There were some surprises at the latest Obama Presidential Center (OPC) court hearing last week, none odder than the fact that four years after President Barack and Michelle Obama announced Chicago as the site for what was then known as the Obama Presidential Library, we’re still futzing around with court hearings about where it should sit—dithering over technicalities like whether Jackson Park was ever submerged land while, at the same time, waging a life-and-death battle with a Darwinian pandemic under the surreal national leadership of an unhinged egomaniac.
Solomon, in turn, argues that the Illinois Museum Act allows for presidential libraries in parks; that the OPC will offer many public benefits; and that Jackson Park will remain a park after the OPC is built. She says nonsubmerged land, like Jackson Park, requires only legislative authorization for transfer.
Protect Our Parks clarified after the hearing that Epstein was referring to the Washington Park neighborhood, not Washington Park itself.
