Now that the city has renegotiated a land deal to build the Olympic Village on the South Side, two community organizations are pushing to meet with President-elect Barack Obama to enlist his help in getting the project moved elsewhere.
Now that the city has renegotiated a land deal to build the Olympic Village on the South Side, two community organizations are pushing to meet with President-elect Barack Obama to enlist his help in getting the project moved elsewhere. “After speaking with many residents and studying the potential long-term effects this project could have on Bronzeville, we have decided not to endorse it,” said Pearl Tucker, executive director of Future Bronzeville, an advocate for redevelopment in Bronzeville. “We looked at all the pros and cons, and the cons outweighed the pros, so as an organization, we had no choice but to give this a ‘no’ vote.”
Tucker added that she has already met with representatives from City Hall and the governor’s office and was not satisfied with the outcome, so she will now attempt to meet with Obama.
“I know after the Christmas holiday he will be getting ready to head to Washington so it’s best we try to meet with him this week,” she said.
But Future Bronzeville is not the only organization that opposes the $1.1 billion project. Black Pride, another community advocate for redevelopment in Bronzeville, also hopes to meet with Obama.
“It’s bad enough all these white folks have moved here and pushed ‘our’ people out and into the suburbs. Now the city wants to force the few remaining Blacks living in Bronzeville out by displacing them with the Olympics,” said Nathan Kunjufuwon, executive director of Black Pride. “Obama is a brother and lives five minutes from Bronzeville, so he knows what this community means to Blacks, and if he is true to his word, he will step up to help us save ‘our’ community.”
Tuesday the Chicago 2016 committee announced that it had successfully renegotiated a purchasing deal with St. Louis-based Medline Industries to acquire the 37-acre Michael Reese Hospital & Medical Center campus, 2929 S. Ellis Ave., for $86 million, so it could build the Olympic Village there once the hospital closes this month. The deal also calls for Medline Industries to make a charitable contribution of up to $32.5 million, which may be used to pay for demolition and site cleanup.
Previously, the purchase price for the land was $85 million, and Medline had agreed to make a $20 million contribution to the project based on cleanup estimates at the time. But since September, cleanup cost estimates rose to $32 million, which meant that the city would have been on the hook for the $12 million difference. The city would not go for that.
The project calls for construction of a maximum of 7,500 permanent units and 1,000 hotel rooms that could be converted into residences. Parks, schools, a 5,000-seat dining facility, private workout facility, Internet cafes, clubs and cinemas are all proposed, as part of the Olympic Village.
“We are very pleased that we have been able to reach a final agreement, and we appreciate Medline’s flexibility in structuring a transaction that fits our needs,” said Patrick G. Ryan, chairman and CEO of Chicago 2016.
Just last month about 40 non-profit organizations, including Future Bronzeville and Black Pride, met at the Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies at Northeastern Illinois University to discuss among other things the possible displacement residents could face from the Olympic Village.
Clair Mahon, an international human rights attorney from Geneva, Switzerland, attended the private meeting and shared with the organizations her knowledge of displacement when other U.S. cities hosted the games.
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