Anonymous ID: 56572c Feb. 14, 2019, 3:16 p.m. No.5176072   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>6265 >>6297

Lawsuit means Chicago Obama center plan no sure thing; judge says he will rule on legal challenge in coming days

 

FEBRUARY 14 , 2019 2:25PM

Odds may still favor the eventual construction of former President Barack Obama’s $500 million museum and library in a public park along Chicago’s lakeshore, but it’s no longer a sure thing in the face of a formidable legal challenge by a parks advocacy group.

 

U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey is hearing arguments Thursday in Chicago on a key motion by city attorneys to toss a lawsuit by Protect Our Parks that aims to halt the Obama Presidential Center from ever being built in the selected location.

 

The environmental group that sued claims the city does not have legal standing to build the Obama center within Jackson Park, about 7 miles south of downtown. Among other arguments, detractors say that because the structure won’t house the former president’s archives, it shouldn’t be built on public park land.

 

But in court Thursday, attorneys representing the city and the Chicago Park District sought to make the case that the suit should be tossed out. They said that because the center would essentially be owned by the city, the environmentalists didn’t have a strong argument to challenge the project.

 

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/obamacenter/ct-met-obama-presidential-library-chicago-lawsuit-20190214-story.html