The dilemma of development: Will Obama center hurt those it's supposed to help?
A commander in chief turned salesman in chief   Barack Obama  painted a rosy picture Tuesday of  his  planned presidential centerâs urban impact.
 He  described a transformed neighborhood  with visitors checking out a restaurant or an art studio across Stony Island Avenue from the center. Yet  Obama  also revealed  his  pragmatic side  promising the center would supercharge areas hit by decades of disinvestment  while acknowledging fears that such growth will force out low-income residents.
âYou canât have one without the other â  he  said.
Displacement of low-income people caused by well-intentioned public works is one of the most vexing urban-planning problems of our time. In 2016  a year after The 606 brought a sliver of much-needed open space to Chicagoâs Northwest Side  residents marched to draw attention to families being squeezed out of their homes because of increasing property taxes and rising rents in Logan Square  one of the neighborhoods along the bike and pedestrian path. Even businesspeople who support putting the privately funded  Obama  center in historic Jackson Park express concern that the 19-acre complex will push out the poor â the very kind of people for whom  Obama  advocated as a young community organizer.
âWe need activity in the area â said Ghana native and dress designer Sarah Kuenyefu-Searcy  whose store at 1510 E. 63rd St.  just west of the centerâs site  sells clothing influenced by her African heritage. But throughout the storeâs Woodlawn neighborhood  she added  âpeople are definitely worried about rents going up and being displaced.â Some residents are voicing similar concerns in South Shore and Washington Park  the other areas most likely to be affected by the  Obama  center.
Achieving this balance  between growth and the interests of nearby residents  will be a high-wire act  one whose outcome will be as significant for Chicago as the difficult and still-unresolved task of placing the  Obama  center in the historic landscape of Jackson Park. Both aspects of the center still need work.
 Obama  makes pitch for  his  center in Jackson Park: 'Too much development' has not been the problem for South Side Â»
A commander in chief turned salesman in  [TGT] painted a rosy picture Tuesday of   [TGT]   planned presidential centerâs urban impact.
  [TGT]   described a transformed neighborhood  with visitors checking out a restaurant or an art studio across Stony Island Avenue from the center. Yet   [TGT] also revealed  his  pragmatic side  promising the center would supercharge areas hit by decades of disinvestment  while acknowledging fears that such growth will force out low-income residents.
âYou canât have one without the other â  he  said.
Displacement of low-income people caused by well-intentioned public works is one of the most vexing urban-planning problems of our time. In 2016  a year after The 606 brought a sliver of much-needed open space to Chicagoâs Northwest Side  residents marched to draw attention to families being squeezed out of their homes because of increasing property taxes and rising rents in Logan Square  one of the neighborhoods along the bike and pedestrian path. Even businesspeople who support putting the privately funded  Obama  center in historic Jackson Park express concern that the 19-acre complex will push out the poor â the very kind of people for whom  Obama  advocated as a young community organizer.
âWe need activity in the area â said Ghana native and dress designer Sarah Kuenyefu-Searcy  whose store at 1510 E. 63rd St.  just west of the centerâs site  sells clothing influenced by her African heritage. But throughout the storeâs Woodlawn neighborhood  she added  âpeople are definitely worried about rents going up and being displaced.â Some residents are voicing similar concerns in South Shore and Washington Park  the other areas most likely to be affected by the  Obama  center.
Achieving this balance  between growth and the interests of nearby residents  will be a high-wire act  one whose outcome will be as significant for Chicago as the difficult and still-unresolved task of placing the  Obama  center in the historic landscape of Jackson Park. Both aspects of the center still need work.
 Obama  makes pitch for  his  center in Jackson Park: 'Too much development' has not been the problem for South Side Â»