Activists Demand Transparency, Community Benefits Agreement for Obama Libary
Activists concerned with how the Obama Presidential Library could affect residents of Jackson Park confronted members of the City Council Black Caucus on Wednesday during a press conference meant to congratulate the contractors, several of which are African American, hired to manage the library’s construction. Activists say they want a community benefits agreement to protect residents in the neighborhood from displacement. “What we need is an in-writing community benefits agreement that says that people who live in those communities will benefit, not benefit in a profiteering way, but jobs, investment in neighborhood elementary schools, transportation infrastructure,” Jitu Brown told the Chicago Tribune. The Coalition To Save Jackson Park (CTSJP) also filed a FOIA lawsuit this week demanding withheld records regarding the library. “The press and the public have a right to know what decisions are being made behind closed doors,” said Gabriel Piemonte, a Coalition member, in a press release.