XPost: alt.disney.disneyland, alt.business.insurance, calstate.cats.teaching   
   XPost: us.military.army   
   From: communist-scum@womenvoteproject.org   
      
   The City of Chicago has engaged in “a short con shell game” to   
   help Barack Obama build a 12-story museum and library dedicated   
   to his presidency on public parkland, a new lawsuit alleges.   
      
   Protect Our Parks filed the lawsuit Monday seeking to block   
   construction of the Obama Presidential Center in historic   
   Jackson Park on Chicago’s South Side, where a young Obama cut   
   his political teeth.   
      
   Established law precludes the Chicago Park District from   
   transferring public parkland in Jackson Park to a private non-   
   governmental entity for its own use, the lawsuit claims.   
      
   "Defendants have chosen to deal with it in a classic Chicago   
   political way, known as a short con shell game, a corrupt scheme   
   to deceive and seemingly legitimize an illegal land grab, one   
   that will endure for centuries to come, regardless of future   
   changing public park needs and increasingly consequential   
   environmental conditions,” according to the lawsuit.   
      
   The Chicago Sun-Times also quotes the lawsuit as saying that it   
   is seeking a court order barring construction because it views   
   the land transfer as an “institutional bait and switch.”   
      
   According to the lawsuit, the original purpose of transferring   
   the land was to house an official Obama Federal Library.   
   However, that is no longer the case. Obama decided the center   
   will not include his presidential papers.   
      
   The named plaintiffs are three park advocates who are being   
   represented by a law firm with ties to a rival of Chicago Mayor   
   Rahm Emanuel, according to the paper.   
      
   The paper reports that the suit comes with the project slated to   
   go before the Chicago Plan Commission on Thursday for approvals   
   necessary ahead of construction.   
      
   In reaction to the lawsuit, an Emanuel spokesman told the paper   
   that the Obama Presidential Center is a once-in-a-lifetime   
   opportunity to create jobs and honor the legacy of Chicago's   
   favorite son.   
      
   “While some choose to stand in the way of progress for the South   
   Side we are focused on making progress in every community in   
   Chicago,” the spokesman, Grant Klinsman, said.   
      
   As it has moved forward, the Obama Presidential Center has   
   encountered opposition from neighborhood, activist groups and   
   others, according to reports.   
      
   In January more than 100 professors from the University of   
   Chicago released a letter questioning the project’s touted   
   economic benefits to South Side residents.   
      
   A month later, a report in the Chicago Tribune estimated that   
   the cost to taxpayers to widen streets and construct underpasses   
   around the center would be $175 million.   
      
   http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/05/15/lawsuit-alleges-con-   
   shell-game-to-build-obama-center-in-chicago-park.html   
                          
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)