.
The vast campus will include museums, public library branches, athletic centers, kitchen tests and children’s play areas.
The initial cost was projected to be $ 500 million, but the document released by the Obama Foundation last month showed that it was approximately $ 830 million.
Funds are being appointed through personal donations.
The committee estimates that around 750,000 visitors will come to the center every year.
Job at Obama Presidential Center is expected to take around five years.
At present, the heavy engine presents the sites that are fenced with green tarps.
Progress has been postponed by lawsuits and federal reviews needed because of the location at Jackson Park, which is on the national list of historical places.
At the same time, the fear of the transfer of blacks in developing areas became a battle for one year which resulted in environmental protection approved by the city, including for affordable housing.
Some environmental activists said on Tuesday that they had seen the increase in housing prices and would continue to push more protection in the surrounding area.
Advocate environment also objected to the location and loss of green space.
During the event, a plane pulled the air banner reading, “stopped cutting down the tree.
Move OPC.” Obama, who did not answer the question during the event, has said for years that the center will benefit the surrounding area with new jobs and new trees will be planted on campus.
He chose Chicago in several cities, including Honolulu, where he was born and spent his initial years.
This is part of Chicago which has special significance for Obama.
This center is near the University of Chicago where Obama taught the law and where Obama married and lifted their two daughters.
Michelle Obama also grew on the south side.
“This city, this neighborhood crosses the pulse and defines me at my core,” he said at the show.
“This substantial investment on the south side will help make the environment where we call home for the whole world.”
After 5 years, Obama destroyed in the center of the President
