Obama Presidential Library Costs Balloon to $850 Million considered an eyesore by Chicago residents
Appear that someone has delusions of grandeur.
America's first black president is building America's most expensive, opulent, and expansive presidential library.
It should be noted that all presidential libraries are built using donations from individuals and corporations. The Barack Obama Center was originally going to cost $300 million. However, by the time the design was unveiled in 2017, the estimate had been revised to $500 million.
The Obama Foundation, which is building the Center, was just getting started.
In 2021, construction costs ballooned to $700 million alone. Another $90 million for artifact preparation and $40 million for the first-year operating budget bring the total to a smooth $830 million. Foundation spokeswoman Emily Bittner said the most recent all-in estimate is $850 million.
Chicago Tribune:
After years of delays and legal fights, the center is scheduled to open its doors to visitors in the spring. Obama officials are hosting community tours beginning late this month so neighbors “can begin to imagine how they will use and enjoy” the center.
Former President Barack Obama isn’t making any new fans with his $830 million presidential library project on the South Side of Chicago.
Alderwoman Jeanette Taylor, who represents much of the majority-Black, working-class neighborhood that surrounds the Obama site, told the Daily Mail that she fears that local residents will no longer be able to afford to live in the area.
“Every time large development comes to communities, they displace the very people they say they want to improve it for. This was no different, and we’re living what is actually happening,” said Taylor, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. “We’re going to see rents go higher and we’re going to see families displaced.”
When finished, the campus will include the main building housing the museum; a forum building that includes an auditorium, media suite and other programming rooms; a Chicago Public Library branch; and farther south, a 45,000 square foot multipurpose athletic center.
That athletic center was supposed to open later this year, but foundation officials revised the opening date to 2026 earlier this summer. “We are planning to fully open the campus as a whole in the spring of 2026,” Bittner said. By comparison, the Ronald Reagan Library cost $40 million in 1991, which is about $95 million today.
The Bill Clinton Library cost $165 million in 2004 dollars, about $283 million in today's currency.
Obama's Caesar-like vision of his own greatness was under pressure from the start by civil rights hustlers and racialists demanding that the project hire workers on the city’s South and West sides, according to the Obama Foundation report. About half the workers are from Chicago, with another 35% from the majority minority wards of the city's South and West sides.
This is a new building project and a library is presumably of special importance to a man who was a scholar and teacher before entering politics.
It seems a rather more productive and imaginative use of resources than Trump's destruction and rebuilding of a wing of the White House (the cost of which is estimated to have doubled to $400m).
I find the claims that either project is funded by "private donations" to be bemusing and disingenuous. Charitable gifts can be offset against corporate and individual tax liabilities, which I am certain they will be in most cases. So actually each project is effectively taxpayer funded.
At least in these cases we taxpayers have a choice. That’s a huge difference. It’s been 10 years since Bo left office. Seems as though it’s taken quite some time to raise the money. BO preferred basketball and other sports and this complex will include basketball courts. @SunshineGirl
@jackjjackson The spending is removed from congressional oversight so most taxpayers will be ignored. Essentially a small number of exceedingly rich people get to decide how millions of dollars of tax funds are diverted to other purposes.
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are establishing themselves as bigoted racists. Even before the British burned down the White House in 1812 there were modifications and improvements and those have continued following the rebuilding. The White House is currently being improved not damaged. As usual, you’ve written false information with the intent to deceive.
@SunshineGirl You got one thing right, presumably . He is nothing but smoke and mirrors, a crook in political clothing. He cost the American citizens BILLIONS of dollars. The West wing refurbish and expansion is long over due and costing the American's nothing, no tax dollars. It's being funded by thru donations, much like Barry's multiple homes around the country. Did you have any issues with those?
@jackjjackson Philanthropic contributions in the USA are tax deductible, one of the main reasons why some corporations and individuals make donations. For an individual, 60%-100% of gross income can be deducted from income tax, for corporations 25% of gross income can be deducted from corporation tax. So qualifying donations are effectively coming out of general taxation. Not to mention the intangible political favours that donors will expect for their cash.
Wrong. Legitimate CHARITABLE 501(3) are deductible from TAXABLE INCOME. The rest of your rant is made up fiction. Going forward please stick to the topic of the thread or @SunshineGirl
@jackjjackson Nobody is suggesting that this is not legitimate. Read my original response again before getting on your high horse. If you have evidence to directly contradict what I have written, feel free to present it.
Incidentally, this is my thread (responding to your original post). You may not like the direction I have tirned the discussion towards, but I am the one person here who actually has remained on topic.
