Mayor Emanuel visits UIC/North Lawndale site for Obama Library

Mayor Rahm Emanuel (center) views the site with Ald. Jason Ervin, 28th Ward; Ald. Walter Burnett, 27th Ward; Marcus Betts and Wallace E. (Mickey) Johnson of the North Lawndale Presidential Library Committee;  and Ald. Emma Mitts, 37th Ward.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel this morning met with representatives of the University of Illinois at Chicago and the North Lawndale community to view the 23-acre city-owned parcel proposed for the Obama Presidential Library. The site is bounded by Roosevelt Road and Kostner, Kildare and Fifth avenues. The UIC/North Lawndale proposal would create new park space and locate the library and museum in North Lawndale, with an academic-cultural institute and visitor center at the corner of Harrison and Halsted streets on the UIC campus.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has pledged his support in conveyance of the land and the reopening of the CTA Blue Line’s Kostner station if the North Lawndale site is chosen. The Steans Family Foundation, which concentrates its philanthropic grants in North Lawndale, previously announced a $5 million pledge to support the site.

Following the site visit, the mayor met with North Lawndale community leaders at Sumner Math & Science Community Academy, a public school located across from the site, to discuss the great potential of the proposed library.

Mayor Emanuel (center) spoke to UIC and North Lawndale leaders and aldermen: (L-R) Michael Redding, executive associate chancellor of public and government affairs, UIC; Marcus Betts, North Lawndale Presidential Library Committee; Ald. Michael D. Chandler, 24th Ward; Ald. Walter Burnett, 27th Ward.

Community and city leaders view the 23-acre North Lawndale site, a former industrial site in the center of an economically challenged neighborhood.