Obama ordinance would protect South Side neighborhoods

The Obama Presidential Center will be built in Jackson Park on the South Side and is expected to jumpstart the local economy surrounding the center. Photo Credit Obama Foundation
The Obama Presidential Center will be built in Jackson Park on the South Side and is expected to jumpstart the local economy surrounding the center. Photo Credit Obama Foundation

Obama ordinance would protect South Side neighborhoods

By Wendell Hutson, Contributing Writer

Two aldermen have joined forces to create and introduce the “Obama Community Benefits Agreement” ordinance that, if passed by the City Council, would prevent residents from being priced out of their South Side neighborhoods.

The CBA ordinance was introduced at a July 24 City Council meeting by Aldermen Leslie Hairston (5th) and Jeanette Taylor (20th), whose wards would be most affected by gentrification due to the pending Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park.

The ordinance is the first step in making sure residents and businesses living near the OPC benefit from it, said Hairston.

“The ordinance now goes before the Housing Committee and city attorneys and the Department of Housing will also weigh,” explained Hairston. “We’re going to also have more community meetings as we continue to work through it. This ordinance is what the community wanted and will address their fears about being gentrified out of their community.”

And while the proposed ordinance addresses housing, only Hairston said other community concerns like jobs would also be addressed.

“This ordinance deals with neighborhood stabilization and securing affordable housing is one way to do that,” added Hairston.

The city’s current housing requirements, according to the CBA, does not go far enough in ensuring residents are not forced to relocate once the OPC is built.

“The City Council finds that the 2015 Affordable Requirements Ordinance (Section 2-44-080 of the Municipal Code) is insufficient to prevent displacement and broad demographic change in neighborhoods facing significant displacement pressure,” the CBA stated. “And that additional measures are necessary to increase production of affordable housing, protect vulnerable residents and create neighborhoods where residents of all incomes can thrive.”

Voters living in the area surrounding the OPC already approved a referendum that would create a 30 percent set-aside for affordable housing; create a community trust fund for affordable housing and economic development; and provide property tax relief to long-time low, moderate and middle-income residents.

Taylor said she knows first hand about being displaced.

In 2004, after the Harold Washington Cultural Center was built in Bronzeville, property taxes increased and local landlords went up on rents thus forcing longtime residents like Taylor to move.

“I could no longer afford the rent at my apartment building so I moved my family to Woodlawn,” recalled Taylor. “I do not want other families to experience what I went through just because a big development is built in your neighborhood.”

Michael Strautmanis, vice president of civic engagement for the nonprofit Obama Foundation, said he agrees with former President Barack Obama, who does not favor a CBA, largely because the foundation is already doing many of the things expressed by the community.

For example, the foundation will award a minimum of 50 percent of construction subcontracts (valued between $300 to $350 million) to diverse firms; continue to support neighborhood stabilization efforts; support policies that would foster development of a strong small business corridor around the presidential center; open a South Side resource center for residents to learn about job opportunities at the Obama Center; and establish apprenticeship training programs in Washington Park, Woodlawn, South Shore, and other areas where one does not currently exist.

At the end of the day, Taylor said it is vital that a written agreement and not just a handshake or a promise to do right, is in place before the OPC is built.

“Getting a CBA is about protecting long-term stakeholders who were living in the community when it was nothing,” she said. “We’re never the ones benefiting from things coming to our community and that has got to stop.”

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