Chicagoans complain that Obama Center causes 'harm to black families,' gentrifies South Side

While the opening of the Obama Presidential Center is still years away, many residents who live nearby are already seeing the impact of their proximity to the project.

ADVERTISEMENT
Image
Jarryd Jaeger Vancouver, BC
ADVERTISEMENT

As construction ramps up on Chicago's $500 million Obama Presidential Center, so to have concerns that the project will harm the South Side residents it originally promised to help.

Many longterm Chicagoans have expressed fears that the center will cause their rent to increase, and eventually gentrify the entire neighborhood.



According to the Washington Post, while the opening of the Obama Presidential Center is still years away, many residents who live nearby are already seeing the impact of their proximity to the project.

A recent investigation revealed that median home prices in the area, which is among Chicago's poorest, have doubled since Obama announced the project in 2014.

Nearly 90 percent of voters in the area said "yes" in a recent referendum on the issue of whether the city needed to create more affordable housing and provide financial support to those living in the vicinity of the site.

"What happens in communities where there is economic development is families get pushed out because of property value raises," mayoral candidate Brandon Johnson said during a community meeting.

"We have to make sure, for families that live in the very communities where economic development is taking place, that landlords don't see it as an opportunity to push the families out who have been a part of these communities for decades."

Longtime resident Dixon Romeo suggested that he and other Chicagoans "don't want the Obama Center ... to be another page in the long history of displacing Black people or doing harm to Black families," pointing out that, "the city is the only one that can stop that."

Whether his warnings are heeded depends on who becomes the next mayor.

When the site was chosen nearly a decade ago, the Obama Foundation assured residents that it would only create opportunity, not hardship.

"It feels natural for Michelle and me to want to give back to Chicago and to the South Side in particular," Obama said, calling the center their way of "repaying some of what this amazing city has given us."

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Sign in to comment

Comments

Powered by StructureCMS™ Comments

Join and support independent free thinkers!

We’re independent and can’t be cancelled. The establishment media is increasingly dedicated to divisive cancel culture, corporate wokeism, and political correctness, all while covering up corruption from the corridors of power. The need for fact-based journalism and thoughtful analysis has never been greater. When you support The Post Millennial, you support freedom of the press at a time when it's under direct attack. Join the ranks of independent, free thinkers by supporting us today for as little as $1.

Support The Post Millennial

Remind me next month

To find out what personal data we collect and how we use it, please visit our Privacy Policy

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy
ADVERTISEMENT
© 2024 The Post Millennial, Privacy Policy