therealnews | Years before he became president, Barack Obama got his start as a
community organizer on the south side of Chicago. Now out of the White
House, Obama is coming back to the south side to build his $500 million
presidential center. But Obama now faces a pushback from the same
community he once organized with. For months, south side residents have
been holding protests. They don’t oppose the center, but they want to
make sure it doesn’t cause gentrification and displacement.
SPEAKER: So we’re here to make this stand, to
say that we don’t want displacement to happen in this community. We
don’t want to see the jobs come from outside, be filled by people from
the outside, the people living here don’t get a chance to work.
AARON MATE: South side residents have formed a
coalition, calling on Obama to sign a community benefits agreement
which, among other things, would help protect low income residents from
eviction and higher rents. Coalition Member Paru Brown outlined their
demands.
PARU BROWN: We are pushing for a city
ordinance that would, one, set aside 30 percent of new and rehab housing
for low-income and working families; two, freeze property taxes for
longtime residents; three, require large developers like the University
of Chicago to invest in new affordable housing; and four, independently
monitor local hiring.
AARON MATE: But Obama and his foundation are refusing to sign a CBA. The former president recently told Chicago residents why.
BARACK OBAMA: And the danger here is that if
we sign an agreement with any one organization, or two organizations, or
five organizations-. I’ve lived on the south side and in Chicago long
enough to know that they’re not representing everybody on the south
side. So now suddenly I’ve got five other organizations to say, hey, how
come, how come you signed with them? What about us? And then you got
10, oh, I just formed an organization. You know what I’m talking about.
And next thing you know you’ve got 40 organizations or 50 organizations,
everybody has their own organization, saying we should get, we should
have say, control, decision-making over who gets the contract, et
cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
AARON MATE: Well, Obama’s plans have now
taken a big step forward. The Obama center has just won approval from
two city commissions and the full City Council, moving the project to
federal review. South side activists are not giving up their fight.
Jawanza Malone is executive director of the Kenwood Oakland Community
Organization, and a member of the Obama library South Side CBA
coalition. Jawanza, welcome. Talk to us first just about the struggle
that you’ve been involved in for many months now, and the state of it
now, and the aftermath of these city votes moving the project forward.
JAWANZA MALONE: Thanks for having me on,
Aaron. For the last two and a half years, actually, the CBA coalition
has been working to craft a community benefits agreement that involves
not just the Obama Foundation but also the University of Chicago and the
City of Chicago. In all the turmoil and excitement around President
Obama himself, people forget that the University of Chicago is actually
the entity that wrote the bill that was awarded to get the Presidential
Center on the south side of Chicago in Jackson Park. And Mayor Rahm
Emanuel had, you know, said two years ago that he was willing to move
heaven and earth to make sure that it happened. And that’s what we’re,
we’re seeing it happen over concerns raised with the city councilmen,
over concerns raised by the community, particularly about where the
money is going to come from for the infrastructure changes that the
foundation has called for.
As you said in your intro, the city council and a
quasi-governmental appointed body has voted to approve the plan moving
forward. What we’ve been asking for is very simple. We’re asking for a
legally binding agreement to ensure that residents are not, do not
continue to get displaced from the area, because we’ve already seen
displacement taking place. And so without a clear community benefits
agreement that protects low-income and working families, who is the
predominant population in that part of town, we’re going to see mass
displacement of people, unfortunately.
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