Why move
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Jackson Park is home to free and safe community green space, 1000+ legacy trees, flower gardens, and much beloved outdoor recreational areas for Chicago's south side. Residents fish off its banks near the lake and luxuriate in its accessibility and its beauty.
Jackson Park's green space acts as air cleaner and carbon sink, helping to reclaim Chicago's air. In one year, a mature tree will absorb more than 48 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and release oxygen in exchange (USDA). The Obama Presidential Center (OPC), both in its installation and in its proposed roads widening construction, will clear cut over 1000 valuable legacy trees (Protect our Parks), demolish the Women's Garden (Hyde Park Historical Society) and other green areas, leaving behind a 20-story building that charges an entrance fee, with a vegetable garden on its roof, surrounded by grassy areas. Near Washington Park, at 55th and Martin Luther King Drive, is a wide expanse of vacant land with easy access to the Dan Ryan expressway and Chicago's elevated transportation. This is the natural location for the Obama Presidential Center. Locating the OPC near Washington Park brings a greater audience to the DuSable Museum and supports the surrounding communities. Chicago's South Side is deserving of two treasures. Save Jackson Park. Move OPC. |
Jackson Park...
helps provide clean air for the South Side and Chicago's communities. That's important because 1 in 6 children in Chicago suffer asthma (Lurie). Trees have a strong association with fewer emergency asthma cases in very polluted areas (Science Daily). 
Jackson Park's...
trees are estimated to store 203.8 tons of carbon, sequester 5.8 tons of carbon per year, and remove 341.5 pounds of air pollution per year (OPC Tree Study). |
Jackson Park...
while looking across the Women’s Garden, proposed as part of the Obama Presidential Center (OPC) campus. "This will be the staging area for construction of the OPC and will be rebuilt with design changes" (Hyde Park Herald). How do you rebuild legacy trees that have been cut down? |
Other organizations weigh inIt should be noted that the ecosystem benefits of mature trees are far greater in terms of the mitigation of pollution, runoff, higher temperatures, and other climactic effects than those of immature trees. Through this project, no scattered openings and framed views of the lagoon will be had from street level [as they are at present], or anywhere other than the top of the proposed buildings." -- Openlands, Chicago "The conclusion is inescapable that the scale and scope of the OPC is totally inconsistent with any possible maintenance of the historic integrity of Jackson Park and its Olmsted roots... Perhaps nowhere are the shortcomings of this review process clearer than in the lack of consideration of alternate plans for the OPC's location to mitigate the negative historic impacts and promote public accessibility. The proposed road closures beg questions about the OPC's transportation access; those closures will only worsen an already complex transportation arena." A proposed tower in excess of 200’ tall-which amounts to a 20-plus story building in height, even if the building contains about 10-12 floors. This visually tall and disturbing feature of the complex will also visually impact the park, This larger feature and monumental building belongs on another nearby site [next to Washington Park], if this height is desired... Jackson Park is a remarkable park, greenspace and open space, which is among Chicago’s most important legacy parks." -- Preservation Chicago |
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Fill out a contact form. Take a survey. Write a letter. Attend an event. Get in touch: Hi@SaveJacksonPark.org |
From PRESERVATION CHICAGO:
The geography of the Washington Park site would disperse the impact of the OPC investment [benefits to surrounding communities] across a much wider area [if located in Washington Park].
Steps to mitigate displacement are still warranted, but the geography makes it a much easier challenge to solve on the site across from Washington Park. |
From PROTECT OUR PARKS:
Soldier Field revamp hit taxpayers hard. So will the Obama Center. Given its awkward location, the OPC will never generate sufficient traffic to become economically viable. But left unanswered is this question: What happens if the foundation decides to walk away from its new project 20 years down the road when attendance is down and costs of operation are up. Under those circumstances, an overtaxed public will have to bear the high costs of either running or dismantling the entire operation. This potential calamity is a far bigger deal than the Soldier Field misadventure. |
From Melissa Harris, CHICAGO TRIBUNE: Build the Obama Library in Washington Park
The library and museum should go to Washington Park for one reason: Easy access to the "L." Built there, the library would back right up to the Garfield Green Line stop like a plane taxied to a jetway, making easy access for everyone from toddlers to senior citizens. It should face Washington Park. Obama's wealthy donors also should adopt the DuSable Museum of African American History across the park, ensuring that it doesn't go out of business in the face of new competition. |
SAVE JACKSON PARK.
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