• Lawsuit alleges 'con shell game' to build Obama Center in Chicago park

    From Sara Jacobs Is A Communist Prostitu@21:1/5 to All on Sat May 19 10:10:40 2018
    XPost: la.general, alt.fashion, talk.politics.misc
    XPost: alt.mountain-bike

    The City of Chicago has engaged in “a short con shell game” to
    help Barack Obama build a 12-story museum and library dedicated
    to his presidency on public parkland, a new lawsuit alleges.

    Protect Our Parks filed the lawsuit Monday seeking to block
    construction of the Obama Presidential Center in historic
    Jackson Park on Chicago’s South Side, where a young Obama cut
    his political teeth.

    Established law precludes the Chicago Park District from
    transferring public parkland in Jackson Park to a private non-
    governmental entity for its own use, the lawsuit claims.

    "Defendants have chosen to deal with it in a classic Chicago
    political way, known as a short con shell game, a corrupt scheme
    to deceive and seemingly legitimize an illegal land grab, one
    that will endure for centuries to come, regardless of future
    changing public park needs and increasingly consequential
    environmental conditions,” according to the lawsuit.

    The Chicago Sun-Times also quotes the lawsuit as saying that it
    is seeking a court order barring construction because it views
    the land transfer as an “institutional bait and switch.”

    According to the lawsuit, the original purpose of transferring
    the land was to house an official Obama Federal Library.
    However, that is no longer the case. Obama decided the center
    will not include his presidential papers.

    The named plaintiffs are three park advocates who are being
    represented by a law firm with ties to a rival of Chicago Mayor
    Rahm Emanuel, according to the paper.

    The paper reports that the suit comes with the project slated to
    go before the Chicago Plan Commission on Thursday for approvals
    necessary ahead of construction.

    In reaction to the lawsuit, an Emanuel spokesman told the paper
    that the Obama Presidential Center is a once-in-a-lifetime
    opportunity to create jobs and honor the legacy of Chicago's
    favorite son.

    “While some choose to stand in the way of progress for the South
    Side we are focused on making progress in every community in
    Chicago,” the spokesman, Grant Klinsman, said.

    As it has moved forward, the Obama Presidential Center has
    encountered opposition from neighborhood, activist groups and
    others, according to reports.

    In January more than 100 professors from the University of
    Chicago released a letter questioning the project’s touted
    economic benefits to South Side residents.

    A month later, a report in the Chicago Tribune estimated that
    the cost to taxpayers to widen streets and construct underpasses
    around the center would be $175 million.

    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/05/15/lawsuit-alleges-con- shell-game-to-build-obama-center-in-chicago-park.html
     

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