The MacArthur Foundation recently announced a $5 million grant to create a new branch of the Chicago Public Library at the Obama Presidential Center. The press release said, "Nearly 200,000 people in 2017 visited the Blackstone and Coleman branches, the two libraries closest to the future home” of the Obama center in Jackson Park.
The MacArthur press release makes a strong case for a new and/or expanded Chicago Public Library location near the current Coleman and the Blackstone branches, both of which serve large numbers of Chicagoans on the South Side.This growing need for additional library programming strengthens the point of locating the Obama enter with its new library within a community such as one of the original top sites just across the street from Washington Park—and not the selectedsite in Jackson Park. The current Obama center site is he number of further away from South Side residents, who live much closer to the Washington Park site.
Because of the MacArthur announcement, I have been thinking about my parents and how much a city park and a public library meant to them and the four children they raised. My father, who was at the time of his death the chairman of the board of the MacArthur Foundation, and my mother, who was at the time of her death the president of the Waukegan Public Library Board, were devoted to public libraries. We grew up going weekly and sometimes daily to the Waukegan Public Library, located in our downtown a block away from a bus stop. Dad and Mom knew that the public library needed to be located where people actually lived. If Dad were alive and active at the MacArthur Foundation, he would never have made a grant to the Obama Foundation until the federal lawsuit along with the other federal reviews had reached their conclusions on whether the center should be located in Jackson Park. The federal court will decide whether the Obama Foundation should be allowed to make these major alterations to our lakefront park. , which will devastate the century old international migratory bird sanctuary, along with significant landscape designs of a true jewel of our Chicago lakefront parks - the National Historic Registered Jackson Park which was designed by the Americanmaster landscape architect, Fredrick Olmsted for our Columbian Expositionof 1893.
I hope the federal court will decide in favor of Jackson Park, and in favor of this park’s hundreds of glorious mature trees, the rich natural grasses and plants, and an ecosystem developed over a century that has created a sanctuary for so many birds. There is only one Jackson Park, but there are other South Side sites for the Obama center that are closer to where people live.
—Mary M. Kirby Chicago
Is Illinois turning into Pottersville?
As a 57-year resident of Illinois, I can’t help but feel that our state is quickly becoming Pottersville. Like scenes from the Frank Capra classic, “It’s A Wonderful Life,” in which George Bailey saw his hometown of Bedford Falls turn into a community focused on gambling, drinking and illicit behavior; Illinois is quickly losing its moral compass and will do anything to raise money.
In the last couple weeks our state has passed legislation to legalize recreational marijuana use, expand gambling, broaden abortion rights and increase taxes on everything from income to fuel and auto registration. I’m not sure they have even thought about addressing our spending problems. Like many of our elected officials, Mr. Henry Potter would be throwing his arms in the air with joy at the changes. George Bailey prayed that he could return to his old life in Bedford Falls and his prayer was answered. Sadly, I don’t think our story will end as well. We have loved Illinois, but it’s time to join the thousands who have left the Prairie State for another more in line with our values.
—Dan Doheny, Naperville