West Side Officials Say North Lawndale Obama Library Site Would Have Biggest Impact
CHICAGO (CBS) -- West Side elected officials are using this President's Day to raise support for an Obama Presidential Library on the West Side.
WBBM's Craig Dellimore reports at United Missionary Baptist Church, Congressman Danny Davis said every time he runs into President Obama, he argues that putting a presidential library and museum in the North Lawndale community would have the most impact on an impoverished neighborhood.
Cook County Commissioner Robert Steele agrees the UIC site meets that part of the mission of the site selection committee.
"Several hundred million dollars of investment in infrastructure, business expansion and housing development will impact these communities," Steele said. "Not only will it impact the community of North Lawndale, but other communities that will be impacted are communities like Pilsen, Little Village."
Mayor Emanuel has gotten the Park District to agree to turn over land for a rival South Side proposal by the University of Chicago. The U of C's bid would potentially use parts of either Washington Park or Jackson Park but officials on the West Side said the North Lawndale site would add park land.
UIC's proposal would call for the library to be built on 23 acres of land near Roosevelt Road and Kostner Avenue.
Columbia University in New York and the University of Hawaii in Honolulu are also bidding for the presidential library.