Obama Center Drama Promises Jobs…And Much More

So the $500 million Obama Presidential Center is set to break ground later this year after having survived years of delays, lawsuits & a federal review. President Obama & Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot hailed the news by saying the 19-acre site in the South Side’s historic Jackson Park will bring “new jobs, growth and much more” to the gentrified community that was once home to the Obama family. Yet, the Chicago Tribune once noted it’s surrounded by crime riddled areas like Woodlawn & Englewood to the west.

It’s that promise to bring “growth & much more” that I’d worry about. What growth? Much more of what? Drug dealing & murders? Cause way too much of that has been going on around the park that housed the 1893 Columbian Exposition. And, while this massive investment in bricks & mortar will bring some new jobs & undoubtedly boost the immediate community’s pride (it especially ties in nicely with the existing nearby & popular Museum of Science & Industry), it’s not going to do much more for the other impoverished South Side (& West Side) neighborhoods who will still be neglected by pols & dominated by gangs.

I remember working in & about this community to help pay for college & law school. Two trips on its “L” & buses made me forever the skeptic. Trip one gave me a life changing talk with a guy who had just been released from a nearby hospital with bloody bandages clinging to his throat that had been slashed an hour earlier. The second trip was a close encounter with a dozen gang bangers who offered to cut my throat if I didn’t hand over my wallet. Here, little has changed over the past 50 years. Yes, “much more” can await those who visit the "magnetic" Obama Presidential Center. Word to the wise: Cab in.

Davd Soul