CHICAGO | Obama Presidential Library
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I thought since UIC is now the first institution to come out and make a play for the future library that the ball will start rolling soon on locations and players for the future library in the near future. Yes, speculation can be silly but also fun. What precise locations do you think are a good fit for the library...........
My top locations 1. Washington Park - Garfield Park Blvd/MLK Dr. - A great potential TOD site right next to Chicago's Washington Park. A very depressed African-American neighborhood that could use a big jolt. A few blocks from the UofChicago which is positive given that I've heard the Libraries and colleges prefer off campus locations. https://maps.google.com/maps?q=city+...4.18,,0,-11.78 2. Downtown location - I think a great location could be the huge lot on the river just south of the NBC tower and east of the Gleacher Center (UofC Booths school building). It would be a great addition to the river and with the Gleacher Center make a cool educational campus right in the heart of downtown. https://maps.google.com/maps?q=418+N...ois+60611&z=16 3. Southworks site - Not as much of a fan as some others. However it would be a great anchor to a neighborhood in south Chicago that would provide a completely blank slate. You could give it a lakeside/park location and it would still be close to UofC and Obamas home. https://maps.google.com/maps?q=8909+...ois+60617&z=16 4. Midway Plaisance - Somewhere along the Midway Plaisance......... Either at Stoney Island/60th https://maps.google.com/maps?q=6027+...ois+60637&z=19 or Cottage Grove Ave/60th https://maps.google.com/maps?q=861+E...ois+60637&z=16 or MLK Drive/60th https://maps.google.com/maps?q=392+E...ois+60637&z=16 |
I think I said it a while ago on Curbed or on here, but the best possible site in my mind is the West side of Washington Park on that enormous lot at Garfield and MLK. There is no better location than that in my mind. Top reasons it should be located there:
1. Close to U of C, this is crucial because of Obama's history there and the fact that it will be a huge boon to U of C's academics (particularly the history department) to have a presidential library (particularly one of such historical importance, see below) on their campus. 2. Close to the Green Line, could even be incorporated with a rebuilt Green Line station to further spur redevelopment. This is obviously important so that the library is accessible to the rest of the city. This is also why it should absolutely NOT go to the Southworks site 3. Follows U of C's pattern of jumping it's campus to the other side of the Midway, except taking a bigger leap all the way across the park. 4. It will obviously spur much needed redevelopment in this area. 5. It is a historically appropriate site for the presidential library of the first African American president who began his career community organizing on the South Side. Even the street name (MLK drive) plays to this historical relevance. This could even potentially be expanded to a "mini museum campus" and have other relevant institutions moved to the area such as an expand DuSable Museum perhaps on the West side of the tracks creating a mecca for African American history. |
I always envisioned it in my mind's eye between Stony Island and the Stony island metra stop along the Midway Plaisance, there's a nice and sizable chunk of land there and it's relatively easy to get to as well. Again, this is assuming that he would want it built on campus there, due to his past association with U of C.
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1. Close to Obama's home. 2. Close to UC. 3. Depressed urban neighborhood. 4. Mass Transit adjacent. 5. Highway accessible. 6. On MLK Drive. 7. On Washington Park. Can anywhere else even hold a candle to this location? |
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Obama’s Library, Advisers’ Dream
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/17/us...=politics&_r=0 WASHINGTON — This spring, a longtime staff member for President Obama, Alyssa Mastromonaco, let a friend in on a secret. Mr. Obama had assigned her to begin planning his post-presidential library and foundation. |
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The city will present one unified bid. The UC and their close environs is the really only place it belongs. Forget NYC or HI. Its going to be in Chicago if we don't rip ourselves apart fighting it over it.
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I agree with Washington Park - hopefully not IN the park but along Garfield to the west. It would establish a gateway into Hyde Park from the Dan Ryan/Red Line and help to turn around a struggling area. It's really a win-win that addresses the biggest site-selection concerns.
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https://www.facebook.com/pages/Natas...59734170748010
Natasha Sasha Obama March 6. PRESIDENT OBAMA TO HAVE TWO PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARIES HONORING HIM. Chicago city officials have held several meetings with officials to work out a plan that will ensure that President Obama gets two presidential libraries honoring him. Officials discussed the possibility of having a presidential library along with an Obama institute in Chicago and a presidential center comprising of a smaller library, a museum and an Obama think tank in Hawaii. This will cost over 800 million dollars according to officials from Hawaii and Chicago. What do you make of this? Mad Dash to Land Home for Obama’s Presidential Library http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics...foot-the-bill/ Abby D. Phillip Mar 20, 2014 4:47pm The search for the home of President Obama’s legacy has officially begun. Today, the Barack Obama Foundation announced it will start fielding preliminary information from potential cities that will bid to host Obama’s presidential library. Among the cities known to be competing in the bidding process that the Foundation has pledged will be “open and accessible,” are Chicago, Honolulu and New York City. The “request for qualifications” is just the first step in a process that will take over a year to complete. Initially, the foundation is seeking logistical, financial and organizational details from prospective bidders, which should include information about access to transportation and community information that would make their site suitable for the library. “Our goal is to build a library of which the whole country, and hopefully the whole world, can be proud,” said Marty Nesbitt, a member of the foundation board and a close friend of Obama’s. ... Obama has entrusted Nesbitt, Chicago businessman Kevin Poorman, and Obama campaign veteran Julianna Smoot to lead the process. Qualifying information is due by July 16 and in the summer the committee will request official proposals from the most competitive applicants. In the meantime... Here are four things you need to know about the jousting for rights to Obama’s presidential library. 1) Bids will come from far and wide Chicago is believed to have the strongest chance of winning out–both the president and the first lady have strong ties to the city. But the city isn’t taking any chances, and it may have some difficulty whittling down their own crowded field of potential host sites. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who was Obama’s former chief of staff, has made it clear that he doesn’t want the city’s educational institutions fighting amongst themselves for the presidential library. .... The competition is also steep among non-Chicago bidders. Columbia University in New York, ... But there’s also sunny Hawaii, which has perhaps the most aesthetically pleasing pitch. The state boasts proudly of being President Obama’s childhood home and has already set aside some prime oceanfront property that could house a presidential facility. 2) Things are heating up Lobbying has been going on for years now, but ... Bids will be formally accepted in May and the decision is expected by early 2015, according to the Barack H. Obama Foundation. 3) Could Obama spread the love? ... 4) Money Talks Earlier this month, Illinois dropped a not-so-subtle $100 million hint that it wants to draw Obama back to Chicago. Illinois House Speaker and Democratic Party Chair Michael Madigan announced a bill that would devote $100 million in state funding toward an Obama library project. The proposal comes, to say the least, a little early, but it is intended to send a clear signal that the state wants to add taxpayer funds to the equation when it comes to funding the library. ... Cities with Obama loyalists with deep pockets could find themselves at a distinct advantage. |
What about along 63rd near University Ave? The library would be positioned directly between the East 63rd-Cottage Grove L terminal approximately four blocks to the west and the 63rd Street Metra station approximately four blocks to the east.
Behold! Michael Sorkin's Proposal for Obama's Presidential Library in Chicago's Woodlawn Neighborhood http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs...bb006e65/B.jpg |
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Garfield and MLK, best spot, hands down. |
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Sounds like some of the competition might be resigned to the fact that the library is going to end up here and that they are only going to get anything if they cooperate with the Chicago bid...
Aloha, Chicago: Honolulu mayor eyes joint Obama library bid By Paul Merrion March 25, 2014 Competition for the Barack Obama Presidential Library could cast the mayors of Chicago and Honolulu into the roles of rivals and eventual teammates. Aides to Rahm Emanuel and Kirk Caldwell said both Democrats in their first terms as mayor have a “good working relationship” that is “very friendly,” which would help move things along if organizers of presidential library bids in both cities get past the talking stage about working together. A collaboration would make sense in a lot of ways. While Mr. Obama launched his political career in Chicago, the Aloha State is where he was born and raised. Hawaii reportedly plans to make a full bid for the presidential library, which is expected to cost upward of $500 million and generate huge economic spinoffs wherever it's located. But given that Chicago is better able to raise that kind of money, Hawaii also is interested in creating a think tank and conference center where world leaders could discuss global issues. The two men had a substantive meeting in September in Mr. Emanuel's office, when Mr. Caldwell was in town for a meeting of the American Public Transit Association. But recollections about the encounter differ. A spokesman for Mr. Caldwell said they discussed “a wide range of subjects, including a presidential center.” However, Mr. Emanuel has no recollection of that part of the conversation. “They didn't discuss the library,” said a mayoral spokeswoman, unless it was when Honolulu's mayor threw a Rahm-style joke at his host, saying something like “Come see my library.” Their most recent get-together was impromptu, just a brief chance to shake hands and say hello when they ran into each other on the sidelines of a U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Washington in January. But both sides said yesterday that the topic of a presidential library bid didn't come up, contrary to a Jan. 21 report in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Mr. Cardwell, 61, is a lawyer and seasoned politician who served in Hawaii's state House of Representatives from 2002 to 2008. He was House Majority Leader during his last two years in office. In July 2010 he became interim mayor of Honolulu after his predecessor resigned to run for governor. He was defeated for re-election in 2010 but was elected in 2012. It's been previously reported that officials from the University of Chicago, one of the leading contenders to host the complex in Chicago, met with Mr. Caldwell and Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie in Hawaii in January, and a Hawaiian delegation has toured the South Side and met with university officials here... More at Crains: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...ma-library-bid |
Yea, I think Garfield and MLK would be the perfect location too. I know Obama always mentioned he wanted to see a revived Washington Park neighborhood when talking about the Chicago Olympic bid. And the University of Chicago has been buying land around that area to eventually expand the university there. So the university probably owns the land there already.
Obama will only be 55 when he gets out of office, so he will have ~30 years ahead of him to conduct international affairs from Chicago at his Obama Institute. |
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